Who cares if they find strange toxic green stains on the streets, what does it matter if they can’t taste the food anymore, they didn’t care before, they don’t care now, after all, it’s just a small price to pay for living in Amity Park.
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Categoría:Gen
Fandom: Danny Phantom
Resumen:
Y que sí se encuentran extrañas manchas verdes tóxicas en las calles, que más da sí ya no pueden saborear la comida, no les importó antes, no les importa ahora, después de todo, es solo un pequeño precio a pagar por vivir en Amity Park.
I remember a post on here that said something along the lines of “We stan a supportive uncle Vlad but I just KNOW that bitch would be transphobic” and I just thought of Vlad calling Danny slurs and his parents and Jazz over hearing him and just beating the absoluteshitout of him
He’s just on the floor like “*cough* what the fuck” while the Fentons are repeatedly curb stomping this motherfuck and Danny’s just sitting at the dinner table, hands folded, smiling
This shenanigans is funny on it’s own, but would be100% funnier if Danny planned this entire thing just to be a little shit cuz he knows damn well that whenever Vlad comes over he always pulls this shit
(THIS WOULD ALSO BE 1000 TIMES FUNNIER IF JAZZ WAS IN ON IT AND WAS THE ONE WHO LED THEIR PARENTS INTO THE KITCHEN AT JUST THE RIGHT MOMENT OHMYGOD)
Vlad: *Getting the shit kicked out of him, looking up at Danny*
Danny: *Looking down at him with that creepy-ass Aizawa smile, because he knows damn well Vlad can’t get out of this without revealing himself so he just has to take it*
Before the team can do so much as think to go after Phantom, a group of waitstaff has entered the room and surrounded them.
Maids, butlers, out-hired servers for the gala. Even a couple gardeners with sharp looking pruning sheers.
All with glowing red eyes.
They’re cornered.
M’gann, Red Huntress and Dani rise above the group.
“What do we do? We can’t fight all of them..” Artemis says, sweeping her bow over the crowd. She has maybe 4 non-lethal arrows left. Seven if she aims right and maybe 9 if she can pick a few back up.
Red Huntress looks at Dani from the corner of her eye, then back to the bloodthirsty possessed crowd they face.
“Dani, Debate Team still hasn’t found Vlad’s plans for the city. They need backup, they need help,” Valerie urges.
Dani suddenly looks very torn between staying and leaving, she looks at Valerie fully, “You’re sure?”
“Yes. Go. Make sure AMITy gets those plans, we can’t leave without them. They need you.”
Dani nods and zooms off down a different hallway- nope, wait- just straight through a wall.
Robin narrows his eyes and looks at Red Huntress skeptically, “Why’d you send her away? She would have been helpful in this fight. We need to get out and go after Phantom,”
Valerie sighs, weary, “You guys might not get it, but Dani’s still a kid. She shouldn’t have to be fighting these battles. But her obsession… all she wants is to be able to help, to be needed. And right now, I needed her to be safe.”
Robin looks thoughtful for a second, “Y’know, you’re still a kid too, Huntress.”
Huntress straightens her shoulders and raises her chin like a soldier, then she scoffs and looks out on the possessed crowd, “We’re all kids, Robin. Even you.”
Robin looks away as well.
“Enough talk. You’re in my way, children,” a possessed maid speaks, sounding like someone else.
Like a switch is flipped, the rest of the crowd rushes forward.
And the fight begins anew.
——
Fueled by the rage and lingering electricity in his ectoplasm, it doesn’t take long for Phantom to find Vlad. Always a coward, hiding away and manipulating instead facing the damage hecauses.
Phantom fades into visibility right in front of Plasmius, catching him by surprise as he blocks the doorway.
“What’s wrong, Uncle Vlad? Surprised to see me? Ghost got your tongue?” Phantom says with thinly veiled fury.
The desperation vanishes as a languid smile slides over Plasmius’s face, “Quite the opposite little badger, I’ve known you and your friends were here since the very beginning, Daniel. That’s quite the assortment of heroes you’ve collected. And yet you still refused to be my protégé. Why, so you could waste your potential with them?” Plasmius says as he backs into the room. It’s the newest lab, the secret doorway left wide open in his haste.
“They are my friends, Vlad. Something you’d never understand.”
Plasmius snarls, “I have friends, you insolent little child!” His hand wraps around something on the table behind him.
“My parents don’t count when you relentlessly try to kill one of them and then wipe their memories like the lonely old man you are!”
Plasmius lunges forward, a taser crackling in his hand. Immediately, Phantom grabs his arm, turning it back and jabbing the sparking blue electricity into Plasmius’s chest instead.
He shouts in pain as the light flashes under his skin. His transformation falls around him and Vlad is left standing there, heaving for breath as electricity continues to flow.
“How does it feel, Plasmius?! To have it stripped away from you? A taste of your own medicine!”
When Phantom finally lets go of the taser, Vlad whips his head up, “I was trying to help you! I protected this town in your absence! I could have protected you if you’d just listen-“
“You were the one that handed me over to them!” Danny screams. He refuses, outright refuses, to listen to any more of Vlad’s manipulations, “And they killed me!”
Vlad reels back.
He struggles to regain his composure, “It was never meant to go like this, I-“
“Oh I know all about your little plan, Plasmius. To get me to like you, to trick me into thinking you saved me..” Danny says with visceral anger. Each time getting closer to him.
Vlad takes a forcefully deep breath and straightens the sleeves of his suit, “Yes, well.. every king must make sacrifices to win the game. It was just-“
“I am NOT your pawn!” Phantom yells and fires off an ectoblast. He keeps going, one after the other, not even noticing as the balls of ectoplasm grow shards of ice and freeze over, he just wants Vlad to stop, to stop talking, stop lying, stop breathing-
“Phantom!” A familiar voice shouts.
Phantom freezes, fist poised above Vlad Plasmius’s bloody face. Red mixes with pink and flecks of green. He doesn’t even care.
He feels like he should be heaving for breath with the effort of fighting. But he’s not.
Yet another thing Vlad has taken from him.
“So dark, Daniel,” Vlad tsks with a wince and whispers bailfully, “it’s a wonder you fit in with those heroes at all..”
“Raah!” Phantom reels his arm back with a shout, ready to slam it into his face-
Only to have it stopped by strong hands holding him back.
He tries to phase through, but when he looks back, Plasmius is already on the other side of the room. Dumped there in a rush by Kid Flash.
“Phantom, this isn’t how we do things. You need to calm down,” Superboy says from beside Phantom.
“Calm down?! Calm down?!Wouldyou calm down if it was Luthor?!” Phantom yells as he stands, “Or-or- Black Manta?! Or Sportsmaster?!-“ he gestures at Aqualad and then Artemis.
“That’s not the same Phantom!” Artemis says vehemently.
“Yes it is! He doesn’t deserve your protection! Not after everything he did!”
“You almost killed him, Phantom!” Robin shouts.
“Then Fine! No one would miss him! Why shouldn’t I-!”
“We don’t kill, Phantom!”
“Hekilledme!” Danny feels his eyes flare with the shout, his words echoing louder, bordering on his wail, “He stuck me like this, trapped me, and then handed me over to the GiW to let me die! Why does he deserve to keep what he took from me!”
“Because it’s not yours to take!” Artemis says, “Don’t you get it? This is what he wants from you. To stoop to his level, to be just like him. Is that really what you want?”
Righteous anger surges through him.
“HeERASEDME!“ Danny wails, his voice throwing the team back, even Superboy being pushed halfway.
All he wants is to be okay, to be happy and safe and free.
To be able to live.
And that can’t happen with Vlad still here.
He looks back to where Vlad now sits alone.
Vlad chuckles at the destruction as he struggles to sit up, “We could be so powerful together, Little Badger.. If only you would see-”
“I’m never joining you Plasmius! What don’t you get about that!? I’m nothing like you, I protect people! Protect my friends, my family, my team!“
Vlad snarls, “You think you’re better than me? How are you better when you’re the one hurting them!?” He points to the side and Phantom follows his finger.
His team lays there,
Artemis,
Robin,
Aqualad, and Kid Flash, all slowly groaning and trying to get up.
Superboy has blood leaking out of his ear and M’gann.. M’gann’s still completely unconscious. She must’ve hit her head when his wail threw them back.
Whenhiswail…
his.
He did this. Not Vlad, Phantom.
His eyes widen and he rushes over to his friends, hands wild and desperate.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to! I was just so angry and I-“
Wally lifts a hand to stop him, giving a weak smile, “Man, it’s okay, we get it. We know you’d never hurt us on purpose.”
“But I-“
“Dude, none of this is your fault and we don’t blame you for it. So just chill and let us get our hearing back for a second, okay?”
Phantom steps back as the team slowly gets to their feet, shaking it off like it’s nothing. The nervous clamp of guilt around his heart loosens, if only barely.
Even M’gann is fine after a small shake of her shoulder. He can’t believe he lost control like that.
Robin is the first to start speaking.
“You understand why we stopped you, right Phantom? Why we couldn’t let you kill him?”
Danny averts his eyes, breathing deeply, “Yes, I just..” Danny runs his hands through his hair roughly and shakes his head, “It doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t have hurt you.”
Superboy raises an eyebrow, “I’m just surprised you were able to.”
“Daniel is stronger than any of you know. Than even he gives himself credit for,” Vlad’s voice sounds from the other side of the room and they all look over, “And he squanders it playing hero like the rest of you.” Vlad spits the words like they’re a disgrace.
Righteous anger roils up in Phantom’s core again. This time, though, he knows what he wants from it.
Phantom stomps over to Vlad, purposefully making his steps loud, and grabs him by the front of his shirt.
He ignores his teams halted actions behind him and pulls Vlad’s face up inches away from his own, “I don’t really care what you think of me, Plasmius. And I don’t need to. Here’s what you are going to do. You’re going to pull yourself together, tell me how to help my parents,” Phantom leans in, eyes glowing viciously, “And then you are going to fix it.”
Vlad eyes were wide as he tried to retort, voice wavering, “You think you scare mechild-?”
“And if you don’t,” Phantom growls, “I will expose your secret to the rest of the world. My parents, the town, the GiW. I wonder if they’ll come up with anything new for you, Vlad. Or maybe you’ll end up as just another cheap knockoff.”
Phantom pushes Vlad off him, staring down from above, “I have nothing to lose anymore, Vlad. You made sure of that when you took all of it from me. But you still have everything, and I am happy to return the favor.”
The team approaches from behind to stand with him.
“I believe you should listen to him, Plasmius. You are vastly outnumbered.” Aqualad says with a glare.
Superboy hits his fists together, “And overpowered.“ He growls.
Vlad scowls and wipes green-tinted blood off his faces. He hesitates for a second, “Their mental data was funneled into a device. I’d originally planned to use it on you before them but-“
M’gann’s eyes light up with a glare behind Phantom.
“Evidently I didn’t,” he rushes, then, “I can easily modify to return them. If you would be so kind as to allow me my tools.”
Phantom looks down at him with narrowed eyes, “Fine. Do it.”
Vlad nods and moves to get up, stuttering when a batarang lands between his fingers on the floor.
“If you try anything, we won’t hesitate, Masters,” Robin says, purposefully using the man’s real name.
Vlad lip curls in distaste, but he relents, “Of course.”
As soon as he’s up, Vlad heads over to one of the non-destroyed shelves in the room. He pulls back a secret keypad, opening a compartment high on the wall.
“If you would, Daniel?” He motions at it with his eyes, “I seem to be in too rough a shape to grab that myself.”
Instead, M’gann’s eyes light up and the object inside floats down by itself, landing heavily and roughly in Vlad’s arms. He almost falls with the new weight.
The object is a round, elliptical container with several technical looking designs, locks and buttons. The edges and lines of it pulse with glowing blue.
“I just have to make the modifications for it to release your parents memory data,” Vlad says as he limps towards a workbench. Phantom floats right behind him.
“Must you linger so close, Daniel?”
“I’m not letting you out of my sight until I know you can’t try anything. You might not be able to transform right now but I’m not fool enough to think that means you’re harmless.” Phantom says as he floats over to lean against the far side of the table and ignore Vlad as much as he can.
Vlad gives a wry smirk and purses his lips, “Then at least I’ve taught you something.”
Artemis scoffs, “Phantom didn’t get anything from you, creep. He’s nothing like you.”
Vlad snarls lowly at the female archer approaching him, “I made him what he is! I gave him a goal and purpose!”
“You hurt a perfectly good person is what you did!” Artemis sweeps out a hand to gesture at Phantom, “Look at him! He’s got trauma!”
Phantom snorts with laughter at the end of the table.
Neither of them notice the way Vlad’s eyes soften with sadness and regret as he looks at Phantom. He quickly turns instead to focusing on the modifications needed on the machine.
As Wally steers Artemis away to discuss with the team, Danny splits his attention between half-listening to them and watching Vlad in his peripheral.
As time creeps forward, he notices Vlad keeping sneaking glances at Danny out of the corner of his eye. It’s almost as annoying as him talking, but that’s a veryhigh bar.
“Are you really..? Your other half, I mean..” Vlad says hesitantly, again looking at him from the corner of his eye, not quite looking away from the machine.
Andthere’s the annoying talking thing.
“Shut it, Plasmius, I still fricking hate you,” Phantom says without even glancing his way.
Vlad turns back to his invention.
A few seconds pass by, then- “But yes, I’m fully dead now. A ghost through and through.” Phantom says quietly, his hair hanging over his eyes.
Vlad’s shoulders crumple, he stares emptily at the gears in front of him, “Then I am alone once again.”
Danny scoffs, “Only ‘cuz you choose to be, Vlad,” he says and pushes away from the table.
As he walks over, the team peppers him with questions. Phantom explains it briefly; the taser, Vlad’s plan, how the GiW got him.
There’s still a few gaps from the haze of pain; between getting taken and waking up, all he remembers is feeling suffocated, drowning and surrounded by…something.
Assumedly when the corrupted ectoplasm was put into his system. The entire experience is still a blur of ‘Who am I?’and‘Don’t know, don’t know.’ and‘Find out. Explore. Discover… who?’
The team backs off when he goes quiet, evidently unable to make sense of any more than they already knew.
A somber stillness settles over them, the team and Phantom keeping a watchful eye on Vlad until he straightens from his work on the machine and breaks the silence.
“It’s done,” he says.
“And you’re sure it’ll work?”
Vlad scowls, “You doubt me, Daniel?”
“Highly.” Danny replies with an angry look.
Vlad sighs but hands it over all the same, “It will work, just press this button there and their minds will be restored. Though I can’t imagine Jack has much of a mind to restore to begin with.” He mutters.
“Better than whatever shriveled up mess you’ve thrifted for a heart, Fruit Loop.” Phantom takes the machine and turns to his team, already rising in the air, “Let’s go, guys, our work here is done.”
“Ungrateful child,” Vlad snarls to Danny’s back and scowls, “I’d be careful out there, Daniel. You never know-“
Superboy’s fist slams into his face, hitting him solidly in the jaw. He watches as Vlad hits the ground, unconscious, with a satisfying thump. Superboy jabs a finger out, “That was for Dani, you smarmy jerk.”
The team stares at him with wide eyes.
Superboy raises his chin and stomps past them, “He talked too much.”
Phantom blinks slowly.
A smile creeps onto his face as warmth blooms in his chest.
He laughs brightly, “Feel free to punch Vlad anytime, SB.”
Superboy gives a gruff nod and the team continues to follow Phantom as he floats through the hallways to the mansion’s exit.
As they make their way out, Robin is able to send a small update to Batman. It’s the first time he’s had a chance since they’d met Red Huntress. Confirming that ‘No, B. We don’t need full League response. We have it handled. Yes I’m sure.’
It’s seconds after he hangs up that the team steps out of the building only to be confronted by a veritable army of white vans pulled up in front of them. The side of each marked with the black blocky letters ‘GIW’ and agents standing with ecto-guns aimed directly at them.
The team freezes, filled with dread-
“Damn Daniel…” Wally says breathily, “Back at it again with the white vans.”
Robin wants to laugh, but the dread curling in his stomach chokes it, “Maybe I should’ve accepted Batman’s offer for backup.”
“Ya think?” Artemis says sarcastically, slowly angling towards her bow.
“Maneuver 26? Smoke and Evade?” Robin asks with a raised eyebrow.
“Works for me, Rob.“
“M’gann, link us up.”
“Ready.”
Robin sees an agent step forward and acts on reflex. He smashes a smoke bomb to ground.
He can feel the team around him as they shoot forward and fight to clear a path.
The crowd of agents starts shooting randomly, no wait, not randomly-
“Phantom!” Aqualad shouts in their minds.
Robin turns back to see the shadowed figure of Phantom still in the smoke cloud.
Green blasts light up the dust, back and forth, both natural and manufactured, silhouetting his fight in neon snapshots.
“Phantom! Get out of there!“
“What are you doing, we need to run! We can’t fight them all!”
There’s a second of hesitation before Phantom’s voice echoes across their mindscape,
Hello anonymous person! Here is your request, I hope you do not disappoint. I do not know, I think this would be the closest thing to Jack, Maddie and Vlad in genderbender. Hope you like it and all too. If someone else wants me for something in particular, feel free to do so. Come into my blog and send your question in the section that says: “Ask whatever you want”
Jack stiffly continued his walk into the kitchen and, grabbing a stool next to Phantom, sat down and placed his gun on the counter. A black glove tapped against the stone somewhat debating. “ Why are you here spook?”
Phantom snorted, “ Protecting people, fighting ghosts…. The family business I suppose?”
Jack glared, “ You know that’s not what I’m asking Phantom.”
Phantom’s green eyes dimmed and he hugged a knee to his chest. “You’re asking why I exist?”
Jack looked to the teen tiredly, “I guess I am.”
Daniel winced, “ Is it wrong? To want to live for others? To do the right thing…?
Jack paused and stared up to Phantom questioningly, “ Odd choice of words. You know you’re dead right?”
Daniel grimaced and snorted, “Am I really?” He chuckled bitterly, “ You know what? I think I’ve been dead inside for nearly two years now… Tell me da-Jack.” Daniel corrected and then continued, “ Am I really evil? Is my existence that big of a sin? What if I really wasn’t a ghost? What if I was something more?”
Jack raised an eyebrow and stared into the counter. “ But you aren’t. You’re not alive. Living people can’t do what you do. They’d die.You’re the ghost of some poor kid that couldn’t move on.”
(WOW! I Can’t believe how many likes this segment of the fic got! It’s being posted to AO3 at a rate of 3 chapters a day starting now but I feel obligated to drop a hint as to where this conversation actually veers. Warnings: Language and angst. ENJOY)
Daniel’s features cracked and his expression became broken. Rubbing his knee against his closed eyelid until he could see spots, he peaked his other green eye toward Jack. “ For someone who hunts the unknown and looks to every possibility you can be so narrow-minded.”
Jack rolled his eyes and motioned around himself, “ What am I supposed to think? Ghosts cause nothing but grief and heartache. They’re shadows that can’t-”
Daniel shot up from the counter and slammed his boots into the floor. New tears plastered through his glowing green freckles in waves and adorned his tanned skin like small pearlescent jewels. “-FEEL? YOU THINK WE’RE EMOTIONLESS?!?! FREE OF PAIN?!?! NEWS FLASH! I FEEL, DAMN IT! I FEEL YOUR WORDS, EVERY GODDAMNED STABBING SYLLABLE! I FEEL PAIN! I FEEL THE BLASTS! EVERY SINGLE SEARING BUZZ AND ZAPP THAT RICHOTETS THROUGH MY FLESH A MILLION TIMES MORE THAN A NORMAL WOUND! I FEEL EVERY SINGLE HIT THAT CONNECTS! I’M A HUMAN BEING FIRST!”
Jack stiffened and looked to the boy in confusion. Reaching a hand out to his shoulder and feeling solidity he froze. Daniel phased through his grasp. “ AM I THAT BIG OF A MONSTER? WASN’T I A PART OF YOUR WORLD FIRST?!?!”
Jack grimaced and his brow furrowed. “ Let’s change the topic Phantom.” His voice cracked. The ghost teen, despite the subtle glow and the echo in his voice deeply reminded him of Daniel.
Phantom screeched, “ Weren’t you the one who wanted answers? I feel! Ghosts feel! And ironically? Human beings have injured me more than the ghouls I fight! Do you have any idea how fucked up that is?!?”
Jack froze and dug a hand through his hair before bitterly snapping, “HOW? HOW CAN YOU FEEL ANYTHING? YOU DON’T HAVE NERVES OR LIVING TISSUE!”
The teenager dug his hands through his own hair and winced before turning away from his father. His voice fell and the water accumulating on his face splattered against the tile. “We’re the essence of feeling! The soul’s form of mind! We are nothing but feeling and emotion! How can you just negate that? Is it because ghosts don’t have physical bodies? I mean FUCK!”
Jack winced and turned away from the teen. “That’s enough Phantom.”
Daniel whipped around and unzipped a portion of his jumpsuit. Jack looked up at the sound and paled at what met his gaze. “ENOUGH?” A large blast mark he had received during his first year lay scarred over on the left side of his chest. “ You think it’s enough? How do you think it feels? To have your own par-” Daniel stopped and yanked up the zipper to conceal the damage.
Jack sat glassy-eyed, just blankly staring at Daniel’s now covered chest. He remembered that night. The image of the boy crying out in agony and gripping his dripping torso as he fell into the park still haunted his dreams. That human scream, those horrified and frightened green eyes…. Jack wasn’t one for regrets, he tended to reason his work as justified… but that night had undoubtedly changed his views on Phantom. He had even begun missing shots on purpose just to avoid having to see the same scene transpire. To now know that pain was possible or even plausible left a heavyweight in his stomach.
Phantom flung his free wrist out as he wiped away the water on his face, “What are you still doing here Jack? Go home!”
Jack jostled from his recollections and averted his gaze. “ I have some questions…”
Daniel snorted angrily, “Of course you do… What do I need to answer in order for you to leave?”
Jack snickered, “ First? Who were the two spooks from earlier?”
Daniel’s eyes flashed up and sparked menacingly, “ Sadistic fuckers with a taste for blood. They’re monsters.”
Jack paused at the glint in Daniel’s eyes and pushed, “ Do you know them?”
Daniel cringed and looked to Jack in disgust and disbelief, “ Just what are you implying? Do you honestly think I’d associate with that scum?”
Jack quirked an eyebrow, “ They seemed to know you Phantom.”
Daniel rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. Pulling out a stool with his ecto-energy, the teenager tiredly sat down, “ If you haven’t noticed my line of work doesn’t exactly make me any friends, human or ghost. I’m positive whatever they mentioned about me was probably a negative relation. Beating ghosts up and stuffing them back through to their dimension doesn’t exactly make me a class favorite if you catch my drift.”
“ So you don’t know who they are?” Jack concluded flatly.
Daniel snickered and charged a hand threateningly. “ They better hope I don’t figure out any time soon…” Snarling, the teen subconsciously flared his core, causing a massive temperature drop. Jack sat unaffected by the sudden change as Phantom hissed inhumanly, “After what they’ve pulled? They’d be lucky if I left enough ectoplasm to fill a matchbox after I get ahold of them.”
Jack nodded absently as the white-haired youth extinguished the glowing mass in his hand. Taking a moment of quiet contemplation, he waited for the unsettling neon blue to fade from the boy’s eyes and then asked, “ They mentioned someone else to… Who’s Plasmius?”
Daniel stiffened and looked up to Jack apprehensively, “ He’s none of your concern.”
Anger flashed across the man’s face, “ Not my concern? You seem to forget I have a part in this mess now!”
Daniel raised an eyebrow and flippantly flicked his wrist outward, “ And what do you need to know about him? Better yet? What did those demons say about him?”
Jack pondered the teen’s question and off handled answered,“ They mentioned him in passing, the same as you.”
Daniel sighed heavily, “ If I answer you’ll leave so I can handle this right?”
Jack nodded in agreement and Daniel answered tiredly, “ You’ve met him before at Vladimir’s castle in Wisconsin. Pointy ears? Blue skin? A Romanian prince knockoff with a cheap costume?” Daniel rubbed his eyes and crossed his arms. “I think you and Maddie call him the Wisconsin Ghost?”
Jack’s voice echoed with malice, “That crazy son of a bitch is in on this?”
Phantom winced and stared up to Jack in confusion. “ Aren’t you being a little harsh?”
Jack snorted. “ Oh, forgive me… I seem to remember that freak possessing me, trying to steal my portal and threatening my family! Hell? You even teamed up with me to kick his ass out of my lab!”
Daniel tiredly rubbed his brow and turned to stand. Floating by the bar stool he languidly spoke in a hushed tone. “Everyone screws up. Things happen. That’s life. He’s made mistakes but he’s not the villain here.”
Jack snorted, “ Sure…”
Daniel voice softened, “ He’s not our enemy.”
Jack glared into the counter, “ I think we’re done here.” Holstering his weapon and standing from his stool, he made a move toward the door.
Phantom reached out and stopped him. “ Wait a second…. I know that look. What are you planning?”
Jack smiled cooly. “ Nothing that concerns you.”
Daniel’s eyes widened and his mouth became a tight scowl. “ If you haven’t noticed I’m already a part of this? Not to throw your own words back at you but here we are…”
Jack paused and laughed lightly. “Am I that readable to you?”
Daniel shrugged, “ No… not usually. But I’m familiar with that look. It’s the same look you give when you read about a ghost attack or some random spook and decide to go poking around.”
Pausing, Daniel prodded, “ What are you planning on doing?”
Jack turned to face the teen and pointed to the ceiling. “ If we’re playing twenty questions, why don’t you explain to me what happened in that room?”
Daniel flinched and locking his gaze with his father’s baby blue eyes he spat. “ I was under the impression you were going to leave things alone for me to handle Jack!”
“ You know something don’t you?” Jack calmly countered. Phantom’s eyes immediately broke contact and Jack snarled, “ You spooks never change! You do nothing but lie and harm people constantly.” Pulling out the gun and cutting off the safety with his thumb he aimed it toward the duplicate. “ Tell me what happened Phantom.”
Daniel’s head whipped up and something akin to terror and grief flashed across his features. That single expression crushed any resolve the adult could possibly have hoped to summon in order to pull the trigger. It was pure betrayal and heartache. Closing his eyes, Phantom spoke. “I can’t.”
Jack’s hands shook. “ And why not?”
Biting his lip and still keeping his eyes shut tight, the duplicate pleaded, “ I just can’t! It’ll hurt too many people! Please.”
Jack winced, “ And who could it possibly hurt?”
Daniel’s eyes flashed open and his hand drummed against his own chest, “ IT’LL HURT MY FAMILY!” Taking a ragged breath, which went unnoticed by the startled parent, he continued, “ You’re right! I’m dishonest! I lie constantly… but you know what? I lie to protect the people I love! I’m human …. was a human… I lie because I have no choice. To prevent the people I care about from suffering I’d gladly lie a thousand times over even if it costs me your faith!”
‘ Even if my own father hates me… It’s better he doesn’t know…’
“If you love someone wouldn’t you do the same?!?!?”
Brilliant green eyes locked with Jack’s blue and the man felt his hand loosening on his gun. Sighing he flicked back on the safety and tucked the weapon back into his belt.
“ I’d do the same thing for my family in a heartbeat Phantom. I understand where you’re coming from….but not telling me endangers my family.”
Phantom’s eyes saddened and he rubbed his arm tiredly. “ But if I tell you your family will be put in more danger. Jack, please? Just trust me? I know that it’s hard for you given that I’m-” Phantom flinched and swallowed.
Special thankx to all of the wonderful fanfiction writers that saw the first segment and made an absoultly lit parady fic off of each others writing! I ENJOYED EVERY NEW PIECE OF CONTENT ADDED<3 AND ANOTHER THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO REBLOGGED or COMMENTED<3
Sometimes it’s best to start a story near the end. This end, however, is one of many. Death is unbiased, life is unbiased. Every action has a definitive reaction and every moment has an effect on another.
Daniel Lee Fenton had a fairly standard childhood growing up in a home-based prosthetic clinic….. Well, as standard as possible when his parents’ hobbies centered on the paranormal. Galvanized metal, wires, buckets of bolts and strange glowing lights synthesized from artificial ectoplasm littered everything. Ectoplasm was the energy source of the future, more potent than a battery or electricity and able to adapt remarkably with the human nervous system. A bioenergy that could synchronize with lost musculature and human anatomy flawless. Phantom limbs could be given new life with bioelectronics and precise engineering so that veterans could walk, the deaf could hear and those paralyzed could achieve mobility again. The science was still considered new, the resources and grants for research limited. And so? Only the rich could afford the prosthetics. Athletes, lawyers that had lost limbs to cancer, notable figures in the government… All given with a signed release form prior to the attachments or products being fashioned and placed with Madeline Fenton’s renowned expertise for adjustment and nerve assessment. But there was a snag with the research. Artificial ectoplasm tended to lose energy after a few years and parts needed to be replaced regularly to prevent corrosion or loss of movement. This, of course, led to the obvious need to conserve funds and resources which lead to experimentation in the home.
His parents, the people who were wary of the paranormal and claimed ghosts as a danger, began cobbling together ‘the portal’ when Daniel was nine. A portal to an uncharted layer of reality between death and life. The venture was a bid to gather naturally occurring ectoplasm for prosthetics. Naturally occurrent ectoplasm was far more stable and lasted longer than the artificial variety and didn’t need charged prior to use.
The portal didn’t help the rumors circulating in town. Ghostbuster knockoffs, spook cooks, the Fenton Menaces… Their reputations preceded them everywhere they went and starting in high school the taunts and bullying had begun in earnest for their youngest child.
Daniel still had his friends though, a socially awkward geek named Tucker and an eccentric goth named Sam.
The portal was always a passing topic of discussion. Wiring seemingly damaged, odd cuts in the panels, damaged service hatches and parts. Things just tended to be out of sorts around or with the portal in one way or the other.
And regrettably, it had failed to cut on again during a test run. The master cord to the grid had been plugged in two days prior and all they had gotten was a few zaps. Power just couldn’t divert properly through the artificial ectoplasm circulating in the filtration housing chamber. Dr. Fenton was at her wit’s end and both parents had decided that it may just be time to cut their losses and simply rely on improving the artificial ectoplasm. Plans for sending in a drone on New Year’s day to activate the internal components were now on hiatus until further notice. The readouts on the front of the portal read the same no matter what they tried so power input would just fry the circuitry.
What the Fenton patriarchs did not know was that the portal was going to activate under a set of rather extraordinary circumstances while they were away visiting a patient. The date was December 29th, 2015, four days after Daniel’s fourteenth birthday. His sister Jazmine had gone to the store for cocoa and marshmallows so he and his two friends could celebrate him turning fourteen together before New Years’.
Said teen was currently leading his friends down to the basement, smiling brightly. “Okay, so I’ve been working on something. Don’t laugh okay?”
Sam smiled and Tucker smirked. Adjusting his glasses, Tucker’s greyish green eyes locked with Daniel’s blue smugly, “The only way I would laugh at you is if you were going to try gifting that ‘gag’ toilet paper to us as a party favor.”
Daniel cringed at the mention of the toilet paper his father had ordered with his face pressed into the ply. A gag gift that regrettably had come in bulk to the clinic and most certainly was a regret purchase compared to the normal ‘Fenton Works Prosthetics’ logo Jack Fenton usually ordered for the building.
“Yeah, no. I’m not giving you guys toilet paper with my dad’s face on it.” Then Daniel turned toward a medical locker near the stairs and opened it. Rustling through the sheets and some spare pajama sets used for patients staying overnight in the observation’s center. “Besides I said I’ve been working on something.”
Hands grabbed a bundle of white fabric and pulled it out so it could be unveiled in front of the two with a flourish. Tucker whistled and looked over the modified hazmat suit with a smile, “You cut off the face part?”
Daniel nodded with a beaming smile and pointed to the black collar on the suit, “I don’t need it once I make the helmet.”
Sam’s gloved hand reached out and thumbed a patch on the left shoulder of the suit. There were three. A space pilot patch, a radioactive symbol patch, and a Colorado State patch. The top was triangular, the middle circular and the bottom rectangular. On each shoulder, there was a black tab of fabric meant to look like a uniform’s epaulettes. Padding had obviously been added in at the knees and the elbows, clearly defined by careful little black stitches in the white fabric.
Tucker whistled, “That’s probably one of the coolest space suit costumes I’ve seen.”
Daniel grinned dopely, “ I know right? I got the idea watching Star Trek and found a spare hazmat suit to toy around with in the vault.”
Sam nodded and her hand went to her ‘vintage’ polaroid smugly before she snapped a photo of the intrepid explorer and his suit. The photo shot out with an electric whirring and she shook it out with a grin. “So have you tried it on yet or?”
Daniel rubbed the back of his neck nervously and his freckled face scrunched with embarrassment. “Eh…no actually. Mom and Dad have been working on the portal the last week and I couldn’t get down here to try it out.”
Sam smiled brightly and dragged his arm toward the center space of the lab, past the shelves and near the round portal bordered by hazard stripes and safety protocol signs. “Try it on.”
Daniel grinned and nodded before glancing to the portal, “You know what maybe we should get some photos inside the portal?”
Tucker raised an eyebrow, “The supposedly dangerous portal bordered by stickers and signs warning about electrocution?”
Daniel smiled sadly and rubbed the back of his neck, “Actually my folks are probably going to convert the space into another vault…The energy readings keep flatlining so opening an actual tear through dimensions or even getting the ‘operations’ light on the top is going to be an impossibility. Dad blames ghosts.”
Tucker snorted, “Really?”
Sam looked to the portal and sighed, “So all of that work-”
“-is toast. Botched. Scraped.” Daniel answered dejectedly. “They tried plugging it in and the entire grid flatlined. It didn’t even read on the machinery.”
Then his eyes went to the portal, “But I think it’s something to do with the breaker panel. They thought it fried but I think the breaker flipped.”
Tucker crouched down and looked into the space, lifting a refurbished PDA and his Samsung to take a photo. The PDA lit up the dark corner while the phone’s camera clicked. “But the panel is in the back of the portal right?”
Daniel nodded, “Yep.” There was a glance into the briefly illuminated space. The glowing emergency strips embedded in the sides of the structure and on the floor briefly caught the light and reflected a neon green in his blue eyes.
Sam gave a soft smile as he tugged on the boot portion of his suit, “Over here space cadet.”
A photo was snapped and she took the photo out as she looked down to Tucker to get his attention, “I think he looks pretty cool in his dopey white suit.”
Tucker snorted and looked up, “It would be wayyyyy cooler with the ladies if it was black. Full bad boy ghostbuster vibes.” Then Tucker laughed into his hand, “ Or a plumber.”
Daniel rolled blue eyes as he inspected the inside of the machine. “Ha.Ha.Ha.”
‘Wouldn’t it be cool if I got it working?’
Sam hummed behind him. “You know Friar Tuck may be right… Black is a pretty good color.”
‘I wonder what could be on that other side. The next frontier?’
There was a reach of a gloved hand to zip the suit. “It’s an astronaut suit, not a ghostbusters suit guys.”
Sam chuckled and smiled, “Whatever you say Venkman.”
Daniel snorted at Sam’s words and went to think of a retort when a black boot caught a cord on the floor. Body pivoted forward in free fall and blue eyes were wide as a hand pressed forward. Then the world ripped to pieces and shattered in an instant as his hand brushed the internal ‘on’ switch. The very one his parents had planned on pressing with a drone for New Years prior to the supposed short. Electricity like lightning crackled up limbs and the machinery on the outside of the portal whirred to life, flashing an otherworldly green. Daniel was oblivious to it as his body and very soul were ripped to and fro like a ship in a storm, darting between light and the portal’s harsh metal walls. Energy arched and a warped as a terrified scream resonated. Skin flickered transparent, vine-like lines of energy morphing and flickering under the flesh in lightning patterns.
Everything burned as the air was ripped away and back arched before he slammed back against the far wall. Something was forming at the end of the tunnel. Water dripped down cheeks, glowing and fizzling in the overly bright space. Seconds felt like an eternity and tears dissipated to nothingness as green sprung out and ripped the boy apart, restitching and recreating him in an instant. The burning felt bone-deep as he continued crying out, vomiting and clawing the air in terror. Something snapped in his chest as he fell forward so a gloved hand, briefly white, shifted back to black.
Boots crawled against the floor, sluggish and incoherent as stray sparks from the gateway latched onto his limbs, each one flickering and warping like mist before solidifying. A hand clawed near the outside edge of the portal. Sam and Tucker screamed and then his friends were tugging him out.
“DANNY! Danny oh’ god! Wake up!” Sam was crying, face streaked and mascara running down her cheeks.
Tucker thumbed a hand to Daniel’s neck, “He’s alive. I think he’s just in shock. Sammy help me, we have to call 911.”
Daniel’s eyes flickered green and a hand numbly reached for Tucker only to pass through him. Tucker went wide-eyed and screamed in horror. “Oh god, he just-”
Sam dropped her phone and the screen cracked against the metal flooring. A trembling hand went to her mouth and there was a panicked look to Tucker. They had killed their best friend. Daniel’s hand resolidified against his stomach with a weak flop and eyes, a bright inhuman and glowing green fluttered before closing. Tucker took a calming breath, checked Daniel’s pulse again and quickly unzipped the hazmat suit. Faint glowing green burn lines could be seen snaking under and around arms “Sam? Grab the boots and pull.”
Purple nails scraped into the black rubber and yanked while Tucker lifted Daniel’s legs up and began detangling them from the suit.
Soon the duo were sliding their friend over their shoulders and carrying him up the basement stairs. From there? There was a turn out of the kitchen into the lounge and then to his room on the second floor across from Jazmine’s.
A car could be heard pulling up outside, not the telltale loud thumping of wheels from the Fenton’s preferred method of transportation but rather the sounds of Jazmine’s small 2010 Toyota Corollol rolling into the garage at the back of the house. Both teens froze on the stairs, wide-eyed and terrified before rushing up the last few steps and into Daniel’s room. Band posters and comic books blew with the force of the door.
Tucker lifted Daniel up, blinking at how light he was before rushing the teen to his bed in the center of the room to their left. The window curtains blew slightly and Sam rushed over to them to slam the opening shut as Tucker pulled a blanket over Daniel. There was a direct look to Sam, “We need to distract her. If he’s a ghost.Sam- He has a pulse but…You saw that right?”
“I know. We need to distract Jaz until Danny wakes up then we need to call the Fenton’s…” Sam replied, shoving the singed and burnt space suit on to the floor with her camera before grabbing Tucker’s arm and rushing them out of the room and downstairs.
Jaz was kicking off her shoes just outside of the garage and looked towards them as they turned into the hall next to the living room, “Sorry I was held up. The craziest this really, a power outage clocked off the stoplights up the street so I had to reroute.” There was a pull off a scarf and a toss of a pink jacket onto a hook before Jaz raised an eyebrow, “Where’s Danny?”
Sam looked upstairs and pointed, “Sleeping. He conked out pretty hard and told us to wake him up in a bit.”
Jaz raised an eyebrow but nodded, grabbing the two bags on the bench below the coat rack and going toward the direction of the kitchen, “I’ll start the coco up. Can you two find a movie that isn’t Christmas themed? His birthday was pretty lackluster again thanks to the portal shenanigans.”
Tucker nodded and went to the living room, clearing away various boxes and gizmos from the couch but still stealing glances upstairs. Sam was the same, looking up every few seconds as if silently praying Daniel would wake up on his own.
Regrettably, they got their wish. Daniel woke up, scared and alone in his bedroom with a seemingly over itchy wool blanket rubbing against the light burns on his arms. His Casper High t-shirt was totaled with a hole burned straight through the red circular school logo on his breast. A hand clutched to his heart shakily, feeling it beating through icy skin. Then the real nightmare began. He fell. Fell right through every layer of his home to sprawl semiconscious on the floor of the basement lab
Eyes teared and fingers clawed into the metal grating as stomach did somersaults. Fingertips and legs felt like they had fallen asleep or possible had been microwaved after being frozen. Blue converse squeaked clumsy to run to the lab sink. Eyes…Oh god, his eyes and-
Then he screamed as he backed up. Clothes were shifting and warping, lungs ripping away and feet catching in the floor like quicksand before a beeping emanated from the workbench. Then the gun went off. The gun his parents had made to protect from ‘ghosts’. A dud on any other day. Jazmine ran down the stairs at the scream as did Tucker and Sam but all they found was droplets of what looked like artificial ectoplasm splattered with red. Daniel shivered against himself, holding his chest wide-eyed and terrified at a simple realization. He was invisible to them. Then he ran, up the stairs, through the kitchen and the lounge and right up the stairs leading to the second floor before he hit his room and slammed the door shut.
Skidding to a halt near his closet, he ducked in and hugged his chest to his knees, rocking back and forth until static reached out from his center and made him more solid, and heavy. Like water added to a tank. Fingers clenched into hair, breathing stuttering as lungs fully regrew for fresh air between panicked and muffled sobs.
Danny Lee Fenton was now the one thing his parents had adamantly claimed as a monster from the time he could walk. Fingers clutched the bleeding wound on his chest numbly, tearing in slightly to the point it was almost blackout inducing. He needed to get rid of the clothes…To hide this before his sister and friends saw.
Ripping off his t-shirt and tossing it under the bed, one thing was for certain. He could never tell his mom and dad. Not what he had done…Not the fact he had gone into the portal out of a foolish sense of adventure or pride….And certainly not because a part of him had taken pride in the fact that he, just maybe, could get their attention for the first time in months.
And so Daniel hid it and two years passed. Two years of stumbling through adolescence and puberty and making himself into a sort of vigilante with their equipment. The portal worked and ghosts seemed to come out of it more often than not to stake claim or muck up the day to day lives of Amity Park, Colorado.
Armed with a soup canister he faced many villainous ghosts and over time had lamented the exploits into an almost comical rendition to make up for how depressed and anxious he had become. Life just seemed to go on.
One such villainous entity was Vladimir Masters, a halfa, who seemed more Disney villain than reality…
He loathed that man whose very existence pivoted on harebrained schemes. Attempted murders via ghostly henchmen, plots against his father at a highschool reunion via a possession, join the dark sides speeches, giving a teenager ecto weapons to kill her classmates, stranding Daniel and his mother in the Rockies just outside of Wyoming, then the skeleton key search resulting in a ghost hunt with Daniel’s head on the line, thievery against a ghost that pulled Amity Park, Colorado into the ‘zone….Then Vlad became the mayor of said town through a ‘rigged election’ in May of 2018.
Then things got dark. Very dark. There had been clones of Daniel made by the other halfa. Daniel considered it one of Vladimir’s acts of desperation for a family, warped and twisted as each ‘clone’ faded save for a girl. The young ‘clone’ and Daniel defeated Vladimir and left him in the wreckage of his hunting lodge. Then there was the capture of said clone for genetic material only a few months later. And then there was the giant asteroid that got swatted on a collision course with Earth because of Vlad…
Little did Daniel know, he was part of a much larger story…
Jack was checking the sample he had gathered from Vladimir’s home for probably the hundredth time that evening under the microscope in the lab. No matter how many times he checked the same anomalies kept popping up. For one thing? This strain of ectoplasm wasn’t the regular run of the mill sample Maddie and him would gather on their normal automated rover explorations into the zone.
Spectral ectoplasm, in essence, was an energy source that mimicked both liquid and solid properties while maintaining a consistent charge. At its base level, it looked extraordinarily like the clear, gell-ish outer layer of the amoeboid cells that were christened with the same name. The way it could stand rigid and also give to pressure like the small walls seen in the glass slides of laboratories across the globe had only added to the association.
Spectral ectoplasm, however, was not absent of the nodes or granials that the living counterpart lacked. Each segment would fluctuate and spike as energy was continually generated from within the ghost slime. There were no truly organic forms within ectoplasm or ectoplasmic energy. At least not living forms. The liquid had components that looked more like stacks of crystalline building blocks floating within neon green or blue jelly. Maddie and him had even begun researching its compatibility and similarities to known elements and had started their most recent thesis on its uses. Both had even discussed the possibility of adding it to the current periodic table after more data was gathered.
This sample rewrote all of the known rules Maddie and him had been studying and cataloging for months. Most striking of all? It had organic components… It had cells. Or at least newly generated structures that mimicked cells. At first, he had hypothesized cross-contamination from Vladimir but even that was a stretch. Ectoplasm was corrosive like battery acid. Human blood would have imploded and dried out on a cellular level with extended contact. The Fentons wore hazmat suits for a reason after all. But this? This strain broke every test, rule, and comparison Maddie and him could possibly have concocted.
Rubbing his temple, Jack glowered and put his eyes back to the lens. At the moment he did so, a bright white light engulfed the laboratory. Hissing in pain and rubbing his eyes, he cursed blindly for a minute or two before finally seeing something besides white spots. Glancing around and seeing his portal still closed and no signs of malfunctioning equipment, he froze.
‘ What on earth was that? A power surge?’
Taking the sudden change of lighting as ocular fatigue he quickly resolved to glance at the sample one last time before turning in for the night. To his horror, the sample was now nothing more than ash. Gaping in disbelief and then feeling a new wave of anger flaring up, he slammed a fist against the lab table in a fit of fury.
“ Plasmius must have done that….” Ramming his head into the table he growled in agitation, “Shit! How am I supposed to track down that fucker!?!?”
Maddie at that exact moment decided to come in through the front door upstairs. Hearing the noise, Jack groaned tiredly and glanced at the pizza boxes, soda cans, and crumpled napkins littering the usually sterile space. Sitting up from his stool, he quickly discarded his lab coat and snatched up the accumulated trash. Tossing it in the bin by the door he drowsily stacked the brief notes he had gathered from the specimen before it had disappeared and placed them by a few containers on the shelf by the lab computer.
Maddie stepped downstairs with a bag of donuts in hand and smiled warmly. Seeing him standing by the specimen shelf she raised an eyebrow, “ Jack? What are you up to now?”
“ I stopped by Vlad’s earlier.” Jack tiredly whispered.
Seeing something was wrong, Maddie set the bag in her hand on one of the movable lab tables and walked over to his side. Putting a hand on his shoulder she gently squeezed in comfort. “ What did he do this time?”
Jack tiredly rubbed his eyes. “ It’s not what he’s done… Something’s messing with him….” Turning to face her, he swallowed and flinched before looking into the floor. A hand rubbed the back of his neck nervously before he continued, “Daniel was lying to us earlier today. Vlad’s hurt… I used the ‘Spook Coop’ to get to his place. There was blood and ectoplasm all over the floor and walls upstairs.”
Maddie stiffened. “ You mean he was attacked?!?”
Jack rubbed his temple and groaned in exasperation. Looking to his spouse, he nodded yes and elaborated. “I also think Vladdie was the one that brought Danny back. I found his cufflink on that bloodied shirt Daniel was wrapped in.”
Biting his lip, he continued, “ And Maddie? I overheard Danny on the phone before he left earlier. He was telling his friends to keep Vlad in bed so he doesn’t aggravate his injuries or hack up blood. Something’s amiss and our kids are bullshitting us. Vladdie to…I got him on the phone earlier and his breathing didn’t sound right. He was trying to cover it up but I think he’s hurting more than he’s willing to admit.”
Maddie froze at the information and turned ashen. Turning abruptly, she made an attempt to go back upstairs only for Jack’s hand to latch out to her shoulder. “They’re not home Mads. Daniel and Vlad are somewhere else and they’ve refused to give me an address. I convinced Vlad to meet us tomorrow. I think we should probably knock him out when he shows up and cart him to a hospital. If the blood I saw is any indication he’s probably in critical condition.”
Whipping around, she worriedly questioned. “ Did you get any samples?!? Jack… we have to…”
Jack sighed again. “ I got a sample accidentally but it’s gone now. It spontaneously combusted before I could gather too much from it or add the ecto signature to a tracking device. I think I know who’s responsible though. There were two ghouls that cornered me at Vlad’s place… They attacked me and started gloating so it’s safe to assume they’re a part of this. I think the Wisconsin Ghost did most of the dirty work though.”
Maddie’s eyebrow twitched. “ That monster attacked Vladimir?!?”
Jack flinched. “ I think so. They were talking about him in passing but it’s obvious he was a part of it.”
Maddie rubbed her eyes tiredly. Looking up into her husband’s eyes she worriedly questioned, “ Do you think he was the one that took Danny?!?”
Jack’s stomach flipped uncomfortably at the thought. Pausing, he nodded gruffly. “That’s probably what happened…. That ghost had to have a reason to attack Vlad. It hates our family and Vlad saved a Fenton. It probably decided to get revenge.”
Maddie rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration, “ Why didn’t you call me? Jack…. I could’ve helped you!”
Jack sighed. “ Phantom was there. He apparently has Danny and Vlad’s trust. I didn’t want us pissing them off before I can get to Vlad tomorrow with you. I don’t know what they’re pulling but him not being in a hospital can be fatal at this point. You saw that shirt Danny was wrapped in…. Jesus, it looked like someone mopped up a blood bank.”
Maddie grimaced and questioned. “ What did you gather from the sample you took? Is there any way to gather more?”
Jack casually plucked the notes he had taken up from the shelving and gave them to her. “That’s all I was able to figure out before it turned to ash. As for more samples? The stuff at Vlad’s is probably gone now so the only way would get another sample is if we catch the ghost responsible.”
Maddie froze as her eyes trailed over the meticulously scribbled notes. Looking up in shock she blanched, “ Are you sure?”
Jack nodded. “ Whatever it was? It was unlike any ectoplasm I’ve ever seen prior. It had structures similar to human blood cells Maddie!”
Maddie looked back at the pages and flicked through the notes in confirmation. “Jack…. Are they evolving?”
Jack frowned. “ I sure the hell hope not…But if this is anything to go off of? I think they may be trying to look more human.”
Maddie’s brow furrowed, “ Like that one perverted ghost that dated Jaz?”
Jack nodded.
Maddie rubbed her temple and turned to Jack worriedly, “ Why didn’t you tell me about that cufflink you found? Jack… I could have tailed the kids to wherever they were going and found out what happened.”
Jack turned away from her tiredly and popped the piece of metal out of his pocket, “Just because a cufflink has his initials doesn’t mean I had adequate proof Mads! The cufflink by itself didn’t give me anything to substantiate the theory… I mean… how could Vlad have found Daniel? If a ghost took him it could have dragged him god knows where. The only concrete evidence I had was Daniel panicking after you left while he was on the phone. After I overheard him I rushed over to Vlad’s and walked into a Nightmare on Elm Street parody in the upstairs bathroom. I would have told you but up until a few hours ago, I was just hypothesizing where the cufflink came from. And when it comes down to it I wanted to confront Vlad on my own… I had no clue they fled the house! Much less what I would find when I got there.”
Maddie sighed and set down the papers. Looking up to him she questioned. “ What are we going to do about the Wisconsin Ghost, Jack? If he’s threatening our babies or Vladimir…”
Phantom’s words reverberated through Jack’s skull.
‘YOU THINK WE’RE EMOTIONLESS?!?! FREE OF PAIN?!?! NEWS FLASH! I FEEL, DAMN IT! I FEEL YOUR WORDS, EVERY GODDAMNED STABBING SYLLABLE! I FEEL PAIN! I FEEL THE BLASTS! EVERY SINGLE SEARING BUZZ AND ZAPP THAT RICHOTETS THROUGH MY FLESH A MILLION TIMES MORE THAN A NORMAL WOUND! I FEEL EVERY SINGLE HIT THAT CONNECTS! I’M A HUMAN BEING FIRST!’
A shiver ran up the man’s spine. He wanted to teach Plasmius a lesson. He wanted him to hurt like Vlad undoubtedly was hurting…But if ghosts truly could feel… Did he have it in him to harm or even dispose of the ghoul? Would he be plagued by nightmares just as he was with Phantom? Looking to his wife, he furrowed his brow. “ What do you think we need to do Maddie?”
Maddie’s eyes narrowed to the cufflink in Jack’s palm. Taking it from him temporarily and inspecting the silver metal faintly rimmed in rust red tones, she frowned and fisted the hand. “Jack? I think we need to start living up to our titles. We’re ghost hunters. I think this is one ghost that needs to be put to rest.”
Jack tentatively reached for her hand. “Mads? If ghosts could feel… What if-”
She slouched her shoulders tiredly. “ Then wouldn’t it have empathy, Jack? If it hurt Vlad but could feel pain like us, wouldn’t it feel remorse?”
Jack nodded. “ I have some prototype guns down here that need fine-tuning. We can work on them before we pop over to Vladimir’s home tomorrow afternoon.” Maddie sighed and gently handed the cufflink back to her husband. “ What are we going to do about Vladimir and the kids?”
“We’ll have to knock Vlad out as soon as possible. They won’t be able to protest too much if we get him sedated fast enough. After we get him to the ER? We’re going to ground the kids…”
Maddie snorted and tiredly rubbed her temple. “ Our kids lied about something this dangerous… Jack? Why would they-?’
Jack plopped the cufflink in his jumpsuit pocket and frowned. Curling his arms around her waist and leaning his head against her shoulder, he furrowed his brow. “ I think Vlad may have asked them to keep us out of the loop. You know how stubborn and foolish he can be at times Mads.”
Maddie flinched under Jack’s embrace and he stiffened. Sighing, he retracted himself from her. “ What was with that reaction?” A dark black eyebrow raised curiously in the dim lighting.
Maddie shrugged and crossed her arms tiredly. “ It’s nothing. I was just thinking of that trip I took with Danny to that science symposium.”
Jack prodded. “ And?”
Maddie smiled tiredly. “Jack? If your friend went behind your back and did something insanely stupid or hurtful…How would you go about handling it?” Bringing a black-gloved hand to his jaw he averted his gaze to the floor as he pondered the question. “I’d probably knock some sense into him. Currently, I am considering doing so to Vladimir. That blasted moron just doesn’t know how to keep himself out of trouble. As soon as we get ahold of him tomorrow evening I’m going to be having some choice words regarding reckless child endangerment and foolish heroism with matters he scarcely understands. Vlad’s not a ghost expert and the idea of him trying to save Daniel by himself from some sort of specter just screams moronic.”
Maddie smirked. “ And what if the metaphorical friend pulled a really crappy prank regarding marital roles and betraying your trust? Would you still forgive the said person?”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “ What are you getting at Mads?”
She sighed and rubbed her fingers through her hair. Putting the gloved hand to his jaw, she crinkled her brow in a debating arch. “Just answer the question, honey.”
Jack looked to her in confusion but answered levelly, “ This wouldn’t have to do with Vlad’s weird behavior would it?”
Maddie quirked an eyebrow at the accurate assertion.
Jack rolled his eyes. “ Mads? I noticed the fake flirting a while back. Trust me… Vladdie is a lot smoother than that. If he wanted to really try and swing you over to him he would’ve done so with a lot more class and less comedic poise. I don’t know why he’s been annoying you but I can guarantee that’s what it is. I think he’s tried pulling the same thing with me except with low jabs and insults. The only thing I can reason that he’s getting back at us for is that whole reunion fiasco.”
Maddie gawked. Closing her jaw and narrowing her eyes, she growled. “Well, thanks for not telling me this sooner! Do you have any idea how much pent up hatred I’ve been harboring toward him? Jack… I poured scalding hot tea on his crotch for god’s sake!”
Jack winced. “ I thought you said that was an accident.”
Maddie averted her gaze to the floor. “ Well, now I wish it was…Jack? I actually thought he was coming on to me. Daniel thought he was coming on to me….”
Jack groaned tiredly and rubbed his eyes. “ Let’s get some sleep Mads… Tomorrow is going to be trying for both of us and by the sounds of it we both need to give him an earful.”
Maddie snorted and under her breath whispered, “ Him and you both.”
Jack tensed, "What?”
Maddie sighed, “ Nothing. Come on. We have a busy itinerary and a certain ghoul to track down in a few hours.”
Jack grabbed the bag of donuts from the lab table and nodded. Following her out of the laboratory, he flicked off the lights. Soon Fenton Works was as silent as the grave with only a few tell-tale hums and electrical buzzes to accompany the crickets outside.
ILOVE Jack Plasmius. And I do like how the Plasmius aesthetic looks on Jack better than it looks on Vlad, but… I do kind of wish they had designed a more unique take on the concept of Jack Plasmius. And you’ll also notice that they kind of forgot what Jack’s human form is supposed to look in this timeline half way into the episode.
So I redesigned him, but only slightly. Instead of his human form being just Main Timeline Jack + AcneorCollege Jack + Acne, he’s sort of… a mix between the two, but a more depressed unshaven look to him. And his ghost form, instead of inexplicably growing a goatee his human form doesn’t have, shares his human form’s stubble.
He keeps the same general look as my Vlad Plasmius design, simply because I prefer the idea of both Plasmius…es… both plausibly looking like they could be wearing exactly what they wore during their portal incidents. Vlad clearly made modifications to his ghost appearance, while I don’t think Jack would even make the effort since he’s stuck in a spiral of self loathing…
The girl has been walking around the ghost town for a long time, she´s just trying to find a shelter before nightfall.
Strangely enough, despite not knowing anything about combat, just having a wooden stick and being in the middle of a dense fog, she has not found a single monster or anything trying to hurt her…
Almost as if an angel is taking care of her…
She stopped at that thought…
Turned around…
And found that angel…
-Danny!-
She exclaimed as she saw him hitting a monster with a pipe…
-Just…, keep walking…-
She smiled as she got closer.
-I thought you didn´t want me near Mr. monster-
She said in a strangely happy tone for this situation.
-Don´t call me that…-
He left the corpse on the ground.
-Couldn´t bear the idea of someone totally defenseless walking around this town…, what are you looking for anyways?-
He asked, finally giving up in trying to be sneaky.
-I knew you were my friend!, well, I´m just trying to find my dad!-
He looked kinda worried
-Why would he come here?-
She shruged
-I don´t know, he just said he worked here, but now… I fear he´s involved into this stuff-
Danny pulled out a map from his pocket.
-Don´t give up that easily, maybe he´s hiding in the school-
He pointed it in the map.
-Some people from the outside hide there because… I can´t get in there too…-
He gave her the map, she took his arm.
-Please… don´t…, the school is just two buildings away, I´ll come to get you two out of there tomorrow, ok?-
She let go…
-You promise?-
He smiled…
-I promise…-
She got in there with great ease since the monsters looked like they respect the area, once she got through the door a tall man with silver hair and blue eyes appeared in front of her, she screamed.
-Don´t you worry miss, you´re safe here, welcome to my sanctuary…-
She knew this guy was trying to be kind, but… she had a bad feeling about this, something felt off unlike Danny despite dangerous at night this guy looked like if he was hiding something…
Time passed by…
She tried to look around for other survivors, she could find none, until… she found an old TV in a classroom that she accidentally turned on…
The video had two teenagers looking around the place, exploring until they found a symbol on the floor.
-I´m not sure about this Jack…-
Said the thin boy with a green, white and yellow shirt with a lab coat to his friend who was wearing an orange and black hazmat suit too.
-Come on V- man, just touch it and we can head out, ok?!-
The other one tried to complain, but his pleads went unheard as he accidentally step on it, the TV went static…, the sirens now going off, the girl went into the nearest closet, she could see the man getting in… he looked kinda sick…
