"This boy is your new mission. Bring him to me, but do not harm him. Understand?" Master asked me. He was showing me an image of a teenage boy, prob ably my age. He had dark, shaggy hair and light blue eyes. He was walking down the street with a girl and another boy. The boy was African American and wore a red cap. The girl had black hair and wore all black clothes.
"Yes Master." I responded. Who is he? I wondered.
"Go then. Good luck." Master said as he waved away the image. I won't need it, I thought as I opened a portal. He will. Stepping through the portal I couldn't help but wonder why Master wanted him. He seemed rather ordinary, but it Master wanted him, there had to be something very special about him. Danny Fenton, I'm coming for you.
When I stepped out of my portal, I immediately felt extremely exhausted. But ripping a whole through dimensions and space can do that to a ghost. For this job I'd need to go stealth mode. Flying towards the school building, I began to formulate my plan. Thinking through every possibility, I decided that posing as a student in his school would be the best way to get close to him. When I reached the school, I phased through one of the walls, into the principal's office. Principal Ishiyama was sitting at her desk, reading an email. I was intangible and she couldn't see me. Stepping closer to her, I put my hand on her shoulder and over-shadowed her. As Prinicpal Ishiyama, I looked up Daniel Fenton in the school's database. I copied his class schedule, then looked at which teacher he had for first period. I called in Mr. Lancer to my office. He arrived just as I finished adding myself into the student body.
"Mr. Lancer, we have a new student joining us today. Her name is Gwendolyn Bates. Since she's in your first period class, I'd appriciate it if you could show her to your classroom and to find someone to act as her tour guide for the day." I instructed him. "Perhaps someone with a smiliar class schedule. It seems that Daniel Fenton is in all of her classes." I hinted, not very subtly. Mr. Lancer nodded.
"Of course, Prinicpal Ishiyama. Where is she?" he asked.
"She's waiting for you outside of the main office." I told him as he got up to leave. When he stepped through the door, I peeled myself out of Ishiyama and flew quickly to the hallway, beating Lancer there. I landed and phased to my human form. It felt so odd to be alive again. How long had it been? I wondered. The last time I was in my human form, it was...26 years ago. It's been a while. I mused quickly. Mr. Lancer walked out of the office and into the hallway.
"Miss Bates?" he asked me. I nodded silently. "Follow me please." he said, motioning for me to follow him down the hallway. I followed him until he stopped at a classroom.
"Daniel Fenton." he called into the room. The dark-haired boy that Master showed me was sitting at a desk next to those two people who had been with him earlier. "Get over here please." Lancer requested.
"Oh great. I wonder what I did now." I heard him mumble as he got up and walked over to us.
"This is Gwendolyn Bates. She's a new student here and you have been assigned to show her around, okay Fenton?" Mr. Lancer told him. Daniel looked over at me and seemed rather shocked. He studied me for a long time and I wondered what he saw. I had black hair, like his, that fell down past my waist and long bangs that covered most of my face. I pushed my bangs out of my face and smiled at him. He looked into my deep blue eyes, and I suddenly felt self-conscious. Why's he staring at me? I wondered. Does he suspect anything?
"Hi." I said, breaking the silence that had lasted just long enough to feel awkward.
"Hey." Daniel responded.
"Can you handle showing her around Fenton, or are you going to be too googly-eyed and force me to find someone else?" Lancer asked him.
"What? No! I mean, I'm not googly-eyed! I just-" he stuttered. "I can show her around." he finished.
"Good. There's an empty desk next to his so can sit there Miss Bates." he said, walking towards his desk.
"So, um... Wanna go sit down?" Daniel asked me.
"Sure." I said and he led me to the back corner of the classroom where his desk was. "You can call me Gwen by the way." I told him.
"Call me Danny." he said as we reached the desks. "This is Sam," he said, gesturing toward the goth chick. "and this is Tucker." he said, pointing to the black guy with the red hat. "Guys, this is Gwen. She's a new student here." he introduced us.
"Hey." I said, giving them a small wave. Tucker smiled widely at me, but Sam just kind of stared at me.
"Do you have a library card? Because I am totally checking you out." Tucker said, sliding his arm around my shoulders. Disgusted, I shoved him away. He tripped over a desk and landed on the floor. Sam laughed at him. I kinda felt bad about shoving him.
"Don't worry. He's used to rejection." she said, reading my mind. Or more likely reading my expression. I smiled at her and tried to think of something to say. I looked at her bookbag and saw a flyer for the Screaming Elephant's concert.
"You like the Screaming Elephants?" I asked, nodding toward the flyer. She nodded. "Me too." I told her. "Black Brigade is my favorite song of theirs." Her eyes widened. "What's yours?" I asked her.
"Breaking Even." she said. She started talking animatedly about the band, why they rocked, why they sucked, and how her parents didn't want her to go see them live. I smiled and laughed when the situation called for it, but I wasn't really listening. I was watching Danny and trying to figure this out. How can I get him alone? And why does Master want him anyway? I asked myself too many times to count.
"Alright students!" Mr. Lancer yelled. "Take your seats!" Sam, Tucker, Danny and I all rushed to our chairs. Halfway through the lesson I realized Master didn't want Danny for his intellect. He was mumbling to himself while doing the worksheet Lancer had handed out. I'd finished it in under three minutes, but Danny obviously didn't understand it. Against my better judgement, I decided to help him.
"Pssst! Danny!" I whispered to him. He looked over at me. Keeping my eyes on Mr. Lancer, I whispered to Danny. "Do you need a little help?" He nodded reluctantly.
"Okay so here's how you do it..." I said as I quietly moved my desk closer to his so I could explain it to him. I walked him through the first few problems, then had him try the next couple on his own.
"Mr. Fenton, Miss Bates, what are you doing?" Lancer asked. The entire class turned to look at us.
"Danny was just helping me understand what I'm supposed to do, Mr. Lancer. You're a bit ahead of where my last school was at, so Danny's helping me catch up." I lied easily. Mr. Lancer looked incredulous but nodded.
"You may proceed." he told us and turned back to the book he'd been reading. I looked over at Danny. He was smiling at me. I smiled back at him, but my smile dissappeared as my ghost sense went off. I exhaled an icy breath and looked around to see where the ghost was. Danny exhaled quickly and I turned to look at him.
"I gotta go." he said, just as the wall exploded open and the Lunch Lady hurled a tornado of meat at the students. I tried to follow him, but he left too fast and there was too much going on. Dammit! I thought, desperately trying to locate my target. Where the hell'd he go? Just then, something slammed into the Lunch Lady. Her meat tornado dissapted and meat showered everyone, including myself. I phased intangible quickly, and the meat slid right off onto the floor. Again, I saw something by the Lunch Lady, but I realized it wasn't a what, it was a who. It was Danny! As a ghost? That must be why Master wants him! He's a halfa! I thought, excited at finally figuring out why I was supposed to capture him. He's like the rest of us! I watched as Danny pulled out a metal thermos and sucked the Lunch Lady up into it. He put the thermos away and phased back to his human form. Sam and Tucker ran up to him. Did they know about him? I paniked. NO ONE is supposed to know about halfas! He's put us all at risk! I began freaking out, thinking of the girls back home, wondering what would happen to us if more people found out about halfas. No! This can't happen! Not again.. I thought. My knees felt weak and I was afraid I was going to fall over. I leaned against the wall to support myself.
"Hey, are you okay?" Danny asked. I hadn't even realized that he, Tucker and Sam had come over. What's going on? Why can't I breathe? I wondered, freaking out more.
"Dude, I think she'd having a panic attack." Tucker said. That sounded plausable.
"Hey, calm down." Danny said, putting his hands on my shoulders and staring into my eyes. Don't touch me! I wanted to say. You've put me and my family in grave danger! Get away! But instead I kept quiet and just stared back at him. "It's okay. The ghost is gone. It's over." he said soothingly. He thought the ghost was what brought this on? Ha! I live in the freaking Ghostzone! GHOSTS DON'T FREAKING SCARE ME! I thought, but still I kept quiet. I just nodded and concentrated on trying to breathe. After a few dozen deep breaths I could breathe again.
"I'm okay." I told them. "Really." I assured them, loathing the skeptical expressions on their faces. I hated all three of them right then. They are the reason I'm here. The reason we're not safe anymore. I felt the hotness in my hand, and I hid it behind my back before the flames could erupt and they would figure me out.
"Danny, could I talk to you?" I asked. He nodded. "Alone." I added, seeing that Sam and Tucker were about to follow. They stopped short, looking hurt. I led him out to the front steps of the school and we sat down.
"I'm really sorry about this Danny." I said, not totally meaning it.
"Wha-?" he asked as I phased to my ghost half and shot him in the chest. His eyes widened and he tried to get up but couldn't. I'd hit him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. He gasped and struggled to sit up.
"I'm sorry," I whispered as I leaned in close to him to wrap the special cuffs Skulker had given me around his wrists. The cuffs were specially designed to electrocute him if he tried to phase. Not a high voltage, but enough to discourage him from trying to escape the cuffs. "But I don't really have a choice." I finished as I shot him once more, in the head this time, renderring him unconsious. I opened a portal and picked him up. Thank God my ghost half is a hundred times stronger than my human half, I though as I threw him over my shoulders, fireman style, and carried him through the portal into the Ghostzone. I looked back and saw Sam and Tucker running towards the portal.
"Danny!" They screamed in unison as I closed the portal.
"Sorry guys, but he's coming with me." I mumbled to myself as I began to fly away.
