The ghost zone didn't work like normal space did.
Things kept moving around, distances shortened and dilated. Nevertheless, Danny's research had gradually found a method to map it. He had figured out the ghost zone worked by anchor points, domains or 'realms' of incredibly concentrated ecto-power, acting as static, immovable points in space, as gravitational points of reference for the constantly changing time and space of everything else. This discovery had gotten him thinking that he could work a way of mapping out the dimension, instead of simply relying on his unnatural instincts to find things.
It was a small pet project that came mostly from seeking distraction. He was now 17 and had gained a way better hold on his powers, Vlad and him were on a permanent truce after the fruit loop had gone through some 'character development' (Short for Danny delivering him a crushing defeat), and for some reason the ghost residents now respected him. Frostbite had mentioned something about him defeating Pariah Dark, but he didn't get it. He wasn't about to protest though, especially with the ghosts recognizing Amity as his 'territory' and finally leaving it alone. The guys in white had been court ordered and dismantled for "destruction of property, breach of rights and idiotic waste of taxpayers money" now that a certain fruit loop wasn't backing them anymore or pulling strings. The media has subsequently stopped harassing him too. These days, he was simply the town mascotte, helping out every now and then with some minor problems.
Unfortunately, this development had gotten Danny restless. No fights meant that he was stuck coping with himself. With what he was. With what his power meant and what eventually his parents and the world might have to discover; Sam and Tucker told him he was just a human with ghost powers, made him feel like he was still a normal kid, but he knew that was a lie. It was just a bubble he was comfortable in… one day it would pop, and he wasn't sure he was ready for it.
It had become evident to him one day when Tucker had made fun of him for still not growing a beard. He had started noticing a myriad other details, like how tucker had gotten taller than him, like how he still had a baby face and small shoulders and a wimpy stutter in his stride. He'd gotten to sleep that night incredibly worried and a bit angry. The next morning, the first trace of a black stubble had grown on his chin.
A few months later, another jab at his lack of puberty, and the next morning, he had needed to actually shave. But it wasn't gradual, and his parents had noticed. Wondered about the odd 'growth spurts'. So one day, Danny, peeved and feeling a bit experimental, had gone to sleep wishing he looked like the day of the accident.
The next morning, he did.
He had managed to call himself sick and hide the change for the day, hadn't told Sam and Tucker yet, but he knew he would have to cross that bridge at some point. While he looked like an average seventeen year old, broad shoulders, pronounced, angular face, he knew he had stopped aging about 3 years ago. He had stopped aging entirely, or having a body that behaved the laws of physics, for that matter. He wasn't human, he was an interchangeable being that constantly shifted between energy and matter, and his cells could age and de-age on command.
Every now and then he had wished he could tell Sam about it, but just as his mouth went to speak the words, he'd remember the day of the accident, and the days afterwards. The way Sam's face contorted every time he'd have a breakdown over his 'weirdness'. The way she looked away when she thought he wasn't looking. Sam blamed herself, and he knew that in some ways, Tucker blamed himself too. There was no point in sharing this. He had to keep silent. He'd age with them and.. and then.. well he would figure it out as it went. Maybe he would move into the ghost zone for good… he didn't know. But it was worth studying the place at least, to get an idea or two.
His friends had found it hard to believe that an airhead like him would suddenly throw himself so hard into ecto-research, and mapping out the ghost zone (the infini-map got you there, but wasn't exactly reliable for anything else). Still, they had been pretty excited about it overall. It beat lazing around Sam's place all day.
"Don't worry Sam, I'm fine over here! I haven't met a single friendly or hostile ghost in hours, if anything our mapping project couldn't be going better!"
Danny's voice echoed into the comms. He was in his ghost form alone, floating in a sea of endless green, with nothing on the horizon. He wasn't lost though. A perk of him being the way he was happened to be that he could always 'sense' his way back.
Still, He hadn't been completely honest with Sam. The lack of an anchor point for this long was beginning to worry him. The lack of any type of ghosts whatsoever worried him a lot more. The Ghost Zone wasn't exactly 'crowded', but he had never seen it this empty. It had him on edge. When the ghost zone was empty, it usually meant something would chase the ghosts off.
As if reading his thoughts, Sam replied through the comms. "Bullshit Danny, no ghosts doesn't mean the place is safe." Tucker's voice simmered into the channel. "Danny, Sam's right man, something is seriously whack here. Your suit sensors are not picking up any sign of spectral activity in a fifty-mile radius, and you're in the Ghost Zone. "
Danny frowned at the news. Something was definitely off, but if that was the case, well that was even more of a reason not to back down. "All right, alright, you got me… something in this place is off… But guys, if something is threatening the ghost zone, I need to find out what it is. This could be serious! Besides, Tuck can tell me if there are hostiles or weird energy readings in the a…"
Something.. faint but.. powerful caught his senses and stopped all train of thought. A few seconds of radio silence, alternated by small static noise. Ecto-interference? Currents were picking up, but he couldn't sense a storm.
"Danny, Over, Danny don't you fucking dare cut off.. Danny are you still there?"
"Shit, yeah, sorry Sam. I just… got taken by surprise. I sense an anchor point. It's really far but it should take me half an hour to fly there. It feels.. off.. kinda pressuring…"
"Danny maybe you should wait. We should come there with backup. You're really far and we can't help you if anything happens to you right now."
Danny muffled a groan. He didn't really want to get Sam and Tucker over there. Sure, humans had certain advantages in the ghost zone, but it was still a pretty deadly place for them. He cringed for a second, realizing he hadn't considered himself a human in that reasoning at all. No. He had no time to start an inner existential debate.
Besides, Sam and Tucker would put themselves in harm's way regardless of whether he decided to go off on his own. He had tried to cut them off in the past and it had always gone way worse than when he let them tag along. It's not that he didn't respect their strength, hell, they had saved his glowing ass more times that he could count, but he had nothing to loose. He was already dead and apparently going to un-live forever. They.. They had everything to loose. Or maybe they were the last thing he had that he could loose himself.
"Danny, stop being a bonehead and wait there for us."
"Wrong undead Sam, definitely not a skeleton"
"Ugh, Fine Casper, just wait! We're getting the Spectre-speeder, Should be there in about an hour."
"…Guys, I can't just stay still here while I wait for you. With no anchor points nearby, this place has really strong ecto-currents. I'm gonna keep moving towards the place I sensed before. Rendez-vous there?"
Danny smirked at Sam's small curse and begrudging acknowledgement. He promised he would not rush in, and started moving towards the horizon.
In just 15 minutes, he had visuals.
"Guys I got the place in sight. It seems to be a chunk of city that got ripped out of somewhere. Bunch of skyscrapers, really weird designs... They're all pretty broken up. Still don't sense any ghosts. Tucker, what are the sensors telling you?"
"Nothing here, dude. Place might as well be a ghost town! Ha! Get it? OW What'd you do that for!"
Danny let out a smile, knowing Sam had just elbowed him.
"I'm gonna get closer then."
"Danny.." He could sense worry "All right just.. keep the comms open." He mumbled a yes, feeling guilty that he was worrying them. He really just wanted to make sure things were safe before they reached him.
"I'm close enough to land now. It looks to be bunch of ruins. I don't sense any ghosts and it doesn't look like a spectral domain either. It's.. uhm.. very retro." He added, floating in front of one of the signs clinging to a skyscraper. It was covered in rust, but he could still discern a pin-up girl in the design holding a weird prop gun that looked straight out of a 1950s sci-fi movie. "But there's modern stuff too, just with a vintage twist." He mumbled, noticing the scientific apparel through one of the skyscraper windows. He began floating towards the ground, looking carefully at the streets and the towering buildings above him. The place looked almost.. reverent.. in it's silence. He didn't sense any ghosts but he could sense a pressure on himself, and.. something, some forms of spirits, or collective consciousness, in every metal panel, rusted window and brick wall. He set up and focused, trying to sharpen his senses while he waited, trying to let the pressure… the presences... into his mind.
For a second he thought he heard them telling a story. A story about the end of the world.
"It's just a gut feeling. Your ghost sense isn't like this." He muttered to himself as he rubbed his forehead, which was now aching, and looked around, noticing a small breeze in the air, brushing his hair and carrying powdered rust through the streets. That was weird, the ghost zone didn't actually have natural wind.
The comms opened up. "Danny, We've got the place in sight ahead, should land in five minutes." Danny smiled
"I hope you guys got your tetanus shots, lots of rust and debris, you don't wanna get cut." He added, snapping himself out of his thoughts. "I landed, place seems safe for now, you guys probably didn't need to make the trip." He smirked at Sam getting mad at him for not waiting around. "Come on Sam, you were overthinking it. This place is probably just empty cause there's only one anchor point and it looks really shitty and desolate. Who would wanna camp out here?" He added, as he started walking towards where he felt the breeze was coming from. Might as well explore while he waited around.
5 minutes after, he would get hit in the back of his head by a familiar tecno-boomerang and would be subsequently slapped by a very angry Sam Manson, who weirdly enough was wearing a rad-protective hazmat suit.
Tucker on the other hand, also donning a hazmat, had gotten out of the spectre speeder and completely zoned out of the drama, focusing on his PDA readings.
"Hey Danny, so you know how everything in the ghost zone is technically radioactive, but somehow doesn't affect humans. Uh.. I mean, well, don't worry, you should be safe cause ghosts just get mildly destabilized by it, but me and sam suited up cause there's actual non-ecto radiation here. Explains the rust and the lack of campers I guess, but catch this! It's been gradually decreasing from the moment you landed here. It shouldn't decay this quickly. Did you notice anything odd since you landed?"
Danny blinked, and looked around the area he was in. Didn't it look.. More brown? Before he had landed? Also, the pressure he was sensing had lowered a bit, but not by much "I don't really know Tuck, but it feels like there was more rust before. Also I'm kinda sensing something in the buildings but it doesn't feel like a person and it's giving me a headache" He rubbed his temples.
Tucker nodded. "That's normal man, if this place is radioactive, keeping your ghost form stable should need more brain juice, also explains why ghosts don't like it here. This might actually be a goo slaughterhouse for the weaker ones" He smirked, but flinched, as Danny looked really unsettled "Oh, right Uhm, sorry dude. Was there anything else?"
Danny tried to shrug it off. "Well, I felt wind coming from the direction I was walking towards before Sam slapped me." He smirked. "Could be a natural portal, I don't know. I think we should check it out. But like if this place is radioactive it might be dangerous for you guys." He added as a worried afterthought.
Sam groaned "Danny, we got suits, if anything, you risk being the one melting into goo. It's a good thing you're too damn powerful, it compensates for you being clueless literally all the time." She poked him, still half-mad. Danny didn't take it personally. He knew she was just worried.
"Okay. Okay. We all know I'm a dumbass. It's been established since I chose to head into a ghost portal and completely didn't notice the fact I was pressing a big 'on' button." He said sarcastically, but with a hint of hurt. "You guys are here now though, I know of the danger, can we just please get on with it? There's gotta be a portal here or something and if it keeps leaking radiation like Tucker said, it could be dangerous for the weaker ghosts in the zone. We gotta shut it off." He added as he turned around and walked towards the breeze. Sam frowned at Danny's retreating back. Tucker eyed her and shook his head "Let's just go Sam." He said, monitoring his PDA and moving forward. The three of them walked along the debris in silence.
It was as if the longer they followed the breeze, the newer things got. Rust gradually disappeared from the buildings, the debris cleared itself, and the cars on the street gradually became better parked and orderly. The followed the trail of restoration until they found themselves at the center of a main square.
"Woah." All there of them said in unison as they walked (And floated) into better view for themselves. In front of them was a silent yet idyllic jetson-like utopia. Shiny metal skyscrapers, Old styled yet gleaming fast looking-cars, Glowing soda advertisements, a metal robot in a newspaper stand, looking decisively turned off. Danny got close to the stand and grabbed a newspaper, reading the title
'Boston, October 23, 2077'
'Are We on the Brink of Atomic War? China Promises Immediate Attack After Tensions Over US Victory in Anchorage'
An atomic war? The thought.. the implications for himself… made him shudder. But something didn't quite click. Was this.. the future? Or the past…
He got snapped out of his musings by Tucker "Hey! It's Saying here the radiation is completely gone now. Weird huh? I'm still not taking off my helmet"
Sam got both of their attention. "Forget about that! Guys, come over here."
She was near a giant, perfectly polished, abstract metal statue in the centre of the square. In front of it was an oblong cylinder that had a label on top of it saying 'Pulowski Preservation Services'. It was open, or well, someone had opened it. Inside, there was tear in space. A window into another world.
"Looks like you needed our help coming here after all, since you know, I found the natural portal." Sam Smirked behind the hazmat mask. "No way you airhead would have figured it out."
Danny frowned. "Sam, I'd like to remind you I've got ghost powers and I can sense these kind of things." He said, without pressing things much though, cause he hadn't really managed to sense anything until he had gotten close. "But.. Thanks. This should save some time…. It looks powerful though.. I don't know if I can.. close it.."
His speech faded off as he stared transfixed at what was happening on the other side. It was the same square the trio was standing on. People were in the streets, just opposite them. They seemed to be dressed in an odd style, with 1950s fashion but full of features that belonged to an episode of the jetsons. They were walking normally when Danny had spoken, but now? They had started running. They could hear, coming from beyond the portal, the faint howl of sirens.
He didn't notice Sam snatch the newspaper that he was still holding under his hand. She read the headline, alarmed. "Hey guys.. what do you think happened here?"
"Something bad" Danny's gut feeling told him, and he voiced out loud without thinking. He remembered the voices, what he though they told him. The omen. The sirens were picking up and now they could hear faint screams. The pressure in the back of his mind felt harder. He could almost feel it again, unspoken whispers warning him through the rust. "Guys, I don't think it's safe here, I think we should lea…"
A Bright flash of light blinded all three of them for what felt like an eternity. Despite coming through the portal, It shined all across the whole city. When Danny was able to see again, his glowing green eyes fell transfixed onto a mushroom cloud, covering most of the sky above the square, on the other side of the portal.
"Uhm, guys, radiation levels came back. They're growing stronger by the second" Tucker, who had come to just a second before him thanks to his darkened visor, who had understood exactly what was going on but was too frightened to address it head on, had added, sheepish and half frozen in place.
"HOLD ON!" Danny yelled, grabbing both of them in a blur and flying away at ridiculous speeds, fear zapping him into a jerk-sweep motion. Danny was clueless but he wasn't stupid, he knew what tucker meant, the natural portal behind them was still open and what he had observed across it was a nuclear detonation. He might not have been a scientist but his obsession with space and stars had caused him to know quite a bit about the nuclear reactions that went on inside them, and he knew that he only had precious milliseconds before the blast would hit all three of them fully. Even if he turned Sam and Tucker intangible, he wasn't sure he had the control or strength needed to protect them from that level of radiation, and he didn't want to find out. Passing through solid objects? No problem. Avoiding tampering at an atomic level? That's a bit much. Besides that was assuming the radiation wouldn't destabilize him enough first to cause him to drop the intangibility. Think, Fenton. Think. If only you ever forced that fruitloop to teach you how to goddamn teleport.
He felt the searing heat behind him and his mind went blank.
Time felt slowed down as he realized that his speed was no match. If he didn't do something incredibly stupid, quickly, he would melt and Sam and Tucker would die.
In a cold, unfeeling fraction of a second, he knew what he had to do.
He threw both his friends towards the edge of the square. He saw Sam's eyes on him as he moved his lips, saying 'sorry', and then let his eyes glow the most intense blue his friends had seen as far. He needed his ice core. He needed to make a dome around the portal, and he needed to make it as thick and dense as lead. But he didn't have time to focus on shapes, on putting things in front or behind or making them hollow or…. He just needed ice around the portal. A thick layer, thick enough to block at least some radiation, cold enough to slow the chain reaction. It would be okay. Ghosts melted when exposed to high radiation, but they would reform. Sam and Tucker would help him get back. He would be all right. He would not make Sam cry.
In a bright flash of blue light, just as the fire threatened to reach his friends, everything around Danny became frozen solid, stopping right at the space in which Sam and Tucker were thrown. The Whole Square encased in a dome of Ice so thick nothing could be seen through it, except for a bright light at the core, shining prismatically across like the dome had diamond facets.
Then the light became brighter and brighter, and the ice began to show small cracks over a surface that kept repairing itself. Sam and Tucker, just coming back to from the shockwave and being thrown around, started scrambling away, confused at to what had happened, then stunned in realization, watching as the ice showed more marked cracks and the light grew. The ice kept forming over the cracks, as if trying to cage a beast made of light and Sam concluded with horror that Danny, from within, was still pouring energy into the ice, strengthening it from being blasted away. She screamed his name.
With a massive guttural sound, a sonic boom suddenly erupted from the core of the dome, this time not pushing things outward, but pulling things in an unstoppable suctioning force. The ice began cracking and disintegrating as it fell into the portal from the inside. While tucker grabbed onto the nearest lamppost for dear life, Sam let go of hers to run towards Danny, whose silhouette had fainted at the edge of the dome, frozen solid in his own power.
"Danny wake up! You gotta phase through the ice! Danny! Danny Wake up Please!" There were tears in her eyes now.
But there was no way for her to break through the dome, made of technically unbreakable ghostly ice. Only something that could destabilize ectoplasm would be able to break through, something that was currently consuming it from within.
As the chunk Danny was stuck in started dislodging, and falling into the bright light, Sam cried out.
"NO!"
She reached out through the cracks of ice, latching onto Danny's prison, and felt herself be pulled into the portal with it, but another ice shard hit her on the shoulder and caused her to loose grip, throwing her away. She was wailing now, rushing towards the fixture but… as the final chunks of Danny's power fell in, the suction stopped.
And the portal disappeared.
Far far away, in the central anchor point of the ghost zone and an eclectic, ticking spectral domain, A ghost known for being the 'master of all time' dropped his staff.
