The Third Generation Part 3: Cooper
Chapter 1
It was a pretty good day for November, not too cold or hot, just right to be outside. Cooper Fenton smiled as a little breeze blew back his hair a little. His brother and sister acted like his afro was stupid, but it wasn't. It wasn't too big, just enough that you knew what it was. And kids seemed to think it was a cool hairdo. Checking the time on his phone he realized it was time to go. "I'm Going Ghost!" he yelled as he did a front flip. White rings went up and down his body and transformed him. His black hair turned white, brown eyes glowed green as his clothes were replaced with a short sleeved black jumpsuit with green belt, boots, and gloves and green CP symbol on his chest. The teen flew into the air, "WOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOO!"
God I love being a halfa! Nothing could ever keep Cooper's mood down. Sure a ruthless gang might be gunning for him and his family. Sure the Grey Marauders had a Ghost Portal and they had no idea where it was. He didn't care. Everything would work out; it always did in their family. It had been a month since he and his family took down a lab the Grey Marauders had set up to make a steroid that turned people into ghost-like monsters, and they had stayed dormant ever since. More ghosts than usual showed up, but it wasn't anything they couldn't handle. After all, they were superheroes. Cooper flew faster and soon got to the Park and saw the group there.
Cooper heard about this one kid, his family couldn't afford a big party, and the kid was turning ten today. A week ago he got a letter asking if he could be there, to make their kid, Greg's, tenth birthday special. Cooper decided to do it; he didn't have anything else planned. He turned invisible and saw that there were about 4 families there, 12 kids in all. Greg's a pretty popular kid, Cooper thought as he floated above them. Cooper waited until he felt it was time and made himself visible with a bright blast of ectoplasmic energy, like a firework. Everyone looked up and the kids cheered the name he was known by, "BLASTER!" Cooper floated between all the people high-fiveing all the kids as he floated up and away.
"I heard it was a cool kid's birthday," Cooper said, all smiles as Greg stepped up. He had brown hair and green eyes, and Cooper noticed that his legs were prosthetics. They were good prosthetics, but he could tell by his just slightly off gait. "Hey man, pound it," Cooper greeted the birthday boy, extending his fist. Greg proved he was cool when he fist bumped with his hero. "I heard you want to fly," Cooper said. Greg's eyes nearly popped out of his head at that, "REALLY!?" he excitedly yelled. "If your parents say it's alright," Cooper said. Greg looked over to his parents who smiled and nodded. Cooper bent over so Greg could piggy-back onto him, and before taking off told the excited children, "Everyone who wants can have a turn up there. Just ask your parents first."
Cooper flew up as the rest of the kids ran to their parents to get permission. "Just tell me how high you want to go," Cooper told Greg over his shoulder. "Okay," Greg confidently said. Man, this kid is cool.
They flew higher and higher into the sky, "This is good," Greg told Cooper. "You got it," Cooper said, and he started to fly around a little. "Wanna see a trick?" Greg said in a voice that was equal parts nervous and excited, "Okay." "Hang on," Cooper told him and Greg tightened his grip. Cooper did a barrel roll slowly so Greg wouldn't get sick 150 ft in the air. "Faster," Greg asked and Cooper spun faster a few more times and topped it off with a loop-de-loop. Cooper flew and did similar maneuvers for two minutes before flying down. All the kids got their turn.
Some wanted him to fly higher, some lower, some faster, some slower. One girl named Sylvia had him fly as fast and high as he could, they were over 8000 ft above the ground and flying at 204 mph before he set her down. After letting all the kids fly Cooper decided to put on a show for them and made a copy of himself. One copy was easy; it was when he tried making more than two that it got hard. Cooper and his copy had everyone back up and then used his ectoplasmic energy to form dao swords. It was quite a sight; Cooper was a big guy, 6'3" and heroically built at 220 pounds and he and his copy went at it with inhuman speed and agility. His Dad would facepalm at seeing all the flashy moves he was pulling off, in a real fight all they did was waste energy and get your butt kicked. But this wasn't a real fight; it was all show for the kids and their families. The fight naturally ended when Cooper disarmed his copy and it disappeared in a puff of smoke.
After this Cooper got a call on his mic, "Blaster, we need you at the Founder's Tower now! There's a giant crab ghost climbing it!" Cooper turned to the kids and said, "Gotta go save the day. Stay cool guys, and Happy Birthday Greg!" Cooper flew off, heading for the tallest building in the city, The Founder's Tower. Hope I didn't waste too much energy, Cooper grimly thought as he flew. The one drawback of being 1/8 ghost was that, unlike his Dad and Grandpa, Cooper and his siblings' powers were weaker, and they didn't have a lot of energy to use. If they weren't careful, they could short out at the worst times.
He soon spotted The Founder's Tower and the crab ghost climbing it. It was at least 40 ft tall, and climbing the tower like a spider. "Hey Crab Cake!" Cooper yelled out at it, and the crab swiveled its eyes and saw him. It had a shining blue carapace and red eyes. Cooper flew in close and narrowly dodged its massive pincers, flying around looking for a weak spot to hit. After narrowly dodging a pincer he said, "No need to get snippy here!" The crab's eyes glowed brighter as if it knew he was making fun of it.
With more speed than he gave it credit for, the crab grabbed him in a claw. Cooper pushed against the claw as hard as he could, barely keeping it from crushing him. Hero Note #26: Never mock a giant crustacean, it could get crabby. The crab's other claw came near his head, ready to crush it like a pea. Cooper quickly looked at its eyes, I hope this works! Cooper put all the energy he could spare into his eyes and blasted one of the crab's eyes, destroying it in a blast of ectoplasmic blood. The crab gave off an awful screech as it let go of Cooper. The young halfa quickly rushed and hit its underside, knocking it off of The Founder's Tower and sending it plummeting to the ground. Cooper followed it down, pushing it down so it would hit the pavement even harder. Good thing the cops evacuated! The crab hit the ground hard, cracking its shell open to reveal green meat underneath the carapace. As he felt his power fading Cooper got out his Fenton Thermos and sucked the ghost in. As the white rings flew up and down his body he walked over to the sidewalk and collapsed on his butt.
Put a little too much power in that blast, he thought. "Blaster, you alright?" a mustachioed red headed officer asked him. Cooper took a minute before saying, "Can I get a ride home? I used up a lot of energy today, won't do anymore flying for a few hours." "Sure thing, can you walk?" the officer said. Cooper got up and followed him to his patrol car.
Chapter 2
The Officer, O' Toole, dropped Cooper off in front of his house and he went inside. Cooper went in and saw his Mom and Dad were on the couch watching a movie. April saw him and said, "Are you okay? You look tired." "Fine Mom, I just need something to eat is all. We got any of that leftover pasta?" "Yeah, just save some for me," Jack told him. "Got it, Dad," Cooper said as he got a bowl out and put the pasta in the microwave. "What movie's on?" "The 'To Hell and Back' remake," Jack told him. "Cool," Cooper said as he sat down with his bowl of pasta.
Luckily, he hadn't missed much, just the first 10 minutes or so. After the movie was over Cooper checked the time, he had a date with his girlfriend Alicia. "Where's June?" he asked his parents. "She's out with friends, they took Marge's car," April told him. Nice, "Get her permission first," his Mom sternly warned. Cooper called his sister, "June, I need your car, I can't fly for a few more hours." Cooper heard her thinking for a few minutes then she said, "If you do anything, anything to my car, I'm gonna tie you into a knot and use your for a speed bag," "Love you too Sis," Cooper hung up and went to her room to get her keys.
Cooper started the car with a satisfied smirk. June was the only one with a car among the three of them because she's the only one that wanted one. And she chose one sweet ride. Cooper turned up the radio to the classic rock station and headed for Alicia's.
Shoot to Thrill copyright owned by AC/DC
All of you women who want a man of the street
But you don't know which way you wanna turn,
Just keep a coming and put your hand out to me
'Cause I'm the one who's gonna make you burn.
I'm gonna take you down
Down,
Down,
Down,
So don't you fool around.
I'm gonna pull it,
Pull it,
Pull the trigger!
Shoot to thrill, play to kill!
Too many women with too many pills
Shoot to thrill, play to kill,
I got my gun at the ready, gonna fire at will!
YEAH!
I'm like evil, I get under your skin,
Just like a bomb that's ready to blow!
'Cause I'm illegal, I got everything,
That all you women might need to know.
I'm gonna take you down,
Yeah, down, down, down,
So don't you fool around.
I'm gonna put in a bullet, pull the trigger,
Shoot to thrill, play to kill!
Too many women with too many pills,
Shoot to thrill, play to kill!
I got my gun at the ready, gonna fire at will,
'Cause I shoot to thrill, and I'm ready to kill!
I can't get enough and I can't get my fill.
I shoot to thrill, play to kill!
Yeah, pull the trigger!
Pull it!
Pull it!
Pull it!
Pull the trigger!
OH!
Shoot to thrill!
Play to kill!
Too many women, with too many pills,
I said, shoot to thrill, play to kill!
I got my gun at the ready, gonna fire at will.
'Cause I shoot to thrill, and I'm ready to kill!
And I can't get enough, and I can't get my thrill!
'Cause I shoot to thrill, play it again!
Yeah!
Shoot you down!
Yeah!
I'm gonna get you to the bottom and shoot you,
I'm gonna shoot you,
Oh hoo, yeah, yeah, yeah!
I'm gonna shoot you down, yeah yeah!
I'm gonna shoot you down!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!
Shoot you, shoot you, shoot you, shoot you down!
Shoot you, shoot you, shoot you down!
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, ooooooh!
I'm gonna shoot to thrill!
Play to kill!
Shoot to thrill!
Yeah, ooh yeah!
He reached Alicia's house and knocked on the door. Her short yet stocky Dad, Mr. Stockman answered, he didn't exactly like Cooper. He glared at him and called Alicia from her room. Cooper would have been more scared if he didn't stand 6 inches above him, and had ghost powers. Alicia was the same height as her Dad, and NOT stocky, she was slim, svelte, and had, to quote a movie Kevin Bacon was in, 'legs that go ALL the way up!' And Ivan says he's an Atheist! Hah! I'm dating proof of a loving God!
"Be back by 11," Mr. Stockman told Alicia and gave her a kiss on the forehead goodbye. Alicia hopped in and Cooper said, "Where to baby?" "I feel like bowling today," Alicia said. "Whatever you say," Cooper told her as he headed for the Bowling Alley. They weren't too busy, probably because it was a Thursday. What people were there gave Cooper and Alicia looks. Ah, the life of a celebrity, Cooper thought as he got into his bowling shoes. His generation didn't hide who they were; everyone knew that he was Blaster, superhero, halfa, and grandson of Danny Phantom: Earth's Greatest Hero. He was famous ever since he was born on that fact alone.
It made picking up girls easy, but finding the right one was near impossible until he met Alicia last year. She was the only girl in school that wasn't impressed by his heritage, heroics, or the fact that he was ridiculously rich because his Dad was the Heavyweight MMA Champion of the world. In fact when he first asked her out, she said she didn't date 'stuck up pretty boys playing hero'. It took him a month to prove her wrong. And now here they were.
At the end of the first game Cooper had her beat 213 to 81. "Baby, let me see that bowling ball," he suggested. Alicia struggled to give it to him, "No wonder you stunk, this thing's WAY too heavy for you," Cooper said, it was 17 pounds. Alicia gave him a look then admitted, "I just figured that you liked girls who could handle themselves, every other guy in your family does." "Now that's hilarious, you said you didn't care about who I was related to when we met," he said as he put the bowling ball back on its rack. "Oh, shut up," Alicia laughed. Cooper looked around and found one that was more for her.
"Try this one," he suggested, lifting up an 8 pound ball for her to try. Alicia took it, it was just right for her. They started another game and Cooper gave her some pointers on her stance. The next three games were more even, but Cooper won all but one anyway. As they went to leave Alicia gave him a look as they neared the car, a longing look. "Cooper," she said, and motioned for him to come closer. He did and she seductively whispered, "My Dad's leaving at 11:30, he won't be back for three days." If his hair wasn't already up in an afro, Cooper's hair would have stood up in excitement at that voice, and what she was implying.
He lifted her up and planted a less than chaste kiss on her mouth in response; then his Ghost Sense went off. "Oh crap!" Cooper jumped away from where he had been. Alicia coughed some of the ghostly vapor out of her mouth. "Oh man!" Cooper yelled as another ghost ray just missed him and Alicia. "Go Ghost!" his girlfriend screamed, "I can't, I used up to much energy earlier today!" Cooper yelled as they dodged a third blast. Cooper looked up and saw the ghost; it was wearing a black hood and cape with red eyes.
"Alicia! Get in the car and see if there're any weapons in it, I'll keep him distracted!" Cooper yelled as he turned his attention to the ghost, "You couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!" The ghost attacked again, faster this time. The Cooper was barely dodging the blasts and keeping it away from Alicia, and June's car. Please let there be weapons! The ghost stopped blasting and Cooper taunted it again, "Your parents met at a puppy mill!" The ghost screeched at this, wow, didn't think that would work, and flew at him like a missile. "COOPER!" Alicia screamed as she tossed a pair of Ghost Gauntlets at him. YES!
Cooper managed to get the left Gauntlet on and backhanded the ghost away. He quickly got the other one on and powered them up. "Let's go!" Cooper challenged as the ghost charged up a ghost ray. Cooper ran forward, dodging the ghost ray and slapping the sides of its hood. The ghost screamed in pain, giving him the chance to score three solid punches to its solar plexus and a mean left hook to the head. The ghost fell at Alicia's feet and she pulled out a Thermos from the car and sucked it in. Alicia smiled as Cooper walked over, "That was so hot."
She smiled as she got in the car and they drove off. Before getting dropped off at her house Alicia whispered, "12:30," Cooper had a big smile as he headed back to his house and went to sleep. Around 12:00 he went Ghost and turned invisible, heading for Alicia's house.
Chapter 3
Cooper woke up that morning feeling a little tired, but not too bad. After stretching for 15 minutes he went through his exercises: 150 leg lifts, 60 Guillotine pushups, knuckle pushups, regular pushups. He then did 30 Planche pushups, followed by 150 sit-ups, 90 calf raises, and finished with 85 squat thrusts. He finished his morning routine by going over his various open handed forms and techniques and several weapon combinations. After his shower he dressed and went downstairs for breakfast, his Dad had made pancakes for everyone. Cooper and Jack ate the most, and then Cooper, June, and JJ took June's car to CharlesWoodsHigh School. Along the way Cooper thought he saw something fly by, but it was so fast that he ignored it, it wasn't a ghost, if it was then his Ghost Sense would have gone off.
When they got there the three teens parted, Cooper headed for Calculus. Mr. Wilson was doing his best today, which meant that everyone in class was barely awake. Mr. Wilson was the kind of teacher that clearly didn't like his job that much. Cooper only stayed up by remembering that he needed to improve his grade in this class. After that was Government and Economics. Mrs. Freeling was the opposite of Mr. Wilson, she managed to keep everyone's attention; despite the fact that she was teaching one of the most boring classes they had.
Between classes Cooper took out two signs he made yesterday, one said 'Push' the other said 'Pull'. He saw the door in one of the halls and put the signs up. No one saw him, so Cooper went on to his third class, Spanish. Mr. Valdez was a no nonsense teacher that scared the crap out of him. He was average size, not that muscular, but he had this… presence, you could feel in your bones that he wasn't someone to screw with. Cooper paid special attention, when Mr. Valdez said jump, students said 'How High?' After that class was done he headed for Lunch, and got a chuckle when he saw a student struggle to open the door he put the sign on.
At lunch he spotted June chatting with her friends and JJ talking to his girlfriend Stacy. Cooper didn't get JJ, he could have any girl he wanted, but he was with Stacy. She was a nice girl, but on the hotness scale of 1-10, she was a 6.8 on a good day. His girlfriend Alicia on the other hand was a solid 9 on a bad day, 9.7 on her good days like last night. Speaking of which, Cooper looked around and spotted her outside under a tree eating a salad and chatting with her friends. Cooper waved to her and she waved back with a smile that lit a fire in him. He sat down on his own and ate his lunch; Alicia looked occupied with her friends.
After lunch Cooper's last class was genetics. Mrs. Grey had them chart what led to the different varieties of dogs she chose for them. He was stuck with trying to figure out how they bred Chihuahuas into existence. That's the question of the ages, Cooper thought as he worked, how did they make a barking rat out of a 100+ pound predator? He was getting close to figuring it out when the class, and school, ended. Mrs. Grey assigned them to finish the work over the weekend. Glad I'm almost done, Cooper thought as he headed for June's car.
Soon as he opened the door he saw his Mom and Dad talking to a tall woman with black hair and blue eyes, "Oh, hi guys." "Hey, Beth, what are you doing here?" June asked. To say that their relationship to Beth was complicated was an understatement. As the daughter of Danielle Phantom, their Grandpa's clone, she was genetically their aunt. But seeing as how Danny always thought of Dani as a little sister, then Beth was his niece and therefore their cousin. Or since Dani was called Danny's cousin, that made Beth their 1st cousin once removed. Complicated.
Beth gave a concerned look and said, "I'm following a story. This is big guys, you three should sit down and hear." That got Cooper's attention; Beth wasn't the type to take many things seriously. When she took something seriously, it was bad. Cooper, June, and JJ all sat down and Beth started. "You guys have been doing a great job against the Grey Marauders. My sources say that they took a big hit when you shut down that ghost steroid operation. But, they're getting desperate now. And when people get desperate, they get dangerous.
"One of my sources in the Ghost Zone says that he's heard rumors of a new halfa in the world," Beth said, and June, JJ, April, and Jack all looked at Cooper. "No, no, not a 'halfa', I mean a True Halfa, half human, half ghost!" Beth clarified. "That's…" JJ stopped himself, remembering that the Grey Marauders had a Ghost Portal. "Why haven't we heard anything? Shouldn't he have showed up by now?" April asked. Beth just shrugged, "I don't know, but my sources are good. There's a new half-ghost out there now, and he might be an enemy."
Chapter 4
It was around seven that Cooper was finished with the project. He left home after putting on his mic and went Ghost, just flying around doing his own thing. JJ was somewhere patrolling the city, looking for criminals to beat up. JJ had mellowed after he had to take a vacation, but he was still going out fighting human criminals. Cooper looked down and saw three guys going after a smaller one. He flew down in front of the smaller guy and said, "Isn't it past your bedtime?" The guys pulled out ecto-blasters in response. Oh crap, the Grey Marauders! Cooper quickly blasted some ghost rays and grabbed the guy, flying up.
Luckily the guys weren't great shots and missed him. Cooper stayed calm and blasted the robbers in their heads, knocking them out. He flew down and put the victim down, "You okay man." He had blonde hair, green eyes, and felt pretty wiry for a small guy. "I'm fine, but you're not!" the guy said before he blasted Cooper back with a ghost ray! No way! "Blaster to…EVERYBODY, I got the halfa!" Cooper was cut off when another ghost ray blasted him. That was STRONG! And he's not even in ghost form! "You halfas are through! It's the time of the Grey Marauders now!" the halfa yelled.
Cooper watched as red rings flew up and down his body, turning his clothes into a half black and half white jumpsuit with one white glove and one black glove, and one white boot and one black boot. His eyes glowed dark orange and his hair turned white. The halfa smiled and said, "You can call me Pozhar." He said as he blasted another ghost ray at Cooper. Cooper shielded himself quickly and flew away, "Come and get me Poser!" "IT'S POZHAR!" Cooper's opponent screamed as he flew up after him.
"Cooper, where are you?" Cooper heard his Dad call over his mic. Cooper saw Pozhar summon a fireball and quickly countered it with an ice ray, "Somewhere near Carlson Road, approaching the Founder's Tower. This guy's tough Dad; and he have fire powers too!" "I'm on my way!" Jack yelled. Just gotta stay alive, Cooper thought as he dodged a second fireball. Cooper built up some ice energy into a snowball and threw it. Pozhar melted it but Cooper then fired off three ghost rays in rapid succession. Pozhar blocked the first two but the third one got him by surprise. "That all you got, Poser?" Cooper yelled; hurry up Dad, this guy's powerful!
Cooper kept his fear from showing as he flew over for a hook kick. Pozhar blocked it and tried a jab and a cross combo. Cooper deflected them and went for a round kick; Pozhar blocked it and tried a haymaker punch. Cooper barely dodged that attack, this guy has training, either boxing or kickboxing. Cooper answered with a rapid combination of kicks and punches. Pozhar blocked them all, damn this guy's good. Cooper kept it up and managed to give Pozhar three punches to the ribs and a kick that sent him flying back. Cooper flew after him and grabbed him, and headed straight for the ground. Pozhar blasted him off with ghost rays through his eyes into Cooper's face.
Before he could reorient himself Cooper got blasted back by three powerful ghost rays, sending him to the ground. The young halfa stopped his descent just in time and landed on his feet. Pozhar looked at him, glaring daggers at him. "The time of the Phantoms is over. The era of the Grey Marauders has begun!" Pozhar built up a fireball as large as his head and threw it at Cooper. Cooper just barely stopped it with an ice ray, and went human. Oh crap crap crap crap crap! Pozhar smiled and built up an even larger fireball. "Say goodbye!" "GOODBYE!" BOOM! Jack appeared with a large BOOM as he punched Pozhar so hard it sent him flying into the distance. Jack floated down to Cooper, "Are you alright?" he asked his son. "Barely; this guy's tough Dad, way tougher than a new halfa should be. He's got training too, kickboxing at least," Cooper tiredly told him. "Relax, son. I'll take it from here," Jack assured him, then what looked like a missile come close. Jack flew up and collided with Pozhar before he could blast him, grabbing him and tackling him to the ground. Jack quickly got on top like the seasoned fighter he was and pounded his opponents face. Pozhar blocked the fourth punch and went intangible, taking to the air again.
Pozhar threw fireballs at Jack; Jack formed a shield and blocked them all. Cooper watched as his Dad joined their enemy in the air and called on his mic, "JJ, June, me and Dad are near the FoundersTower, Dad's fighting that other halfa, he's definitely a bad guy. I think Dad needs your help, I'm too used up." "On my way," Cooper siblings said in synch. Jack flew up as Pozhar unleashed flames at him like a human flamethrower. Jack reached him and bashed him with his shield, sending him back. Just before he recovered Jack closed the distance and unleashed a powerful combination of punches and kicks.
Pozhar blocked all but the last ten and was sent to the ground hard after Jack kicked him down with an axe kick that would crack concrete. "RAAGH!" Pozhar yelled and threw fireballs as fast as he could make them at Jack. Jack made another shield and blocked them. Pozhar glared at Cooper and summoned a massive fireball at Cooper. It was too fast, he couldn't dodge it, couldn't counter it…no. "COOPER!" Jack got in front of him and blocked the fire, but it was too hot, Jack's shield shattered and the last bit of flame got Jack full on. Jack screeched, he screeched as the flames burned his face and chest and arms. "DAD!" Cooper yelled, oh God no! Cooper watched as Pozhar looked past him and his Dad and flew off, blasting flame from his hands like a rocket.
"JJ! JUNE! HELP!" Cooper yelled. June flew down and saw their Dad injured and used her ice ray to cool the wounds. JJ picked Jack up; he had fallen unconscious from the pain. June wordlessly picked up Cooper and they flew to the nearest Hospital.
Chapter 5
April arrived at the Hospital as soon as she heard about Jack. "What happened?" she anxiously asked Cooper. He was in a room himself, but the worst thing he had were some bruises and a black eye. "I saw a guy being mugged. Turned out it was a trap by the Grey Marauders. It was that halfa Beth told us about. He's evil Mom, and stronger than he should be. I couldn't beat him and called Dad. You should have seen him; Dad was wiping the floor with him."
Cooper started crying as he continued, "It's all my fault Mom. He threw a fireball at me and I was like a deer in the headlights. Dad jumped in front of me and…" Cooper cried as hard as he could. April gently hugged her son and said, "Shhh. None of this is your fault baby. Your Dad would never have let anything happen to you. Look at me," Cooper lifted his head from her shoulder and looked his Mom in the eyes, "None. Of. This. Is. Your. Fault. None of it. You did your job, your Dad did his. He knew this could happen when he got in front of you. And he wouldn't change that choice. Ever."
Cooper nodded and sniffed and took a tissue from a table beside his bed. Beth appeared at his door, "Cooper, I'm so glad you're alright," Beth walked up to him and gave him a gentle hug. "Beth, that halfa you told us about-" "I know, JJ told me. I should have helped you patrol the city, but I was too caught up in my story," Beth told him, "I'm going to help you guys like I should have done from the start." For the next hour no one talked, they didn't know what to talk about after everything that had just happened.
Cooper was thinking about his Dad. How he had taught him to ride a bike, everything he knew about fighting…how to talk to girls. Cooper just sat there thinking about his Dad, and how much he wished he wasn't there. Somehow he started to pray. His Uncle Jerry and Aunt Marie were the religious members of the family, they always told him to pray often. He hadn't prayed in a while, but after nearly dying, and now seeing his Dad in the Hospital, he didn't know what else to do.
They all sat in the waiting room until a short Asian woman who looked all business said, "We need to talk." She flashed an Interpol badge. "Damn straight we do," April growled at her. Cooper and his siblings watched as their Mom stood up and glared down at the Interpol agent. April was 6 feet tall with lean and defined muscle from years of training in Savate; she intimidated men even bigger than her with the look she was giving the Interpol agent, who somehow didn't seem all that intimidated. "You people promised you'd keep us in the loop. Well you dropped the ball this time! We heard about the Grey Marauders halfa from my husband's cousin! A nineteen year old professional blogger! Where were you?!" June stood up and grabbed her Mom's shoulder, April looked like she was about to kick the woman through the wall.
The Interpol agent looked up and said, "The fact is Mrs. Fenton we don't have contacts in the Ghost Zone, and we've been busy in Europe completing what your family started." April let out a loud breath from her nose before saying, "Explain." The Interpol agent took out her phone and tapped the screen, making a small hologram appears from it. She has the latest gen, Cooper noted, so did he and his siblings. The hologram formed into a picture of Pozhar, "That's him! That's the halfa!" Cooper said out loud. The agent didn't look at him and said to April, "The Grey Marauders are getting desperate. They lost a lot of money and a number of brilliant scientists that were on their payroll when your husband and children took down their lab a month ago. For years we weren't able to build a case because they covered their tracks too well and made sure to obey all the tax laws so we couldn't build a RICO case against them.
"But your family has spooked their leadership. They've been getting sloppy and we've taken down some of their operations in Russia, Indonesia, Thailand, Germany, France, and Brazil. They need to take you down to prove to their rivals that they're still powerful. So, they made a new halfa, using one of their lieutenants. This man," the agent indicated the hologram; "is Damyan Hristov. He escaped the raids in Russia and was one of their toughest lieutenants there. Amateur Mixed Martial Artist who couldn't hack the pro-league, he has a habit of beating people to death with his bare hands." "He's not that much of a fighter, Dad was kicking his ass before he tried going for me," Cooper growled, glaring at the hologram.
The agent looked at him and said, "Don't underestimate him. He obviously underestimated you while you fought, he normally likes to gouge his opponents' eyes out and bite when he's desperate," the agent turned back to April, "I'll have bodyguards posted here, your husband is vulnerable now, the Grey Marauders won't hesitate to finish the job." The Interpol agent handed April a card, "I am Agent Yangtzu, call me if you confront Hristov or have any information on the Grey Marauders." With that, Agent Yangtszu left.
Chapter 6
Cooper woke up the next morning and trained harder than he ever had before. All he could think about were the fight against Pozhar and how he had failed his Dad. Anger fueled him as he pushed himself to exercise more and practice all the numerous martial arts techniques he knew. He was drenched in sweat and was panting like a horse that just ran 100 miles by the time he was done. The young hero showered after lying down on the floor for five minutes and went to fix his breakfast. He saw June and JJ at the table, looking like they had been training even harder. June had made pancakes and Cooper ate next to them. The three of them were silent, too occupied with what had happened to Jack to talk.
"What are we going to do?" Cooper finally said as he finished his breakfast. "I don't know," JJ admitted, "we have no idea what Pozhar is going to do, where the Grey Marauders base of operations in our city is, what can we do now but wait for them to make a move?" June and Cooper nodded in agreement. June's phone rang just then and she answered, "Hello?" Her eyes got wide and she pushed a button on her phone, "Okay, Grandpa, JJ and Cooper are here too." "Good. I have an idea on how you can defeat this evil halfa," their Grandpa, the one and only Danny Phantom said. "How do you know about Pozhar?" Cooper asked. "Your Mom and Beth called me last night and told me everything that happened.
"Now listen, you're going to need Beth for this. The fact is that you three aren't powerful enough to counter this guy's-" "Pozhar," Cooper said, "Pozhar's fire power. You proved it last night, Cooper, you used up too much energy countering it. Even the three of you together might not be able to counter him enough to beat him." "So, you want Beth to help because she has more ice power," JJ stated. "Exactly; you three use your gear and training to fight him up close, while Beth stays back to counter his fire power. She doesn't have the training you do, but she has the power. Together, the four of you can defeat him." Danny explained. Danny then continued to speak, "Your Grandma and I are coming to see Jack as soon as we can. If you need my help, I'll be there too." "We'll have Pozhar behind bars before you get here," Cooper promised. "Then, we'll see you soon," Danny said, and hung up.
The three of them got up and quickly went to their rooms to get dressed and grab their ghost hunting gear. They headed to their rooms and quickly left. Beth was right at the door and JJ bumped into her. "Oof," they both said. June and Cooper helped them up and said, "Why are you here?" "Danny called me and said-" "We need to work together," June finished for her. "Yeah, I see you're all prepared to kick butt, you got any spares?" Beth asked them. "You still remember how to use the Jack-O-Nine Tails?" Cooper asked her. Beth smirked and said, "My last boyfriend knows how good I am with a whip." "TMI," JJ said as he went back into their house to grab a Jack-O-Nine Tails for her. As soon as he gave it to her a helicopter appeared behind them. JJ looked at it then screamed, "CRAP!" A Mini-gun went off as JJ grabbed his family and turned them all intangible. The bullets passed harmlessly through them but tore up their house. As soon as the gun stopped, JJ, June, Cooper, and Beth all went intangible. Beth's hair turned white and her eyes glowed green as her clothes turned into an outfit that was just like her Mom Danielle's, only it was black and sky blue instead of black and white. Cooper and the girls phased into the helicopter and grabbed the four people in it. JJ grabbed the helicopter and brought it down gently so it wouldn't crash into any neighboring houses. "Who hired you?" Beth asked one of the men. They were all frozen from the waist down with her ice.
"Delta Alpha, activate!" the man yelled and the ice shattered as a mechanical suit circled his legs and the rest of his body. The other three men were similar armed and canons appeared from their shoulders. Beth quickly froze the cannons of the merc in front of her, making them explode as they went off. June, Cooper, and JJ dodged the shots of the other three then focused and put power into their ghost rays, destroying the cannons.18 inch blades came out of the suits' wrists and the four of them charged. Big mistake.
Cooper grabbed the wrists of the suits and squeezed hard, crushing the armor around them before blasting the mercs faceplate with ghost rays from his eyes, blowing his helmet off and knocking him out. June was less nice, after deflecting the blades with some tonfa she made with her ectoplasmic energy she kicked the mercs nuts as hard as she could, Cooper told himself he didn't hear a squishy sound as the merc screamed. June then made her hand intangible and tore the merc out of his suit and knocked him out with a head-butt.
JJ was more efficient, he went intangible and tackled the merc that went after him out of his suit then twisted his ankle until it broke. Beth just froze hers solid then became intangible to pull him out of the ice. He kicked her to make her let go but Cooper blasted him with a ghost ray to the head, knocking him out. JJ had his merc on the ground, his foot on his chest and threateningly said, "Who hired you? If you don't answer, I'm going to reach my hand down your throat and pull something out." The guy's lips quivered but he didn't say anything. JJ made his hand intangible and started moving it towards his face.
"I'll talk! I'll talk! It was Hristov! He called in the hits!" "Hits?" Cooper said; then it hit him, "DAD!" Cooper and June blasted off as fast as they could towards the Hospital as JJ and Beth secured the mercs. When Cooper and June got there patients were being taken out of the Hospital and SWAT Units were preparing to enter. "Freezer! Blaster!" the SWAT leader called. "What's happening?" "We're not totally sure, witness reports say between 4 and 20 hostiles tried to kill Jack Fenton but his wife stopped them, shots went out and-" The second June and Cooper heard the word 'shots' they entered the Hospital, heading for their Dad's room.
He was still on the bed, no one was around. "Stay with Dad," Cooper told June, who nodded as he walked out and looked around. He heard a few people cowering in a room and helped them out of the Hospital before continuing on. He heard yelling in the cafeteria and ran forward, kicking the door in. He saw three men on the ground; their faces beat up bad; then saw his Mom fighting a woman, a tall brunette that delivered a jab right to April's face. April blocked a follow-up kick with her elbow and cross-punched the female merc in the jaw and followed with an uppercut. April finished the fight with a roundhouse kick to the side of her head. April collapsed onto a nearby table as Cooper rushed to her.
He then saw that she was bleeding from her forehead, nose, left shoulder, and right thigh. "Cooper," April wearily said as her adrenaline stopped flowing. Cooper helped her walk and asked, "What happened?" April took a few minutes to collect her thoughts as they went through the Hospital before answering. "Those guys said they were doctors, burn specialists for your Dad. I knew they were lying when I saw their shoes and fought them back." "Witnesses heard gunshots," "I used some techniques your Dad taught me to disarm them. Then it got real. I had to run them through the Hospital and take them on one at a time. Lucky for me they all separated to find me; I kept them focused on me and took them down."
Cooper got her outside and SWAT went in after April told them where to find the assassins.
Chapter 7
Several hours later Cooper, June, and JJ were all in the Police Station, looking in as Agent Yangtzu interrogated one of the mercs they had captured. He was average height, dark hair, pretty muscular. Agent Yangtzu just stared at him at first, observing him like he was an animal at a zoo. Finally she said, "We already traced your accounts, Ronald McCoy. And we already know your record; we've wanted you for a while on 19 charges of murder, 78 charges of arson, 42 charges of vandalism, and credit card fraud for a while now. In other words, you're screwed. We have all the evidence we need to send you to a country with the death penalty and let them do with you what they will."
McCoy sneered at her not intimidated in the least. Agent Yangtzu then said, "Or, I could walk out that door, and let Jack Phantom's children enact their own brand of justice." McCoy sneered again, "You can't do that. Torture's illegal in this country." "Who said anything about torture? I could just leave, and when I return, you'll be gone. No one will see you again, we'll have a massive manhunt, of course, but you'll just disappear from the face of the Human World." McCoy's sneer left his face and he swallowed. "What I want to know is who hired you to kill Jack Phantom. Names, dates of your meetings, locations where you met," Agent Yangtzu then put a notebook and pen in front of McCoy, "Everything. And I'll make sure you spend the rest of your miserable life in a prison cell NOT awaiting your execution."
McCoy wrote down everything, leaving the three teens in shock at how she had decimated the man. As they came out they heard Agent Yangtzu on her phone, "I'll need three SWAT units. No one moves without my orders." The woman turned to them and said, "This will be dangerous. You might not want to come." The three of them just looked at her as if she was insane and she then said, "I cannot guarantee your safety." "We took down those mercs, us not Interpol. We can handle ourselves," JJ told her. Agent Yangtzu shrugged, "Be ready in an hour", then walked off. Cooper took the time to call Alicia, for all his bravado and JJ's confidence; he knew how dangerous this could be.
"Hey, baby," Cooper said. "Cooper, are you alright? I heard about what happened to your house on the news and the Hospital-" "I'm fine baby, really. Mom got pretty beat up, but we got the mercs, and one of them just told us where their boss is. This…could be dangerous," Cooper told her. Alicia was quiet for a minute before saying, "You can do this, Cooper. I know that when we first met I said you weren't a real hero, but I was wrong, I was so wrong. You are a hero, and nothing can ever hurt you, its not because of who your Dad, or your Grandpa is, its all you. I know you can do this." Cooper smiled, God I love this girl, "Thanks, Alicia. I love you." "Go get 'em Coop," Alicia told him, and they hung up.
Chapter 8
An hour later, Cooper, JJ, and June were in the back of a SWAT van with Agent Yangtzu heading for the edge of the city. "According to McCoy, Hristov's superiors are going to meet him at an abandoned toy factory, Jolly George. He said that they are high in the food chain and taking them down will eliminate the Grey Marauder's presence in South America. They will be heavily guarded, most likely armed with anti-ghost tech. McCoy says they also have a suitcase full of the ghost steroid." "But we took down there factory, got their scientists, we thought we got all the steroids," Cooper said. "You didn't. A few vials from each delivery managed to escape.
"I believe that they gave some steroids to Hristov, which is why he was so powerful when you fought him," Agent Yangtzu concluded. "It makes sense, it takes years for powers to develop so much, and that's if they're used a lot, like muscles," June said. "If you say so," Agent Yangtzu said then put her hand to her ear, "We're almost there. Tell Beth to get ready." Cooper put his hand to his mic and said, "Beth, you ready?" "I'm ready to take names and kick butt," his 'cousin' said enthusiastically. Agent Yangtzu put her hand to her ear again, "All SWAT Units stand by for my order. The halfas will go in first; we'll come in as soon as the loud noise starts."
That's reassuring. We who are about to die, salute you! Cooper cut out such thoughts as the van stopped moving. "Go," Agent Yangtzu ordered; the three halfas with her turned invisible and phased out of the van. They flew to the ceiling of the Jolly George Toy Factory and became visible again, Beth was there alongside them. There was a ceiling window and the four of them quietly walked towards it. They saw Pozhar, a.k.a. Damyan Hristov was in human form, pacing the floor. "He looks…sick," Beth observed. He doesn't look like he did when I fought him, Cooper thought to himself. He seemed more agitated, twitchy.
They stayed there for ten minutes before more men entered the toy factory. There were about forty of them, with three that looked like they were the top dogs. Two were average looking, one with blonde hair the other brunette. The third top dog was really muscular with long black hair tied into a ponytail carrying a suitcase. "What's wrong Damyan? You look like crap," the blonde guy said. "I don't know, Curtis. I think I'm withdrawing from the steroids or something," Hristov said. "You still good? We need you if we're gonna take down those Phantoms," the muscular man said. "Just give me another shot will ya? I got a feeling-" he then burped out a fire-ball and looked up to see JJ, Cooper, Beth, and June. "THEY'RE HERE! BLAST THEM!" he screamed as he went ghost, turning his clothes into a half black and white jumpsuit with one black boot, one white boot, one black glove and one white glove as his eyes glowed orange and his hair turned white. Pozhar blasted a fireball at them that Beth countered as they came into the window. All the other gangsters let loose with their ecto-blasters. JJ, June, and Cooper flew around and returned fire with ghost and ice rays. After two minutes of the firefight they heard Agent Yangtzu's voice through a megaphone "YOU ARE SURROUNDED! SURRENDER NOW!" "NEVER!" the muscular man screamed and threw the suitcase at Pozhar. "USE THEM!" he screamed as Pozhar phased into the suitcase and pulled out some needles filled with a green substance. "NO!" Beth yelled as she blasted at him with her ice ray. Pozhar countered with his fire power as he stuck the needles into his chest.
Beth poured more energy into her ice ray as she and Pozhar flew out of the factory and SWAT teams charged in.
Cooper lost track of his siblings as he focused on taking down as many bad guys as he could and avoid their gunfire. After what felt like an eternity all the crooks in the factory were arrested or shot. He looked around and saw that Agent Yangtzu was wounded in her arm. He floated to her and asked, "Are you alright?" "I'll live, it's just a graze. You go and get Hristov." She told him. Cooper took off and looked around, soon spotting a large red glow thirty miles away. Cooper flew as fast as he could to see Beth was just barely keeping Pozhar's fire from burning her. "HEY POSER!" Cooper yelled as he built up an ice ray and blasted it at his enemy.
Pozhar reached out a hand and blasted flame at it while keeping the pressure on Beth. "He's too strong!" Beth yelled as she poured more power into her ice ray. Pozhar laughed at them as he said, "You're no match for me! As soon as I'm done with you, I'll finish what I started and after that, no one can stop me!" "That's what you think!" Cooper heard JJ yell as he and June tackled Pozhar. He blasted them off with an ecto-energy blast and threw fire balls at them. Beth quickly countered the fireballs with ice rays, giving Cooper the opening he needed to blast him with an ecto energy ball. "DIE!" Pozhar screamed as a copy of him formed and flew straight towards Cooper.
Cooper dodged his ghost rays as he blasted a few of his own and got face to face with him. "You're going down," Cooper told him as he went for a kick. Pozhar dodged it and went for a combination of jabs and crosses. Cooper blocked them all and watched as JJ, June, and Beth fought the other Pozhar. They were holding their own just fine. Cooper snapped out of it when a kick to his head sent him flying back. Cooper blocked the ghost rays that followed it with his ecto-energy shield and answered with a powerful ghost ray that hit the Pozhar copy right in the chest. Before it could counterattack Cooper formed a sword with his energy and ran it through, making it disappear in a puff of smoke.
Cooper watched as JJ finished off Pozhar with a roundhouse kick to the head. Pozhar became human again and glared at them all but then all of a sudden grabbed his chest and collapsed. June started CPR, but it didn't work. He was dead. "How did that happen?" Beth quietly said. No one could answer her. They just stayed there and waited for the police to arrive.
Chapter 9
The next day Cooper's family was at the Hospital, his Dad was awake. Jack's burns were wrapped up in plaster, but he could move and talk just fine. "I'm so proud of all of you," he told his kids, "You worked together and took down a dangerous criminal, and put another nail in the Grey Marauder's coffin." "Thanks dad," JJ said. "I think things are going to get quieter now," Jack said. "Good to hear," they all turned to see Danny and Sam Fenton there. "Grandma, Grandpa!" June yelled as she hugged them.
Danny and Sam hugged their grandchildren tightly before going to Jack's side. "It's good to see you," Jack said as he hugged Danny and Sam as best he could. "Just take it easy big guy. You've been through a lot," Danny told him. Cooper saw that Danny had grown a beard since the last time they saw each other over the summer. He looked tired too, there must have been some big things happening back in AmityPark. But after hugging Jack he looked a lot happier. Cooper just smiled, everything worked out, it always did in their family.
The End
That's it for this story. And now, I'm gonna focus on other projects. I'm going to return to The Third Generation series eventually. Look out for The Third Generation Part 4: Eve.