More for you, because... I felt like it. ;)
Tears From Heaven
A Danny Phantom ScriptFrenzy by Cori
FADE IN
EXT. A VAN PULLS UP TO THE OUTSKIRTS OF AMITY PARK WITH 'AP NEWS' WRITTEN ACROSS THE SIDE. THE HIGHWAY IS NEARLY DESERTED, ONLY A FEW CARS PASSING HURRIEDLY AWAY FROM THE GREENISH SMOKE THAT IS RISING ABOVE THE CITY OF AMITY PARK
Four people get out of the van and begin to set up for a news shoot. CAMERAMAN holds a camera, MIKE holds a microphone boom, DIRECTOR is carrying a clipboard, and FELICIA fluffs her blonde hair and practices flashing her white teeth.
FELICIA
Are we rolling?
DIRECTOR
Nearly. You ready with the script?
FELICIA
(checking her clothes)
Always.
DIRECTOR
(holding up fingers in a countdown)
And we're live in five... Four... Three... Two...
FELICIA
This is Felicia Weathersby and I'm live on the outskirts of Amity Park, where a disaster of untold proportions is unfolding. As you can see over my shoulder, a strange green cloud is rising over the city, as it has been for the past two days. Reports from the people still fleeing the scene is that there is some sort of viscous liquid streaming through the streets. The greenish smoke is reportedly deadly, as well as the unusual liquid.
STUDIO REPORTER
(through a headset)
Do we have any estimates of numbers of casualties yet?
FELICIA
(smiling)
Not yet, Robert, since we're still in the early stages of this disaster. The government has set up a small command center a few miles from the city and have set a press conference for later today. But all unofficial estimates point to deaths easily numbering in the hundreds, if not thousands.
STUDIO REPORTER
Are you going to try to get any closer?
DIRECTOR quickly shakes his head, making a negative motion with his hands.
FELICIA
We've been warned by the local law enforcement not to try to get any closer. The wind has been shifting too much for us to be confident of the spread of the cloud's effects.
STUDIO REPORTER
Well, you stay safe, Felicia. We wouldn't want any harm to come to you.
FELICIA
We'll stay a safe distance and keep bringing you breaking news as it happens, live and on scene. I'm Felicia Weathersby for local AP News.
DIRECTOR
And... We're out.
CAMERAMAN and MIKE set down their equipment and turn to look at the rising plume of green poison with looks of fascinated horror. FELICIA rolls her eyes and mutters about how she flubbed up some line. DIRECTOR nervously glances at the van and starts trying to shoo the on-site team back towards the safety of the government camp.
INT. A MILITARY-STYLE HOSPITAL TENT WITH A LARGE NUMBER OF BEDS, MOST OF THEM OCCUPIED WITH HORRIBLY BURNED PATIENTS. ONE BED IS PUSHED AGAINST THE SIDE, THE LARGE BANDAGE-COVERED FIGURE BREATHING RAGGEDLY WITH THE HELP OF THE INTUBATION TUBES. A RED-TINTED IV TRAILS TO HIS ARM.
DANNY sits quietly next to the figure, barely awake, his face drawn and pale. Dark rings circle his eyes and his hair is an oily and unwashed mess. His dull blue eyes stare at what little of his father's body he can still see. His hands are still bandaged from when he'd burned himself trying to save Sam's life.
ROGER, a thin whip-like figure with graying hair and soft brown eyes, walks over and takes the chair next to DANNY. ROGER is wearing a military-style government uniform.
ROGER
Daniel Fenton.
DANNY doesn't answer. He simply glances over at ROGER and then turns back to staring at his father.
ROGER
(sighing)
The intake forms say this man is Jack Fenton. That means I laid good money on you being his son - one Daniel Fenton.
DANNY blinks a few times.
ROGER
I need your help.
This gets DANNY's attention. He looks up, actually meeting ROGER's eyes for a moment.
DANNY
Who are you?
ROGER
My name is Commander Roger O'Neil. I work with a... special branch of the United States government - the one dealing with a lot of unusual and unexplainable problems.
DANNY
The Guys in White?
ROGER
(snorting)
No. Not them.
DANNY
(turning his attention back to his father's unconscious body)
What do you need my help for?
ROGER
We managed to do a ROV fly-over of the disaster area and have located ground zero. Your parents' house.
DANNY
So?
ROGER
What were you parents working on when this happened?
DANNY
(looking up angrily)
You're blaming this on my parents?
ROGER
No. But there might be a connection. A lot of really good people are dying right now and we need to know everything that might help us solve this problem.
DANNY
(deflating slight)
I don't know. I don't understand what my parents do most of the time.
ROGER
(smiling and leaning forwards)
What do you know? I'm pretty good with this kind of stuff.
Silence falls for a long few minutes as DANNY stares quietly at the wall. His bandaged hands curl into fists in the blankets a few times, closing his eyes and shaking his head.
DANNY
Fine. I'll tell you what I know.
ROGER
Excellent.
DANNY
My parents are... were working on some upgrade to the Fenton Portal-
ROGER
(interrupting)
What's that?
DANNY
Fenton Portal. Gateway to the ghost zone. Lets the ghosts out. Main reason why Amity Park is so haunted.
ROGER
Oh, right. The Z9 project. Keep going.
DANNY
(casting a confused glance at ROGER)
Anyways. They were working on this upgrade which would allow them to... Um... See, with the Fenton Portal you could see into the ghost zone and you could go into the ghost zone, but you were pretty much stuck where you were. The portal opened into a fixed place in the ghost zone. They wanted to 'unstick' the end in the ghost zone and move it around so they could see new places and new ghosts.
ROGER
Okay. That makes sense. What else?
DANNY
(shrugging and closing his eyes)
It was their big project. They weren't doing anything else.
ROGER
So this probably has something to do with the Z9 project.
DANNY
Probably.
DANNY falls silent with a depressed shrug and sinks back into his chair. ROGER stands up and moves forwards, leaning over the unconscious figure of JACK FENTON and drumming his fingers on the railing of the bed.
ROGER
(softly)
You know what that gas did to him?
DANNY looks up with a sharp glitter in his eye.
ROGER
(very quietly, dangerously)
Same thing it did to all these poor people. The acid got into his body and literally started to eat him alive. His lungs are damaged almost beyond repair. Without this oxygen supply, he'd be long dead.
ROGER quietly touches the tubes running into JACK FENTON's mouth. DANNY gets to his feet in a lurch, his body tensing as if to fight.
ROGER
If you wouldn't have gotten him out when you did, he'd have died there - just like the rest of your family did. But you might have just prolonged his suffering a little, slowly drowning in the puss and fluids his lungs are giving off as they struggle to repair themselves.
DANNY
(furiously)
Get away from him.
ROGER
(a small smile on his face)
Can't. See, my job is to protect this country. I do my job very well, it's why I have this post.
ROGER takes his hand off the tubes and leans a bit, resting his elbows on the bed's rails and smiling at DANNY.
ROGER
You know something you're not telling me.
DANNY recoils visibly, shaking his head.
DANNY
Thousands of people are going to die! Why would I keep a secret from you?
ROGER
You were at ground zero. You saved him. (points at JACK) Everybody else we've rescued from within a half-mile of ground zero has severe lung damage.
DANNY pressed a hand to his chest, the blood draining from his face.
ROGER
You, Mr. Fenton, managed to not only rescue your father, but got out of there with - miraculously, I might say - no injuries other than some minor burns on your hands.
DANNY
So?
ROGER
I'm a gambler, Mr. Fenton, a very good one. And I'm going to take a gamble with you.
DANNY
What kind of gamble?
ROGER pulls a small vile of clear liquid out of his pocket and holds it up to the light.
ROGER
I told you I work for a special branch of the military dealing with unusual things. This is one of them. It's ability to heal even the most devastating wounds has us baffled.
DANNY's eyes fix on the vial, his hands moving to grab onto his father's bed's railing. ROGER stares at the vial, then slowly and deliberately turns to stare at JACK.
ROGER
I'd love to help you.
DANNY
He's going to die!
ROGER
Only if you let him.
DANNY
(angrily)
That's blackmail! I should-
ROGER
Find yourself in a little padded room? Sedated and put on medication for delusions?
DANNY scowls and glares at ROGER.
ROGER
You're going up against something much bigger than yourself, kid. You'll lose. Everyone does.
DANNY's fingers tighten into fists on the bed frame.
INT. GHOSTWRITER'S LAIR.
GHOSTWRITER is still sitting at his keyboard, watching the scene play out with an almost maniacal gleam in his eye. SKULKER is sitting in a chair nearby, chuckling at random intervals.
GHOSTWRITER
(whispering)
This novel will be my finest work!
SKULKER
Quiet. I want to hear this.
GHOSTWRITER
(fingers twitching)
Can't I just kill the human? He's almost dead anyways, and then we can pick a new narrator. This is getting boring, watching a human sleeping in a bed.
SKULKER
No.
The two ghosts fall into silence, watching DANNY's fingers tighten into white-knuckled fists. Both of them watch him shake his head and talk, his voice sounding muffled and odd through the screen.
DANNY ON THE SCREEN
I don't know anything. You're going to kill him!
ROGER ON THE SCREEN
You do know something.
DANNY ON THE SCREEN
(angry)
Why are you doing this?
ROGER ON THE SCREEN
I told you, I gamble. And, unfortunately for you, I chose to gamble with your father's life.
SKULKER gets up from his chair and paces towards the screen.
SKULKER
No, no, this isn't good.
GHOSTWRITER
What's not good? The drama will keep my readers going for pages!
SKULKER
The whelp is angry.
GHOSTWRITER
So? That makes him easier to work with.
SKULKER
(slamming his hand into the keyboard)
Not if you want him to do something! He needs to go along with that... whatever that human's name is.
GHOSTWRITER flinches at the sound of SKULKER's fist and leans over to rub his keyboard gently.
GHOSTWRITER
(mockingly)
Is this more of your 'humans will save our world' plan?
SKULKER glares at GHOSTWRITER, pulling out a weapon and pointing it towards GHOSTWRITER's head.
SKULKER
I've had enough of this nonsense. You are not my partner, you are my prey. Remember that. You survive only as long as you remain helpful.
GHOSTWRITER quails and falls silent, glancing back at the screen with a greedy gleam in his eye. SKULKER waits another moment, then puts his gun away.
SKULKER
Do something to get the whelp to help the human.
GHOSTWRITER's mouth moves silently a few times - seemingly about to protest - but then shakes his head and turns to his keyboard, eyeing it.
GHOSTWRITER
This is difficult, you know, being that I can only affect the one human. But maybe...
INT. HOSPITAL ROOM
ROGER
Make your choice, kid. Help me or watch your father drown in his own secretions.
DANNY
(angry and glaring)
I wouldn't help you if-
JACK FENTON suddenly moves, his bandaged hand coming up to grab DANNY's wrist. The pain-filled blue eyes opened slightly. His mouth moves around the intubation tubes, but no sound comes out other than a moaning garble.
DANNY
Dad...
ROGER
Danny. Choose.
DANNY
(loudly, screaming)
Nurse! Doctor!
There's a scramble from off stage, then NURSE hurries towards the bed. She sees the awakened JACK FENTON and kneels to unlock a small cabinet.
NURSE
It's okay, we'll just give him a bit more pain killers and he'll go back to sleep for a bit longer.
DANNY
Dad... It's okay. You're in a hospital, okay? You're going to be okay. I'm right here...
JACK doesn't seem to understand. He's just staring at his son, his hand wrapped around DANNY's wrist. NURSE stands up, filling a small syringe, then injecting it into JACK's IV line. JACK's eyes slowly close and his arm goes limp.
NURSE
(cheerfully)
There we go. I don't think he was even properly awake. But that is a hopeful sign that he's waking up already.
As the NURSE fills out a small form on her clipboard, chattering away about how some of the other patients had already done something similar, DANNY stares down at his father.
ROGER
(shaking the vial of medicine)
Danny?
DANNY looks up slowly, his eyes filled with pain and frustration.
DANNY
What do you want to know?
EXT. THE GHOST ZONE, APPROXIMATELY A HALF-MILE FROM THE LOCATION OF THE FENTON PORTAL. THE NORMALLY SOLID AND GAS-FORMED RELM IS A FLOOD OF GREENISH LIQUID. A SHAPELESS GHOST FLIES TOO CLOSE TO THE LIQUID AND GETS SUCKED IN, SCREAMING AS IT IS DISSOLVED INTO THE GROWING OCEAN OF ECTOPLASM.
Many ghosts are floating safely beyond the liquid's reach, watching it slowly encroach on their territories.
EMBER
Fourteen.
YOUNGBLOOD
What?
EMBER
Fourteen. That's the fourteenth ghost I've watched get sucked into... Whatever that is.
YOUNGBLOOD
Do they know what it is yet?
EMBER
No. But the flow has slowed down the past couple of days - that's going to be a good sign.
WULF
Gxi odori malsana.
EMBER
(glancing at WULF and rolling her eyes)
Whatever.
YOUNGBLOOD
(demandingly)
When is the council going to fix this?
WULF
Neniam.
EMBER
(snorting)
Since when do they get off their one-eyed council chairs and actually care about us? (quietly) I think we're alone with this one.
FADE OUT
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