It took less than two hours for Jack and Tucker to rush to the hidden Guys in White base Danny, Sam and Danielle had been investigating.
"What happened?!" Tucker demanded as he rushed ahead of Jack and Danielle, who clung to her adoptive father fearfully, to Sam who hadn't moved away from the cupboard Danny had vanished into. Sam shook her head helplessly.
"Danny was looking through these drawers and cupboards for evidence of other projects or links to other bases we haven't found yet. He looked in this cupboard and said he saw a flashing light. The next minute he froze and said he heard a click. You know how paranoid he gets in these places. He thought he triggered a trap and told us to back off. There's no signal down here so we decided that Danny should just try and get away as fast as possible. So we went to the door and he prepared to run for it," Sam explained.
"But something grabbed him from the cupboard and pulled him in," Danielle resumed softly. Jack pressed the girl comfortingly into his side.
"We couldn't stop it. He used his foot to stop himself against this cupboard but it broke. He told me to let go. He-he didn't want me to get dragged in too," Sam continued with a shake of her head sadly.
Tucker dropped to his knees and crawled into the cupboard, ignoring the grime he was getting on his mayoral suit. He hated it anyway, he missed the days he could get away with wearing a long sleeved top and cargo pants. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned on the flashlight app. He scanned the cupboard, his gaze falling on the device Danny found. He shuffled in further and examined the device as much as he could in the light from his phone. He frowned.
"This looks like a scanner. As well as an opening mechanism," he called over his shoulder.
"The back of the cupboard slid away to take Danny someplace," Sam informed him. Tucker nodded slightly in understanding. He backed out of the cupboard.
"Get me a screwdriver and I might be able to get the thing open," Tucker requested.
Sam scrambled to her feet and ran across the lab to a battered toolbox she spotted. She flung it open and rummaged through the tools inside, not caring about how many sharp tools inside could hurt her. Before long she found a screwdriver, which she grabbed and ran to Tucker's side, flinging the tool at him. He took it and crawled back into the cupboard. He propped his phone against a side to give him light with both his hands free. Tucker began to tinker with the device and after ten minutes of fiddling with a particularly finicky screw, he got the panel open and pressed a few wires. With a click, deafening in the tense silence, the back of the cupboard slid open and a claw propelled out of the darkness. Tucker threw himself out of the cupboard and dodged the claw narrowly.
"That's what grabbed Danny!" Danielle exclaimed. Sam scowled at the claw angrily. Tucker blinked and scanned the claw. There was another click and the chain and claw began to retreat back into the cupboard. They watched the claw disappear and the back of the cupboard slid back into place.
"I think we're gonna need some experts," Tucker mumbled softly. Sam bit her lip, ignoring the slight sting from the small bite marks left from earlier.
"There's no signal down here. If you're calling anyone in, you're gonna have to go back up," she informed him. Tucker nodded and got to his feet, brushing the dust off his knees. He grabbed his phone out of the cupboard before walking out of the complex, turning off the light and typing a number to call.
Within another two hours, Tucker had called in a group of experts ranging from trained technicians to professional cave-spelunkers. The cupboard was broken down in order to enable easy access to the sliding back. Floodlights were set up to illuminate the lab which had long lost its access to electricity. The engineers managed to re-engineer the device in order to open the door, springing the claw trap but removed the timer which caused the mechanism to close. Spelunkers then scaled down the chute beyond the sliding door to ensure the chute was safe to explore. Danielle had been forbidden in case there was more than just a claw and chute to this trap, not that the young halfa was willing, terrified of the building now that Danny's fears had been founded.
Tucker and Sam waited anxiously with Danielle for the green light to climb down the chute. Jack would be forced to stay in the lab as he was too big to fit in the chute. Twenty minutes later a faint shout echoed up the chute giving them the go ahead. Danielle floated down the chute nervously and Sam and Tucker got help to clip on harnesses before climbing down. They emerged into a small room lit by a few flashlights the spelunkers had. Danielle turned to them.
"Danny's not here anymore," she muttered. Sam nodded stiffly, despite hoping they'd find Danny struggling with the claw down at the bottom of the chute, Sam knew that he wouldn't be there.
Tucker and Sam pulled out their phones and using the light from the devices, began to search for clues. Sam gasped as she spotted something on the ground. Drag marks. Something had been dragged through the room recently. Sam gulped as suddenly in her mind she could hear her boyfriend shouting angrily, fighting faceless men as they dragged him away from the chute, struggling uselessly.
"What's up Sam?" Tucker called.
"I… I found these," Sam mumbled and pointed to the drag marks. Tucker frowned worriedly as he saw what she spotted.
"There's a door here!" one of the spelunkers announced from the opposite side of the room. Sam's heart skipped a beat as she saw that the scuff marks went in that direction.
It took a few minutes to get the door open, Danielle resorting to phasing through the door and unlatching a bolt on the other side once they realised the door was locked and there wasn't a lock to pick. The group of six ventured through the door and found themselves in a narrow corridor, with more drag marks on the floor. Within five minutes, they reached another door that led to stairs. They scaled the stairs and emerged outside the back of the complex where there were tyre tracks leading towards the road.
Tucker, with a serious look on his face, pulled out his PDA and began to hack nearby traffic cameras. Unfortunately there was too much traffic and no clues as to what car they were looking for. There weren't any cameras on the complex itself. Tucker chewed his lip as he turned to Sam and Danielle. They all knew it and none of them wanted to admit it. They'd lost Danny.
Tucker turned to his PDA again and searched for a special website to contact a friend, Kim Possible. The site was no longer in active use but they could hope that the college girl or her genius friend, Wade would look and start searching. Next Tucker searched for an electronics shop in New York and called the contact number. The phone was picked up after the fifth ring.
"Lao Shi's electronics shop. Never had a sale, never had a return. How can we help you?" a gruff male voice answered.
"Fu dog? It's Tucker. Is Jake busy?" Tucker replied, stepping out of earshot of the spelunkers.
"Tucker? Sure, he's here for training. Jake!" Fu dog confirmed. A few seconds later there was the sound of shuffling as the phone changed hands.
"Tucker? What's up?" Jake asked curiously.
"Danny's missing," Tucker told him.
"What?! How?" Jake exclaimed loudly.
"He was looking around an old Guys in White base and tripped a trap. Got dragged away and we found tyre tracks. He's been taken and we have no leads," Tucker explained. Jake gasped.
"How long has he been taken for?" Jake inquired. Tucker checked his watch and did a quick calculation in his head.
"About four and a half hours," Tucker guessed.
"Where are you? Might be able to get Spud hacking cameras and finding clues. He's on vacation with his parents but I can call him," Jake offered.
"I already tried but it was only a quick look," Tucker admitted before giving the address. Jake hummed as he scribbled the address down.
"Did you contact Kim yet? She's good at this stuff right?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, just put a message on her website. Don't have her number. Danny has them all and he's… you know," Tucker answered.
"I can check to see if I have her number for you. Tell her more directly," Jake suggested.
"That would be great Jake. Thanks. I'm gonna try and get in contact with Robin and them too, or Batman or someone like that next. You wouldn't happen to have a number, would you?" Tucker inquired hopefully. Jake clicked his tongue in thought.
"You know what, I might be able to get in contact with Zatara or Zatanna. They can get the others involved," Jake muttered.
"Try. I dunno if they have a number or anything," Tucker requested.
"Will do. Good luck Tucker. I'll head to Fenton Works when I can alright," Jake concluded before hanging up.
Tucker dropped his phone in his pocket and turned to the spelunkers to thank and excuse them. Tucker waited until they left before returning to Jack and telling the concerned father that he had everything under control and had already called in a few favours on Danny's behalf. Tucker then called the police and requested the area be cordoned off to the public, entrance on to the site depending on his permission. Then the five concerned ghost fighters returned to Amity Park.
Jake put down the phone and turned to his grandfather and magical companion, a talking Shar Pei.
"Danny's missing," he told them, noticing that they were waiting for an explanation.
"What? How? That kid is near invincible," Fu dog exclaimed in shock.
"Trap in a Guys in White base I was told. Got dragged off and they've lost the trail. I'm gonna call Spud in a sec to get onto traffic cameras. But first. Reckon we could use a magical telegram to get in touch with a couple of magicians?" Jake replied.
"Who do you have in mind young dragon?" Lao Shi asked.
"Zatara or Zatanna. Tucker wanted to contact those heroes since Danny's dealt with them in the past but didn't know how. I offered to let them know myself," Jake answered. Lao Shi nodded and shuffled into the back room of the electronics shop to contact a telegram fairy for his grandson to use.
So, in case anyone's confused about Kim's website not being active… it was explained in the previous fanfic, but she's at college at the time this story is set. Both Kim and Ron have retired while attending college. So the site is still there but Kim doesn't use it anymore. But she's personal friends with Danny, having had a few adventures with the halfa.
I can already sense someone will ask. Spelunkers are cave explorers. They are used to exploring dangerous places with tiny crevices. I thought it was a good person to call in. Fun fact, Spud mentions the term in American Dragon, but I can't remember the episode right now.
Let me know what you think of the story so far.
Until the next chapter.