AHHH. It's been too long. I literally last updated this story in September, and that's sad. I had promised that I would update soon and I just got so sidetracked, and I began to put more focus onto my other story... but I finally wrote out this entire chapter, and it took me exactly 5 hours of writing straight and not leaving my chair. I wanted to apologize for taking this long, and also thank all of my readers and reviewers. You guys are great. Thank you guys so much for all your support, it means so much to me.
I'm so happy that you guys have enjoyed the first chapter, and with that, HERE IS CHAPTER 2! :)
ENJOY (i hope lmao)
Chapter 2
Down in the Fenton Works lab, Maddie was practically bouncing with excitement at her new discovery. She had told Jack that they had ran out of fudge to get him out of the way, so he was at the store and wouldn't be back until much later. Truth be told, the fudge had actually run out– but that was only because Jack had eaten it all just after they had bought more.
Soon after discussing Danny's disappearance, Jazz had quickly claimed that she needed to go to the library, and ran out the door… meaning Maddie had the house all to herself– with Phantom, that is. As worryful as Danny not coming home after school was, he probably just was off with Sam and Tucker and had forgot to mention it.
He's done it many times before, so this time shouldn't be any different than the last. Heck, he's gone full days disappearing then come back like nothing had happened. As long as he was back before tomorrow morning, she shouldn't have to worry, Danny was responsible enough.
For now, her work was her current focus– meaning, what to do with Phantom. Her first instinct would have been to strap the ghost down and dissect it as she had done with all the other guppie ghosts she'd caught in the past, until she realized this catch was like winning the lottery.
Unlike the others, this ghost was sentient, and had a more complex thought process, if any. Even if she was able to dissect him, she more or less knew what she would find. Heaps of ectoplasm that took on a state of the beings choice, but never too far from the original form. To understand its thought process would be new territory.
She carefully inserted the thermos into the panel of the large containment chamber in the back of the room. The panel lit up, and the contents were spilled out like smoke into the glass room. Phantom was open mouthed and wide-eyed as he lay on the phase-proof floors of his cell. His expression changed from shock to panic once he seemed to realize where he was, and he sat up straight and faced the ghost hunter through the glass window.
Maddie stared at the criminal ghost. "I take it you recognize this lab, since you've been in and out stealing from it." she warned, and glanced back at her trolley of tools. Painful tools.
"Stealing?" Phantom questioned, now looking more so offended than scared. He was met with a glare as if to read: Are you dumb?
"Oh, don't act so surprised, ghost. I know you've been stealing our equipment, I mean I don't suppose you have another Fenton Thermos with you, hm?" she inquired, and this shut the ghost right up. He has been taking their equipment to use on other ghosts, and now here he was, attempting to deny it!
"That's what I thought," Maddie said triumphantly, and her smile faded momentarily, replacing itself with a frown. "Well, I've noticed, but I can't exactly say the same for Jack… The only thing he notices is when the fudge runs out."
"True," Phantom agreed, as if he knew Jack personally. That ghost scum, Maddie glared.
"Shut it, ghost," she ordered, and Phantom gave her an unimpressed glance back towards her.
"So you're not talking to me then?" he asked, obviously pretending to be dumbfounded.
Maddie clenched her fist around the ecto-gun she held in her hand. "I am talking to you. You speak when spoken to, you understand?" she threatened. "I ask the questions and you answer them."
"Woah, woah, wait, backtrack. This is just an interrogation?" Phantom raised an eyebrow. "So... you're not going to dissect my insides and tear me apart molecule by molecule?"
Maddie's expression morphed to irritation. She was beginning to get rather annoyed with the ghost, and although she wasn't planning to 'tear him apart molecule by molecule', she began to have second thoughts. But the interrogation did come first. Then dissection. "Yes," she answered simply, waiting for his reaction.
Phantom's shoulders deflated with relief, and he looked as if he was about to say something before Maddie cut him off. "The dissection comes after the interrogation," she stated, and watched as his cocky expression slowly faded off his face.
Seconds later, the expression was back. "And you expect me to cooperate with you trying to interrogate me? You know that's not going to happen, right?" he asked. Maddie huffed with irritation once more.
"Then I'll guess I'll just have to make you cooperate," she glowered, and turned towards the control panel attached the glass chamber. She pressed a button labeled ECTO-SEDATIVE, and looked up to see a light green smoke engulf the surroundings of Phantom. The smoke reached the glass walls of the cell, until the translucent walls became near opaque.
The ghost began to cough and hack as soon as the airborne sedative reached the enclosure. "Oh man, what is this stuff?!" he yelled, and put a fist up to the glass. He leaned all his weight onto the hand that rested on the confines of his cell, with bewilderment evident on his face.
"Oh, just a little something I whipped up in the lab, composed of some benzodiazepine sedative-hypnotics, anesthetics, anti-ecto-serum, y'know," Maddie said cheerfully, listing off each ingredient.
"Ugh, this is awful!" Phantom exclaimed, as the smoke reached up to his face. "It smells like..." he began, but trailed off lazily off before he could finish, and crumpled into a heap of bodily mass on the ground without another word.
Maddie made a small hum sound as she deactivated the Ecto-Sedative, watching as the ghastly green smoke dissipated into the air. She pressed the RELEASE button on the chamber, stepping back as the glass door slid open, and carefully retrieved the ghost's body from the inside of the cell. Looking down at Phantom, Maddie frowned, thinking to herself. Why wasn't he light, like other ghosts? He somehow carries the same weight of a human, maybe the weight of a teenager, she thought. Strange.
She hoisted his body onto the examining table, grunting at his surprising weight, and positioned him in accordance to where the restraints would be. The table automatically sensed the pressure of weight, and metal cuffs activated with a short clang.
"Let's see if you'll cooperate now, ghost." Maddie threatened, then looked up to the ceiling thoughtfully. "Well, when you wake up, of course," she added wistfully, then gasped excitedly. "In the meantime, I can work on my newest invention while Jack's not here!"
Danny woke up with a jolt, immediately moving to sit upright, but jumped when he realized that he was physically in restraints. "Wha–where am I?" he asked aloud, looking at his surroundings. He couldn't see the entirety of the room due to his current position, but with one glance he knew where he was. "Oh. The lab? Great, at least I'm safe inside my own house," he said sarcastically.
The memories and thoughts from before came flooding back to him. Fighting Aragon. Capturing Aragon in the thermos. Mom arrived. Getting captured in the thermos by mom. The glass cell. The smoke. Waking up here. And the smell of… rotten fruits and wood varnish?
Danny wrinkled his nose, remembering the pungent scent of the sedative.
"I have to get out of here," he muttered, and squirmed against the restraints. What could he do? These restraints were ecto-proof, and what was he going to say to Maddie?
"Oh, hi mom. Please don't dissect me. I'm actually your son, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't tear me apart molecule by molecule. Also, I kind of have to send this evil dragon ghost back into the Ghost Zone. He also happens to be in this Fenton Thermos that I did not steal. So if you let me go, I'll be on my merry way."
Scrap that, Danny thought, and tried to rack his brain for any ideas of escape. He couldn't go intangible, meaning he couldn't phase through, Sam and Tucker were who knows where, Jazz was probably out and it wasn't like he could contact them even if they were around! What was he going to do, sweet talk his way out of this? As if his mom would listen to a ghost, she was more stubborn than he was.
But maybe… maybe he could talk his way out of this mess. Danny was good at talking his way out of certain death, he's done it before. But what exactly would he say? He had to say something that would benefit Maddie so she'd agree, and give him a means of escape. Give her a deal. A truce, or some kind of two way agreement.
Okay, think, Fenton. What does mom care about most? He thought, and made a face as he tried to figure out the answer. Her family? Dad? Something else, he stressed. "Oh duh," he mumbled.
Ghosts.
And where are ghosts located– when they aren't wreaking havoc in the city? The Ghost Zone, he concluded. It also helped that he actually needed to go to the Ghost Zone to lock Aragon back into the dungeon at Dora's castle, so all the more meaning to that. But what could he do with that?
Suddenly, the perfect idea came to mind. He could–
"Oh, good, you're awake!" Maddie's voice rang through the air cheerily, as she swiped the ecto-gun off the desk and sat up from her seat in the corner of the lab.
"Awake after you put me to sleep and strapped me to a table," Danny retorted, seeing his own mother come into his peripheral view. As Fenton, he would never usually speak back like this to his mom, but considering his current circumstances, he had a bit of a right to.
"It was necessary for the procedure," she responded with a straight face, losing her earlier cheery attitude from moments before.
"Uhm, yeah… About that," Danny coughed awkwardly, debating on how to come across this.
"Yes?" Maddie prompted, looming over Danny. He swallowed nervously, and clenched his fists before he spoke, bracing himself for some kind of impact.
"Okay, I know you're a ghost hunter scientist bent on destroying me and all and tearing ghosts apart molecule by molecule happens to be your hobby," he began, watching Maddie's face for her reaction.
"Actually, that's more of Jack's thing, I like to look at the science behind ghost DNA and what it's composed of, which is why I'm going to dissect you," she claimed casually, picking up a scalpel off the cart of surgical tools and torture devices.
"Wait, before you do that, hear me out!" Danny begged, inching away as far as the restraints allowed him to from the tool in his mom's hand.
Maddie stared at the ghost in restraints, and then took a breath, seeming to let what little sympathy she had for him get the best of her. She set down the scalpel, with intent to pick it up again later. "Fine," she said harshly.
Danny breathed a sigh of relief. "...Anyway, my point is, I've done some thinking and mainly because I really don't want to be your latest experiment, I want to make a deal." he sputtered out, slowing down at his last statement.
The ghost hunter narrowed her eyes, but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. "What kind of deal?" she asked suspiciously. "Don't forget that I can end you in a second."
"Oh, I'm much aware of that, trust me." Danny thought aloud to himself. This deal was a long shot, but he was willing to take the chance. "Okay, how about this. I'll give you a full tour of the Ghost Zone, showing you everything there is to ghosts, and give you all my knowledge on everything ghosts," he offered.
Maddie pursed her lips thoughtfully. "The Ghost Zone…" she said slowly, and Danny nodded his head quickly for confirmation. "What makes you think I would want to see the Ghost Zone?" she asked.
Danny stared. "Have you ever been in the Ghost Zone?"
"Well…" Maddie began. "No."
"So," Danny prompted, waiting for an answer.
"Well, I do want to extend my research on ghosts…" she reasoned. "In exchange for what?" she asked, now seeming to sound genuinely interested.
"My freedom. I show you the Ghost Zone, you set me free from… this…" he said said slowly, glancing at his restraints. "They're getting really uncomfortable," he added as an afterthought. "You can hold me captive or whatever during, I promise. Then after, I'll never bother you again. My word," he said nervously.
Maddie took off her goggles to look face to face with the ghost in front of her. Danny frowned, as his mom oddly seemed to stare into his soul. It was unnerving, and the lab was dead silent for several seconds.
"Okay." she said, after what felt like a decade. Danny let out a breath of air he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. "But try something and you'll regret it. I'm watching you," she said dangerously, but her threats didn't faze Danny in the slightest.
He blinked. "Wait, really?" he asked in surprise.
Maddie raised an eyebrow. "Yes," she clarified.
"Seriously?" he asked again.
"Yes?" she repeated, now sounding uncertain herself.
"Yes!" Danny hollered. I can't believe that worked!
Maddie's uncertainty morphed back to seriousness. "Don't push your luck, ghost," she reminded, as she pulled the switch to activate the release of the restraints.
Danny sat up immediately, rubbing his wrists, and got off the table, opting to stand directly in front of the ghost hunter, or, his mother. She pulled something out of her toolbelt, and Danny furrowed his eyebrows in confusion to see what it was, before she suddenly grabbed his wrists and clasped handcuffs on each hand. Granted, they were loose, giving him a fair amount of space to move his arms, but he was still in handcuffs.
"That's to ensure no funny business," she reprimanded.
"Yes, mam."
Just then, the door slamming was heard from upstairs in the house, following by the sound of a certain voice that both Danny and Maddie recognized immediately. "Honey, I'm home! And I bought seventeen packages worth of fudge! They weren't on sale or anything but I bought them anyway!"
As Maddie and Danny both looked up towards the stairs, they both realized that Jack had no idea of what had been going down in the lab, and happened to simultaneously have the same thought:
"Jack!"
"Dad!"
"What?" Maddie frowned.
"...Nothing?" Danny replied unsurely, trying to cover his mistake.
"Are you sure?" she asked, knowing that he had indeed said something.
"Positive." he clarified, and cleared his throat.
Maddie looked at him with distrust for a moment before heading towards the bottom of the staircase. She considered going upstairs to greet Jack, but knew that would surely make an easy way of escape for the ghost.
She turned around to look at Danny, before looking back to the stairs. "Jack, honey, I'm just downstairs in the lab! I ordered pizza for dinner, it should be here soon!" she called, and it made Danny wonder how she could go from sweet mom to demented ghost hunter so quickly.
"Yes! I'll wait up here for the pizza to come!" he called back excitedly.
"Okay sweetie!" she replied, and turned back to Danny with a straight face. "...Should Jack come?" she wondered, although by the way she said it, it was more as if she was asking herself this question.
Danny made a face. "Well, first of all, I don't think ghosts aren't gonna like humans in their 'zone' very much," Or half-humans, he thought. "I mean, we can get around if we don't disrupt the peace of the ghosts in their natural habitat or whatever, but he's not exactly quiet…"
Maddie sighed. "Fine."
The sound of the door opening and closing made them both look towards the staircase again, and with the sound of Jazz's voice being heard from upstairs, Maddie assumed that she had returned from the library.
"Okay, but to take precautions, I'm telling them about this whole exchange," she stated.
"Go ahead," Danny prompted. He needed Jazz to know where he was, so he had an alibi for where Fenton was exactly, because according to his parents, they haven't seen him since this morning. And if they thought he was missing, it wouldn't end well.
"Great, I'll tell them at dinner during our family meeting," Maddie said, and Danny was about to reply before they heard the slam of the front door for the third time.
"MADDIE, COME QUICK, THE PIZZA IS HERE!" Jack yelled from upstairs, and a muffled crashing noise was heard shortly after, followed by a shriek from Jazz in surprise. Maddie and Danny stared up in the direction of the staircase. "I'm okay!" Jack yelled again from upstairs.
The two glanced at each other, sharing a mirrored expression of confusion and an unspoken agreement.
"Well, on the bright side, this is still not the weirdest day I've ever had," Danny mused.
UNTIL NEXT TIME, WHICH HOPEFULLY WON'T BE ANOTHER 3 MONTHS :))))
reallllllly hope this chapter didn't turn out like a joke although it probs did ahahaha