"Jack, I still can't get this part to bend right?"
Jack looked up from his tinkering to his wife, giving the part in her hand a critical look over. "Maybe we should use a different material?"
"I can't find another material like this that is nearly as conductive."
"We might need to add some heat then to make it more pliable."
"Is the torch still broken?" she asked, eyeing her husband with an annoyed look. Last week, her husband decided it was a good idea to break the torch down for parts for another invention idea. Said idea didn't work out so well, ending in another small explosion, like most his projects did. Said torch, however, was still in shambles on the workbench across the room.
Jack blushed lightly and laughed nervously while scratching the back of his neck. "I'll get on that."
"What is this meant to do again?" asked Vlad Masters. He was sitting across from Maddie and Jack, giving the various glowing parts in the center of the work table a puzzled look. He was eying them carefully as if they might bite him in the next minute, which seemed completely ridiculous to Jack. He knew Vlad did his own inventing, but then again, there was always a big chance for spontaneous combustions with most of his work, so he really couldn't blame is friend.
"It's something to help Danny," Jack said to his friend. Usually he and his wife were careful when explaining the true motivations behind most of their inventions, but recently, both parents were made aware by their son that their best friend from college knew about his half ghost status.
Jack had to admit he was relieved Vlad knew because he didn't want to hide anything from him, and it even seemed to have brought the Fenton family and their old college friend closer together, something Jack has been trying for years to do. He was happy to finally have things the way they used to be and Vlad was really a big help with Danny. Sometimes he seemed to truly connect with Danny even more than Jack or Maddie could.
"How is this going to help him?"
"We are trying to make a device that can increase his energy when fighting," Maddie said, her eyes still glued to the part she was working on. "Like an energy boost. But, we are having some troubles with the aftereffects. That's why we called you over here. We thought another brain could help, especially one that is just as well-verse in ecto-technology. It has the same general idea as the ectosuit you helped us with that one time."
"Yeah, same idea, just smaller and easier to hide," Jack smirked.
Just as Vlad was about to reply, the sound of the ghost alarms went off, lights flashing in the basement turned laboratory.
"A ghost?" Maddie yelled over the noise, rushing to the computer console to the other side of the room to silence the alarms.
"Do you know where it is?"
"City Park," Vlad answered.
Jack turned to the man. "How do you," but the questioned died in his throat as he saw what the mayor was looking at. The small T.V. was turned on to the news, showing his son in his ghost form fighting two ghosts.
"Do you think he needs our help?" Jack said, staring at the fight.
The T.V. showed Danny blocking an ectoblast from Ember's guitar, only to be surprised by SkulkTech delivering a swift slash to the unsuspecting halfa's back.
"I'm going to kill those two ghosts," Jack growled.
Maddie was instantly at his side, glaring coldly at the screen. "Let's go," she said as she threw Jack an ectogun while pocketing her own.
"I'm coming with you," Vlad said.
Both ghost-hunters looked at their friend, then at each other.
"Uh, Vlad," Maddie said timidly, not wanting to hurt the man's feelings. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"Yeah, buddy," Jack interjected, feeling bad for the man. "I know you want to help and all, but we didn't train you yet for this, and we don't want you getting hurt."
The man looked like he was going to say something to object but seemed to think twice about. Heaving a sigh, he said, "Okay, I'll be here when you get back with Daniel."
Jack nodded. "Okay, V-man," he said grimly, too worried about what kind of shape his son was going to be in to really give his friend a proper goodbye. He turned towards the door to follow his wife, catching it just as it was about to shut. With another nod towards his old college friend, he ran to the GAV.
Maddie was already in the GAV with her seatbelt on but the time Jack made it to the driver's side of the vehicle. Within the next minute, he was already driving wildly fast on the road, disregarding the normal traffic laws even more than usual.
"Two bazookas, six ectoblasters, one specter deflector, three small ectobombs, and two thermoses," Maddie said. Jack looked over to see she was twisted in her seat, taking stock of the weapons in the back of the vehicle. After finding out their son's secret, they started to keep a lot more weapons in the GAV for times like these when they needed to leave quickly to help Danny.
Maddie twisted around so she was facing the windshield once more. "That should be enough for two ghosts."
"Ghosts don't usually team up like this," he said to his wife as he made a rough turn.
"They are getting smarter," she replied, keeping her steely gaze on the passing buildings.
Jack couldn't help but feel a heavy weight of dread sitting in the pit of his stomach, and that's when he thought the same thing he always did when this happened: what if this time they are too late? But, he didn't dare say it, not in front of his wife. He looked over at Maddie to see she was gripping her hands into tight fists, tight enough where he could see the whitening of her knuckles.
He would have put a reassuring hand on hers if it weren't for the fact he was driving more recklessly than usual. He pushed whatever doubts he had out of his mind, knowing he had to be the one out of the two of them to do it. He had to believe his son was okay.
"He is going to be okay," Jack said, glancing at his wife. She looked back at him, the same fear he was trying to hide in her eyes. "It's Danny," he said as if to reassure both her and himself.
He wanted to say something more to help his wife. He could see the tension in her, but he saw his son surrounded by the two ghosts coming into view. And, it wasn't looking too good. "I see them," he growled, making the vehicle come to a jerky stop and flinging himself out of it.
Maddie was at his side instantly, pulling out two bazookas and handing one to him while he clipped two ectobombs to her belt and slinged the thermos over her shoulder, doing the same to himself.
They both ran to where the fight was taking place, taking aim at the two ghosts. On a synchronized cue, they fired.
Maddie's blast hit the middle of SkulkTech's back while he hit Ember square in the chest, making the ghost plummet to the ground, creating a cement crater in her wake.
Jack ran straight to where Ember was, knowing the blast wouldn't keep her down for long. He aimed the gun at the already stirring ghost. "Make one move, and there won't be anything left of you to send back to the Ghost Zone.
Ember smirked at him. "You can't tell me what to do."
Before he could do anything, the ghost strummed her guitar, sending a wave of energy towards him.
His son suddenly appeared in front of him, holding up a ghost shield. He was only holding it up with one arm, the other dangling unnaturally at his side.
"You know, Ember," he gasped, letting down his shield as the attack ended. "I don't think you should anger the person holding the bazooka even more. Especially a Fenton."
"I'm going to kill you, dipstick," the ghost growled as she stood from her crater of cement.
The distinct sound of a thermos came from the left of the ghost. He barely had time to look over in the direction of the sound before the ghost was pulled in the swirling vortex that could only be created by the Fenton Thermos. By the time he did look in the direction where the vortex disappeared, he saw his wife holding the thermos with a stormy expression on her face.
Jack smiled, leave it to his wife to save the day; but that was never a surprise. "Good job, sweet-cheeks!"
Maddie jolted, her expression turning startled as she looked at Jack. He could tell she was still furious with the ghosts, especially since that one was about to toast both him and his son, but the minute she looked at his smile, she slowly began to smirk at him.
Jack looked around then, remembering there was another ghost in the fight too. "Where's the other one?"
Maddie's smile grew wider as she brought up the thermos, shaking it slightly.
"Man, that's hot," Jack said, smiling brightly at his wife.
"Nice aim," Danny said right beside Jack. He was holding his left arm tenderly, but the smile on his face never wavered.
Maddie came to Danny instantly, giving him a searching look, trying to pick out if there were any more injuries. She placed her hand on his shoulder, trying to look up at him. "Are you okay?"
Danny cupped her hand. "Mom," he whispered, eyeing the ever-increasing media closing in on them.
Jack looked at the media too, knowing what his son meant. The Fentons couldn't be seen worrying about Danny Phantom as if he was their son, that was a little too close for comfort if they wanted to keep Danny's secret.
Even though Jack understood this, Maddie, on the other hand, was worried about something entirely different. Her eyes narrowed at their son. "Why didn't you call us?"
"Phone is still broke," he said, smiling innocently at her.
She growled. "Danny—
"I'm fine," Danny interrupted, looking at both Maddie and Jack.
Maddie gave him an unconvinced look, then looked at the media starting to come closer to the three. She let out an aggravated huff.
"Get in the GAV. We will talk about this later."
"But—
"Daniel James Fenton," she harshly whispered, "If you don't do as I say, so help me…"
Danny winced back from her. "Okay, okay, I'm going."
Jack could only chuckle at him, for once not being on the receiving end of his wife's overprotective side.
"Mom, I'm fine," Danny said as they all got out of the GAV.
The door to the house opened, Vlad came through. He looked at Maddie and Jack, then at Danny. "Are you okay?"
Danny huffed, frustration knitting his eyes together. "I'm fine."
"No, you're not fine. Now, go to the kitchen and sit down. I need to find the first aid kit."
"Upstairs bathroom in the bottom cabinet on the left," Danny said automatically.
Maddie gave him an alarmed look, but quickly left to go get the kit.
"I think you just made it worse," Vlad said.
"I don't think that's possible," Danny said with a wince.
"Come on, let's do what your mother said and get you to the kitchen," Jack said. He gave his son a questioning look. "Do you need any help?"
His son shook his head. "I can manage."
The three men walked through house, both Vlad and Jack watching the youngest Fenton like a hawk.
Danny went straight to one of the chairs, sitting down carefully. He was still cradling his left arm.
"It looks broken," Jack said, pulling a chair in front of his son and sitting on it to get a better look at his arm. He touched the already swelling lump in the middle of his son's forearm. There was another lump forming towards the end of his arm near the wrist.
"Looks like it's broken in two places," he corrected, trying to hide just how much it bothered him. He knew Maddie was freaking out enough for the both of them. He had to keep his head for the sake of his son.
"Yeah, pretty sure it is," Danny said, looking at his arm. "I have to reset it if I want it to heal faster and in the right way."
"Do we need to go to the hospital?" Jack said, looking back at Vlad, who was leaning against the breakfast bar, with an unsure expression.
Vlad didn't notice Jack's attention, still looking at Danny. The only sign of how truly concerned his friend was, was from the grim set in his lips. He knew Vlad cared a lot more for Danny than the man let on. That was another reason why he was thankful Vlad knew about Danny. His son needed as much support as possible.
"No, I can do it," his son said off-handedly.
Jack's eyes widened. "What?"
"I can do it," he repeated, giving him a weird look.
"H-how do you know how to reset a bone?"
His son looked away, suddenly uncomfortable with the turn of the conversation.
"You've done it before," Jack guessed, feeling almost sick to his stomach at the thought of his son resetting his own bones enough to know exactly how to do it.
"Yeah."
"How didn't we know about this?" Jack pressed.
Danny half-shrugged, lifting only one shoulder. "I didn't really tell you guys. Besides it happened less after you guys found out."
He stared at his son blankly for a minute. He looked momentarily back at where his wife disappeared to then back at Danny. "How 'bout we don't tell your mom that."
Danny looked at the stairs, wincing. "Yeah, let's not."
Jack laughed, mussing up his son's hair affectionately.
"If you two want to keep it that way, you better do it quickly before she comes down," Vlad said, giving the stairs a meaningful look.
Jack gave his friend a grateful nod, then turned toward Danny with a grim expression. "Okay, what do you need me to do?"
Danny shook his head. "I got this. It's actually pretty easy with a little intangibility and invisibility."
Jack cocked his head to the side, not really knowing what his son was getting at.
Danny laid his left arm carefully on the table, easing it down gently with the other hand cupping it to avoid any further movement of the broken bones. Once the arm was securely placed on the dinner table, as if to demonstrate what exactly his son meant, Jack watched in fascinated horror as Danny's arm slowly became invisible section by section, through the skin, through the fatty tissue, muscles, until all he saw was bone embedded between muscle tissues and vessels. Jack felt his stomach drop. He could see where the two parts of the bone was nastily broken.
"And, now all I need to do is just push it into place," Danny said, using his other hand to maneuver the first broken section of the bone.
And that's when Jack felt it. The queasiness. His vision blurring. It was all happening too rapidly for him to even look away. And, suddenly, everything went dark.
Jack's body slid out from the chair, falling to the tiled floor of the kitchen with a resounding thud.
Danny just stared blankly at his dad, hand still poised in his arm. "Did he just…"
"I'm surprised he made it this long actually," Vlad said with a chuckle.
Danny looked to Vlad, giving him a questioning look.
Vlad shrugged at the him. "Jack never like human anatomy, well, at least the part where we had to dissect a cat in college biology."
"Huh," Danny said. "But, why did he threaten to dissect me all those times?"
Vlad gave him a leveled look. "I think that was your mother."
"Oh. Oh, yeah, right."
"Besides," Vlad said with a smile, "ghost anatomy isn't really like human anatomy. Half-ghost, however, is a different story."
"So," Danny said, looking at the unconscious body of his dad. "What are we going to do, now?"
"SERIOUSLY?" Roared a very angry Maddie Fenton who was staring at the scene currently in the kitchen. Danny was pretty sure most of her anger was directed at him and his dad, with his dad being passed out on the floor and Danny being caught red-handed, literally, with his hand deep in his arm and a bone that wasn't fixed yet.
Danny looked helplessly at Vlad, hoping the man, with all his cleverness and past scheming, had a way to get out of this; but whatever hope he had withered out of existence when the man looked at him with the same fear in his eyes.
Yeah, there was no way any of them were getting out of here anytime soon today.
A/N: Man, had such a writer's block for this. For some reason it was so hard being in Jack's perspective. Next up, is Tucker, Danny, and Dash. One of the reviews said they wanted to read more about this, which got me thinking about the funny dynamic these three could have.
Also realized the description of the story doesn't really fit the story...so might have to change that although have no idea how to describe this without it sounding boring.