Defenseless

Maddie

Maddie was sitting in the alleyway, Fenton Bazooka at the ready.

They had all arrived just a few minutes before, but were holding back, despite her husband's too-loud insistence on pummeling some ghost butt.

She wanted to know exactly what was going on before they ran into the fight.

Know thy enemy and all that before blindly attacking.

Phantom, she knew. This other ghost, she didn't. She had never laid eyes on it before and no one else had either.

Jazz said neither she nor Sam nor Tucker knew the ghost. At first, Maddie waved it off, thinking that that did not mean much, but as she pondered the odd phrasing during the hectic drive, she wondered if they might know more about ghosts than they had ever let on before.

It would certainly explain some things…

She would have to do some sleuthing of her own… but after they took care of this.

Actually, there were several things that she needed to find out as soon as this was over. Certain things such as finding out exactly what was going on and how Sam and Tucker thought they were going to fend off a ghost by themselves and why her daughter had been their first point of emergency contact instead of her and Jack and where on earth Danny was in all of this…

That last thought was the most troublesome because he was always with Sam and Tucker, but had not been mentioned in the course of the entire trip. At the moment, however, what she really needed to do was push everything aside to focus on the fight at hand. Danny could take care of himself for a few minutes, surely.

From their position, they heard rather than watched the fight, only catching glimpses of stray green ectoblasts reaching far above the rooftops. Occasionally, a black-purple mist rose above the building, but it was so fuzzy that Maddie could not make much of it. Was it the ghost's method of attacking or the ghost itself? She didn't know. The ghost did not say anything either, so she could not identify its obsession or weaknesses from this little data. But there was no way to get closer without becoming exposed.

The whole thing was frustrating, to say the least.

The worrying part was that the most visual part of the fight seemed to be Phantom getting knocked all over the place by this strange specter. She knew how strong Phantom was, rating high on their charts and still growing every time they managed to get a reading of him.

So she couldn't imagine what on earth he was fighting.

Then, there was a loud scream accompanied by a black and white blur flying through the building to skid to a stop just across the street from them. He groaned loudly before slowly turning over and trying to clear his head.

Before Maddie could stop her, Jazz made a very loud 'psst' noise in his general direction until he turned their way.

Great. Now Phantom would come after them. Surely she had taught her daughter the ways of ghost-hunting better than that, but she did not have time to worry about that before Phantom moved.

All the same, she did not fire the weapon she had drawn as Jazz beckoned to the young ghost over to where they were hiding out.

He came at them, but his fists were not powered with energy and he was not flying madly bent on destruction; he hobbled over slowly with relief shining clearly on his face.

She was confused. Phantom had never come toward them voluntarily, and certainly not with such a show of goodwill. He always tried to shoot them or flew away from them, but there he was, just a few feet away now and not making any signs of hostility.

She did not even protest when he collapsed beside them, a giddy lopsided grin looking far too cheeky considering the physical condition he was in. He started whispering to Jazz, who shook her head and pointed behind them, the position they thought Sam and Tucker were according to their first message—they had not had time to reach them again.

It really threw her off that he was acting so… human.

And, wait just one second, there… Jazz was on speaking terms with public enemy number one? Her daughter Jazz? The psychiatrist in training? The one who refused to have anything to do with ghostly inventions at home and firmly believed that ghosts didn't even exist until the portal opened?

Oh, yet another mystery to solve once this was over. Yes, she was certainly going to have a talk with that young lady.

The young ghost nodded and got up, ready to make it back to his fight when Jazz put a comforting hand on his arm and wished him luck. Phantom smiled, thanked her, and looked Maddie in the eye as he told her and Jack not to get involved.

Not to get involved?

Just what did he think he was doing when he said something like that: 'you can't get involved'? He couldn't boss them around- Jack and Maddie Fenton, ghost hunters extraordinaire. He was only a ghost. And a teenage ghost at that.

And why shouldn't they get involved? Because he wanted all of the glory? So that was what he meant by all of his claims to be the hero… No wonder there was always so much collateral damage wherever he went.

As she thought back, however, that did not seem like the reason for the intense look on his face. He seemed dead serious about what he said, concerned almost. A new thought crossed her mind. Did he not want them getting involved because he thought that it was too dangerous? He had mentioned something of the kind before. She scoffed. They were professional ghost hunters. They should be able to handle a ghost better than some cocky teenager.

Then again, said teenager was a powerful ghost and seemed to be getting knocked around pretty heavily himself.

Still, he couldn't tell Maddie Fenton to stay away from a fight if she wanted in.

And boy did she want in.