Despite the ill news, Danny actually seemed a little more light-hearted on the journey home. Sam was surprised - she thought he'd be nearly impossible to keep human-shaped after hearing that he might be stuck with the amulet for a long while. Maybe, she considered, it was just that he now had some more knowledge on what was going on. When he'd opened up to them about feeling like this thoughts weren't his own, he'd been utterly in the dark about what was happening to him. Now, he knew what he had to do, he knew what he had to beat, and Danny had always been good at rising to the occasion. Even if his foe was the locked up rage of a one-thousand year old dragon king... Kings had never stopped him before, had they?
"What are we going to do when the next ghost attacks? Dude, you're doing better with the whole temper thing, but I don't think you'll be able to keep your cool around Skulker, much less someone like Spectra," Tucker said the next day after school. Danny's parents were conveniently out field-testing some of their new equipment and had dragged Jazz along, so the trio had the lab to themselves.
Danny shuddered at the mention of Spectra. "I think I'll be able to keep my head enough to attack them instead of anyone else or the town," he said. "Dora took me aside after you guys left and gave me a few tips on staying myself, at least on the inside. She also gave me a really thorough rundown on what I'd done wrong in our fight. Who knew she was such the tactician?"
"Told you!" Tucker said to Sam, punching the air. "Dragon secrets!"
Sam rolled her eyes. Danny looked from one to the other, raising an eyebrow. "Dragon secrets?" He asked.
"Never mind," Tucker said, suddenly focused on the task at hand. "What if you do lose it while you're out there, though? It's gonna be a lot harder to catch you when you're out flying the friendly skies of Amity Park."
"I'm pretty confident I can do it," Danny said. "The one thing I'm worried about is changing back. Dora just said I had to 'know myself' and 'find my center' or something like that. I have no idea what she could possibly mean."
"I might be able to help with that," Tucker said.
"Really?"
"Yeah, come look at this. I've been tinkering with a Specter Deflector-"
"Tucker, I am not wearing one of those," Danny said, paling.
"Hear me out! I've been working on integrating the Specter Deflector and the Ecto-Stoppo-Power-Ifier. We can't carry a cannon around, right?" Tucker explained, showing Danny what looked like a mini Specter Deflector. "I've been working on a smaller version of the Deflector anyways. A belt that chunky isn't really wearable and one of the big things in tech right now is smartwatches, so why not combine the two? I took out most of the the smartwatch and Deflector functionality and replaced it with one of your parents' backup circuits for the cannon. It still has enough room inside to interface with my tablet or smartphone, so I can set it off remotely. Should give you a bit of a jolt then change you back to normal."
Sam and Danny stared at Tucker blankly. Tucker shifted in his seat nervously. "Guys? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Holy shit, Tucker, you're a genius," Sam said. "How did you even…?"
"I know, I know, it's about time I got some credit for my talents," Tucker said proudly. "It wasn't easy, you know! The two pieces of hardware have completely different voltage and current requirements and don't even get me started on making sure these things don't throw off too much heat and burn somebody's wrist-"
"Tucker. Thank you," Danny said.
"While I do appreciate the recognition, no need to thank me, bro. Just think of this as me making sure I don't have to chase your scaly ass all over town," Tucker said, grinning.
"Just don't show that to my parents. My dad might try to hire you," Danny joked.
Tucker looked contemplative, scratching his chin. "Ya know, I have been looking for a part-time job. Keeping up with the newest hardware isn't cheap."
"You would not survive working under my dad, much less my mom. They're engineering tyrants! They already make me do so much work, and they don't even pay me for it!" Danny said, attempting to backpedal.
"No take-backs, dude. This might actually look better on a resume than that tech start-up downtown. Plus this is closer to my house."
"Look better on a resume? They're laughed at by half of the scientific community! You may as well put that you worked under astrologers…"
Sam hopped up onto one of the other lab tables and watched the exchange with a smile. It was good to see everyone getting back to their old selves again.
To Danny's misery, Spectra had managed to install herself in their school the next day. It took him a little while to notice this time, as he wasn't seeing the school's current psychologist. Instead, he was walking passed the psychologist's office with Sam and Tucker when his ghost sense went off and he froze. His friends made it another few feet down the hallway before they realized Danny was no longer walking with them. Danny was stone-still, staring at the door to the psychologist's office.
"Danny, what is it?" Sam asked.
Danny turned his head back her way slowly, eyes slitted and furious. "She's back," he hissed quietly, fingers toying with the new watch on his wrist.
"Fuck. Again?" Tucker said to no one in particular.
"I'm going to rip her throat out-" Danny started at the door, but Sam caught his wrist, fingers tightening around the cool metal of the Deflector watch (Tucker was still working on a Fenton-worthy name).
"Not here. Now now. You don't see anyone around here miserable yet, do you? She's just gotten here and she doesn't know that we know she's here. We'll sneak back in after school, okay?"
Danny looked unconvinced. "You know she can't help herself. She's going to get someone," he said.
"That someone will be fine after you beat her. They can handle it. What no one can handle is you losing it during a fight and going dragon in the middle of the school," Sam said. "Later. After school. Please."
Danny's jaw tightened, but his eyes didn't dim. "Fine."
They stuck to the plan and crept back into the school once most of the students and staff had left. Danny phased them all into the office, invisible. True to form, Spectra was still in the psychologist's office, gloating over the poor human psychologist, who was tied to the desk chair with shifting black bonds. "I can feel how miserable you are," Spectra purred, taking the terrified psychologist's chin in a shadowy thumb and forefinger. "Overshadowing you and using your body instead of mocking up one of my own was a splendid idea. Young Danny and his friends will never see me coming."
"You should really rethink the whole 'speaking your plans out loud for anyone to hear' thing. Vlad's got the same problem. What is it with you villain types?" Danny asked, fading into visibility. "The school psychologist thing, again? Really? And you thought I wouldn't notice."
Spectra snarled. "If I can't sap this school slowly like I did the last time, I'll settle for draining the three of you right here and now. Bertrand!" She called. A few seconds passed. "Bertrand?" Spectra tried again, confused.
"Calling for this guy?" Sam asked with a smile, rattling the Thermos. "Caught him on the way in. Was it just me, Tucker, or is he getting slower?"
"Oh, much slower. Much easier to catch him than last time," Tucker bragged, tapping on the side of the Thermos gleefully. Muffled cursing sounded from inside the container.
Spectra gasped. "You- How dare you!" She screamed, gathering her shadowy power about her and launching herself at Sam and Tucker. Danny caught her mid-air, forcing her to the side. "Let's take this outside, eh?" Danny said, raising a hand and blasting her through the wall. Before he chased after her, however, he looked at his hand, puzzled. Instead of looking like it usually did, silver-gloved and human-shaped, his hand had transfigured into that of a dragon, black-scaled and clawed.
Tucker noticed this first. "Dude, are you about to…?"
"What? No, I don't think so. Dora mentioned I might have to figure out how to separate my normal power from the dragon power," Danny said. "Didn't think she meant it so literally!" He stared at his hand for moment more and shrugged, following Spectra through the wall. Sam and Tucker were stuck taking the human way out of the building.
"Every time," Tucker panted, jogging along after Sam. "He does this every time."
By the time they'd made it outside, Danny was sporting a tail and horns to match his clawed hand.
Spectra looked Danny over and an incredulous look came over her face. "And just when you couldn't get any stranger… You're even more of a freak now, aren't you?"
"Shut up, Spectra. That's not going to work on me again," Danny said, charging up another ectoblast.
"Won't it?" Spectra's eyes glittered, dodging the green ray. "From what I hear about dragon ghosts, they come with their fair share of rage. How much anger is pent up inside of you, dragon boy? Can you even control it? How much did you hurt your friends when you changed the first time? I bet they're scared of you. They probably don't want to be your friends anymore."
"I thought I told you to shut up." Danny's words were more of a growl now as he spoke through elongated teeth.
"They're scared of you right now! I can taste it. Scared that you're going to lose your temper and turn into a dragon and hurt them again. You're so far along already, so close to turning into a mindless beast. Go ahead, beast. Show your friends some fear again. Prove to them why they shouldn't be your friends."
Sam was done with Spectra's shit. "Danny, don't listen to her!" She shouted up at her floating friend. "Of course we're your friends, we've seen much worse and we're still here, aren't we? We can do this-"
"SPECTRAAAA!" Danny roared, wings ripping their way out of his back. He grew large and scaly, dwarfing the other ghost. He lunged, claws ripping through her shadowy form. Spectra cackled, reforming behind Danny. His tail swept through her again, forcing her to divide and reform again.
"This is even better than I could have dreamed!" Spectra cried. "So much rage! So much pain! It's almost too much!"
She was still laughing when Danny froze her solid. "Nice one, Danny," Tucker crowed. "Catch the bitch off guard!"
"Yeah, she's definitely easier to catch when she's stuck in one place like-" Danny smashed the frozen block of Spectra with a hand causing black shards of ice to rain to the ground. -"that," Sam finished. "Why the hell would you do that?" She asked, annoyed. "Now we have to suck up each piece individually…" She trailed off as the dragon set a pair of glowing green eyes on her, upper lip lifted in a snarl. "Shit. Tucker? How about that new tech?" She asked, slowly walking backwards to stand next to Tucker. The dragon landed and began to prowl towards them slowly.
"On it!" Tucker said, starting up the program to interface with the watch on his tablet. He swiped his fingers across the screen a few times before tapping one spot confidently. "There!"
The dragon remained a dragon. "Tucker, this really isn't the time for glitches. We're about to be eaten and we need to save room in the Thermos for Spectra, so…"
Tucker tapped at the screen frantically. "I know, I know! It's sending the signal, it's just not… Lemme check the console readout. Okay, all good there, how about the…"
"Tucker, did you turn off Bluetooth to save power again?" The dragon stopped several meters away, tail twitching.
Tucker stopped tapping, looking up at Sam. "Fuck." He quickly navigated to the settings menu and turned Bluetooth back on. Opening up the program's user interface, he initialized the signal and pushed 'Send' once again just as the dragon lunged. An electric shock, visible to Tucker and Sam's eyes, coursed through the dragon's body and the dragon started to shrink mid-air. They sidestepped and Danny hit the ground next to them, rolling horns over tail for a few feet. He came to a stop, human-shaped and spread-eagled on his back.
"Urghhh," he groaned. "That stung."
"Yeah, well better than the alternative, bro," Tucker said, offering a hand. Danny took it and Tucker hoisted the ghost boy to his feet.
Danny rubbed his temples with the thumb and forefinger of one hand. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks, dude."
"Really, the praise is great but it was done purely out of self interest," Tucker began. Sam smacked him lightly upside the head, grinning. "Ow!"
"Feeling better?" Sam asked Danny. "Not gonna get scaly again?"
"Not at all," Danny groused. "I don't think I have enough energy to walk through a wall, much less grow wings and a tail. I think my bones are sore."
"Good. Let's get you home and get some rest then, 'kay?" Tucker said. "We know the watch works because, well, of course it does, I invented it, so I'll chalk this one up as a win all around!"
"All thanks to you, eh Tuck?" Danny grinned.
"You betcha," replied the geek, folding the cover back over the screen of his tablet with a snap. "Who's on Thermos duty? I vote Danny since he's the one who made the mess in the first place."
"Tuckerrrrrrr," Danny said, slumping over and letting his arms go slack and hang. "I'm tireddddd."
"Nose goes!" Sam cried, hand flying up to her nose.
"What? Shit," Danny said when Tucker beat him to it.
Sam tossed Danny the Thermos. "Gotta be faster next time, Inviso-Bill."
Danny's eyes went wide. "Oh, come on, Sam. Please don't add insult to injury here. No one's called me that in almost a year!"
"Maybe it's time to bring it back. Whaddya think, Tuck?" She turned, lips twisting into a mischievous smile.
Tucker's face mirrored her own. He scratched his chin. "Ya know, I sorta miss it. It had a nice ring to it."
"Guys. Please," Danny begged.
Sam could never resist those baby blues. "Fine," she conceded. "Sorry, Danny. I gotta get my teasing in when you're too tired to Hulk out." She knew she made a mistake when hurt flashed in his eyes. Dammit Spectra, she thought. "Kidding again. I'm sorry," she said gently.
Danny's eyes flickered and he smiled. "Forgiven," he said, holding her gaze.
Tucker coughed, causing the other two to start. He pried the Thermos out of Danny's hands. "You know what? I've changed my mind. Call me generous, I don't know. How about I get Spectra in this thing while you guys go inside and help out the psych. Poor lady's probably scared out of her mind by now. Okay? Okay. Autobots, roll out." Tucker caught Sam's eye as she and Danny started to walk away. He carefully set down the Thermos and his tablet and shot her a pair of finger guns, winking comically. Sam tripped over a tuft of grass, bumping into Danny. He steadied her with a hand on her shoulder.
"Alright?" Danny asked, eyebrows furrowing.
"Fine!" Sam said, voice a little higher pitched than normal. "Totally fine. Didn't watch where I was going, that's all."
Danny looked at her for a second, then nodded, eyebrows lifting. "Let's go save the psych!" He announced dramatically, taking her hand and dragging her off after him.
Tucker watched them go, uncapping the Thermos. Smiling to himself, he shook his head. "The things I do," he said. He whistled and got to work.
Tucker checked over the watch later that evening and pronounced it undamaged by the day's events. "That is some good engineering," he complimented himself. Sam rolled her eyes. "I should check it after each, ehh, use just in case, though. Don't wanna risk it."
"Can't argue with ya there," Danny replied, clasping the watch back onto his wrist. "Got a name for this thing yet?"
"Hmmm," Tucker mused. "The Fenton… Transformer? The Fenton… De-Dragoner? I got nothin'."
"The Fenton De-Dragoner? Really?" Sam asked incredulously.
"I'd like to see you come up with a better idea!"
"How about… The Fenton… Transmogrifier?" Sam asked.
"Transmogrifier?" The boys asked in unison.
"You guys need to pay more attention in Lancer's class. It's on this week's vocab list," Sam answered. "It sounds neat."
"Kinda weighty," Danny said, peering at the device wrapped around his wrist.
"Kinda fancy! Sophisticated. Just like my design," Tucker preened. "The Fenton Transmogrifier it is!"
"I expect royalties when you file the patent for this thing," Sam joked.
"As much as I'd love to make some money off of this, I think it's a little specialized. Not precisely marketable," Tucker said sadly.
"Oh well, guess you'll just have to go back to your plan where you work for Danny's parents."
"Dammit, Sam! I was hoping he'd forgotten about that!"
Skulker attacked next week. In a stroke of luck, he came just as the trio's gym classes were going outside to run the obstacle course, making it easy for Danny to slip behind a bush and go ghost. When Phantom flew up towards Skulker a second later, he was surprised to find out that Skulker actually wasn't after him this time.
"Well if it isn't my favorite prey? I've heard there's new prey in this human town and I thought you might know where I can hunt it, ghost child," Skulker said.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Robocop. Everything here is same ol', same ol'," Danny quipped, floating in front of the hunter warily.
"Surely you've heard of it. This is your haunt, after all. This prey's pelt may be a better fit for the foot of my bed than your own!"
"What new ghost is this?" Danny asked, a creeping suspicion beginning to gnaw at the back of his mind.
"It is a rare hunt, one not even I, Skulker, the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter, has managed to complete. One of the dragon ghosts of old is said to roam this town!" Skulker proclaimed. "I mean, there are other dragon ghosts, but I owe Dora a few favors and I wouldn't even presume-"
"Hey, Iron Man," Danny said, grinning. "I may have seen this dragon, but I'm not sure whether I quite remember what it looks like…"
"Ghost child, I don't have all day. It's, you know, a dragon. Big, scaly, has wings," Skulker flapped his arms helpfully.
"Oh? So like this?" Danny said, becoming big, scaly, and growing wings.
"Exactly like that- Wait! You're the-urkkk," Skulker choked as Danny flew at him and smacked Skulker across the face with one giant scaly hand.
Sam found Tucker amidst the chaos on the ground. "How the hell did he figure out how to change on command like that? He's only had one other real ghost fight since Dora. More dragon secrets?"
"Guess so," Tucker said, shaking his head. "I feel like this is like that "I'm always angry" line from the Avengers movie. Doesn't make any damn sense."
The two watched as the ghosts clashed above their heads. Danny clearly had the advantage, but his relative inexperience with his form was evident as it had been in his battle with Dora. Despite Skulker's many shortcomings, he was a hunter and fights with beasts were his specialty. Danny took several hits to the chest and wings before Skulker hit him with a net. His arms and legs, however, were positioned in such a way that Danny was easily able to slice his way out of the hit with his formidable claws.
Danny managed to freeze Skulker's jetpack, causing the hunter to lose altitude for several seconds before Skulker pressed a button on one arm and ejected the wings from his back. Twin jets of flame burned out of the bottom of his boots, allowing him to fly back up to level with Danny. "You see? I finally watched the films concerning this "Iron Man" you keep calling me. He gave me some great ideas for the suit!" Skulker laughed.
"I'm not ssssure you really payed attention, Sssskulker," Danny replied, unused to speaking through such large teeth and tongue. "Iron Man had balance problemssss. He had to add jetssss on his handssss, too." Danny altered the angle of his wings slightly and flapped hard in Skulker's direction. The extra gusts of wind were more than Skulker was expecting and he suddenly spiraled out of control, trying to straighten his legs and point the jets in one direction. He succeeded, but his moment of triumph was cut short as he aimed both boots directly up at the sky and drive himself headfirst into the ground.
A hissing sound escaped Danny's jaws as he glided to the ground. Sam started to run over, thinking he was in pain. She stopped after realizing it was quite the opposite. Puffs of cold air clouded the air around Danny as he laughed. "That was really one for the comic bookssss, Sssskulker," Danny chortled.
"Targeting system activated. Target acquired," reported a quiet automated voice.
"Wait," Sam said. "Danny, what was-"
Danny was cut off mid-hiss as a net launched out of Skulker's raised gauntlet and hit him square in the face, pinning his body to the ground. Danny writhed but wasn't able to get his claws out from under him to cut his way out.
"Guyssss!" Danny rasped, voice becoming more draconian in his stress.
"Shit. Sam, distract Skulker? I'll be right back," Tucker said.
"Wait, Tucker, what are you- fine!" Sam said. She watched as Skulker slowly pushed himself out of the ground, small jets of air pushing dirt out of the chinks in his armor suit. Skulker righted himself, brushing clods of earth off his chest.
"Now, ghost child, as usual I, the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter, have bested you and now I will take your pelt as a trophy. I knew that making special dragon-proof nets would come in handy." A wicked-looking green blade slid out of one of Skulker's arms. Danny gulped noticeably. "What a prize. A rare dragon and a rare halfa, wrapped up in one!"
Sam saw her opening. It was stupid, but someone like Skulker just might go for it. "Hey Skulker!" She shouted. "Ghost Zone's worst hunter!" That got his attention. His head rotated, swiveling on his robotic neck as his eyes narrowed. "I think you may be making a terrible mistake."
"Mistake? I don't make mistakes when it comes to hunting, human girl. I am the Ghost Zone's greatest-"
"Hunter, sure. But by taking Phantom's pelt right now, aren't you really robbing yourself of another pelt?"
Skulker looked confused. "Explain."
Tucker, please hurry up, Sam thought. "Well, if you take this dragon pelt, you're really not getting a halfa pelt. He's a dragon right now, not a halfa. Halfas are near as rare as dragons so you won't get a chance for one, umm, pelts again any time soon, either."
She could actually see gears turning in Skulker's head. "You make a good point, human girl. It is a pity that I will not get this one's halfa pelt." His eye lights brightened; he'd come to a conclusion too soon. Dammit, Sam thought. Tucker? Any time now?
Tucker came not a moment too soon, ectogun and tablet in hand. He tossed the gun over to Sam, who lifted it, aimed, and fired in one smooth movement, blasting Skulker away from Danny. Tucker tapped at his tablet for a few seconds and Danny let out a little yelp.
"Tucker, does it really need to hurt this much?" The dragon complained, claws, horns, and wings receding as he shrank.
"I can mess around with the parameters," Tucker replied, panting. "Just your luck this happened during gym class. All my stuff was back in my gym locker."
Once Danny was small enough and vaguely human-shaped, he squeezed himself through one of the gaps in the netting. "Large enough for a dragon, too big for a teenage superhero," Danny said to himself, pleased. As he landed back in front of Tucker and Sam, his tail zipped back up into his spine, causing Tucker to wince. "You keep an ectogun in your gym locker?" Danny asked. Tucker shrugged in response. "I don't suppose you had a spare Thermos in your locker, too?"
"Nope," Tucker said. "That gun was all I could fit without the teachers noticing. You're on your own for this one, dude."
Danny let out an exasperated sigh. "I'll be back in a few minutes, then. Cover for me?"
"Of course," they replied. Danny shouted a few insults at Skulker, who was lying in a crumpled, steaming heap under a tree. The hunter picked himself up and lunged at Danny, who laughed as he dodged the hunter with ease. Danny took off towards FentonWorks to get the Thermos, keeping just a bit below as fast as he could go to keep Skulker on the chase.
Tucker looked at Sam. "Any ideas for a cover story this time?"
Sam scratched her head "Think the 'Danny's terrified of ghosts and ran off' one will work again?"
"Probably. Lancer's not even listening to the excuses anymore, he just expects to hear one. Tetslaff and the others will just go along with whatever he says," Tucker said.
"You're right. Well, let's get to it," Sam said, slinging an arm over Tucker's sweaty, heaving shoulders. "That run take it all out of you again? I told you I'd help you get your cardio up," she teased.
"I can't run with you! You're like.. a Terminator or something. You never stop!" Tucker wailed.
"With all the running we do, it'd do you a hell of a lot of good!" Sam said.
"But… but… ugh. Maybe one day," Tucker said. They entered the school, excuses at the ready.
Life continued like this for some time. Ghosts came with greater frequency for a while; each of Danny's enemies wanted their shot at him with his new powers. After he defeated each one of them soundly, however, they resumed a more normal schedule of attacks. Dragon or not, they wouldn't be deterred. News of Phantom's new form hit the newspapers and the Fentons went into overdrive coming up with inventions and strategies to combat this new menace.
Vlad was uncharacteristically quiet. Danny finally got tired of waiting for a sneak attack he was sure was coming and broke into Vlad's house one night, asking for a fight. He returned not a half hour later, looking puzzled as Sam and Tucker had ever seen him.
"Something about it not being worth his time defeating an overgrown lizard," Danny grumbled. "Like he'd stand a chance against me. He barely stood a chance before I even had this thing!" He lifted the amulet off his chest, looking at it. "I may be getting a little to used to this, but I guess if there's nothing I can do about it, I may as well embrace it."
They fell into a rhythm from one week to the next. Ghost attacked, Danny turned into a dragon, defeated the ghost, sent the ghost back to the ghost zone, got zapped, turned back to normal.
The research into the brotherhood continued, though at a less and less frantic pace. He visited Dora every weekend to learn from her about all sorts of things from dragon combat to her family's history. Danny started to look forward to these visits; he came back each week full of stories to share with Tucker and Sam.
"Did you know that she has distant relatives who are longs - Chinese dragons? Pretty much every story humans have about dragons come from her family! Her family is one of the younger branches, actually. The European dragons haven't been around nearly as long as…"
Sam and Tucker always listened - the stories were history and mythology lessons wrapped up in one. They were actually starting to cover the Canterbury Tales in Lancer's English class and details from Dora's stories helped to reinforce their learning. If Lancer suspected anything when the three of them, particularly Danny, quietly started to receive the best essay grades, he didn't mention it.
One day, something Lancer said as a side note in class hit Sam's brain in a strange way. She made a note of it and resolved to tell her friends after school. Tucker's house was the designated base for the day; once a week they did their homework as fast as they could and began research on the ancient brotherhood.
"Something Lancer said gave me an idea today," Sam began. The boys looked up, curious. She continued. "You know how in the story there's a character called the Franklin? It used to mean "free man" but now it's just a name."
"Yeah, so?" Danny said.
Well, lots of names back then related to what job a person had or what their status was. So you have Tanners and Smiths and Carpenters and Fishers and Masons; today people just have those as their last names, but back in medieval times their ancestors actually did those things. Some of them are in other languages or mutated a little over time, but a lot of people still carry those names. Dora said the brotherhood took the name of the squire who defeated her father. The squire was a baker's son. We need to look for someone with the last name Baker, or something similar to that."
Danny's eyes lit up. "Sam, you're a genius!"
"You're welcome for paying attention in class. Again," she replied sarcastically, smiling. "Don't thank me until this pans out, if it pans out."
"Let me run a search on one of those genealogy sites and see if any settled around here. There's one I used for a school project a while back that goes way back," Tucker said, turning to his desktop PC.
"Don't those sites usually charge for anything beyond your great-grandparents?" Sam asked.
A sly grin tugged at Tucker's lips. "Usually." He tapped a few keys and sat back in his seat to watch lines of text scroll up the screen. "Give it a few seconds to look through the database. There's a lot of people out there."
"In the meantime, let's look up the name Baker to see if anything comes up," Danny said, leaning on the back of Tucker's chair.
Tucker pulled up a search engine on another monitor and typed 'Baker surname' into the search bar. Selecting the Wikipedia article near the top, they leaned into read before the genealogical search on the first monitor beeped and Tucker rolled his chair sideways to check the results. "Oh, looks like there's only one family that meets the parameters in the greater Amity Park area," he said, clicking on the results.
Sam read the Wikipedia article out loud as she skimmed. "Baker: occupational surname. Check. Region of origin: England. Check. Related names… Oh my god."
Danny's mouth dropped open as Sam finished the line. "Related names… Baxter."
A/N:
The plot thickens, right before the end! The fights in this chapter were pretty fun to write. Please let me know what you think, be it comment or criticism. One more chapter left to go to finish this thing - see ya next week.
-attu