The first half of the story portion of this chapter was written while I was in the aura-laden delirious throes of a migraine. Like Lovecraft and his dreams I found the results creepy and overly verbose but editable into decency.

You get two sources here. Much of the first paper was written in what sounds like Ray's voice. You can tell how good Vlad's theories are by how often this paper references Vlad's works as definitive. The second one, well... Vlad's got an ego on him. This is the first event in the feud that leads the majority of the Ghostbusters to throw up their hands and say 'eh, let the upstart get killed' while Venkmen begins to feud in earnest.

This chapter is rated T for Danny trying to shock his mother. This chapter also has some decently heavy Jack/Maddie.

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The revenant's elemental core represents possibly the most deadly power that any ghost is capable of wielding. This core is the reason why the revenant cannot merely subsist on psychokinetic energy as do all other ghosts (Spengler, et al. 1984). Instead the revenant must periodically surround itself with its own element or else it begins wasting away as its energy slowly bleeds out into its surroundings. In essence it starves. The speed at which this bleeding occurs is dependent upon the strength of the core, the will of the revenant, and the laws of thermodynamics (Masters 1987).

Aside from this bleed a core will also interact with the outside world through the flare. A core flare can occur when a revenant is overwhelmed by emotion or its own power, or has simply glutted itself on its element and is essentially vomiting the excess. The power of the flare will spread unchecked, stripping all control away from the ghost. In particularly powerful flares it may even alter reality on a local level (Masters 1990). Long-term exposure to a revenant is often fatal for this reason (Grimassi 1981).

Core variations can be determine through observation or through calculation. Variants such as Steam, Radiation, Electricity, and Entropy were initially determined through calculation because of the inherent foolish danger in studying such unstable cores. Observation of these dangerous cores should not be considered more important than the safety of the researcher; to place data collection over the life of the scientist is insanity.

-Spengler, et al. Elemental Cores and the Second Law. Journal of Psychical Research. 1991.

Calculation is useful but cannot replace observation. Calculation requires accurate theory upon which to build a base. Accurate theory requires observation. The amount of actual observation of the so-called "safe" individual, sorry, "revenant" cores is so appallingly dismal that your best theories couldn't even account for half of the observations made on a single electrical core. If safety were paramount in science would we have ever shoveled coal into a steam engine or would a single boiler explosion have dashed all hopes of ever progressing past the horse and rider? Would we ever have made an attempt to understand the logic and science behind death and undeath or would we continue cowering in fear of the dark because we were afraid?

Your concern for my safety is noted and dismissed.

-Masters, V. Journal of Psychical Research Letters. 1991.

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Even when almost empty the lab thrummed with a power all its own. The naked singularity of the ghost portal lent a low pulse, almost a rushing sound at the far edge of consciousness. Maddie could remember when it unnerved her. Now she couldn't imagine her lab without that low thrum and the rush of air molecules as they slipped one by one through the vortex to parts unknown.

The fact that it was no longer unnerving should itself have disturbed her. As far as their instruments could detect the air lost was not being replaced with an equal amount of ectoplasm. This led to some intriguing possibilities. Maybe other portals between the two dimensions were circulating molecules as well making this portal just one intake to a giant heat pump. Or maybe this portal would continue slowly leaching air out of the room, possibly managing to produce a localized vacuum if allowed to stay open long enough in an enclosed space. Perhaps the Ghost Zone was simply lower pressure than Earth's atmosphere. A multitude of possibilities.

Maddie would have to ask Danny about it. Maybe he knew of some portals with a net outflow of pressure.

Or you could go yourself.

She nodded. Or she could go herself. It wouldn't be hard. The Mark 5 was almost completed.

You don't need the Specter Speeder.

That's true. The oxygen mask and jetpack that Phantom used in space were of FentonWorks design. Its original intended use was exploration of the Ghost Zone.

You don't need the mask.

Wait, what? Where had that come from? Maddie looked around the lab for anything suspicious, anything that might be capable of communicating. The titanium doors to the portal were closed and the ghost shield intact. The ghost sensors all showed the area clear, well, as clear as it could get around these parts. Jack was upstairs; his footsteps echoed on the ceiling. The imprint was still in its jar.

The imprint? Nah... Imprints weren't sentient. Besides, it was still in its jar staring. Just... staring at her. But she couldn't dissect it, not yet. She was still crunching the data from her exposure. It was so unlike Jack's exposure. Maybe the manner or length of time? There had to be something... What was the difference...

The door to the lab opened. "Mads?" Jack called down the stairs. "Honey? It's late, are you coming to bed?"

It wasn't late, she wasn't tired, she had work to do... A multitude of excuses flitted through her mind. She was so engrossed in trying to find the right one that she didn't hear Jack until he had his arms around her from behind. She tensed for a second before recognizing that neon orange and relaxing into his embrace.

Jack pulled Maddie off of the laboratory stool and guided her up the stairs. "C'mon, let's get you to bed," Jack said. "Let's get you out of that jumpsuit and we can snuggle and you can tell me all about the discoveries you're making."

"Well..." She glanced back down the stairs to her precious lab. A single set of blank red eyes stared at her before looking away. Suddenly she felt immensely tired. She yawned. "Okay, Jack," she said. "Sleep sounds good."

"And snuggles?"

Maddie nodded and let her head fall against her husband's shoulder. He was so warm... "And snuggles," she said.

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Morning found Maddie and Jack in the kitchen. She sat at the table with a cup of coffee in her hands and an empty plate in front of her. He manned the stove and its frying pans sizzling with eggs and bacon, a frilly pink apron over his orange jumpsuit. Jack hummed merrily as he cooked.

Last night was a good night. Maddie hadn't protested once he got her out of the lab and he was able to get her to bed and snuggle all he wanted while she fell asleep in his arms. He'd stayed awake half the night just so he could hold her and stroke her hair and whisper sweet nothings to her as he listened to her dream. And this morning he'd convinced her to let him make breakfast for her and then they'd do... something, he wasn't sure yet. It had been a long time since they'd really gone out together and spent the day as a couple.

The front door opened. Odd, Danny was never up this early and Jasmine usually said 'hi'. "Jazz, sweetie, that you?" Jack shouted. The door slammed shut.

"Ghost, 15 feet ahead." The Fenton Finder announced his presence before Danny trudged into the kitchen looking and smelling like he hadn't come home last night. He plopped down at the kitchen table and let his head fall into his arms.

"And where were you last night, young man?" Jack demanded.

"You mean he didn't come home?" Maddie asked. She glared at Danny, resolutely ignoring the fact that she'd been so wrapped up in her work that she hadn't noticed.

"I did," Danny said, voice muffled. "I was on the roof."

"Curfew means inside not 'on the roof'," Jack ranted.

"Sweetie, why were you on the roof all night?" Maddie asked. "Is everything okay?"

Danny mumbled into his arms. Just thinking the words made him depressed and angry again. He couldn't help it when cold started radiating off of him in waves.

"You know you can talk to us about it, whatever it is," Maddie said. She put a hand on his shoulder, ignoring the ache in her knuckles as the cold seeped through.

Danny sighed. He could hear the faint crackling of frost. It was such a pretty sound but he didn't want his face freezing to the table. He sat up and shook the ice out of his hair. Tiny shards like snowflakes melted as soon as they hit the air around him, beading like frigid raindrops. "Sam's gonna dump me," he mumbled.

"Why? What'd you do?" Jack asked with a derisive snort.

"The eggs, Jack," Maddie said. She got the expected reaction as Jack realized he'd burnt the eggs while his attention wandered and the bacon wasn't doing much better. Now that he was occupied... "Sam loves you, Danny," she said. "I'm sure whatever fight you had isn't nearly as bad as you think it is."

Danny snorted.

"What did you fight about?" she asked. "Was it friends? School? Plans for the future?"

"My powers," Danny grumped.

"Ah HA!" Jack crowed. "She doesn't like that you go ghost hunting without her! Well then take her along, problem solved."

Danny glared at his father and stormed out into the living room.

"Danny," Maddie called, following him. She caught him at the base of the stairs before he could stomp up to his room. "What is it, honey?" she asked. "It's not Ghost Envy, is it?"

Danny shook his head. He looked his mother in the eye. "Mom, you know I'm sixteen. You do know what sixteen year old boys who have girlfriends do, right?"

Maddie's eyes went wide. On one hand this was not the situation any mother wanted to be in concerning their teenaged son. On the other hand this was something normal, something that any mother of a teenaged son had the potential of facing. "Sam's not pregnant, is she?"

"What? No!" Danny sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "Mom, I can assure you Sam is not pregnant. I can assure you this because we haven't been able to even approach second base before my powers start to manifest and suddenly Sam's on the other side of the room in a parka snapping at me because there's frost the mirror again! Sam's going to dump me because she says it's like trying to make out with a corpse! And I can't stop doing it because I don't even know I am doing it until she starts yelling at me for it. At this rate you'll never have to worry about me getting a girl pregnant because no girl will go out with me!"

"Oh, honey," Maddie said. She wrapped her arms around her son. The cold knocked the air out of her chest and she started to shiver. "M-maybe this'll pass and you'll learn-n to control it like all of your other powers-s."

Danny let his mother hug him. He let his head fall to her shoulder and sighed before circling his arms around her. Odd, she was trembling. His heart sank as he put the facts together. "I'm doing it now, aren't I?" he asked. "I'm making it cold."

"J-just a little b-bit."

Danny pulled away from her. Maddie's lips were blue from chill and she was shaking like a leaf. Sam was right, it really was like he was sucking the heat right out of things. He sighed and turned away. "I'm going to bed," he announced as he trudged upstairs.

Maddie watched him go, unable to stop shivering. As soon as he was gone she all but ran to the best source of heat she knew. Not that Jack minded when she demanded he put everything down and hold her. Wrapped in her husband's bright orange embrace, she slowly started to feel warm again.