Divulgent

Jack stirred, moaning as the Fenton Ghost Alarms began to wail. After a handful of seconds in which Maddie didn't turn them off Jack rolled to his feet, realising with a start that the entire kitchen was covered with specks of dried blood and ectoplasm. Semi-congealed pools of the stuff were at his feet, and several spots of his hazmat suit were damp with red and green. Stumbling to the switch, Jack gave a sigh as the blasted alarms fell silent.

He had fainted. Jack Fenton had fainted! Shaking his head incredulously, the hunter checked the Fenton Ghost Finder Version 7.3. A green dot blinked in the area of radar that represented the basement of their home, and this was confirmed by a glowing blue blur that whizzed up the stairs to careen past Jack and through the walls of the house with a muffled "BEWARE!"

Jack blinked, staring at the spot of wall that the spectre had phased through. The machine in his hand indicated that the ghost was moving rapidly towards the docks, and Jack seriously debated going to bed and letting somebody else deal with it. Then he chuckled wryly to himself. Danny's so vigilant that it's made us lazy… Jack hadn't had to fight a ghost after bedtime for over a year now.

He shook his head again, clearing the fuzz of sleep from his brain. Snagging an ectogun from the kitchen counter, Jack moved to the living room. There he paused, his expression softening at the sight of his wife and son both still asleep. The hunter tiptoed past them, leaving the house and making his getaway in the GAV, cursing the fact that the drizzle from earlier had turned to heavy rain, causing a significant drop in temperature.

It was that damned Crate Creep. Jack stood unsteadily in the mud overlooking the docks, glaring at the spectre as it collected boxes from various warehouses. The hunter aimed and fired, missing spectacularly for the seventh time; the ghost completely ignored what it obviously didn't deem as a threat. Maybe this whole solo hunter gig was a bad idea – he was definitely better at inventing than fieldwork. Rain sheeted from the swollen thunderheads, lightning briefly cracking through the darkness.

Jack quietly cursed, shuddering as water trickled down his collar. He switched to the Jack'o'Nine Tails in the hope that it would be more efficient with a wider range when a flash of red swooped across the sky, faintly illuminated by the dock's crackling security lights. In seconds the offending ghost had been shot multiple times and Jack sucked it into the thermos with ease, taking a wary step back when the Red Huntress dropped altitude to hover directly in front of him. "What happened to you, Jack?!"

Realising that his entire front was spotted with Danny's blood and ectoplasm, Jack sighed. "Just had a rough night; none of this is mine." He gestured to his grisly covering helplessly.

"You look like crap."

"Feel like it, too," Jack muttered, wondering at the suddenly loquacious huntress – she had been avoiding Maddie and him since first appearing, so her suddenly friendly manner had the hunter rather confused.

"Haven't seen Phantom since yesterday."

Ah, that's why. "He'll be back soon, just got a bit beat up." Jack flinched as soon as he said it. The last thing anyone needed was a rather extreme huntress pursuing a weakened Danny – earlier in the week, the hunter had witnessed her shoot Phantom, and Danny had been limping for three days. "Why, you wanna shoot him again?" he demanded.

The woman on the hover board twirled her ectopistol. "He's a ghost," she emphasised, "it's not like it's illegal.

Jack couldn't stop himself. "Actually, it is."

The huntress landed, her hovercraft folding into the soles of her boots. "It's not illegal to hunt ghosts…" After a moment of pondering in which Jack stuttered and tried to form a coherent sentence she snapped her fingers, or tried to anyway; the effect was lost due to her metal gloves, and Jack fought back the irrational urge to laugh. "He's a hybrid!"

Jack spluttered. "Uh… Ma'am, I…"

"Jack, I know what a halfa is. Cut it out." The woman paced for a moment. "Danielle… is Phantom's clone."

"Who?" Jack asked stupidly.

The red-clad figure sighed. "Phantom was cloned by an evil halfa. His clone was half human, and decidedly not evil – she turned against her creator when he tried to torture and ultimately destroy Phantom. Why didn't I see it before?! For Danielle to be a halfa, Phantom must be one as well!"

Valerie continued to pace in silence for several breaths. "…Vlad," Jack growled.

Valerie froze. "You know about Mr Masters?" Jack raised and lowered one shoulder, preferring to remain silent. "Well, whatever. How do you know about halfas, anyway?"

Jack told himself to shut his gob and get out of there now. "I've worked with them in the past," he confessed.

The huntress tilted her helmeted head to one side. "I trust you, Jack. Keep him under a close watch while he's in your house."

Jack bristled. "How do you know Phantom's in my house?! And if you trusted me, you'd remove that stupid visor so I could see your face!"

"I picked up the signal of his ectosignature about four hours ago, but left it to you to deal with. And all in due time." She patted Jack's cheek in a condescending manner before activating her hover board. "Is he hurt?"

Jack nodded miserably. "Yeah, and it's my fault."

"I'm sure he'll forgive you – that guy always seems to be right as rain a couple of days after a beating. See you later." With a jaunty wave, the huntress took to the sky, shooting off in the direction of town.

...

Jack trudged into the house, dripping wet and furious with himself. The clock showed that it was a few minutes to five and the hunter shivered, grumbling as he hauled himself up the stairs and into the bathroom.

A hot shower and a pair of dry pyjamas later Jack ventured back down to the living room. The mess in the kitchen could be ignored for now, and definitely would be when Jack realised that both of his slumbering family members were in damp clothes and covered in green and red.

He dealt with Danny first, reasoning that the teen was in greater need of assistance than Maddie. Careful of his son's wounds, Jack stripped the boy and wiped off the blood with a warm cloth before dressing him in dry clothing, cutting slits in the pyjama shirt and pants to allow for Danny's new limbs. The couch was damp and filthy so Jack carried Danny upstairs and laid him on his stomach in bed, pulling the covers up and turning off the halfa's alarm clock and phone.

The man then tenderly attended to his wife. As he stripped off her outer layer Maddie stirred, opening bleary eyes. "Jack?"

He smiled softly. "Hey, Mads. You wanna hot shower?"

The huntress stretched before rubbing at her eyes. "Yeah, I'm freezing. What am I doing on the floor anyway?"

"Come shower, and we'll put you to bed."

Maddie's eyes shot open. "Danny!"

"I dealt with him first. He's dry and in bed."

"He's…" Maddie shakily got to her feet, stumbling towards the stairs.

"Whoa! C'mon, you're no use to anyone like this." Jack towed his shivering wife to the bathroom. "Shower. Dry Clothes. Bed."

"Danny-"

"If he wakes up I'll know about it, okay?" Jack reasoned that the teen would be in enough pain to make a bit of noise when he finally roused.

...

Danny woke with a start, his eyes opening and his breathing quickening without warning. He was lying on his stomach, an unusual position for the boy. Faint sunlight was illuminating his face, which puzzled the halfa further since the sun rose from the opposite side of the house from his window, and he usually got up before it was bright enough to reach through his curtains. Danny tilted his head, glancing at his clock. Ten past four. "Damn it!" the teen groaned, rolling onto his side in a bid to get up.

He screeched as his entire back seized up, feeling like it was going to tear apart. Falling back onto the bed, Danny managed to land on the afflicted areas and he rolled over, falling out of bed in the process. This elicited a pained cry from the young man, and he wriggled in the tangle of blankets, the searing pain growing worse with every movement. What happened to me?!

...

Jack yawned and stretched, turning to find Maddie watching him with lips curved into a lazy smile. "Whatimeisit?" the man slurred.

Maddie's smile widened. "About three in the afternoon."

"Mmmph." Jack plopped a kiss on the corner of his wife's mouth before swinging his feet out of bed. "Pancakes?"

Maddie joined him, wrapping her arms around his torso. "Sounds nice."

"I'll cook 'em," he offered.

"That'd be nice, too," Maddie chuckled, towing her husband towards the stairs. At Danny's door, she paused and cracked the door, checking that their son was still asleep. "We'll let him wake up himself?"

Jack nodded in response, leading her down the staircase.

The kitchen was a wreck. The green goop originally intended for the previous night's dinner had migrated to the floor in a gelatinous lump and was currently devouring the remains of Jack's hot chocolate near the bench, slurping contentedly. Green and red spotted the walls and ceiling, and lay in congealed puddles on the linoleum.

Jack wordlessly retrieved various Fenton Ghost Disinfectants whilst Maddie fetched gloves and cloths. The mess took about half an hour to clean, with the vicious soup goop exiled to the Ghost Zone. After giving the mercifully undamaged stovetop a rigorous scrub, Maddie stepped back and allowed Jack free reign of the kitchen. Thus, she watched his every move.

"Don't add that!" she cried.

"Why? We put this in everything to ghost-proof the food."

The woman covered her mouth, speaking through her fingers. "That's why Danny hasn't been eating properly. He's immature, and his body would react to anything ghost-proof which usually wouldn't affect a halfa!"

Jack replaced the lid on the glowing bottle. "I'll throw it out?"

Maddie nodded and opened her mouth to confirm vocally when several cries and a thump came from above their heads. Both parents raced up the stairs, bursting into Danny's room. He was on the floor, struggling amidst a tangle of blankets. He stilled upon their entry, looking up with green eyes dull with pain and panic. "Um… help?"

Jack chuckled, kneeling beside Danny and freeing him from the bedding. "Here you go."

Free, the teen tried to use his arms to push himself up off the floor but they gave way and he slammed back into the carpet with a yelp. Jack unceremoniously hauled Danny into his arms and the halfa coloured, directing his gaze to the ground with mumbled thanks.

...

Danny still felt like curling up and passing out from the pain and awkwardness when Jack placed him gently on a kitchen chair, tending to the stove. The white hair falling into his eyes clued Danny in to the fact that he was currently Phantom and he sighed, hunching sore shoulders in discomfort when he realised that he couldn't even summon up the rings. This did not go unnoticed by Maddie, who seated herself next to Danny and sent him a wan smile. "It was the portal, wasn't it?"

Danny nodded miserably. "I'm sorry, guys, I know I should have told you…"

"You were scared," Jack reasoned, turning to face his family.

The teen's shoulders crept closer to his ears, his face turning red as he nodded. Maddie moved to hug him, but at the last moment settled instead for ruffling his hair. Danny sighed. "What happened, exactly?" His voice shook slightly, and he leaned into his mother's gentle touch. The feel of her fingers toying with his hair was soothing, and he settled more comfortably into his seat.

Jack flipped the pancakes, sending Maddie a pleading glance. She nodded slightly and began to speak. "The stuff they injected to prevent your core from tearing apart is also used to supress one's powers. However, you happen to be immature." Danny quirked an eyebrow and Maddie smiled slightly as he began to relax.

"You mean I have another seven or so years until my core is fully integrated with the rest of my body?" It was Maddie's turn to raise an eyebrow and Danny chuckled, relaxing entirely. "One of the ancient ghosts is kind of like a mentor to me, and he's told me heaps of stuff."

This certainly piqued the huntress' interest but she refrained from pursuing the matter, choosing to remain on-topic. "Yes, your powers are not mature yet. So you reacted to the serum differently, binding one of your undeveloped powers-"

"And it chose shape shifting," Danny finished for her.

Jack squawked as he spilt pancake mix down the front of his pyjamas. After glancing sheepishly at his wife and son he scraped the goo off his clothes and into the bin before returning to the frying pan. Danny worked at chewing his lip, trying to figure out how to word his next questions. "How long… I can't change back. How long will I be in ghost form, and how long will I be like this?" At the final word the halfa gestured helplessly to his new limbs.

"Once your core has settled again you'll be able to change back. That should be in a couple of days," Maddie mused. "No powers until then either. As for your second question…" she trailed off, raising one shoulder and lowering the other, her expression as helpless as her son's. "Definitely not until your core is mature."

"So, my tenth deathday?" The woman frowned at the panic radiating off her son.

"Thereabouts."

Danny turned white as Jack chimed in. "When is your deathday anyway?"

"September twenty-third." The man bounded over to the calendar and flipped to the date, writing in block letters Danny's Deathday. He drew stars around it before flipping back to the correct month and returning to the stove; Danny raised his eyebrows at his Father's enthusiasm whilst Maddie chuckled. The teen started, glancing down at his tail which had automatically curled tightly around the leg of the table as his discomfort mounted. "M-mum?"

The huntress recognised the problem immediately. "It's fine, Danny – you're going to be like this for a while. Your Father and I honestly don't mind."

"This… this transformation doesn't upset you?"

Maddie forced a smile. "Of course it does! But I'm not angry at you."

Jack chuckled. "I bet those idiots are regretting it now that you've punched them."

Maddie sighed. "I certainly hope they won't have the nerve to come back here."

"Why?" Danny frowned.

"Because then I'd break the law by using my powers to make sure they get the message."

Both men laughed, Danny breaking off in a gasp as his muscles began to spasm. Maddie shot him a look and he waved her off, still chuckling weakly. Jack quieted and cleared his throat. "Uhm, what's your deal with the Red Huntress?"

Danny shrugged. "I dunno, actually. She still shoots at me whenever I fly too close but she doesn't really pursue me anymore. Why?"

Jack flinched. "I ran into her last night at the docks, after everything else. The Crate Creep –" he ignored Danny's snort – "was giving me a hard time and she lent a hand. I was covered in your blood and ectoplasm and she got a bit worried. Asked why I wasn't hunting you and I let slip that it was illegal… She kinda figured out that since your female clone is a halfa than you must be too. She just doesn't know that Phantom is Fenton." He paused, scrunching up his face. "A clone, Danny? Was it Vlad's doing?"

Danny was white and shaking. "You told her what?! She… oh, no." He buried his face in his hands with a moan, kneading closed eyelids with the tips of his fingers.

The sound of the doorbell jolted him, and Danny jumped at the noise, falling hallway off his chair. "Danny, let us in – it's pouring!" Tucker's voice called, muffled by the heavy front door and the sound of the thunderstorm.

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