10/01/2011

The Facility

Chapter 8

Danny quickly snatched his two friends into an awkward hug, turning them all invisible, praying to God that he had been fast enough.

"What was that?" One of the guards asked, looking right where the three of them had just been, lifting his insanelylargegun higher ready to shot anything that moved.

"It was probably just the Six." Another guard responded, as they both walked toward the Trio, as more guards filed in behind, starting to pull little metal boxes from their pockets.

Danny sucked in a breath realizing that they were Ghost Scanners and knew he was about to be discovered. He quickly pulled his friends into his arms and silently flew them toward one of the old collapsed walls to their left.

"Tuck, the Cape." He whispered to his friend, feeling the Techno-Geek snap out of his shock and scrambled to reach the invisibility sheet in his back pack.

Danny quickly dropped them to the ground and immediately returned to his Human Form, causing them all to become visible again. But only long enough for Tucker to throw the cape over them, hiding them all from view once again. Just as the little scanners in the guards hands announced their feed back.

"Well," The first guard asked as he poked his gun through the area where they had been. Several of the guards looked questioningly at their scanners, hesitating. Sam instinctively grabbed Danny's hand as if afraid he was going to disappear and he squeezed it back reassuringly, as time seemed to stand still.

"Nothing," A guard finally declared, allowing the three to release their breath.

"Alright," The first guard stated looking around suspiciously for another minute before joining the others as they continued on their way toward the building.

"Woo," Danny exhaled in a whisper. "That was too close for comfort."

"I think my heart stopped," Sam stated holding a hand to said organ, as Tucker crept out from under the sheet, to look at the building.

"My uncannily, accurate, search instincts are telling me, this is the right place." The Geek declared.

"Really," Danny whispered sarcastically, raising an eyebrow at him. "What was your first clue, the Ghost Shield or the conspicuous lack of guards within any twofootradius?"

"Actually it was the G-Resin."Tucker stated seriously, showing his friends the screen of his PDA, which showed a line grid of the Facility, but in places that were supposed to be walls, there were instead fuzzy green blurs.

"G-Resin," Danny asked confused.

"G-Resin," T0rch suddenly stated, making them all jump, as he burst from the band that was now on Danny's wrist. "The Ectoplasmic like substance that makes up the atmosphere of the Ghost-Zone," The fireball recited as if he was reading it from a book. "It is normally found floating in the air; but can collect around curtain areas and is also the substance used to construct Land, Ice, Walls and other solidobjects in the Ghost-Zone. G-resin can only thrive in cold climates, such as the Ghost-Zone and also collects around Ghosts because they have no body heat. This layer of Resin gives them a solid-like structure, making it impossiblefor them to phase through solid objects in the GZ. It is also very sensitive to heat and will immediately evaporate if it's brought into the Human World, which then allows Ghosts to once again phase through things. Also in the Ghost-Zone if heat is applied to its surface, such as the body-heat from a human, it will temporally disband allowing the human to seemingly phase though the wall."

"O-k" Danny stated staring dumfounded at the little ball of fire; who beamed proudly at them.

"You learn something new everyday." Sam declared, just as impressed.

"Isn't he great?" Tucker asked proudly, wiping a fake tear from his eye.

"T0rch, I think you and my English tests are going to get along famously." Danny declared, causing the little fire bug to smile again.

"Well that explains what G-Resin is, but that doesn'texplain what it's doing here." Sam stated.

"They must have found a way to stabilize it so they could coat their walls." Tucker explained, looking back at his PDA.

"Then can I walk through them as a human." Danny asked.

"Unfortunately no, the walls are still a solid structure. They just happen to be coated in G-Resin." Tucker stated. "We're going to have to do this the hardway."

"Correction, I'mgoing to do it the hardway." Danny declared.

"Danny," Sam accused, glaring at him.

"No, it'll be suicide if we all go in," Danny stated forcefully, giving her a look that clearly said that it didn't mater what she said, he wouldn't change his mind. "And this way if Iget caught, you'll be able to come in after me."

"True," Tucker admitted, obviously not happy about the decision either.

"Fine," Sam surrendered, unable to argue with that kind of logic. "Just be careful." She ordered, squeezing his hand tightly.

"I'll be back, I promise." He guaranteed, making her smile at the familiar pledge. He had yet to break that promise; so there was no reason for her to believe that thistime would be any different, he had faced much harder things. He smiled back at her and leaned his forehead into hers, before giving her a sweat kiss in the spot and then the cheek and finally the lips.

As they parted she quickly raised her hand to wrap it around his cheek, savoring his warmth and he held it there for a minute with his own, leaning into the touch lovingly, before bringing it down to kiss her palm as well. "I'll be back," He whispered into her ear.

"I know," She answered confidently, before they both turned to look at Tucker who had cleared his throat to get their attention.

"I can open the security door on the roof, but after that – you're on your own." He replied sadly, wishing he could do more.

"That's all I need," Danny said with a smile, putting a hand on his best-friends shoulder, "Right T0rch?" He asked and the little fireball once again reappeared.

"Right boss," He responded with a smile.

"You two better head back to the Forest so you're not seen." Danny stated wrapping the invisibility cloak around his neck and pulled the hood up over his head, before looking back at the forest in question to find it was no longer there. In its place was a huge dome-likeshield around the facility that looked something like oil on the surface of water, which had hid the place from them until they had walked through it.

He made a guess that thiswas the Six the guards had mentioned. The surface swirled and danced around in so many different shapes and colors that it would have been easy to see things in its disorder.

"If we can find it," Tucker answered looking at the shield as well.

"You'll be fine, just stay down and don't get caught." Danny ordered, before standing at his full height and changed back into Danny Phantom. Sam closed her eyes so as not to be blinded by the rings of light that passed over his form and studied his appearance one last time as if wanting to rememberhim for how he was.

He had finally grown out of his trademark suite years ago and now wore a similar one with wide, white lines that traveled over his outer arms connecting to his gloves and collar, as well as on the outer sides off his legs, which attached to his boots to travel up past his belt and end around his rib cage.

He was clearly taller and his muscles could easily be distinguished thanks to the spandex martial and his hair had even gotten longer, now having to be held back with a tie. He was no longer the clumsy little freshman who struggled just to make it to his next class without being shoved into his locker. He was confident, even cocky at times, like now, as he looked toward the roof of the building he had to break into, determined to save the World from whatever evil that might lay in wait for him inside.

He turned to give Sam one last reassuring smile, before flying into the air. Sweeping closely on the out side of the green tinted Ghost Shield, he remained invisible, searching the area for any threats that he should be aware of. Upon reaching the top of the dome, he looked back just in time to see Sam and Tucker disappearing back to the other side of the Six. Smiling to himself, he looked back at the roof below him and spotted the door he figured Tucker was talking about.

Quickly bringing the cloak tighter around his body, so that he would remain invisible, he reverted back to his Human form. The sudden change left him suspended in the air for half a second, before he gradually started falling forward to phase through the Shield unnoticed.

The rush he got when he fell was unlike any other, his friends found it rather strange that he lovedfallingalmost as much as he lovedflying, but he couldn't help it, over the years he had grown almost addictedto it.

But his rushcame to an end far too soon, as the building came upon him and he was forced to change back to Danny Phantom and float down to the concrete roof, his boots touching down on the surface, never making a sound.

He quietly made his way over to the door and listened, his heightened hearing allowing him to detect any movement on the other side. He could hear a few people walking on a linoleum floor farther away but no one he had to worry about.

"Ok Tuck," He whispered into T0rch'sscreen which connected him to Tucker's PDA. Almost instantly, like if he had simply pulled a switch, the door beeped once and opened with a silent click.

"Be careful dude," Tucker's voice called from the screen, before the connection was cut, not wanting to give Danny's position away.

"Alright T0rch, I'm counting on you to get me to the right place." Danny stated as the little fireball reappeared at his side.

"You can count on me boss." T0rch declared with a smile, floating next to Danny's head as he snuck into the building. The Half-Ghost stayed close to the walls, looking quickly around every corner before venturing down another hall, following T0rch's whispered directions in his ear.

A few minutes later Danny peeked around a corner only to find several guards standing around, talking about something. 'More guards, what is this Fort Knox?' Danny thought to himself; noticing their thick armor and weapons, complete with gas masks, 'Are they expecting a nuclear attack or what?' He wondered silently.

Just then a faint beeping sounded from their suits, causing them all too immediately stop talking and line up against the walls where and – wait.

"What are they doing?" Danny whispered at T0rch, who was watching the scene with confusion before his eyes widened in recognition, as he sensed a strange wave heading toward them.

"It's a sensor, their looking for Ghosts." He panicked, while he had somehow resisted yelling, Danny took that as his Q to change back and had just become human when a visible, radio-wave pulsed down the halls, bouncing off corners, objects and people. Danny felt a strange tingling feeling in his body as the strange blue line passed over him and continued on its way. He clung to the wall for dear life, holding his breath as if expecting it to return to cuss him out.

But after what felt like an eternity, T0rch whispered to him that he had checked out and he released his breath, forcing his heartbeat to return to a normal-ish pace. 'Its places like thisthat are going to give me ulcers before I'm 20.' He thought to himself, as he took a quick look back around the corner to find the guards walking off in the opposite direction. 'I'm either extremely lucky or they're just really stupid.' He decided as he pulled the hood of his clock father down over his head, making sure he was completely covered before turning the corner to walk down the hallway.

"Wait," T0rch ordered suddenly forcing Danny to skid in his tracks.

"What," He asked looking at the ball of fire questioningly.

"Give me a minute to set a Feedback Loop to the cameras and you can go." T0rch stated, working something out as he hacked into the Facility's main computer, altering the Cameras.

"But I'm invisible, – aren't I?" Danny asked confused; as he looked down to find that he wasin fact, invisible.

"Cameras have better eyes then Humans, too them the Micro Sensors in the cloak would just be broken down into pixels. So instead of being hidden, you'll just look like an idiot hiding behind a projector screen." T0rch declared before a small beep erupted from his screen. "Ok you can go now."

"Are you sure nothing elseis going to go wrong." Danny asked sourly. "Earthquake, Tsunami, the Apocalypse perhaps?"

"No, but I'll keep an eye out." T0rch stated, looking at Danny as if he had just declared that he wanted to be a Ballerina.

"You're as bad as Tucker," Danny whispered, as he continued walking down the hall.

"That's why he made me." T0rch stated proudly, "To help you in these situationswhen hecan't be here."

"Great," Danny droned, (just what he needed, another Tucker.)

_Line Break_

A half an hour later found our Hero somewhere on the 4th floor, (there being 6 floors in total.)

"This would be so much easier if I could just phase through everything." Danny grumbled as he placed his hand against a wall and glared when it didn't allow his intangible form to pass through. "Have you found the stairs yet?" He asked T0rch impatiently, as the little ball of fire looked confused, upon reading some data from the building's computer.

"It appears that there's a secret floor between this floor and the 3rd." T0rch stated, "But there's no way to get to it."

"Then that's got to be where we need to go," Danny declared. "Maybe there's a way in from the 3rd floor." He offered. 'Man this place is confusing.' He secretly thought to himself.

"I don't know," T0rch piped up, having stopped reading off the computer. "But I think I can get us to it anyway, over here," T0rch stated, flying down the hall to float in front of a random door, before hacking into it's lock, causing it to open. Danny followed him through the doorway and gasped when T0rch lit up the room slightly.

"Wooo, big room," Danny declared looking around at the huge auditorium, complete with hundreds of cushy chairs, belchers and a podium.

"Here," T0rch said suddenly, floating over to a corner behind the belchers and Danny followed.

"What's here?" The Half-Ghost asked, looking confusedly at the simple walls.

"It appears that when they coated this place with G-Resin, they cut corners, literally." T0rch announced, hovering closer to the floor. "You should be able to get to the Secret Floor from here."

"And what about the wall on the other side, wont I just get stuck in the ceiling?" Danny asked.

"This corner is right over another one," Torch explained. "You should be able to pass all the way through."

"Ok, that wasn't a No," Danny droned, before deciding it was better then walking around aimlessly and kneeled down to start feeling around on the floor, trying to pass his hand through it. Just when he was starting to feel like an idiot, his hand suddenly passed through the floor, almost causing him to do a face plant.

"See," T0rch stated proudly.

"Alright, here we go." The Ghost Boy muttered ignoring him and changed back into his Ghost Form and did a rather awkward dive into the floor. He watched the concrete; metal rods and insulation stuffing pass by before feeling around on the inner side of the ceiling below him. It didn't take long before his hand passed through it as well and he stuck his head through to look around for guards, before allowing himself to fall to the ground.

"Yuck," He murmured looking at a huge test tube in front of him, which sported a disgusting green liquid and about 3 years worth of dust. "What is this?" He asked himself out loud looking around to find several other tubes like it all lined up in 2 rows. Noticing a plaque on the containment vessel, he reached down to wipe the dust off and red. "Daniel One?" Danny asked not believing what he was seeing. "There's more?"

"According to these, there are 9." T0rch declared causing Danny to look at him as he hovered over a plaque on the tube farthest from the one he was at.

"You've got to be kidding!" Danny growled at nothing particular. Just having one weapon to find and destroy was hard enough, but now there were nine. "And of course, their all empty," He droned wiping a little dust of the glass tube to find there was nothing inside it.

"Not this one," T0rch said and Danny looked at him again, he was now floating near the back wall looking at a small computer screen, which appeared to be a Heart Monitor. "There's a containment unit here and there's a Heartbeat inside." Danny flew over to float by the wall as well and dusted off the plaque over the screen and nearly fell out of the air when it read Daniel X.

Dang…long chapter… I count 6 pages….gees.

I hope everyone will forgive me for not updating twice yesterday like I normally do, but a couple of my friends are moving soon, so we had a party for them. And the length of this chapter wasn't helping either… But I guess that's not so bad … lol

Anywho

Yah… for finally getting to the big bad place and finding the big bad weapon…lol

And I even got in a little Danny and Sam Fluff… *Sniffles* it even made me cry… They're so cute…

I'm going to see what I can do about getting you 3 chapters today, for not getting this up when I promised… but I'm not sure if I can do it…so cross your fingers…

R&R

;)