Disclaimer: Don't own DP.
(Has a heart attack) …Over 200 reviews? (Falls) Oh my gosh, thank you all so much! (squee!) I swear, I read each and every review at least twice! Thank you for the support and enthusiasm for this story! (currently unable to stop smiling.)
Hope you like chapter 10!
Chained
Chapter 10
Maddie Fenton couldn't sleep. The blinking 11:15 pm on the clock stared back at her with no end.
She pushed back the thick comforter and sat up in bed, stretching restless muscles. She ran a hand through her tangled hair and looked over at her husband. Jack was sleeping soundly at her side, clutching a teddy bear. He didn't seem troubled.
The woman sighed, envying her husband. Jack never had problems with sleep, despite his troubled days.
And so Maddie swung her legs off the soft mattress, her feet landing on the carpet. She moved quietly, so as not to wake Jack, and she slipped out of the room much like the ghosts she hunted.
Maybe a cup of coffee would be good, she thought. She trudged down the dark hall of her home, but then she stopped in front of a door.
Her heart suddenly lurched in her chest, and her thoughts misted over. Danny. She hesitated a bit longer in front of the door, but then forced herself to move onwards.
How long had it been, since she had last seen her son?
How long since she had heard his voice? Since she had scolded him for staying out late?
Familiar tears stung the back of her eyes as she reminisced. She tried to shake herself out of it, and like a defeated soldier, her broken steps slowly made their way down the stairs. She rubbed her arms, shivering a bit in the cold. The portal to the Ghost Zone was open, infusing the lab with lower temperatures and dark green light.
She gave the portal one last look, and then began to pace around the lab, where on one of the tables rested a silver gun.
Maddie merely glanced at it before turning away, but something within her said to look again. Perhaps it was the core energizer that drew her back, or maybe it was the weapon's history. Maddie gingerly picked up the weapon in her hands, expertly inspecting every inch.
The Fenton Specter Shredder.
At the memory of its christening, Maddie couldn't help but roll her eyes and smile. Jack always chose strange names for their weapons. But the weapon itself was a failure. Originally meant to 'shred' a ghost by depleting its ectoplasmic levels, Jack and Maddie found that it did the exact opposite.
It functioned as a power boost and replenished a ghost's levels using its own energy.
The Fentons immediately deemed it a flop.
The two models of the weapon had been labeled, stashed away, and then eventually stored in their own little box, never to be seen again. Jack and Maddie wanted nothing to do with it, especially considering its effect on ghosts.
But six months ago, the Guys in White came. And they wanted it.
The Fentons weren't sure why they wanted it; and their unexpected appearance was a surprise. Especially when they broke down the front door.
But money was tight during then, with the huge bills going toward rescue missions, and with Danny missing…The GIW offered them enough money to last for years. And Maddie accepted. She didn't even ask how they found out about the failed weapon. When she handed one over, a Guy in White explained that they needed something to keep a few of their experiments "alive."
Maddie guessed they were talking about Danny Phantom.
She supposed it didn't matter. Phantom deserved whatever technique the CGIA was using to get information. He was probably the one who took her son away from her. After all, Phantom did have a vendetta against the Fenton family…
An involuntary spark of anger threaded from her heart, tainting her mind. Her fists clenched, and her jaw tightened. Phantom.
Maddie knew Phantom had hurt Danny, she just knew it. And some way or another, she was gonna find out for sure.
She was going to find the truth.
As a ghost hunter and a mother, she had to.
She carefully set the weapon back down on the table, running her fingers once more over the crafted handle. The solid intricacy seemed to lend her comfort, even though it wasn't quite enough. Nothing could truly ruffle her feathers as badly as that ghost did.
She hated Danny Phantom. She hated him because he was evil and destructive, because he was obnoxious, and because he looked very similar to Danny.
She made him feel guilty, as if she were actually shooting at her own son.
Enemies weren't supposed to do that. Ghosts weren't supposed to create that kind of emotional response.
So why did Phantom?
She glanced at the TV, which had been left on by a rather forgetful Jack. It was on some news channel, and it showed the remains of a burned building. That's strange…
Instantly, she recognized the land around it. The CGIA!
Maddie found herself unable to break away from the TV. She turned up the volume with a nearby remote.
"Today marked the final chapter of the CGIA building," said the reporter, "which ended in a rain of fire and panic." She motioned to the live camera on the screen, and the aerial view circled around the destroyed foundation.
"At around 8:00 this evening, an explosion from one of the Experimental Labs caught the entire sector on fire, and in time spread to the rest of the building. Valerie Gray was located shortly after the building collapsed, having sustained internal injuries. She is currently in the Intensive Care Unit at Amity General Hospital in critical condition; it's unknown whether she will survive."
A popular snapshot of Amity's most controversial hero appeared. "According to surviving agents and preliminary spectral level tests, it has been concluded that Danny Phantom was eliminated in the fire." For some reason, even the reporter hesitated on her words, as if she couldn't believe it herself. "His ectoplasmic signature was disrupted by the fire's intense heat, and scanners found only miniscule traces of his power levels."
Maddie felt a strange sense of fear rise within her. Phantom, the last connection she had to Danny, was gone?
The reporter said, "Whether hero or villain, Amity Park will never again see this controversial figure fly in our skies."
Maddie felt something burn behind her eyes, but she refused to believe it was tears.
The heavy rain did not stop Sam from bolting out of the car.
Her hands shook, her breath hitched, and her heart stopped. "Oh my God," she breathed. "Danny..."
Sam froze at the sight, and her lips quivered in shock. Destruction had not left one inch of the CGIA untouched. Black smoke still leeched into the air, despite the rain.
She felt Tucker and Jazz's presences appear behind her, but she didn't acknowledge them. She couldn't. And they couldn't acknowledge her either; they were both too stunned.
The wind picked up, flinging sheets and sheets of rain upon its victims. A sorrowful whine echoed through the sky, as if in mourning. And for a quick moment, Sam swore that she could feel the ground shake.
.
"Hey, Sammy?" he had asked her one summer morning.
She turned to face him, the backside of her shirt grass-stained. They were both lying on the ground, watch the clouds pass in the sky. "Yeah, Danny?"
The seven year old boy pointed in the air. "What do you think that one looks like?"
Sam scrunched up her nose and narrowed her eyes in scrutiny. A moment passed in pure analysis. "I think," she answered finally, "it looks like a lady bug."
Danny sighed and tore up more grass from the ground around him, throwing it back on Sam. She chucked it right back. "You stole my idea again…"
The girl grinned cheekily and nudged his shoulder. "Well, maybe you shouldn't pick easy clouds, Dan Dan."
He squirmed away from her and stuck out his tongue. He hated that nickname! But then, Sam hated being called Sammy, so he supposed it evened out in the end. "Fine," he mumbled curtly. He pointed to a towering cloud high in the atmosphere, right next to the sun. "What's that look like?"
"Easy," Sam shrugged. "It's gotta be a clock."
And at that, Danny threw a handful of mud at her.
.
She had to do something; she had to help somehow. Danny had to be here somewhere, still in the wreckage somewhere or hiding in the shadows.
Behind her, Tucker quickly ran up, using his hat to shield his phone from the rain.
"You sense him anywhere?" she asked.
He swallowed hard, struggling to breathe in the downpour. "I'm not picking up anything." He used his thumb to enter in new parameters to the device. "It says that...there aren't any ectoplasmic signatures near here."
"Try it again," Sam demanded.
"I'm trying!" Tucker pushed the button again and again, only for his eyes to darken in fear. "I'm trying, but it keeps saying the same thing over again."
.
"Uh oh."
From the moment she heard that tell-tale noise of a rock hitting her window, she knew something was wrong. The eight year old ran to her window pane and opened it. She stuck her head out, rain and all. Looking down, there was a small, soaked person shivering by the bushes.
She knew that person.
"Danny?" she shouted above the distant thunder. "That you?"
Bright, blue eyes shone from the darkness. "Sammy?" came a pathetic whimper. "Can I come up?"
And without any more warning, Sam pulled down her ladder. "Duh, you can come up!" She risked a glance at the clock, and nearly winced. It was 1:00 A.M. "But you're gonna hafta be really really quiet!"
As Danny climbed the ladder, Sam swore that she heard him crying. He slowly climbed, slower than usual, and he didn't even use his right arm.
Sam laid down a blanket on the wood floor of her bedroom so that Danny wouldn't get everything wet with his sopping clothes. He finally swung himself over the window pane, and landed rather off-balanced on the blanket. He still held his right arm to his chest.
"Danny?" Sam asked concernedly. "Are you okay?"
And at that, Danny looked back up at her, his blue eyes swimming with tears. "No," he whispered back, his lip quivering. "My arm…I-I think I hurt it." He pulled away his hand, and allowed Sam to see the damage.
She gasped; it hung from his side at an awkward angle, a clear sign that he'd broken it. "Oh, Danny…" Tears welled up in her own eyes, for she hated to see him in pain. "What happened?"
She helped him sit down on the blanket, careful not to bump his arm. "Well," he said between shuddering breaths, "I was climbing the tree out back again, and I-"
"Didn't your mommy tell you not to do that?" Sam cut in with a raised eyebrow. For a moment, the boy could have sworn that Sam sounded just like his mom.
Danny bit his lip. "I know! But I climbed it 'nyways, and I got all the way to the top!" For a moment, his eyes glowed brightly. "I was so high up! And it was so pretty! But, but…" The glow died. "I got stuck. I couldn't get down." He looked up at Sam, and lightning crackled outside. "So I jumped."
The girl's jaw dropped. "Danny!" In a flourish, she began fussing all over him, pulling the sticky bangs from his forehead and searching his eyes. "You coulda died!"
"I know," his lip quivered even faster, and a tear cascaded from his eyes. He looked up at her. "Sammy, my arm hurts so bad…"
She couldn't stand him being in pain. Without even thinking about it, Sam pulled her best friend into her arms, taking carenot to bump his arm. "Don't worry," she whispered to him, rubbing his back. "We'll get your arm fixed…You'll get better soon, I promise!" She gave him a teary-eyed smile.
Danny rested his head against her shoulder, shutting his eyes tight. "I hope so," he shivered in her arms. "Can you fix it?"
"Yeah, but I'm gonna hafta get my parents, Danny," she told him regretfully. "My daddy's a doctor, so he can help."
"Okay," the boy agreed. "But only if you help him. I trust you."
She smiled at him. "Don't worry; I plan on being a doctor someday too. Then I can always fix you up."
.
"Sam," Tucker shook his head, "I don't think he's here."
Nearby, reporters stood before cameras, holding tightly onto umbrellas and microphones. "We now have confirmation from the CGIA that all signs of onsite ectoplasmic activity are gone. In other words, folks, the fire eliminated all incarcerated ghosts who were cooperating in various programs. This includes celebrity figure Danny Phantom, who had been imprisoned here at the CGIA for nearly two-
"-Danny!" she cried out, horror overwhelming her. She began running towards the decimated building, disregarding all sense of self-preservation.
The reporter's words echoed behind her. "-CGIA will provide an official statement regarding their failure to protect valuable assets such as Danny Phantom from what could be considered the greatest loss of research in several years."
Sam ducked under caution tape and wove around orange cones and water hoses, tears streaming down her face. "No, no, no," she cried. She dropped down to the edge of the collapsed building and began desperately digging through the still-smoldering rubble and debris. Her bare hands split open under the heat and sharp metal, but she ignored the pain.
"You have to be okay," she cried out. "You're not dead!"
Two large hands grabbed her by the shoulders, and she panicked. She felt herself being pulled back, "Sorry, miss," a police explained rather forcefully, "but civilians must stand behind the yellow tape."
"No!" Sam's cry tore raggedly through the air. Her violet eyes were wild, and she struggled against the man's grip. "I have to find him!" She pulled and pushed away from him, but to no avail.
The man, now tired of Sam, gave up arguing and dragged her to the yellow tape. He firmly deposited her there, and the moment he let go, he had to block her from running back out.
"Please!" She didn't care how she got there, all she cared was that she could find Danny. "I have to save him! He's still here somewhere, I know he is!"
But no one heard her cry, and no one cared.
Not even Jazz or Tucker could hear her, for they had been detained by police as well.
.
"Sammy, my arm hurts so bad…"
Deep within the rubble of the CGIA, a body was frozen in time. Wisps of ectoplasmic energy swirled around the figure, soft and flickering. A metal beam was thrust through the body's shoulder.
The ghost's eyes were dull and misted over. Streams of ectoplasm lazily trailed from the wounds.
But as seconds passed, the aura around him grew more powerful. The ectoplasm banded together around the figure, and the glow became brighter. Faster and faster it swirled around the body, sparking lights and color.
Ugh…
The wound torn through his stomach, deep and jagged, began to twitch. Spilled ectoplasm reversed its trails, slowly sinking beneath the ghost's skin and lighting his veins with liquid fire. It broke down the metal jammed through the bones in his shoulder.
For a time, the body still did not move.
"N-ngh." Then the silver and black figure slowly dug out of the rubble on instinct alone, ash and wood falling off his body. Ectoplasmic-stained fingers strained to hold onto the debris. He slipped once, collapsing back into the rubble.
Bright, green eyes opened.
And then in panic, he turned invisible.
Somewhere within Amity General Hospital, Valerie slept on, computers beeping in time with her heart.
A GIW Specter Saver, ash covered and beaten, rested on the table beside her.
Wow…So I totally just typed up seven pages of this just today…Cool:)
Anyways, I hope you liked it. I tried to humanize Sam a bit, since people were saying that she seemed "detached" and really not a major part of the plot. I even tried to add in Maddie, because many people were wondering about her and her situation. So, yeah…I hope I didn't disappoint!
But on that note, this chappie was seriously hard to write. J I've never been too good with aftermath stuff, so maybe that's why I try to drag out the action as long as I can.
Song Inspiration for this chapter: Nights in White Satin by Chad Smith.
1.) How was the transition between scenes? Choppy or smooth?
2.) Are the characters still characters, or are they wooden and need more work?
3.) Any comments on word choice and word flow?
4.) What have I improved upon in my writing? What are my weaknesses?
5.) Is this story still interesting, or has it lost its suspense factor?
6.) Is the plot predictable?
7.) Any suggestions you might want to add?
If you can answer any of these, I'll definitely appreciate it! J All of my reviews and constructive criticism has really kept me going through the trials of my life and of my Writer's Block. So thank you all very much once more for reading and supporting me!
Lightning Streak
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