~Amity Park~
The sounds of power tools and grumblings were typical, but the over all silence that reigned the rest of the house was not. Pausing in her work one making a new tracker, Madeline Lambrouge-Fenton looked at the single photo in the kitchen of her family before the terrible "Reveal." She brought her hand up and fingered necklace she cherished for the last 18 years. The ice flower still as beautiful as the day she saw it on her lover's pillow. But strangely as she wore it, it felt like it was not meant for her. Looking at it she didn't see her lover's eyes, the shade of blue his eyes were had been too dark. The icy blue of the crystals matched her son's eyes-
She sighed, two years they have scoured the earth, looking high and low for their missing children. It wasn't long after the "Reveal" that the GiW came to them all, both the Mansons and the Foleys as well, and played the news clip that had aired the day they were kidnapped. It was an attack on Casper High by Freakshow and through the chaos they could see Sam and Tucker, but also Danny or rather Phantom. They watched everything, listening to the newscaster as she talked quickly and excitedly before all stilled when something crashed into the stage before slowly standing from the wreckage was Phantom, who then changed into Danny.
After that the GiW cut off the clip, no need for the Fenton's to know that they were hunting their son down to experiment on him. Though that plan had been foiled by Sam and Tucker, both of whom screamed and shouted that the GiW were going to hurt Danny, slowly kill him until they were finally happy with whatever sick agenda they had planned. If Danny had been there, he'd have been touched, or so she had hoped...
"Maddie, deary..." Pamela called walking in, the rich woman looked at her sadly, holding some food on a tray that she brought over from her house. "Come, let's have some lunch, Lauren will be over shortly... Vince and Tucker are on their way back from Ireland, but I don't understand why you asked them to go there. Ah, Sammy and Jeremy are on their way back from France, I'll have to ask her why she was so adamant about going there as well... And Jackson's on his way here from... from THERE..." She shuddered in memory of the theme park that had been turned into a death trap.
Maddie smiled weakly, setting aside her tools and the new tracker she was working on before she washed up and the two women, former rivals, sat down to eat. As they ate, they went over everywhere they searched and how far into the Ghost Zone they had gone. Being inside the Ghost Zone shattered many of their theories on ghosts, made what they believed to be fact turn out to be fiction and their own opinions. They enlisted the GiW's help, capturing whatever ghost they could for questioning and a few tests before setting them free, at least the weaker ones. The stronger ones were a threat to them and they would not allow them to harm other living beings.
"... I can't believe I did that..." Maddie choked, thinking back to shooting her own son. The one she carried for nine months and birthed! She was a terrible mother!
"Shh, Maddie... Shh... we were all scared to death and very angry; we all said things that we didn't mean! We weren't being rational nor were we willing to listen to reason... If it was me and Sammy in your place, I'm afraid I'd have done the same thing... We'll find Danny and Jazz, I promise." Pamela assured, holding the crying woman.
Maddie nodded fingering the necklace again, unintentionally bringing Pamela's attention to the very fine jewel. Pamela gasped, startling Maddie.
"Where did you get that!?"
"Huh?" Maddie blinked before looking down at the necklace. "Ohh, I got it as a gift..."
"From who? And don't you dare say it was from Jack. Even with the money you make from your research and the government grants you, he wouldn't be able to buy that. Those are rare, Ice made crystals! Jeremy has trouble buying one that 's no bigger than a grain of salt!" Pamela hissed, daring the woman before her to lie.
Maddie gaped at her, she had no idea how valuable this necklace was, the Mansons were one of the richest families in the world, owning several companies, factories, fashion lines, modelling agencies, hospitals and music companies. If they had trouble buying even a speck of this crystal, then how did her lover do it? She fingered it a moment before sighing.
"I'll admit Jack didn't get it for me, but I won't tell you who did. My life is none of your buniness as much as yours is none of mine, Pammy." she finished her food and got back to work.
Not long after Jeremy and Sam walked in, both looking tired as they came into the kitchen the blonde man kissed his wife as Sam plopped into a kitchen chair and scowled at her hands. She was in a foul mood because she searched all over France for Mr. Fonte. But his personal assistant said that he went away and she doesn't know when he'll be back, he's been gone for the last two years, though he still calls and emails every now and again with plans and to get reports on projects. She thought it was strange how the man up and vanishes around the same time Danny did. Then again when he admitted that the Fentons were his parents, she jumped to the conclusion that it was Dante Fonte.
"...-obsessed with Mr. Fonte from NASA..." she tuned back in to hear her father filling in her mom and Mrs. Fenton on what they did in France.
"But why?" Maddie asked. "I know for a fact that I gave birth to Danny!"
"Then why would he admit to not being your son? And have you SEEN Mr. Fonte? He looks exactly like Danny! Only with a goatee, a broader frame and green eyes! Other than that they look exactly alike!" Sam shouted before apologizing. She's been high strung since she couldn't find out where the man vanished to. Even the P.I.s she hired were reporting back nothing on the man and that besides the camps and tutoring programs he ran, he had no prior engagements with Danny, showing up when Danny was fourteen and vanishing a few days before Danny did. But she didn't believe it, something told her that if she found Fonte, she'd fine Danny.
"It's fine, we're all stressed out and worried...we can only hope we'll find them soon." Pamela assured her daughter.
They spent the rest of the day touching base with the GiW, trying to find out how the exploration of the Ghost Zone was going and if they found anything on her children. Agent K told them that they haven't run across either one nor any more Ghosts, the Ghost Zone seemed to be a Ghost town, no pun intended on his behalf. Agent O to her that the few Will'o'Wisps that lingered were all talking about a door that all the Ghosts seemed to have vanished through. They were working on a way to get to this door and see where it leads. Because if Ghosts really did possess Danny and forced him to kidnap his own sister, then they'd find them inside that door.
By then, Jack had come home and gave them a nod before going up to bed, he was dead on his feet from the effort he was putting in. He missed his kids and felt horrible for what he said and did. All those times Danny tried to tell them, how he would vanish and reappear, injuries that they couldn't explain. It made him feel lower than low. After the huge ordeal he realized ghost or not, Danny was still his and he treated him like shit. Bile rose in his throat, but he refused to let it out. For months Amity Park was up in arms about Danny's sudden disappearance, former bullies now allies to the teen hero were furious with said hero's form best friends. It got to the point Pamela home schooled them to keep them safe from being killed by the others.
He and Maddie hadn't talked to each other in over a year, well other than going over plans and blueprints, but other than that, they never said a word to one another. He never told Maddie this, but he had found that letter she hid away in one of her old college books. He had seen her put on the necklace from time to time, always questioning when he brought it for her since he knew no one in her family made that kind of money other then them and even then he was sure those crystals cost a few pretty pennies. He was at odds with himself, he still loved his wife, but he felt like he couldn't trust her anymore.
Whoever Cornelius O'Hare was, he better pray he never came back or he'd be sorry. He slept with his wife for a year! How does he know if it was protected or not!? Was this O'Hare guy Danny's father or was it him? He didn't like this! He wanted to march in there and demanded to know why she cheated on him, he understood that their marriage had gotten a bit rocky with every failed attempt to have another kid, but to cheat!? No, he would not do this now. Once they found Jazz and Danny, once they were home safe and sound where they belong, he would confront her and demand the truth.
Heaving sigh he closed his eyes, dreaming of the day they brought Danny home and how he raised him with all the love and care a father could. If O'Hare really was his father, it wouldn't matter, Jack had been there for Danny, had loved him and cared for him. But also betrayed him, unforgivably so...
Vince and Tucker arrived the next day, both sighing and greeting the others as they sat about the table looking over knew plans and maps.
"How'd it go?" Lauren asked kissing her husband before hugging her son.
"Well the Irish are a tight knit group that's for sure... Kept asking them for an O'Hare and end up seeing five hundred families." Vince sighed, having a tinge of Irish accenting his words. "Great I'm starting to talk like'em now..."
Everyone but Jack laughed.
"So you didn't find Cornelius O'Hare?" He asked them.
Maddie paled, but thankfully had her hood and goggles up so no one really noticed. But Jack saw how her hand went up to the necklace, Pamela too.
"Well I didn't say that... I said we ran into a bunch of O'Hares, I didn't say we didn't run into someone who knows a Cornelius O'Hare..."Vince told them. "Well it seems that the only Cornelius O'Hare that everyone knows is a young mob boss... Spoke highly of him, but said that we shouldn't be asking around for him."
Everyone paled at that. Jack gulped slightly, more than glad the man stayed out of Maddie's life now.
"But why would you be old college friends with a man like him?" Vince wondered.
"I didn't know that... We just always met up everyone once in a while to have drinks after we crashed into each other one night about a year or so before Jack and I had Danny." She admitted, it wasn't completely lying or the whole truth. "I thought that he might be able to help us by hiring some P.I.s to find out where Danny and Jazz disappeared too..."
They nodded, but they didn't seem all that convinced...
It was four days later that progress was finally made. K and O's men found a pocket in the Ghost Zone that opened and closed four times a day, in the same exact spot at the same exact times. At first they thought nothing of it until they saw a few ghosts waiting around and at noon on the dot, the group jumped through it. At 6 that evening, the same group sans three of four of them came back and at Midnight a single ghost would walk through it before flying off somewhere. They recorded this, wondering what was happening and how many ghosts came and went before finally O braved a trip through and found himself in another city. He came back through after recording everything he could. It seems the city that he ended up in was called Jump City, it was a lively place, but had little to no ghost activity, but they did suffer through what the denizens called Meta-humans.
Once the GiW had their reports set up, they brought it all to the Fentons along with photos that O had taken while he spent a day there. The City looked normal enough, stores, restaurants, apartments, homes, offices, police, fire departments. The whole shebang. But what wasn't normal was what looked like a young man with a spider for a head fighting with a group of teens, one teen catching everyone's attention.
"DANNY!?" They all shouted, grabbing for the pictures.
"I fond him!" Sam called, showing them a picture of the white haired Phantom skating on the ocean.
O blinked, he hadn't even realized he caught the boy on film. He had been busy making sure the city was normal enough for them to camp out in and search for the boy.
"Good work." K patted the dark skinned man's shoulder.
"This is Jump City right? You said it was on the other side of that portal... If all the ghosts are fleeing there and Danny's there-" Jack began.
"They must be going after Danny!" Maddie shouted in panic.
Jack growled and began barking orders, making everyone scramble for a phone, computer or touch pad to start getting their things and people together. Within the next three hours, they would head into the Ghost Zone and build a fort and once they were protected from the Ghosts, they would find Danny and Jazz...
~Jump~
Danny was out in his Civies for once, just relaxing while his mother put the Titans through the ringer. Their last mission was a bust because Slade showed up with some more of his mechs, they ended up being ganged up on and taken down, though Robin made sure that Slade wouldn't see that he was Phantom and Phantom was him. As far as the man was concerned, Phantom was a newbie to the Titans, not worth his attention or time. They hoped to keep it that way. He let out a sigh, his sense slipping free and smiled when his father casually strolled up to his side.
"Hey dad..." Danny smiled.
"Hello my Ice Flower." He smiled, petting his son's hair gently. "You're hair's longer now... Soon we'll be able to put it up like mine with out that little reminder."
Danny smirked, he left his hair in a braid today, his teal and ice blue hoodie covering it as he walked the streets. He hid the twinge of pain well enough at being reminded that when he wore his hair in the half pony tail style like his father, he looked sort of like HER. Clockwork only smiled softly as they kept walking.
"How are things in the Zone?"
"Chaotic... it's almost as bad as that one time your mother opened up Pandora's box just to get back at one of the demons inside of it for getting him drunk and almost having sex with him..." He smirked cruelly as Danny gaped at him with shock.
"And you didn't erase him!?" Danny gasped.
"No. It would have been pointless. Besides, the panic that the Observants went through was well worth the headache I had for the rest of the the month."
Danny shook his head before he frowned lightly.
"So... what do you think of Vlad?" Danny asked.
Clockwork's smile fell and he stared ahead of him, arms behind his back as he walked. Yes, Vladimir Masters. It seems that Plasmius was finally making his move. Now that Danny knew his Ghost half so well, it was time for him to get to know about his human half, but the young man didn't tell Danny this. As far as Danny knows, Plasmius and Vlad have nothing to do with each other. The young Masters showed up during one of the few Ghost hunts, managing to get that arrogant sod, Aragon off of Danny using an electrified baton. Ever since he'd come every now and again to get to know Danny better as he would say.
"Well Danny, I can't really say that I like him... Much like Plasmius, there is something about them that makes me..." He didn't finish, just leaving it there for his son to take anyway he wished.
"Mom says that he doesn't like either of them. Both rub him the wrong way." Danny sighed. "Hey, Dad, do you know why mom's been so stressed lately?"
"Hmm?" Clockwork blinked before smiling as he wrapped an arm around Danny's shoulders. "Well to be perfectly honest, Danny, he's worried about you... Whatever is going on with the attacks on the Ghost Zone is forcing the residents to band together and hunt you done. You're in danger anywhere we go. Ghosts come from all timelines, not just our original one. You are now the biggest threat the Zone as faced since the Great War many millennia ago."
Danny nodded, "I know that much... But its something else. He keeps bringing up the War too..."
"With good reason, Danny... You see, you mother is actually a Prince in the Ghost Zone, but not some random prince who died... He, much like you, was born a Halfa. He's grown up and stopped aging after his 20th year... His mother wasn't so lucky, she died giving birth to him, murdered just as he was pushed from the womb. Her spirit passed on immediately leaving him in the car of his father." Clockwork sighed. "You must understand, things have always been strained between your mother and grandfather, to the point that they would clash almost physically with one another. Your mother was the only child to the kingdom, the only heir and he did not want to be king, he did not want to always live his life in fear of being overthrown, feared and hated."
"So I guess they had some very nasty fights." Danny murmured.
"Yes... One of them so terrible they both wished to never see the other again... They got their wish. Your mother fled the castle that night when a final assault felled the palace. Your grandfather fought bravely, but when he learned that his only child was gone he gave up. Allowing the Observants to capture and imprison him for all eternity, hidden away and forgotten to waste away in the darkness of his prison... After that they turned to their assassin and had him go after the prince. As you can see the assassin failed. He let the prince live, hidden in plain sight."
Danny nodded slowly, absorbing all this information. They came to an ice cream shop and went into to have cone. By the time they had their ice cream and were sitting outside to enjoy them, Danny pieced together some things and was now going to gain answers to confirm them.
"So mom's worried because with all that's happening in the Zone, this might awaken grandda?" He asked, the Irish bleeding into the word at the end.
"Yes... Betcha a shilling or two that ya can't guess the next bit!" Clockwork laughed, letting his own natural accent bleed into his voice.
"... He's awake!?" Danny gasped.
"Yep."
"Does mom know!? Dad! He's going to kill you!" Danny hissed.
"Calm down, Danny. Your mother is well aware of your grandda's awakening. In fact that's what has him so worried. Your grandda wants to meet you." Clockwork assured him.
"M-Meet me? B-but-"
"Your mother and I have kept him at bay, we just finished telling him almost everything about you. But we haven't told you much in return because with all that's going on right now. It's not safe for you to meet him. Plus he's a bit overbearing... He wants to pass the rule of the Zone onto you, but your mother is fighting him every step of the way. It's bad enough that there was ONE Halfa that came into the Observants line of sight and as far as they know that ONE is dead... They left you alone because of the accident in the Fenton's lab. That's the only saving grace the Manson girl and Foley boy will get from me... They threw the old Eye Sores off the trail."
"So if meeting grandda will be dangerous, how is it that you and ma have talked to him?"
"I'm the Master of Time, it's a simple trick that even humans use. I take a piece of the past and paste it into the current stream and loop it to play over and over again. And besides all I do all day is stand and stare at a gigantic gear shaped window that plays whatever I wish for it to play. It's very easy to mess with those idiots. You mother sometimes uses my scepter to spam them with porno."
Danny stared in shock for all three seconds before he began to laugh, loudly. Clockwork grinned impishly as he nibbled on his cone. Good thing he was a ghost and even in his human form he lacked body heat or his cone would have melted. Danny's was also perfectly preserved because of his ice powers, though they were very faint while he was a human.
"Oooh, you have to show me that! I want to see their reaction so bad!" Danny giggled before nibbling on his cone too. "Ah, I needed a good laugh! But anyway, back to the topic: If I meet grandda, do I have to worry about anything?"
"Well seeing as you and your mother are the effeminate types, he will treat you like the women of his time, but thankfully he's not like most men were back then. He wants to hear you, he wants to know what you think, your opinions matter to him, but when in court or formal gatherings he expects you to be seen and not heard unless spoken to by a more dominate ghost..." Clockwork sighed. "There are many things still that you do not know Danny, but in time, we will tell you. For now, finish your ice cream so we can go save the others from your mother. I'm sure four hours under intense training is enough punishment for them, don't you agree?"
Danny smiled and nodded. Both finishing their treats and heading back to the Tower. As they rounded a corner to the harbor, they crashed into someone and from the force of it, Clockwork stumbled back a couple of feet as Danny fell onto his backside. The others stumbled back as well. They all looked up and froze in shock.
"Danny!" shouted two teens Danny had no wish to ever see again, his face paling as he stood and jumped behind his father. Unaware of how pale said man looked as he stared at the woman before him.
"Cornelius..."
"Madeline Lambrouge. Or should I say Mrs. Fenton..."