You play Chess with Death and fiddle with the Devil so what do you do with Walker? You play poker! LOL It was an idea that had been kicking around in my head for a while and now I can use it.
*looks self over* Nope still not Butch Hartman. I don't own Danny phantom.
If there was a word for how odd this was Danny would use it to describe spending is down time with Walker. First of all, he was in shock that the jailer had even agreed to let him go. Walker HATED Danny and had tried to do him in several times. Even after Danny Phantom saved the world the stuffy Warden only continued to hound him.
The afternoon started with Danny waiting in the lounge drinking his coffee. He wasn't there barely ten minutes before Bullet and Walker arrived. He was told to come on and he followed the ghosts out. Danny wasn't at all surprised to see that Walker had his own squad car. It was all white, no shock there, with grey letters on the side reading G.Z.P.D. It looked sort of like an old model of Mustang. If it weren't a cop car Danny would have actually liked it. And the inside was even nicer. Black leather interior with white accents. Badass.
Danny rode in th back, buckled in tight with the elder ghost in the front seats talking about something that the boy didn't understand as they drove. Apparently some one was being an asshole and Bullet was trying to convince Walker to deck them. But doing that was "against the rules".
After a few minutes of them Walker turned on the radio to, of course, Johnny Cash. A Country Boy can Survive. Danny sat back against the seat and watched out the window as he rode along. It was weird to be in any other vehicle than the Specter Speeder. And being the passenger no less.
"So, kid, what kind of classes are you taking?" Walker asked, making light conversation.
Danny thought for a moment before answering, "Algebra two, English four, wood shop, law studies and psychology. Then I have a free period."
"Law studies, eh? What are you learning in there?" Walker inquired glancing at the teen in the rear view mirror. Danny could see it but he was sure the jailer was smirking.
"The Lindenburg baby trial." Danny said with a shrug, "So far we've only seen the movie about it." Now that Danny thought about it the people in that movie dressed pretty similar to Walker. Maybe he was alive back then and could help the halfa with the paper he had to write on it.
"Oh yeah. 'The crime of the century'" Walker mused as he slowly turned the steering wheel to change direction. Coincidentally that was also the name of the movie, "I remember that."
"Its totally boring," Danny sighed with a slouch of his shoulders.
"You just aren't looking at it right, son," the warden stated, "think about it like those comic books you read so actually really gripping."
Bullet scoffed, "As gripping as ransoming a dead baby can get,"
Danny laughed a bit then stopped as he felt the car slowing down. He looked around to see the new landscape of a house he'd never seen before. There was a grey path that looked something like gravel leading to an old looking farm house made from what looked like wood but had a greenish glow like everything else in the Ghost Zone. Was this where Walker lived? Danny imagined him living a more... Prison like place. Not a calm cottage with a white wooden fence and a small field of trimmed grass. The car was parked at the end of the path and Danny got out with the others.
"You live HERE?" Danny asked staring at the white suited ghost.
"Did you think I lived in the prison?" Walker responded with an almost friendly smirk.
"Well... Yeah..."
Walker lead Daniel and Bullet up the steps and unlocked the solid wood door to let them in. Danny was almost afraid to go in, his slightly cynical mind thinking Walker had set a trap for him... Even if this wasn't even a planned get together.
"Well make yourself at home" walker told him as he stripped off his white coat and hung it on a coat rack that looked suspiciously like antlers.
Danny pulled of his black hat and brushed his white locks from his face. Examining his surroundings he saw that Walker was a bonified country man. There were leather throws on the couch and chairs and there was even a set of bull horns above the stone fireplace. There was no TV only an old fashioned radio and a small bookshelf. Walking closer to read the titled Danny saw that there were both crime stories and just about every Mark Twain novel. There was an over all southern theme to the everything Danny could see.
"Like it Phantom?"
Danny turned around to see walker looking over his head at the book shelf thoughtfully.
"All of this came with me when I became a resident of the ghost zone. It was my life and my afterlife," he sighed running his gloved fingers over the bindings of the books, "my favorite book though, you won't find here."
Taking a shot in the dark (sarcasm) Danny asked, "Your rule book?"
Walker looked down at him with a curt nod, "I started it when I was alive. Then I came here..."
Danny watched the older ghost in bewilderment. This was a side of the warden Danny never knew existed. The side that was actually a man. The side that had sentiment and emotion. What the halfa had grown used to was the side of him that didn't care about anything or anyone for that matter.
"Come on. I'll show you to the den." Walker mumbled rubbing his brow tiredly.
Danny followed closely behind, taking in everything he saw. There was almost nothing on the walls execpt the occasional decoration. But right before the entrence to the large den there was a picture frame. It hung right beside the door and on the bottom of the frame were the words, "Forever and for always". Danny couldn't really make out the picture through the layer of dust on the glass but it looked like there were two people standing. One much smaller than the other. A woman. He reached up and swiped sonme of the dust away with his thumb.
In the black and white photo there was a handsome man and a beautfiful young woman. She was seated on an old wood fence and the man had his hands on her petite shoulders. The girl had long curly hair that layed on her back against the sun dress she was wearing. The man was a tall muscular type with light colored hair that was swooped to one side in a very out of date were smiling fondly at each other with an emotion that was clearly love in their eyes. Danny couldn't help but wonder why the guy in the picture looked so familiar.
"Hey, kid you coming or what?" BUllet called, now seated at the poker table with a beverage in hand that he'd gotten from Walker's ice box..
Danny pulled his gaze away fromt he photo and walked over to them. He was tempted to ask who those people were but he had the feeling that Walker wouldn't be very open to telling him about his personal life. Especially since they had such a questionable past.
Danny took a seet at the table in silence and without another minute the three began their game. Danny had played a couple times before but he'd never been particularly good at poker. It took him a little while to get into the swing of things. He even started to think he was good at the game. He took extra care not to bend or damaged Walker's playing cards. They were vintage and really expensive looking.
Bullet won the first, second and games and Walker accused him of hinding cards in his lap. Bullet of course denied it. Danny held in his laugh when the two began to debate the subject. He laugehd outloud when the cards bullet had indeed been keeping in his lap fell to the floor as the second-in-command stood to defend himself. Walker pointed with a loud, "Aha!" And revoked the chips Bullet had earned. Danny was suprised that Walker wasn't at all offended that Bullet had broken the rules in the game. He suspected it was from whatever it was they were drinking. It looked like beer cans from what Danny could tell but there were no brands on them to tell exactly.
Walker dealt out a fresh hand and danny examined his cards. He laid down the ones he wanted to exchange fir new ones and picked up the replacements. He was careful not to let the other two see what he hand even though the sharklike ghost was trying to look over his shoulder.
As they all set down their cards to show their hands, Bullet folding now that he didn't have his stash to boost his points. Danny proudly slapped down a full house which beat Walker's hand. The warden chuckled and pushed the chips in the middle of the table toward Danny who took them gladly.
"Don't get cocky, boy," Walker warned, but in a playful manner.
"I'm sorry, how many games have you won?" Danny jabbed back.
The warden just shook his head and didn't answer. He took another drink and collected his cards once again. He stacked them and began to shuffle them. Danny took this opportunity to look at his watch.
5:37 pm
"Oh man!" Danny shouted jumping up from the table, "I gotta go."
"Oh, come on! You just got the hang of it," Bullet said as he was handed his new cards, "One mroe game. Winner take all."
Danny looked toward the door and back again. If he left now he could make it home by dinner but they'd think he was a quitter.
"I've already been out later than I should have been." He told them nervously.
Walker shrugged, "You're already out. And you're with your boss."
Danny weighed the options in his head. He could always tell his mom that he was doing over time. Not that his mom would mind. And Technus wouldn't be able to do any real damage in another hour. He sat back down at the tbale and scooped up his new hand with a sigh.
"One more game."
It was nine o'clock by the time he got home. He snuck through the ghost portal and up through the ceiling. He looked around and didn't see anyone around but he heard the TV in the living room and his dad yelling at a ball game of some kind. Danny sighed, glad no one had been worried he was gone. He went quietly upstairs to avoid confrontation for being out later than usual. His curfew was midnight but his parents like some warning when he would be out late.
He'd eaten at the Warden's place so he wasn't hungry and didn't need to eat dinner. He streached his back tiredly as he entered his room. He was starting to feel the drain from that fight earlier. Overshadowing Skulker was a workout.
"You were gone for a while."
Danny whipped around to see Technus sitting on the edge of his bed, arms and legs crossed casually. His expression was blank but there was a hint of something there. Worry? Nah. Technus doesn't worry. He was probably just curious where Danny had been.
"Something came up." Danny said reverting back to human form, "Why do you care?"
"Your mother was worried." Technus stated dryly.
"A little bit of bad timing trying to play the father figure." Danny yawned loudly, "If you wouldn't mind moving I would like to go to bed. I have school tomarrow."
"Where were you?" Technus asked, ignoring the request.
Danny groaned, "I was working. Doing stuff with Bullet and Walker."
Technus flatted his mouth into a fine line, "Ah... Well next time call your mother. She talked my ear off about how urgent your boss sounded on the phone and how something could have happened to you."
Maybe Danny's mom worried more about him that Danny initially thought.
"Well, I'm back now, okay?" Danny frowned just wanting the ghost to leave his room.
Technus sighed quietly and stood from the bed. He straitened out the blanket where he had been sitting and floated soundlessly over to Danny. He placed a hand on the boys small shoulder and stared at him intently for a moment.
"You've been in contact with very high-tech machinery." He said a smirk starting to creep onto his lips. Danny was about to ask how he knew that when Technus anwered, "I am the master of technology. I can sence when a ghost has used a power like my own."
"I am not like you!" Danny snapped pulling his shoulder away, "I was just taking down Skulker."
"By taking over his technological body..." Technus pieced together quickly, "Clever boy... Inventing and possessing technology. Maybe you are my son after all.."
"Just get out," Danny demanded pushing past him, "I'm way too tired to put up with you."
"Very well. See you in the morning, Danny."
The boy shuddered unnoticably. Hearing the villian call him by his real name was uncomfortable. It had been happening for a few days now but he still wasn't used to it.
But considering the circmstances there were a lot of things he would have to get used to in the near future.
