Chapter 8

Danny

School was canceled for the rest of the day. And the rest of the week. Maybe the rest of the month. It was hard to tell just two hours out from the "incident" what exactly the long term consequences would be. People were still arguing over if the big thing that attacked the school was a monster or a ghost. Some of the teachers ventured into the disaster zone and they all came out okay, but they deemed it too dangerous for students to enter. There was no telling when they would be able to find their things.

Most kids (and teachers) lost their phones in the chaos, but those that didn't were posting on every website they could. Parents flocked to the front of the school where all the students had been rounded up and started checking them out from their teachers and taking them home.

Danny, Randy, Sam, Tucker, Valerie, and Howard all got away with sneaking into the back of the crowd. They didn't look any more or less beat up than any of the other students, and most of them were too busy freaking out themselves to pay them any attention. Their whole gang managed to use Randy's phone to track down their own (Valerie's had been on vibrate so it took forever) so they were all able to call their parents and let them know they were alright. Danny didn't bother calling his own since they weren't in town, but he did send a text to Jazz. She was following anything about Norrisville on social media that she could (because she was a helicopter sister) so it would only be a matter of time before she found out.

For the kids who didn't have technologically aware parents, the buses came around after school hours like normal. Kids were bored and hungry, but the teachers didn't feel comfortable losing track of any of the kids and wouldn't let anyone leave unless they were personally checked out by a guardian. In the interest of keeping their teachers sane, Danny et. all stuck around until school was officially "out". Danny, Randy, Valerie, and Howard were stuck with Senora Jorge while Sam and Tucker were trapped under the watch of their own teachers. As soon as they were released, though, they gravitated to each other and made a break for the Game Hole.

Danny had expected it to be crowded with other students looking for an escape, but it was actually pretty empty when they first arrived. Valerie figured the more protective parents were keeping their kids at home. She'd had quite the discussion ("discussion" was putting it lightly) with her own dad on the phone that she was fine.

As soon as they stepped inside, Randy grabbed Danny by the shirt and dragged him to the DDR. He slapped coins into the machine. With a huge grin on his face, he said, "I figured it out."

Danny leaned on the hand rails and rolled his eyes. "I tried to tell you."

Tucker stood next to him. "What's he talking about?"

As Randy fired up infinity mode, Danny explained, "Valerie and I were hanging out here the other day, and we wanted to see how long we could go for on infinity mode. You make a certain amount of mistakes, you lose. Well apparently we got the score high enough to break the record."

"You're saying "we", but infinity mode is one player," Tucker said.

"Yes it is," Danny said smugly. They watched as the song started and Randy's feet started flying. "The whole point of infinity mode is to see how long you can hold out for. It's not hard to wear out really quickly."

"So you used your ghost superpowers and you beat his high score?"

"Nope," Danny said popping the 'p'. He held out his hand.

Valerie approached on his other side to complete the high-five. "We may have improvised though."

Tucker squinted at them. "You tagged out?"

"Yup."

"Isn't that cheating?" Sam asked from Tucker's other side.

"It's not like DDR has rules," Danny said. "I'd just call it good teamwork."

"Danny!" Randy called from the machine.

"Got your back," Danny told him.

The swap was a little clumsy, since Randy had never done it before, but the game didn't kick them off. Danny kept it going while Randy caught his breath and the score kept climbing. After a minute or two Danny wasn't quite out of breath yet, but he didn't want to hog the game.

"Sam, you next!" he called. He only dared look away for a moment, during a step pattern he was familiar with, only to catch Sam shaking her head. She'd been super quiet since the fight earlier. Apparently Emotionless was usually the resting expression for Sam, but this was different. Heavier.

"I'm good," was all she said. She shrugged her hands into her skirt pockets and started to walk away. Tucker looked between them a moment before jogging after her. Sam shoved through the front door of the Game Hole with her shoulder.

All of a sudden Valerie came around to tap him on the shoulder. "Go after them," she said, "I'll keep this going."

Tagging out with Valerie was easier, she picked up right where his feet left off. Randy patted him on the shoulder, one hand on the drink Howard had bought him, but didn't ask any questions as Danny passed. If anything, the nod he gave looked supportive.

Danny followed Sam and Tucker out the front door. Tucker was almost caught up to Sam and they weren't far down the street. Sam wasn't walking very quickly.

"Sam!" Danny called. Tucker stopped and turned, but Sam didn't stop so he called again. "Sam!"

She stopped and wheeled around. "What? What do you want, Danny?" she sounded more tired than angry.

"I…" Danny raised and dropped his arms. He wasn't sure, actually. It was hard not being able to stare at his phone screen until he could think of a good answer. "You okay?" he asked.

"Standard question," she responded flatly.

"Relevant question."

Sam scoffed. "Oh, so now you care about us?"

"I never stopped caring about you guys!" Danny looked down at his dirty shoes. "The only person I stopped caring about was myself."

Sam sighed, shook her head, and lazily took a few steps in place. "What's that even supposed to mean?"

Danny looked between her, Tucker, and his hands. Tucker waited expectantly. Danny didn't want to find out what would happen if he made Sam wait. He finally asked, "Can we talk?" It sounded stupid to his own ears.

Sam started to look angry again, which in Danny's opinion was better than the poker face she'd gotten going. "Oh, now you wanna—"

"Sam," Tucker interrupted. "Let's hear him out." He took a few steps closer to say something more privately. Danny thought it might have been something like, "Better late than never."

Sam sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"There's a pretty good taco place down the street," Danny suggested. It felt too awkward to stand there quietly and wait. He'd waited too long already. "No Nasty Burgers here, but they've got these weird, taco wrap, things that are, uh… not terrible."

Tucker gave Danny an encouraging smile then looked back to Sam, who was staring at her boots.

Finally – after a possible eternity – she nodded. "Okay," she said. Shen she looked up Danny made sure to make eye contact.

"No more secrets," he said.

Explaining to Sam and Tucker what had happened a year ago took about half an hour. Tucker munched on nachos, Sam drained the largest size soda cup Bueno Nacho had (multiple times), and Danny talked. Starting with Ms. Go – mentioning she'd shown up in Norrisville – and ending with Dan – who Technus may or may not have been talking about before they stuck him in the thermos which was now in Howard's backpack. Danny had been afraid to demand a real straight answer out of Technus, but he hardly thought he needed one. Technus had said "the two of you mixed together". There wasn't exactly another explanation for that.

"What about the other thing Technus was talking about?" Tucker asked. "The thing that's going to break into the ghost zone?"

Danny thought of the pictures Vlad had shown him. The wrecked buildings, and Vlad's sudden paranoia.

"I have an idea," Danny told them. "Vlad told me about something in Amity Park. The real reason we were all evacuated."

"The real reason? I mean, it figures that it wasn't just ghosts. We've been dealing with ghosts for years," Tucker said.

"It is a ghost, isn't it?" Sam asked. Danny felt physical relief at her saying something. "What else would it be?"

"Vlad said they were picking up a powerful energy signature," Danny said. "But, now that I think about it, he never said it was a ghost."

"But what else would it be?"

"Some kind of monster," Tucker suggested. "Maybe it got away from Norrisville."

Sam shook her head. "Wait, I wanna back up." She put her cup down on the table. "I think we need to wrap our heads around the fact that Evil you from the future escaped? And you were going to just handle it on your own?" The force with which she put her cup down was strong enough to be a slam, but thankfully not strong enough to pop the lid off. "You don't have to play the solo hero all the time! We could have been there with you when it happened!"

He'd tried to play as calm as possible so far, but that got Danny clenching his fists under the table. "I wasn't trying to play solo hero! None of us expected anything to happen. You guys didn't even want to come."

"How do you know?"

"I asked, remember?" In a mocking voice, he said, "'Another lap around the zone? Geez, Danny, we did that like, four times last week. Count me out, I'm gonna go to the bookstore instead.'" Sam's face went red and it was sickly satisfying. "You don't even use printed books anymore! You think e-books are more environmentally friendly and help to dismember the toxic structure of capitalism in publishing!"

"That is true and you know it!"

"Guys," Tucker said quietly and raised his hands. "Public space? Losing your collective chill isn't going to get us anywhere."

Danny didn't like it, but Tucker was right. He slumped back in his seat and crossed his arms. When Sam mirrored his motion at the same time, he had to look away. They sat in silence for a few moments and Danny felt like some of the charge was dropping out of the air. Maybe they could still be level-headed about this. He felt the fight drain out of him a little. He hadn't come here to yell, he'd come here to fix things before they got worse. Before Randy was proved right and he ended up alone.

Sam broke the silence. "So, Randy knows about all this already," Sam spat.

Danny risked a look back. Sam was still looking away, but she still looked pissed. "…yeah?"

"Why do you like that kid so much?" Sam asked.

"Why do you hate him so much?" Danny countered. He had a feeling he knew the answer – jealously was painted all over Sam's face – but he wanted her to admit it. It wasn't fair to himself or to Randy for them to get antagonized just for being friends. He was sitting at a Bueno Nacho booth to do the apologizing, but this was one thing he was hoping for come regret-reciprocation on.

Which made it all the more disappointing when Sam's response was a defensive, "I don't!"

That angry fire sparked again. "Then what's your problem?" Danny tried not to shout but he did rise half out of his seat. If Sam was going to be ridiculous while he was trying to be reasonable then maybe he could get along without her.

She rose from her own seat in challenge. "What's your problem?" she demanded.

Before either of them could get another word off, Tucker had grabbed them both by the forearm. "Guys," he said again and made stern eye contact with each of them.

Danny cowed under it. He knew that he… probably had an anger problem. He took a deep breath and sat back down. He stared at the table, embarrassed.

From what he saw of Tucker's silent exchange with Sam out of the corner of his eye, the only thing keeping Sam at the table was that Tucker was blocking her exit from the booth. Eventually Sam sat down hard and crossed her arms again. Tucker sat down more slowly.

"How about one question at a time, huh?" Tucker suggested lightly. "That's easy, right?"

Danny glanced up. Tucker was looking his way.

Why do you like that kid so much?

Danny answered Sam's question to the table. "Because he's like me, okay?" He squeezed his fist with the opposite hand on his lap. "Because he was pushed into a situation by "luck" only to find out someone else has already planned some grand destiny for him; and he laughs and enjoys the adventure but deep down he's terrified because so much could go wrong because every sign he gets says he has to go it alone when he knows he's not strong enough-!" He cut himself off. He hadn't realized he was raising his voice as he went. "…he'll never be strong enough…"

Danny wanted to run out of the restaurant. He was suddenly remembering every excuse he'd made to shut Tucker and Sam out of the ghost side of his life. They would try to do more, try to be tougher, but they just couldn't. They couldn't protect themselves and Danny couldn't always protect them.

But he remembered how alone he'd felt over the last year. Every snarky victory comment after a fight met with open air because he'd lied and told Sam and Tucker he'd taken the night off. Every one of Vlad's little schemes he'd scraped through by the skin of his teeth, propelled by the terror of knowing back up wouldn't be coming. He remembered what a contrast fighting with the Ninja had been. Not just because two fists were better than one, but because he didn't have to figure everything out by himself.

He remembered Dan, angry and alone.

He stayed in his seat.

In his peripheral vision, he could see Tucker turn to Sam.

Why do you hate him so much?

"We can't be there for you, can we?" Sam said quietly. "Not the way you need. We can't take a punch from a giant robot and walk it off."

That was… far more subdued than Danny was expecting. He looked up, but Sam was looking out the window.

"We don't have crazy tech or a magic suit," she continued. "You've got enough to worry about, you don't need to worry about us."

Sam sounded resigned and that was a word Danny never associated with Sam.

"That's not—" Danny started, but she wasn't really wrong. She'd given the exact reasons he'd tried to cut them out of half of his life. He tried again. "I was wrong, okay? I was wrong to cut you guys out. I do need you. Both of you."

He looked to Tucker and Tucker seemed more forgiving. Not that Sam looked unforgiving, she only looked tired.

"And I don't think you guys are useless!" He kept talking because Sam's silence was beginning to feel worse than her shouting ever did. "Neither of you have ever been useless! I would be dead – I mean, like, perma-dead – if it weren't for you guys. But with threats this big, I don't know how to—I can't—" Danny didn't know how to continue.

Tucker came to his rescue. "You don't know how to balance getting our help with keeping us safe."

Danny gave him the most grateful look he could muster. "Exactly."

Sam stayed silent. Tucker looked her way, but didn't get a response. Danny looked back at the table.

"Maybe you need two different kinds of help," Tucker suggested.

Danny and Sam both looked at Tucker.

"I mean," he continued, "you need someone to back you up in a fight, and you've got that. You've got Randy here, and when we got back to Amity – eventually – you'll have Val. But fighting is only half your life. You've still got school, and your parents, and your embarrassing obsession with getting NASA to give Danny Phantom a tour."

Danny was not even embarrassed. NASA would let him in one day.

"Sam and I may not have powers, but we do have something Randy and Val don't have – years of experience being your friend." Sternly, he said, "I definitely side with Sam in that we've been through enough to handle ourselves if things get dicey," and Danny nodded strongly in response. He didn't want them to think that Danny thought they were helpless. "But," Tucker continued, "say we agree step off."

Danny and Sam both looked at him in surprise. Sam opened her mouth but clamped it shut again before she let herself say what she'd wanted to.

"Say we stick to Mission Control when the fights go down," Tucker went on when no one else spoke up. You don't have to worry about us getting hurt, and we still get to be available for you to talk to. Nothing's going to happen to us just for listening. We're your friends, Danny. We just want to help you. Lookin' at you this past year, you clearly need somebody in your corner. You're kinda a mess man."

Danny wasn't even insulted. He actually found himself smiling and nodded in agreement. Yes. He was a train wreck of a not-human-being.

He might have been a little high on the thought of the idea that Tucker was suggesting Danny hadn't completely wrecked their friendship this past year. That he'd called them friends.

Tucker was still talking though. "We want to be here for you, dude, but you've gotta reach back a little."

"I will, I promise," Danny said, finally finding his voice. Something in his heart felt a bit better. Like a small knot had been untied. It wasn't all of it, but it was a start. "I've been a terrible friend. I wanna be there for you guys, too."

Danny and Tucker exchanged smiles and even a good fist bump.

Tucker prompted Sam with an elbow nudge, but her only response was to look at the hot sauce bottle on the table rather than out the window. After a long moment, she pulled the last of the melted ice from her cup though the straw. When she put it down, she said, "I've gotta use the bathroom." Tucker moved over to let her out of the booth and she stopped for a moment before walking away. She said, "I'll be right back," and when she took off at much less than a run, Danny felt relief.

"She'll come around," Tucker said, when she was out of earshot.

Danny nodded and tried not to feel terrible anyway. It didn't work as well as he hoped.

Sam came back after seven minutes and forty-seven seconds. They left the restaurant together.

When they got back to the Game Hole, Greg was rearranging the high score list on the DDR machine. The picture was Randy's face, but the bunny-ear fingers sticking up from behind his head looked a lot like Valerie's.

Danny, Tucker, and Sam found Randy, Valerie, and Howard at a table up at the Food Hole. Howard was trying to throw bits of his straw wrapper at Valerie but she swatted each one out of the air with hardly a glance. Randy, who was leaning so far back in his chair he was looking upside down over the back of it, spotted Danny and the others first.

"Hey, dudes!" he called, sitting up to wave them over. "We saved you seats!"

Danny took a seat next to Randy, and Sam and Tucker took the last chairs next to Howard. For a few minutes, everything felt almost normal. Not that Danny could remember any of whatever conversation they had in retrospect, but Sam and Valerie sat across from each other without any hostility, someone talked about a crap teacher they'd had in middle school, and Howard made at least three fart jokes.

Eventually they had to circle back to reality, though. Howard absently squeezed the last of his ketchup into his coke and asked, "So what's next?

Danny looked to Randy, who looked right back. They'd talked a bit with Valerie while they were still stuck under the watchful eyes of Senora Jorge, but no one had said anything to make a definitive decision. Well, no time like the present.

"Randy and I are going to Amity Park this weekend," he told them. He focused like he was addressing Howard, because he had been the one to ask, but really he was just trying to avoid having to see Sam's reaction on the other side of the table. He expected anger from a justified case of extended FOMO, but he feared more resigned silence.

To avoid finding out Schrodinger's Sam, he just kept talking. "There's something big going on there, and I don't think The Guys in White or my parents are fully equipped to handle it on their own. Heck, we probably aren't either."

"If whatever's cooped up there is more magic-y than ghost-y, I'm sure they could use some Ancient Ninja Wisdom," Randy added, cracking his knuckles.

"Even if it is a ghost," Danny said, "we could use the extra fire power."

"Speaking of fire power," Valerie chimed in, "I'm gonna stay behind in Norrisville. Someone's gotta make sure this whacko town doesn't implode on itself while the Ninja's gone. No way I could get away from my dad, anyway."

When Danny had run the idea of Valerie filling in for the Ninja for a weekend by the girl herself, he'd definitely also put in concerns for her safety. That suit could only defend against so much. He was glad she didn't bring those factors up in front of Sam, though. Maybe Valerie had been reading the cues better than Danny had.

Then Randy said, "Oh, but first we've gotta stop by Mr. Smith's-"

Howard held up his hands. "Woah, woah, woah, I don't gotta know the details, I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't have to do anymore running. This gut has met its quota for physical activity this month." He patted himself on the belly and let out a subsequent belch right in Danny's direction.

Good ghosts he could smell the onions. He yanked back in his seat to get away from the stench. "Dude, that is shnasty!"

His hands immediately flew to his mouth. Everyone looked at him, wide-eyed. He knew his eyes were just as big, because this town's horrible second-rate slang had just come out of his mouth.

Then Randy's gaping mouth grew into a grin. He started punching Danny on the shoulder and chanting, "One of us. One of us. One of us."

He and Howard would not let up about it for the rest of the day.

Chapter 9: Randy, the last chapter of Heroes Under Drinking Age: Alpha, is incoming. Like, end of day incoming. More words will be shared then. Specifically about this chapter, I can only hope I've met some of your expectations re: follow up to the insight on Sam in the last chapter. Rest assured, her involvement is not over.

Your reviews have fueled me, thank you all so so so much. I never could have gotten this far without you all.

-Kinetic