A/N: Hello everyone! Update, I'll be changing the name of this story to 'Percieved Parallels' at some point, (if I can figure out how) I thought I'd give everyone a heads-up.
Also, uni has been exhausting as of late. Applying for jobs, applying for graduation, wish me luck!
Danny is rudely awakened from his nap by a rough jerking on his bubble. He squints at the flashlight that's shined in his eyes, jumping as a pair of red goggles reflects back at him.
"M-mom?" Danny blearily mumbles as he's picked up by his dad. Maddie's face flashes a disgusted expression before turning away.
Jack chuckles and throws the ghost boy over his shoulder, leading the way into FentonWorks. "Did you hear that, Maddie?"
Maddie hums, following behind Jack and peering at the groggy and confused Phantom curiously. She raises her goggles to her forehead and rubs out the red rings along her nose and cheekbones. "Yes, must be a secondary or tertiary obsession. We'll have to run some tests." At the mention of tests, Danny perks up, shaking his head. "Um, did I say Mom? I'm, um- it's… not an obsession. You just… look a lot like my mother, is all. And the whole waking up thing-"
Maddie squints at him as they cross the threshold into the house. "Interesting… it seems to recall memories from its previous lifetime. Truly an anomaly."
"I'm literally right here-"
Jack jostles the bag, repositioning Danny on his back. The wound that had dulled to an ache flares up again. Danny groans.
"Danno! Jazzy-pants!" Jack bellows. "Heading down to the lab for the night, go ahead and order some pizzas for dinner!"
"Kids, huh." Danny chokes out. "They go to Casper? I know a lot of kids at Casper. Think I can chat with one of them?"
Jack descends the staircase into the basement as Maddie leaves a note and her debit card on the kitchen table. "Ha! As if we'd let a dangerous ghost near our kids."
Danny huffs. "Not exactly dangerous with this ectoranium in me. Right now I'm just as strong as a normal kid. And I'm not even healing. So… I'm basically useless for your testing-"
"It's trying to con us again."
"Am not!"
"Go ahead and put it in containment."
Jack roughly tosses Danny into a containment field, (The same one he put Ember in before, conveniently) and upon hitting the ground he once again sees stars. Maddie taps on the screen beside the machine, causing its walls to glow a bright, ectoplasmic green.
Danny sits himself upright before scooting himself to the back of the cube to lean against the wall.
"Ugh, can you at least get me out of this… plastic bag? And give me some bandages? Ectoplasm doesn't really clot, you know."
"Hmm," Jack contemplates. "What do you think, Mads? We don't want it falling apart on us."
Maddie walks away and fiddles around with some equipment in her section of the lab, preparing for whatever she has planned for their new prize. She glances up at Jack.
"Yes, I suppose so. I'm honestly surprised that it isn't destabilizing already, for how much time its been in contact with the ectoranium, although it should still take some time before even a normal ghost is completely destroyed." Maddie wipes off her hands with a rag and then beckons Jack upstairs. "Sweetie, do you think you can help me grab some equipment from the van? Oh, and silence the containment field too, don't want Phantom to be causing a racket while we're gone."
"Wait wait wait, " Danny nervously interjects, shuffling forward within his prison. "You uh, you don't want to do that, I'll just- Jack, wait-"
Despite Danny's protests, Jack heads over to the panel once again. "Can do, baby. What do we want to-"
And the sound abruptly cuts off.
"No, no, no! Crap- Jazz! Someone!"
Danny, struggling against the plastic bubble he's still wrapped in, bangs on the containment field with his good arm as he watches Jack walk away.
He bangs away anyway, knowing full well that even when it's silenced, the field doesn't stop the sound of his fist thrumming against the shield.
It's something, at least.
His parents smile at each other and converse a bit more before heading upstairs excitedly, and then, to Danny's dismay, shutting off the light once they get to the top.
Their captive pants, still intermittently punching and kicking the shield with his very human strength, eventually giving up when he sees the small traces of light from the stairs disappear.
He leans back, resting his head on the floor and rubbing his face angrily. He stares at the ceiling.
"I swear to god if I develop a fear of the dark when I literally glow, I'm never going to let myself down."
TTTTTTTTT
Jack and Maddie close the door at the top of the stairs and take a good, long look at each other. After over 20 years of marriage, they can read whatever the others thinking with just a cursory glance.
While looking into their eyes at the top of the stairs, both of them easily realize the same thing.
This was the best day of their professional lives.
"Jaaaack!" Maddie squeals. She jumps into her husband's arms for a tight embrace.
"Ha ha! We've done it Mads! Finally caught that ectoplasmic spook!" He spins her around for a moment before setting her down. "Studying it is going to be the discovery of the decade in the paranormal community!"
"Jack, imagine what we can discover. Why it is how it is, why it's so… human compared to the rest of them."
"And that insane power, Mads, if we can figure out what makes it so strong, we can model that in our weapon systems!"
"Which means we can't destroy it, not now at least. We have to get that bullet out of it so the biggest paranormal discovery in history doesn't disintegrate before our very eyes. Help me grab some of the stronger restraints from the van, we'll need them."
As Maddie and Jack hurry out the back door, Jazz walks in from the living room holding Maddie's debit card and her cellphone.
"Sorry, I'm going to have to call back, something just came up. Yeah. Yeah, if you could. Thanks, Spike. Bye."
She hangs up her phone and slips it and the card into her back pocket, taking a glance at the back door before heading into the basement.
TTTTTTTTTT
"Intangibility, no. Flight, no. Healing, no. Nightvision, not really. And… changing back-" Danny shuts his eyes, and his form briefly flickers white, but quickly dims back into his aura. He sighs once again.
"Of course not."
Danny sits back and traces his fingers across the lab tiles on the floor, smearing more ectoplasm across his tiny plastic bag. Man, if this stuff was blood, this thing would look downright gruesome right about now. He hadn't lost a lot of blood- ectoplasm, yet, due to its viscosity, but that didn't mean he hadn't lost any. The citrusy-acid smell still felt like cotton in his nose, and the fact that he'd probably gone through all of the oxygen in the bubble really wasn't helping. His parents could have at least done him the courtesy of disabling this thing, or cutting him out of it, or whatever. Although, they (his mother) probably didn't want ectoplasm smeared all over the floor.
He stops rubbing at the tiles, looking out at the rest of the lab, his pale, colorless aura causing light to glint off of the tables, tools, and beakers scattered around the room. Up until now, the full reality of the situation hadn't yet hit him.
His parents were going to... study him, like a caged animal- no, not even like an animal, at least they acknowledged that animals felt pain. Which likely means that whatever operations and… sample gathering they were planning was going to be done while he was completely conscious.
Instead of thinking about the countless grotesque possibilities that train of thought could lead him, it's probably better to figure out plans to get out of here.
He really didn't want to resort to having to change back in front of his parents (not that he could, anyway), and under these circumstances, the possibility that they'd actually believe him were quite slim. It's more likely that they'll see it as some sort of trick, and that might actually worsen his situation, if that were even possible.
No, they might get more… violent, or careless. You can't really blame them though, any parent would be pissed at someone trying to impersonate their child. That scenario would definitely shoot out the possibility of them ever liking Phantom. Which means it'll be harder to do the eventual reveal. He'll tag that one as the last resort and file it away for later.
Which leaves him with… not much else. Not on his own at least. Not trapped in a bubble and a cage, awaiting eventual dissection and torture.
Danny reminds himself that it really wouldn't be a good idea to panic right now, although the situation probably warrants it.
The door to the kitchen opens, causing a crack of light to cut through the darkness. Danny's train of thought stops, and he scoots back forward to resume pounding on the ghost shield in the slight possibility it's someone other than his parents, or in the possibility that Jazz might hear him through the open door.
"Jazz! Sam, Tucker! Anyone!"
Danny pants and yells furiously as a shadow stretches across the lab floor, and the sudden, frantic movements he makes cause him to once again grow woozy. A feminine figure emerges from the doorway and immediately runs towards Danny.
He smiles at the distinctive long, red hair. "Jazz! Oh thank the gods, Jazz."
Despite the pain continuing to swell from his shoulder, Danny presses both of his hands and his forehead against the glowing shield, babbling a constant stream of thanks and pleads. Jazz's mouth moves, saying something that Danny can't hear, but he continues to talk anyways. Danny watches her expression, watches it change from concern, to careful study, to confusion, and then determination. She heads over to the control panel of the machine, swiping through menus and entering passcodes, probably trying to disable either the shield or the sound field.
Then, Jazz freezes, turning to Danny with wide eyes.
"Jazz?" Danny asks, his voice barely over a whisper.
She quickly returns all the settings to what they were before she came in, and then kneels down, extending a hand through the ghost shield (he really hates the fact that if he could just turn humn-) to press it against his.
For that split second, the worst thing in the world is the plastic bubble still surrounding him, preventing him from feeling the warmth from her touch.
The moment is over as briefly as it started. Danny nods at her as she turns away, completely understanding the reason for her actions.
If anyone can figure out a way out of this mess, it's her.
His sister doesn't look back as she runs up the stairs, and the small light streaming in from the kitchen once again vanishes, only to reappear a dozen or so seconds later. This time, Danny scoots to the back of his cage and leans against the wall as the lights turn back on, his parents emerging from the stairwell.
They have a brief conversation while they clear off one of the lab tables. From his low vantage point on the floor, he can't be sure which table they're clearing off, but he can make an educated guess.
Probably the dissection table.
Danny shudders and presses further into the cool, ectoplasm-infused tile behind him, wishing he could just phase into the wall. He starts to breathe faster, and while Danny couldn't really hyperventilate, (especially since there's probably no more oxygen left in here) it's not like it assists him in calming down.
Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic, please.
After sufficiently preparing the space for their new… specimen, as they'd say, they grab a few more gadgets and step over to the containment cube, disabling the sound dampening first.
Maddie opens her mouth to speak, but Danny chokes out a nervous question first.
"Are you planning on… dissecting me?"
"We-" Maddie hesitates.
He turns his gaze to his dad, interrupting her. "Oh hey, what about ripping me apart molecule by molecule?"
"Nope!" Jack exclaims. "Not yet, spook. We're going to do some research, first."
"Either way," Maddie interrupts. "We don't have to explain anything to you. Even if we cut you out of that bag and let you out of the shield, you'd hardly be able to escape without your ghostly abilities. So, you can make this easy, or it can be difficult." She holds up the heavy duty shackles and steel cable she carried over. "It's your choice."
Danny glances at his parents, and can't help from sizing them up. He knows their strengths, his mother's unparalleled skill in hand-to-hand combat as well as his father's strength and tenacity. Although, they were strong, even if he was Fenton he could probably beat them both, as long as he was being careful, stategic about it.
But that's when he has access to his passive speed and strength increases, and maybe some minor flight. And didn't have a bullet of ectoranium in his shoulder. One hit in his injury and he'd probably hit the ground like a sack of bricks.
Plus, he had Jazz now. He didn't know where she was or what she was planning, but he knew she would do her best to get him out of here. Heck, she's probably meeting up with Sam and Tucker right now, devising some sort of action.
God, he had such great friends.
"Phantom."
Oh, yeah.
"Sorry. Just got… distracted." He looks back up at his mom, who has that same irritated look on her face whenever Danny came home late or missed an assignment. Man, did he wish it were that simple now.
During this time of longing, thinking about these homesick wishes, he mindlessly blurts out "Can you... call me Danny?"
Gods, what? Did he really just say that? No. No, no, no. He needs to disconnect these people from his parents as much as possible. He's a different person, they're different people. He was not Fenton now, not while he bleeds green and glows white. And they aren't his parents.
Not while he's a ghost.
Maddie's eyes narrow, and she stares at him for a long few seconds. That scrutinizing gaze returns, and Danny can almost hear the roar of the well-oiled engine in her mind trying to calculate the best possible outcomes and risks, quietly determining his motives.
She shakes her head, grimacing. "Your ghostly obsessions disgust me."
Danny's lips briefly press into a thin line, face contorting in hurt, quickly pushing down the desire to ever tell his parents about his hybrid status.
"Yeah, obsession." Danny sighs, holding up his hands as far as he can in surrender. "Just… I don't think I could fight if I wanted to. Just get it over with."
Maddie hands the restraints to Jack and unhooks a pocket knife from her belt, one that's tinged slightly green and has a shimmer of iridescence to it. Probably some sort of ectoranium, again. Danny scowls at the metal, wishing that it wasn't becoming so simple for them to mass-produce like this. It was so much easier on him when it was just plasma weapons.
As she walks forward and steps through the shield, Danny stiffens, watching the knife with eyes as sharp as the blade hovering and cutting through the plastic-like material mere inches from his face.
"Perhaps," Maddie hums playfully, and if Danny still had a heartbeat, it would definitely have spiked there, "If you answer our questions truthfully and to the best of your ghostly ability,"
"Like why you're so obsessed with our son." Jack adds.
"we could make this easier on you." Maddie continues. "While you may not feel pain, I can't imagine you'd prefer to be trapped in a thermos or a cramped container, or completely restrained, hmm?"
The knife finishes cutting through the thin, translucent material, and Maddie turns away for a split second to take a breath of fresh air and to rub her nose on her jumpsuit. Suddenly, Danny's pretty self-conscious of his sorry state.
"I- ugh. I'm not obsessed with your son." He answers hesitantly. "I don't know where you got that... idea, but it's not true."
Technically, he wasn't lying. He wasn't a narcissist or anything, and those type of ghosts did exist. He half-suspected that Vlad had an underlying obsession with himself, based on how he acted most of the time.
Even though the bag was now open (and Danny was dying for fresh air) he sat there patiently, waiting for his mom to give the word on when he could move. Wouldn't do any good to piss them off when the ball was in their court, that'll probably just end up in more pain for him (whether they believed it existed or not).
Maddie nods at Jack, who has to duck to fit inside the ghost shield.
Jack rattles the restraints in a vague gesture. "Stand up, Phantom." He says. Although his voice is deeper and more commanding, it held less venom than his mom's.
Ironic, he usually got along with her way more than with his dad.
Danny slowly shimmies out of the bag, doing his best to keep his hands raised with his throbbing arm. He takes a deep, thankful breath and stands up as straight as he can, hoping that they don't notice the height similarities between him and his human half. Thank the gods he liked to slouch even before becoming Phantom.
Jack takes a small glance at his wife, asking her an unspoken question.
"Probably just the cuffs. I can't imagine he'd be well enough to do much beyond walking without destabilizing."
Danny starts to tremble again at the mention of the ecto-cuffs, at the fact that, yeah, this was really happening. Being in nets, being in cages, he'd take that rather than full restraints any day. Cuffs were something that really got to him, as his hands were typically his weapons, it made him feel the most helpless when they were behind his back and, essentially, completely useless.
"You got it." Jack responds, and then looks back down at Danny. "Turn around."
Danny attempts to control his breathing and keeps his hands in the air. He slowly steps out of the bag, turning to face the wall as he was told. He does try to keep his head swiveled around to maintain a careful watch on what was going on behind him.
Jack grabs his left arm roughly, pulling it down to click it into the cuff. The jostling causes Danny to flinch, but he doesn't make a sound, the pain slowly normalizing itself in his senses. Nevertheless, he still brings down his injured arm himself, hoping that it'll be cared for in a more gentle manner. He absentmindedly notices with a grimace that ectoplasm has begun to seep into his gloves. Gross.
Jack clicks Danny's second hand into the ecto-cuffs and- wait…
"Alright Mads, you can bring down the shield, I'll keep a hold on him."
Danny's breathing calms. He flexes his hand, feeling the clinking of the cuffs around his wrists carefully. To his parents, it'd probably just look like he was trying to adjust where they lay on his wrists, but for him… He tries to keep the surprise off of his face.
Yeah, that one's definitely not locked in right. Usually, a sure-fire way to tell whether they were on a ghost correctly was their aura flickering, or their powers and strength being clearly diminished, but with the ectoranium still inside him… that wouldn't happen even if it was fastened on correctly, not noticeably, at least. He takes a glance at Jack, who doesn't seem to have noticed the malfunction.
He had a chance.
Should he take it?
The ghost shield goes down, and Danny calmly turns around to face his parents at his father's instruction. "Come on." Jack says, pulling him along by his left arm. At least he had the courtesy to avoid bringing further injury to his wounds, even though the motive was to avoid bringing more work onto his mother.
...Who was still staring daggers at him. He was getting tired of that. Why did she hate Phantom so much?
Danny slowly walks beside his dad, heading towards the table that they'd cleared from before. As he thought, it was one of his mom's dissection tables, complete with the shackles and restraints to keep whatever poor creature happened to be strapped to it this week docile. He was pretty sure there was some sort of drug-administering tool in it as well, but it's not like he ever actually used it on anyone, unlike most of the other things in the lab, so he couldn't be sure.
Maddie walks ahead to prepare the tools she'd need for… whatever they're planning on doing. She begins to remove a variety of things from various drawers around the lab and place them on the small rolling cart beside the table. Against his better judgment, Danny slowly catalogs the instruments as she brings them out.
Scalpel, forceps, big scalpel, BIG forceps, gloves, vial of… something, IV, gauze, sponges, sutures, blood draws, surgical scissors, bone saw… syringes…
Danny's head begins to spin and he slows his walk to the table. This wasn't… they weren't going to…
'We don't have to tell you anything, ghost.'
He'd die. He'd really die, or do whatever halfas do when their healing isn't able to support them anymore. If he can't heal, if he keeps bleeding, keeps losing ectoplasm…
He feels the mass of ectoplasm in his glove, running down his arm. There was a lot of it, suddenly a lot more than there was before. His steps falter, his gait woozy.
Hyperventilating, he was hyperventilating again, and he felt like he was about to throw up.
He had an opportunity to leave, with a flick of his wrist his right cuff would come undone. He'd still have to fight past both of his parents, but…
They were almost about to pass the stairs. If he had the right timing, he might be able to climb them faster than his dad. His mom would have to maneuver around her lab table and equipment as well as Jack, the likelihood of her reaching him in time was slim- and she was honestly the real threat. He could outrun Jack easily, but Maddie…
If he was lucky, he'd run into the arms of his sister, or Sam and Tucker. If they got the call right after Jazz left, they should either be here by now, or close.
They're passing the stairs now, he has to make his choice.
Being an object.
The grip on his arm wasn't as tight as it was before.
Being a test subject.
Another step. Maddie lowers her goggles.
His parents.
Danny swallows the bile rising in his throat.
I can't do this.
-click-
