Chapter 1: Life Changing
I have a vague plan for this tale, and updates may be slow since I have another story I'm working on right now. But I will continue this.
Reviews will be much appreciated. Please feel free to throw ideas at me. Fanning the Flames makes them grow faster! *muffled laughter* Sorry. Puns and references just pop out when I write Danny Phantom.
Wisconsin Hospital, 1980s
Jack and Maddie sat uncomfortably in the hospital waiting room.
This wasn't because of the seats. Together they took up a couch. Maddie perched on one end, Jack taking up the rest of the space. It wasn't luxury, but it wasn't hard.
This wasn't because of the sterile atmosphere either. They were scientists. They were used to even more safety precautions.
No, it was because of who they had come to visit, and worse, why.
Jack wasn't smiling or blathering on about ghosts or fudge.
That's how Maddie knew this was so serious.
The Accident had happened months ago, but they still felt so guilty. Jack blamed himself for making a mistake in the calculations. Maddie blamed herself for not triple-checking his work. Jack was a genius, but also a scatterbrain.
Vlad had been unconscious in the hospital since then with the first veritable case of Ecto-Acne.
Now he was awake.
This would not be the first time they spoke to him since the Accident, but it would be the first time in person, the first time they really discussed this.
Maddie had come out of her class the other day to find her beeper alerting her to a call from the hospital. She had called back, fearing the worst news.
When Vlad picked up, it had been far worse than she had feared.
He couldn't give them too much information over the phone, especially with the doctors nearby, but Vlad suspected his body was compromised by the ectoplasm. The Ecto-Acne was going away, but he was exhibiting other symptoms of Ecto-Contamination. He feared it would taint his humanity. He feared he would die, and come back as a ghost.
They were all scientists, so Maddie knew there was no way to confirm or deny something like that over the phone. She agreed to bring Jack and perform the appropriate tests. They knew what they would do if Vlad was right, and they had promised him they would stick to that plan no matter what.
They had received the instructions, the warning, shortly after they began their research. The government would keep an eye on them, eradicate anything that got out of hand. Anyone.
The fact that there was a set plan didn't make it any easier for any of them, but at least they knew they were doing their best to make sure everyone else was safe.
The nurse came then. She smiled cheerfully, hardly glancing at their somber looks. "Vladimir Masters is cleared for visitors. Are you ready to come in?"
Jack and Maddie followed her to Vlad's room. He was sitting up in bed, but his skin was paler than it usually was. It was strange to see after his face had been so red and swollen for all those weeks. And his hair. It was still long, but gray and white, as pale as his face. He smiled briefly.
"Thank you for coming."
Maddie shook her head, hoop earrings swinging. "It's the least we can do. We're the reason you're here in the first place."
"Nonsense, Maddie!" Jack interrupted, running a hand through his long hair. "It's all my fault. We figured out the purified ectoplasm was contaminated. I was in charge of that."
She put a hand on his shoulder. "We were both responsible for that experiment. It was a big job, and I checked the calculations too late." She looked back at Vlad. "We're so sorry."
Vlad looked between them, an unreadable expression on his face. "It's . . . Don't blame yourself, Maddie. We have more important things to discuss right now."
They nodded. Jack placed the suitcase he was carrying on the bedside chair. They had brought all of the safest and most portable equipment they could. It would just be enough to run some preliminary tests, but it was all they could do until Vlad was released, and they needed some answers now.
Maddie made sure the nurse wasn't hanging around and shut the door before going over to the briefcase. She pulled several syringes out while Jack adjusted one of their Ecto-Analyzers. Vlad had already pulled an arm out of his sheets.
"We're going to need quite a bit of blood to test. Let me know if you start to feel lightheaded."
Vlad smiled without mirth. "Relax, I've had plenty of practice the past few days." He looked down. "That's when I suspected something was wrong. The doctors keep finding abnormalities that they can't explain."
"It's probably a good thing they don't know it's ectoplasm," Jack proclaimed. "Or else they might quarantine you in a lab and dissect you!"
Vlad paled further.
"Jack, focus on the Analyzer. You're setting it too high," Maddie shot him a meaningful look. God, the man was so absent minded. Although, there was something so sweet about that. So innocent.
Maddie refocused her attention on Vlad, looking for a vein. It took a few minutes to obtain enough blood. When she was done, she went to turn off the lights. This was the first and simplest of their tests. She flipped the switch.
It was faint, but the three vials glowed enough to be seen in the dark.
"Well, you do still have ectoplasm in your blood," she said as she turned the lights back on. "Jack, are you done?"
"Yup! Hand me a vial."
He fumbled a little, but didn't drop anything as he loaded the sample into the small machine. That didn't take long either. It was just a repurposed spectrometer after all, and it didn't give detailed results like the one back in their lab, but it would give them some of the most important information. This Ecto-Analyzer could only detect active ectoplasm. Ectoplasm usually faded and sublimated in humans, or at least that's what they suspected usually happened. They hadn't found many cases to form a proper conclusion.
The Ecto-Analyzer beeped as the small screen lit up. Jack bent closer, frowning at it. "Hm . . ."
"What is it?" Vlad asked.
Jack looked up at him. "It's active."
They were silent for a few minutes. Maddie didn't want to say it. She knew it was what they had to do. She knew Jack wouldn't want to say it either, but she didn't want to be the one to say—
"I'll call the government this afternoon." Vlad said, his voice quivering only slightly.
"No!" Jack exclaimed suddenly. "No! I'm not giving up on you, Vladdie!"
"We don't have a choice!" Vlad insisted. His voice sounded less dignified with each word he spoke. "This ectoplasm is doing something inside me! I can see in the dark! Things sometimes pass through my hands like they're not there!" He quieted suddenly, eyes wide and frightened. "Sometimes I can feel it, something humming in my chest. It's not a human feeling."
Jack spoke more quietly too. It was more impactful than if he had screamed his words. "We already put you in the hospital. I'm not going to put you on your death bed."
Vlad was speechless.
"Jack's right," Maddie agreed. "Ectoology is a growing field. That's why the government started that program anyway. We may not know how to treat this now, but a cure may be possible in time. We can figure out a way to extract the ectoplasm, or maybe deactivate it." She sat down on the edge of the bed, grabbing one of Vlad's hands. "Please, if not for yourself, do it for anyone else who might find themselves in your shoes. You know that the fabric of reality is thinning. This may be a common affliction in the future."
Vlad looked torn. Maddie knew she was putting him on the spot, offering him hope that may or may not exist, but he didn't deserve to suffer because of their mistake. She squeezed his hand, only to feel nothing there. Looking down, her hand was within his. She pulled it back before she thought about it, looking up to see his face twisted, resigned.
"Maddie," he whispered. "I appreciate your words, but you can see it. It's already affecting me. I know you would do all the appropriate tests to help, but what about the results? The GIW will do what is necessary. You shouldn't have to deal with that."
"The GIW was only formed in the past six months!" Maddie argued. "We've been studying ghosts for years! If there's anyone who can help you, it's us!"
"But what if I can't be helped?"
There was silence. The heart monitor beeped, the doctors in the hall bustled, a thousand voices spoke within those walls, and there was silence.
And then there wasn't.
"Vlad," Jack said in his loud version of a low, serious tone. "You didn't believe in ghosts or the Ghost Zone when you first met us. Now you're convinced you've been ecto-contaminated. We've convinced you of the impossible. We've let the impossible harm you." He put a meaty hand on Vlad's shoulder. "Won't you let us make your survival possible?"
Vlad's eyes glistened. He almost seemed to fade out of sight as he struggled with the question. Maddie hoped they were making the right choice. She didn't want their friend to end up as a specimen on a metal slab, but . . . Jack was taking a risk by being so optimistic. There was a chance they just weren't equipped to deal with something like this. There was a chance this was contagious. She didn't want to burden Vlad with something that could be so potentially disastrous.
But it was much to late for that, wasn't it?
"You would risk your research rights?" Vlad asked slowly, a million emotions in his eyes. "For me?"
A small, determined smile appeared on Jack's lips. "I'd do anything for ya, Vladdie."
Vlad visibly relaxed. "Thank you."
Maddie released the breath she hadn't even noticed she had been holding in.