Disclaimer: I wish I owned Danny Phantom! Desiree: -turns me into Butch Hartman- AHHHHHHHHH! CHANGE ME BACK CHANGE ME BACK! -is changed back-
Day 14: Fire
Super huge shoutout to the folks who had agent g figured out super early on! i never intended for it to be a mystery but i didnt realize that it seemed like one until some people began talking about how much they liked my giw oc. also next chapter is the last...it'll be up next wednesday
Seven in the morning was way too early to pretend he was alive. Agent G was, unfortunately, an adult though, and for some reason adult life began early in the morning. He yawned into his inner arm as he continued down the hall for his early morning meeting.
He came to the appropriate door, his boss's door. Agent G stood up straight. Breathe in, breathe out. He already knew what this meeting would be about, and he was fully prepared for it. But that didn't make him less anxious.
He knocked.
"Come in!"
Agent G opened the door, stepping inside to see his boss and Mayor Masters. His boss was sat at his desk, the mayor standing next to him on his left with his hands behind his back. Agent G shut the door behind him as he rook a step further in, forcing a smile.
"You wanted to meet with me?" Agent G asked casually. They were both staring hard at him, and neither looked happy.
"Yes, Elliot." His actual name instead of Agent G. That wasn't a good sign. His boss pointed at the seat across from his desk. "Sit."
Agent G did just that. As he sat, he noticed that his boss's desk was covered in newspapers, all from Amity Park. His boss pushed one of them towards him.
"Elliot, read this morning's headline."
Agent G glanced down at the Amity Park Times.
"'GIW suspends investigation into Danny Phantom'," he read aloud. His boss grunted in frustration, and the mayor's frown deepened.
"Apparently a Guys in White agent publicly released Phantom's case file late last night to news outlets along with a statement about how his charges were dropped due to a lack of concrete evidence," his boss began. Mayor Masters stayed silent, but he was staring hard and angrily at Agent G. "And I called the hospital where Phantom was staying at the second I saw it." Agent G had also watched that evening news report. It was quickly the talk of the haunted town. "They said that he had already been released earlier that morning after being given the same case file just a day prior." He had specifically waited until he knew Phantom had been discharged for several hours, to give him time to return to the Ghost Zone, before he contacted the news. "So I'm just curious if you just so happen to know which agent this was." Agent G sat up straight, and he locked eyes with his boss.
"Yup. I do. It was me," he replied. His boss choked on nothing, staring in shock. Mayor Masters even briefly dropped his anger in favor of genuine surprised.
"...You're not going to hide it. Or attempt to reason why it wasn't you?"
Agent G raised an eyebrow before staring down at the newspaper. He pointed to a specific line in it.
"Says right here that I said it was me," he told them. "I never tried to hide it. Actually, one of the reasons I got here so quick was cause I was already on my way here to give you this."
Agent G reached into the inner pocket of his white suit, producing an envelope. He handed it to his boss, who accepted it. He immediately opened it and quickly read through Elliot Gregor's official letter of resignation. It was quickly passed off to the mayor, who scanned through it with an unreadable expression. His boss collected himself before returning his attention to Agent G.
"Do you realize how seriously you've screwed us, and yourself?" his boss demanded to know. "You essentially made it harder for us to do our job." His boss pointed his finger directly at him, and the more he spoke the more red with anger he got. "It won't be long before people begin asking questions. That we lose our government funding, that we get audited, or that somebody will begin investigating into us because of this."
"It is only with my generosity and influence that things related to this fine organization may be smoothed over," Mayor Masters finally spoke. His boss gave him a nod.
"And we are forever thankful for your deep trust and belief in us to protect Amity Park from any and all ghosts," his boss replied fondly. "Especially Danny Phantom."
"All I stated was that some of our charges have been dropped," Agent G explained. "As they should and would normally be."
"Phantom is a menace that needs to be put away," Mayor Masters told him coldly. "At any cost."
"Why though?" Agent G pressed. The mayor glared as he put his hands on the desk, leaning on it. "What exactly did he actually do?"
"He attacked the previous mayor," he said.
"The Overshadowing Epidemic had at least twenty-five percent of the town overshadowed, maybe as much as fifty," Agent G lightly counter argued. "Phantom was reported by multiple witnesses to have helped them escape from being overshadowed. There's good reasoning to believe that the mayor, the previous one I mean, himself was either overshadowed or that Phantom did so only out of concerns that he was. We also have independent testimony backing up Phantom's claims relating to those events."
Mayor Masters looked taken aback. He simply stared for a moment before frowning once more.
"He stole countless jewelry and thousands in dollars," he said. Agent G shook his head no.
"Showenhower made a plea bargain because he confessed to organizing ghosts to do his bidding. We not only found proof of his claim, but an interview with Phantom matched Showenhower's statements. We were able to find physical evidence to support these claims. A good amount of the unique items Phantom stole matched what Showenhower was found with, as well as the money. He's also never been shown stealing in that manner outside of the period Showenhower gave."
Mayor Masters looked a little impressed. Still angry, but a little impressed. He stood up straight, staring him down.
"You yourself interviewed him just the other day," his boss spoke up. "Agent K said you got good, incriminating intel."
"It wasn't that incriminating," Agent G argued. "He told the same story overall. The same derails, same everything. All the little things were just." All the little things were just the kind of things humans would naturally do. Human errors and mistakes made due to fear or panic. And that's probably what struck Agent G the most; how human Phantom seemed for somebody who was deceased.
"Just what?" Mayor Masters asked.
"...Just not significant," he replied. "The same mistakes people make when afraid. That humans make." Mayor Masters, for the briefest moment, flashed him an incredible odd look. He couldn't make out the emotions, but the change in expression bothered him in a way he couldn't explain.
"So you're thinking some ghost is innocent because he manipulated you into treating him like some kind of person?" The boss resorted to mockery. Mayor Masters gave an weak but amused chuckle at the idea. "That he's not an evil mass of ectoplasm? Are you forgetting that this ghost is Danny Phantom?"
"I never claimed that I think he's innocent, or anything related to whether he's good or evil or something in between," Agent G frowned. "What I'm saying and have been saying is that there's a significant amount of reasonable doubt related to all these incidents that involve him. Enough that it's worth investigating, and I seem the only one who thinks that. And actually." Agent G leaned in on the desk himself as he directed his attention to the mayor. "I'm very interested in, or I should say dying to know, why you're so interested in a dead kid."
The mayor instantly dropped his smug attitude to give Agent G the most haunting and nervewracking Look of his young life. He almost cowered under it. He kept his eyes locked with the mayor.
"...What are you talking about?"
"The reward for catching him. How you've funding us so generously in exchange for this promise to turn him over, because like, you're literally the primary reason the Guys in White are so interested in him anyway. You talk about him constantly in your speeches in one way or another," Agent G explained. Mayor Masters seemed to grow more and more visibly agitated the more Agent G spoke. And soon, there it was. Like at the hospital, the mayors eyes were staring at him so intensely they seemed to glow. Especially in the bad lighting of the GIW office. Only this time, Agent G felt actually afraid. He forced himself to continue. "I know in the hospital you've been claiming that he's your son. And I just...I don't think it's true. So why? Why are you so interested in him?"
"That's enough out of you," the boss interrupted, giving Agent G a glare of his own. "It's not your concern or business anymore." Agent G pressed his lips together. He simply leaned back to sit fully in his seat.
"...Either way, you can still investigate property damage and any future crimes Phantom commits," Agent G said. "He's bound to do more property damage sooner or later. And if he's as bad or evil as you claim, he'll get into trouble within a week. I never revealed anything about our funding." Even though he knew it was a huge part of it all.
"You still signed a NDA," his boss reminded him. "And so you won't be speaking of it later on either."
"And even if you do decide that you feel or think that this is worth speaking about despite that NDA," the mayor added. He reached into his inner suit pocket, and he pulled out a notebook and a lighter. Agent G's notebook.
Agent G gritted his teeth. That notebook was locked and hidden away for safekeeping at his home. He had specifically done that to avoid this exact situation happening at work. He had no idea how Mayor Masters found it, let alone gained access to it. While almost everything in that notebook had already been shared in his reports over his time working there anyway, and so nothing of true secrecy was actually lost, the message was loud and clear.
Mayor Masters flicked the lighter on, and he held the notebook underneath it. The flames quickly caught on. The orange-pink fire quickly consumed it, and it was dropped carelessly on the tile floor, continuing to burn. Nobody spoke as the notebook crumbled into itself, becoming smaller and smaller until the fire had nearly died out, and at that point, the mayor stepped on it, snuffing out the last bit.
"...I'll of course honor my NDA," Agent G finally replied.
"Good." His boss leaned back in his chair, his face still red. "Give me your weapon, ID, and any other GIW property."
Agent G reached for his inner jacket pocket to grab an ectogun. He double checked to make sure the safety was on before setting it on top of all the newspapers on the desk. His keycard, company ID and company credit card left his wallet, and he also gave over his badge, all the GIW related keys to the building and car. Unfortunately, all the suits were his to keep.
Once his pockets were empty, his boss picked up the landline on his desk, and he pressed one of the fast dials. The phone barely had time to ring, and Elliot could hear both sides of the conversation clearly.
"Agent K, Agent O, please come to my office to escort Mr. Gregor off the property."
His ex-coworker's voice responded with a clear and brief confirmation, and his ex-boss hung up.
He handed Elliot a small packet of papers from a drawer. With a quick glance, he noticed that it was just the usual paperwork confirming his lack of employment. Elliot already knew that they were prepared to fire him had he not already sorta quit. Though it didn't really bother him; he already had another job that he'd begin soon.
"You had a lot of potential to be one of the greatest Guys in White agents," the mayor commented. He was obviously disappointed.
All Elliot could think to do was shrug. He had no clue what he could say. While he had no problems being honest, it had already become very clear to him that the truth didn't seem to matter to anybody else. No other agent seemed the least bit bothered by everything, whether they already knew it all or was hearing it for the first time.
"I'm so sorry for this, Mayor Masters," his ex-boss apologized.
"It's just a sad day when a man gives up so much potential," the billionaire replied. "But fortunately, the boy is right about something. Phantom is a troublemaker. He'll do more soon enough. But I do think, given our unfortunate setback, that it's time we began to invest in Plan B."
What Plan B was, Elliot had no idea, and he'd likely never find out. A part of him was daydreaming about what he'd be doing if he didn't make this choice. He had already made up his mind that he would want to be in southern California. Good weather, pretty beaches, but without the batshit insanity of Florida.
Maybe he was a fool for doing it, and maybe he was a fool for dropping the charges so early. Elliot didn't even actually know or fully believe that Phantom was innocent. He was still a somewhat unpredictable ghost with odd behavioral patterns and an unclear motivation he couldn't make heads or tails of. That's what he wished people would hear when he talked about it. All he wanted was to investigate. For all he knew, Phantom was guilty, and he was also just an insanely good liar. The whole point was to find out.
A deep part of him, a gut feeling, had come to a logical conclusion that had made him reach his final choice. Nobody wanted to investigate to find the truth because it would mean potentially finding out that they were wrong, and they didn't want to have to have that guilt on their mind, to have a potential burden making them have to decide if they would abandon the right thing to do in exchange for millions. They had already decided that a teenager, something that Phantom had straight up confirmed and thus meant they couldn't argue that he might be secretly much older, was worth selling to an incredibly weird, persistent billionaire for an unknown purpose.
The agents came, and he left the building. The ex-agent began his drive home in his own car, stopping only to get something to dye all those stupid white suits something else some day. Maybe he'd go to Michigan to visit family before the new job began. It was amazing how quickly your entire life, perspective and feelings could change in a matter of days.