Happy Saturday... I at least hope ya'lls was okay. Mine was tormented by the American populace who refuse to get out of their cars at fast food places even if they see 15 other cars in front of them... I hate my job. Anyway, that aside, we have some uber fun today! Enjoy.=^-^=

Ch. 15 - In the Loop


"What exactly is your game, Clockwork? Why is it that you refuse to help the boy? He is your charge." Gaia paced back and forth in front of the large portal depicting the agents' attack.

Clockwork merely wound his staff as he paid her no specific mind. "Not helping? That can't be right, Gaia. What kind of guardian would I be if I did that?" He mused mostly for himself. He seemed to be pretending he didn't actually have anyone around, and that he was speaking to no one.

"What would be the point of allowing any of this to continue? Are we not running out of time? We cannot afford to simply try again if things do not turn out as we need them to be."

Clockwork chuckled as he tapped his staff on the ground before moving to wind it again. "I wonder what would happen if nothing bad ever happened?... Oh wait…. I do." He then chuckled again. "Power is never something that should be taken lightly. It is never something to be given easily, or taken as such. Those who desire it the most shall be the furthest from it, and the last to receive it. The most power is given to those who surrender the illusion of control."

Gaia looked at the ghost with a sour expression. "What is this? Why lecture me now, Clockwork? Or is it that you are ignoring me now? I came to you because I am worried for your charge, not mine. You must know what will happen if this continues!"

The time ghost looked off to his right with a smirk. "To interfere…..? No….." He chuckled again. "Everything is as it should be." He then floated over to a table in the back that held a battered old thermos. "I think I'll take a nap today. It's been awhile since I've done that." Gaia merely watched him with her ears laid back in frustration. This wasn't new by any means, but annoying all the same. She knew him very well, and Clockwork did this to almost every ghost he'd ever met. The lord of time was in no way a fool, but a whimsical, infuriating, tease? Definitely.


Epsilon had gotten quite the base camp set up in the short time they were gone from the air ship. The entire area was crawling with agents, and several tents were put up in various places. The Saturdays took in the bustling area as they were escorted at gunpoint towards the holding area. It wasn't much to look at, and resembled a large plastic box lined with some sort of metal around the edges. This unassuming prison, however, was quite secure, and guarded on all sides. One by one each of them were pushed through the door with their wrists bound behind them by Slap Wraps. Fiskerton jumped to see them. (You're okay!) He expressed with a smile while Komodo wriggled on the ground being completely wrapped in the metal cuffs. "Fiskerton, Komodo…. Maddie!" Drew called as she dashed past the Lemurian to her unconscious friend.

Doc looked to Fiskerton. "What happened?" Fisk furrowed his brow before standing straight at attention. "You were keeping watch.." Fiskerton nodded and then turned around and acted surprised. "When you were ambushed by Epsilon?" Fiskerton then acted like he was fighting and looking all around. "They surrounded you…" Fisk nodded before jumping up with a kick and then turning to Maddie. "Maddie arrived to help…" He continued to act like he was fighting until he stumbled forwards and acted like he was asleep.

"But she tripped…?" This time Doyle tried to interpret when Doc seemed confused. Both men looked at each other while Fisk sat up with a frown. He shook his head and then froze up to collapse again. Neither man seemed to be getting the message as they scratched their heads over Fisk's odd behavior.

"She was sedated." Drew cut in as she knelt over her friend with concern. She had just discovered a small red mark on the scientist's neck when she was checking on her. Fiskerton instantly pointed her way with his feet and nodded.

"She really didn't give us much choice in that regard. Her previous efforts have proven she can be quite a formidable opponent." Epsilon now stood in front of the prison with his standard poker face. He adjusted his shades as he took in the angry glares. "Now don't look at me like that, you all are the reason she's in this mess in the first place. I'm happy enough to keep her out of the way. I'm hoping that I can send her on her way as soon as her son is located." The true intention in his words was obvious to all. He planned to threaten her with him if she continued to get in the way. Epsilon's attention was then drawn by a small beep that came from his wrist communicator. "Yes?"

"We have yet to locate the boy, but we did manage to capture the secondary target. Should we continue the search?"

Epsilon thought it over a moment before a thought came to him. "Negative, bring him here." He then turned to his prisoners. "He may prove very helpful." He then walked away with a victorious smirk on his face.

Drew glared at his back with a quiet growl. "It should be illegal for someone to enjoy this sort of thing."

"Who's this secondary target he talked about?" Doyle asked as he turned to Doc and Drew.

"If what he said is any indication, it's probably Danny. Although that means he's alive, and not being attacked by those ghosts, I don't think his odds are much better with Epsilon."

Drew raised a brow. "But why would he be the secondary target? Wouldn't he assume he was with us until he ambushed us?"

"It's been about half an hour since then. Plenty of time for him to put out a search for him, and Zak." Doc stated with a confident and serious tone. Drew let out a sigh as she looked down at her friend. Even if Epsilon was being an ass, he was at least a little right when he cast blame. If she hadn't called her into this, Maddie and her son wouldn't be in so much danger right now.

As they waited thinking of a plan, each member of the family took to looking over what they could see of the camp. "Anyone else notice the white suits?" Doyle asked from his view of the camp.

Doc looked with a nod. "Yeah, and that's not normal for Epsilon's agents. About half of them are Epsilon's and the other half are in white."

"So he's getting help from someone." Drew concluded as she crossed her arms. "But who?"

"Good question." Her husband returned in a serious tone. "Whatever the answer, it's probably not good."

"No it's not." They all heard with a groan as Mrs. Fenton finally stirred to life. She pushed herself up on her bound wrists and shook the drowsy feeling from her head.

"How are you feeling, Maddie?" Drew knelt back down beside her.

"Annoyed, but I'm sure you are too." The ghost hunter then sat up and took a good look at the metal binds on bother her wrists and ankles. "These things again." She muttered in irritation.

"They seem to be the same things Epsilon and his agents used before." Her friend informed as she looked out at the agents keeping guard.

"That makes things easy then." Maddie then reached for her waist bag which proved somewhat difficult with her wrists bound.

"I doubt Epsilon left you anything to fight with before throwing you in here like us." Doc tried to inform before she finally got to the bag.

"I know that, but that isn't what I'm doing." Only seconds later did her intention become clear when the wraps around her ankles and wrists suddenly snapped back into their unused shape. She rubbed them with satisfaction before taking up the restraint devices in her hand.

"How did do that?" Drew asked with an impressed expression.

Maddie raised a cocky brow as she looked at them. "Epsilon may have taken my weapons but not my suit. It has multi-spectral camouflage built in, but is only good for a short amount of time. No heat signature, no wrapping."

Drew gave a short laugh as she stood up beside Maddie. "I shouldn't be surprised. You're always prepared for anything."

"Well, maybe not anything." Maddie conceded as she rubbed her neck. "I can't believe that creep got the jump on me like that. Anyway, where's Danny?" She asked as she noted his absence.

Both Drew and Doc traded uneasy glances before Doyle cut in. "We got chased by the ghost unicorns and got separated. Phantom showed up, and we were able to get away, but that's when we got jumped by the secret squad here." He knew that mentioning Phantom would be the best way to let her know Danny was alright since they were one and the same. Doc and Drew were the only ones out of the loop by this point.

"Ghosts at the ruins?"

Drew nodded. "Yeah, but Epsilon has his men around there too. Earlier we heard him say he'd caught someone and it wasn't Zak."


"Would you guys cut it with the cattle prods!? Those things hurt you know!" Danny now found himself in a very annoying situation as he was guided through the jungle by a platoon of agents in white riot gear.

"Silence! Keep Moving!" The agent at his back ordered as he poked the ghost in the back with the electric pole. Phantom was completely helpless in his current state against this many agents. His wrists were bound in large metal cuffs with an energy line connecting them. It seemed, from what he could gather, to be the thing that restricted his powers.

"You'd do well not make your situation any worse than it already is." Francis, the team's leader, informed with a pompous tone from the head of the group. "Once we get back to camp, electrocution will be the least of your worries."

Danny raised an annoyed brow at the boy's snide tone. Letting himself be caught so easily was bad enough, but by this brat? Unbearable. "Excuse me if I don't jump for joy then." The halfa grumbled in annoyance. "So what exactly do you and daddy have going huh? And do you really wanna get stuck training with Zak for ten years? Sorry but you two seem…. What's the word?-"

"That's irrelevant, Phantom." Francis interrupted in a stern tone. "Now keep quiet." His words were enforced by another painful jab from the agent's prod and Danny trudged forwards with an irritated expression. Zak's opinion of the kid was pretty spot on from what he'd seen so far.

It wasn't long before they broke through the trees to where the air ship, now being investigated and surrounded by agents, rested in the torn canopy of the forest. Danny raised his brow at the makeshift camp they had set up, but glared when he saw several white suited agents smirk in his direction as he was guided through. "Figures… I thought these guys looked familiar." He grumbled under his breath before laying eyes on the agent's other prisoners. They passed right by the holding cell. His eyes locked onto his mother's, and didn't move away as he was stopped just a few yards past. One of the suited agents pulled up the control for the cuffs and directed it at them. With one button the energy line connecting them dissolved, but Danny had no time to try and figure out why. They quickly became tethered to a metal spike driven into the ground just before he'd been stopped.

"Well well, we meet again, Phantom." Epsilon greeted as he appeared front and center. He was less than happy but satisfied at the halfa's capture.

Danny smirked at the man despite his own situation. "I'd like to say it's a pleasure, but you haven't even offered me a chair. What kind of host are you?" He quipped in his standard fashion.

Epsilon raised a brow at the ghost's demeanor. "Oh how rude of me." Danny then felt the prod at the back of his leg and took a knee. "Unfortunately you'll just have to make do with the ground. You should understand your position, Phantom, escaping these binds will not be as easy as the ones before. These were made just for you."

"Oh you shouldn't have." Danny quipped back with a wince.

Epsilon merely smirked down at him in superiority. "Yes well, I couldn't have you using them against me as you did before. These are running off your own energy, and won't even lock in place on anything but a ghost."

Danny was a bit surprised by the information, but kept his expression subdued. Instead he simply stood back up and glared at the agent. "So what did you want me for? I thought you were after the kid." Danny started with a more serious tone.

"Ah but we are, and it just so happens you were the last to have him." Epsilon gestured to his son at his side. "You flew out of the airship with him last night didn't you?" He said in more of an accusation than a question. "Where is he now?"

The halfa seemed to think it over. "Let's see…. Hmmm? Sorry I just don't remember where he went. Too bad." He received two prods in the back for that comment, and groaned from the pain.

"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear, Phantom. This little game of yours will get you nowhere."

Danny scoffed at him. "Or what you'll shock me again?" Danny shot back and was rewarded in kind. They kept up the shock longer, and Danny eventually fell to his knees.

"Well, if you insist, play your game. We still have some time."

Meanwhile all eyes were on the torturous interrogation. "I didn't think they'd caught him." Doc revealed as he struggled to watch the young hero be attacked. None of them wanted to be so helpless, but none had a choice.

Drew saw how Maddie seemed unusually unsettled by it, but given how he'd saved them before she didn't seem to have a bad opinion of him. "At least they didn't get Danny. Both our boys are still out there."

Doc nodded. "Drew's right, and this is our chance to think of a way out of this mess while their attention is focused on Phantom."

That didn't seem to help Maddie at all, and Doyle was the only one to figure out why immediately. Fiskerton remembered a moment later, and moved to try and comfort her before Doyle pulled him back. "Hold it, Gorilla Cat, remember they don't know?" He whispered in warning a few feet behind the Saturday parents. Fisk seemed to realize what he meant and nodded. (Yeah, I got it.) "Good, now back to thinking our way out of here." He turned back to the rest of his family. "Phantom's pretty tough so I doubt Epsilon could really hurt him, Mrs. F. I mean just listen to him troll the guy."

Maddie took a breath and took the statement as it was. Danny had gone through a lot, and there was plenty she didn't know about. Standing around wasn't going to do anything. "You're probably right, but getting out of here won't be as easy as getting those restraints off." She had used some improvised electronics from her suit to free the rest of them. Considering their prison at the moment though, the guards didn't seem to care that they were no longer restrained.

Most had their attentions on Phantom's interrogation as Epsilon started to grow impatient. "This is growing tiresome, Phantom. Just tell me where he is." He demanded with an irritated tone.

Danny was breathing rather hard at this point, but wasn't down yet. "Was that impatience? I guess watching someone be electrocuted just loses its thrill after a while." He quipped.

Epsilon had had enough of the teen's comments and grabbed him by the front of his suit. "This is your last chance, Phantom. Tell me right now, or I'll hand you over to the GIW, and let them deal with you!"

Danny winced from the sudden movement. "As if you weren't going to do that to begin with?" He chuckled. "I figured from the minute I was brought here that I was the only reason they seemed so ready to take orders from you. They want me, and the minute they have me, you lose your back up on this island that fries anything but anti ghost tech."

Epsilon growled through his teeth as he dropped Danny to the ground. The halfa's cocky front still held, but he couldn't help reaching for his chest. All of those shocks had taken their toll, and now it felt like the rash was on fire. From afar the imprisoned group watched as Epsilon lost his cool and Danny sat on the ground. Maddie had taken special notice of how her son grasped at his chest and an idea came to her. "Wait a minute…" She muttered while the others continued thinking of ways to get out of the formidable prison. She reached for her side pocket, and was happy to find her scanner still in it. "I guess he didn't think I could use this for anything."

"Use what?" Doc asked as he turned to her.

She held out the scanner to show them. "It's a scanner for analyzing ghosts close up." She worked at the controls a bit while the others seemed confused.

"How would that help us escape?" Drew wondered as she looked at her friend.

Maddie was just about to explain before remembering the circumstances of how it would actually work. "It can… It's used to scan a particular ghost's energy readings through a small electrical current. Ectoplasm is highly conductive, so if I were to increase the charge I could cause a massive short. If I were to use it on Phantom, that along with what they're already using on him, may short out those cuffs and allow him to escape."

"It makes sense but… couldn't that really hurt him?" Doyle wondered with a furrowed brow. It sounded like it would, but why would Maddie want to do that to her son?

The hunter nodded and turned to her son. "More than a little, but…" She trailed off as she turned to Danny. He was still on the ground, and didn't look comfortable. Now three of the agents were up and taking turns with the prods.

"Do come to your senses, Phantom, I know this hurts. Agent K told me all about ghosts and electricity." He said with a smug tone.

Danny was nearing his limit, and his self-restraint along with it. "Fine, damn it!" He finally shouted in exasperation. "I dropped him into the fricken ocean! You happy now!?"

The agents stopped their attack and Epsilon glared at the tired halfa. "Really? All this and you think I'm going to believe you just dropped him?"

Danny was breathing hard as he looked up to the agent from his hands and knees. "Yeah. I grabbed him and blacked out hundreds of feet over the ocean. Use your brain." Phantom wore a very serious expression which intrigued the man. He couldn't help thinking it may have been true based on how Phantom had said it.

"You dropped him!?" Drew screeched in outrage from her prison. They were only a few yards away, and so much of the interrogation was audible especially the shout. Drew now had both hands up against the transparent wall with tears starting in her eyes. "How could you just drop him!?" She didn't know what to think anymore as she slammed her hands against the wall again as the tears came down. "You dropped my… my son… my baby boy…" She slowly fell to her knees, and Doc placed his hands on her shoulders with a somber expression of his own.

Their moment of silence was destroyed when a thunderous roar cut through the camp along with a bolt of lightning. Out of nowhere a strange beast seemingly made of lightning itself started tearing through each tent one by one. "What is that?!" "Stop that thing!" The agents scrambled to take it down with what weapons they had, but its speed was that of the lightning it wore. It was somewhere else before they could even register where it'd gone. All of a sudden, the prisoners weren't important as all agents moved their focus to the immediate threat.

Doc gave a curious expression as he watched the scene. "Is that a Raiju? We're nowhere near Japan." He stated in bewilderment.

"Is that really important right now?" The sudden yet familiar voice caught them all by surprise. They turned to see Zak just behind the cell with his claw out, and smirk on his face.

"Zak!" Drew called as she ran over to him, but Zak cut her off.

"Hold on, mom, shh!" He calmly instructed. "We have to get you guys out first." He looked over towards the Raiju and augmented the glow of his eyes before heading around the front. He found his way to the lock's control panel where after a few seconds of contemplation he jammed the hilt of his claw into it. The lock shorted out and the door bar receded as he hoped it would.

"Crude but effective, Mini-man." Doyle praised as he exited the prison first.

Drew was next and had her son in her arms as soon as she physically could. "Oh, Zak! My boy, you're alright." She resounded with relief.

"Phantom must've been bluffing about dropping him before." Doc deduced with relief as well.

"Actually no, but more on that later." Zak revealed as he moved his concentration back to the fight. "Let's kick some butt first." Drew was more than happy to agree as she turned to the agents all enthralled with fighting the Raiju.

Maddie wasted no time dashing for Danny who was now unguarded. "Danny? Danny are you alright?" She asked as she knelt beside him.

The teen was still reeling from the shocks but still able to move. "I wouldn't say okay, but….. good considering." He responded with a shaky laugh.

The Saturdays came over as well to assist the heroic ghost since their movements had yet to be noticed. "We need to get those restraints off him somehow. Fiskerton?" Doc directed to the strong Lemurian. He complied and took each one in his hands and tried to pry them off. He strained with all he had before heaving a sigh in defeat. (No good) He grumbled in a slump.

Phantom took a deep breath and sat up. "It's fine… I know how I can get them off." He didn't look at any of them, and turned towards where the Raiju was keeping the agents' attentions. "Just cover me a minute." He requested.

Doyle seemed to understand before Maddie as he moved first. "Gotcha, no problem." Maddie was able to figure it out from seeing Doyle, and both she and Zak made moves to do so. Doc, Drew, and Komodo simply followed along with confusion.

"Whenever you're ready, Danny." His mom informed with an understanding tone.

"Thanks, mom." The baffling response was followed by a ring of light that enveloped the ghost hero, and when it vanished, Danny Fenton sat in its place. Fiskerton, who hadn't seen him do it yet, marveled at the transformation while the Saturday parents looked in serious disbelief. The cuffs on Danny's arms seemed to click a few times before powering down and dropping off his arms easily. "That's better." The teen expressed as he rubbed his wrists.

"Not trying to rush you or anything, but we need to get out of here. I don't know how much longer I can keep this guy from going nuts." Zak interrupted before hearing the Raiju cry out angrily. "It's taking everything I've got just to keep him from actually hurting anyone."

"They're escaping!" An agent finally called from the group further away from the beast.

"And now we have less time…" Doyle grumbled.

"No problem." Danny responded as he stood up and morphed back to Phantom in much the same way he had reverted. "Everyone grab onto me now." He held out his arms which were quickly grabbed by each person around him.

"Okay then, get out of here, boy!" Zak ordered as he released the Raiju from his influence. It bolted away and all agents quickly moved their attentions to the group around Phantom. Only a few had managed to get close before the whole group vanished without a trace in the night.


The group appeared on a deserted beach on the island where Danny immediately fell back into the sand on his butt. He let out a breath from the strain of moving them all invisibly at the same time before turning to Zak. "You couldn't have showed up a little faster?"

Zak crossed his arms. "Come on, Danny, I had to come up with some kind of plan first." He shot back. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to control that guy with my powers? If I'd come alone I would've just gotten captured like you." He ended with a tease.

Danny scoffed at him. "Hey, I had to fight back a pack of Unicorns before those jerks showed up. It's not like I just surrendered." He defended with his arms crossed.

"Oh wow, Unicorns. Must have been so tough."

"Uh, Mini-man, did you actually see them?" Doyle cut in thinking back to the horrid creatures from before. "You laugh, but those things are not what TV makes them out to be."

Zak rolled his eyes before turning back to Danny. "Well whatever, I got there so how about some gratitude? You owe me for saving your butt."

Danny raised a brow. "And you already owed me for saving your butt let's see…. 1, 2… 3, 4…. Wow that's a lot of gratitude I didn't get." He finished with a smirk and holding out his fingers as he counted them. The two boys simply smirked at each other before Doc and Drew finally had enough.

"Alright! Are we the only ones who didn't know about this?" Doc asked with his arms crossed to match his wife.

Doyle, Danny and Zak all looked at each other and shrugged. "I guess… ?" Zak responded as he thought about it. He then turned to Doyle. "When did you find out about it?"

"Doyle was eavesdropping on you and Danny the other day." Maddie answered for him as she reached her hand down to her son. "I asked him not to say anything."

Danny took the hand and got to his feet with a grunt. "Geez, it's almost like I can feel the electricity still." He steadied himself and turned to Doc and Drew. "Sorry about keeping you guys in the dark, but I never intended to tell any of you at all. At this point it didn't seem like keeping it a secret was doing me any good though, and you guys would have probably found out one way or another considering how things were going…" He ended with a grumble.

"So… you're a ghost?" Doc tried to reason with a furrowed brow.

"But you're… human… or are you…?" Drew tried to wrap her mind around what exactly this meant, but seemed just as lost as her husband. Danny rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he thought over what to say.

"If you want it said simply, Danny is half ghost, and half human." Maddie declared with confidence right next to her son.

Drew seemed confused, but understood enough to let it go. She let out a breath and turned to Maddie. "Well, I guess I can take that."

"What do you mean?!" Doc argued. "How can someone be half ghost?! What kind of Schrodinger's Cat nonsense is that? You just can't be both!" He finished with frantic confusion on his face. Zak seemed to laugh at his dad's reaction, and Doyle was equally amused.

Danny scratched his head as he traded a glance with his mom. "Well…. I guess it sounds weird, but I can't explain it any other way. You?" He asked his mom when he came up empty.

"I have an idea, but shouldn't we be thinking about getting further away from Epsilon and the GIW?"

Zak turned to the shore. "No worries about that, our ride is here." The still ocean stirred as a large sea serpent emerged with the city it carried.

Ulraj and many of the Kumari quickly appeared at the edge to wave to their missing friends. "We've been looking for you all!"


So yeah, everyone is in the loop... the main people anyway. I'm sure this will not be the end of Danny's secret being exposed, but I think he seems more amicable at this point. Ulraj is back and ya'll know what that means right? (If you remember of course...) Anyway, hope ya'll enjoyed, and were happy I could update quickly this time. I know I'm not super fast with this usually, but sometimes quality takes time right?

Thx for reading, and please review, comment, and question!=^-^=