Chapter 3

"Danny? Is that you?" Maddie's voice called up from the first floor.

Danny let the lights cover over him, returning him to human, as he registered an alarm going off through-out the house. "Yes, Mom, it's me!" Danny called out as he pulled open his bedroom door. He rushed to the top of the stairs and grabbed hold of the banister as he looked down at the living room to ask, "What's going on?" as the alarm stopped blaring.

"We're working on the Fenton House Security System!" Jack's voice boomed from out of Danny's sight.

Danny let go of the banister and headed for the stairs as Maddie added, "Could you come down here, Danny? We don't need this thing going off every time you're a ghost."

Danny let a smirk pull at his lips at his mom's words. He wondered how long it would take for him to get used to them knowing his secret. "Coming," Danny said before he reached the last step. He turned to see them working away in a hole that normally was behind a wall-colored panel that exposed the main control hub for the house's defense system.

Maddie turned as he stepped over to them and said, "Transform and put your hand on the panel. Maybe this time it'll remember your ecto-signature."

"Mom, I'm not a Transformer," Danny said, laughing at his mom's strange wordage. Nonetheless he did as she asked him, placing his hand on a newly added instrument wired into the house's wall. A light green glow started to emit from his hand, similarly to whenever he touched the ecto-converter, but not as strong or as draining.

"What was it you said you call it? Going ghostly?" Jack asked, reaching into the hole in the wall with a screwdriver in hand.

"Going ghost," Danny said with a sigh. Danny looking over at Maddie as the woman kept her eye to a screen wired up to somewhere beyond the hole.

"You could do better than that, Danny-boy," Jack persisted.

"Okay, you can remove your hand," Maddie said, using a stylist on the screen as she modified the house's program. "But we're gonna need you to help test it out."

"Okay." Danny took a step back and transformed back, keeping an eye on the control center.

"Mom, Dad?" Jazz called out as she walked out of the kitchen. She stopped in the doorway beside where they worked and asked, "Where's that list of weapons that haven't been modified?"

"In the lab next to the ecto-cultures," Maddie informed. She looked at her daughter and gave her a smile. "Don't worry, we'll get through the list before you leave for Yale."

"I just don't want any of your crazy inventions to hurt him," Jazz pointed out.

Danny gave his sister a second look only to notice dark bags forming under her eyes.

"What if Skulker ended up taking the Ghost Peeler?" Jazz added.

"Jazz, they're working on it," Danny pointed out. "Are you okay? You look like you haven't slept in days."

Refusing to answer, Jazz turned around and threw over her shoulder, "I'm gonna make some more coffee."

"What's gotten her stirred up?" Jack asked, turning back to his work.

"She's just going through getting ready for her first year of college," Maddie gently reminded. "It's a lot of stress. Jack, didn't you have a lot to take care of when you left?"

"My folks still had the farm when I left," Jack reminded, keeping his eyes to his work. "There wasn't much different for me to do until I could move into my dorm where I met Vlad." His voice fell flat, his normal want to blab ceased by mentioning the name.

Danny gave a look at his father. Finding out the man you considered your best friend was the world's enemy still took its toll on Jack. The only people that knew Vlad's secret were the same people that had learned of Danny's own, leaving the rest of the world to believe a ghost had been using the real Vlad Master's body as a human meat puppet. But Jack knew now. He knew the man he had thought was a friend was instead everything he believed ghosts to be and more.

"When Alicia left for college she had a lot to take care of," Maddie said, not missing a beat as she quickly skipped over the ex-mayor. "She thought she had to make everything for me, Mom, and Daddy perfect before she left." A smile pulled on her lips as she turned to Danny. "I think Jazz is just being a big sister."

"It should be fixed now," Jack said, pulling his arm out of the hole.

Maddie looked back at the screen and touched a few buttons with the stylist before saying, "Perfect, now Danny. I need you to- uh, go ghost and go outside. Wait a bit for us to reactivate the system before coming back inside. Jack, make sure the weapons are still offline."

Danny gave a look to his father as the man made his way back to his feet. A smile pulled on the older Fenton's face before, simultaneously, the two clicked their heels together, raised a salute, and said, "Aye, Aye, Ma'am."

"You two," Maddie scolded, trying to hide a smile.

"Sorry, Mom," Danny laughed, letting the lights change him before jumping up to float away. Since they had started working on making sure all of the Fenton tech registered Danny's ecto-signature, and for the more dangerous of their weapons that meant they would shut off if pointed towards him, his father and he had started referring to Maddie's ordering as a military sergeant's orders. That quickly led into their saluting. Danny turned invisible to the world before floating through the wall to the front street.

He turned around and looked at the house, staying invisible in case anyone looked out at the street. Amity Park had noticed the Fenton's change towards the town's ghost boy. His parents had already gone on record saying it was because of the Disasteroid that changed their outlook on him, though they still warned the town to stay away if they saw him. He knew it was more of a reason to keep those who didn't know how to fight ghosts out of the way, but he figured it also had to do with his dad's habit of now using his first name while as Phantom during family ghost fights. Danny had admitted he didn't really want the whole town knowing just yet. He knew it might make school easier, Dash wouldn't bully him, Paulina would be nicer though maybe clingy with her obsession with his ghost self, but he just wanted his last two years to be normal. As normal as he ever got, anyway.

A green light in the ops center's window caught his eye, getting his mind back to the present as the house's security was reactivated. Danny flew back through the door only to be greeted by sirens as an ecto-pistol dropped out of the ceiling and pointed straight at him. Quickly he became visible again and dodged around the blast aimed at him. Being mindful to keep the gun pointed towards the living room wall while avoiding getting hurt Danny called out, "Hey! I thought this was off!"

"Jack!" Maddie ordered towards the large man. She turned back to her son as Danny created a shield to protect himself from another blast and ordered, "Change back!"

"Duh," Danny grumbled to himself, quickly changing to Fenton before dropping the shield and to his feet. He raised his arms up, worried the ecto-pistol might still be shooting only to look up and watch it retract back into the ceiling.

"I did," Jack answered Maddie's unheard question. Danny dropped his arms and looked over at the two to see his dad shoving his head and an arm into the access hole in the wall.

"We're gonna have to deactivate the whole thing and rework the program," Maddie said with a sigh. She gave a look at the screen in her hands before turning back to her son. "Sorry Danny. We'll get this fixed."

"It's okay, Mom," Danny offered, rubbing the back of his neck. It was still taking him some time to get used to his parents knowing his secret, and he wasn't used to them apologizing that their equipment was doing what it was originally designed to do. He watched as Maddie gave him a sad smile before returning to the screen and the work at hand. Danny dropped his arm and said, "I'm gonna head over to city hall."

"Okay, let us know if you need us," Maddie said without looking up.

"Especially if you see a ghost!" Jack called out, his voice muffled through the wall.

Danny gave his parents a smile before turning to pull open the door he had just flown through moments before. He looked up at the summer blue sky, wondering what they might be able to do during the school break. Closing the door behind him, he shoved his hands in his pockets and headed to Main Street. Between the tests he was forced to do, Tucker being mayor, and Sam's own secret plans that Danny was sure had something to do with Tucker's new job, he didn't really see them going out of town for anything fun this year. Like last summer had been any fun, he reflected. Maybe this year they could at least go to Floody Waters.

Danny smiled politely to an elderly woman he passed, the lady smiling back, as he got close to the Nasty Burger. He pulled out his phone and checked the time as he realized he was a little hungry. It was almost three o'clock, the perfect time for a mid-afternoon snack.

After a quick stop through Nasty Burger's line, a part of him disappointed Valerie didn't seem to be working the front line, he took two bags up the steps to city hall. Pushing open the door, Danny quickly found the receptionist walking back from a printer with a stack of papers in her hand. "Hey Lizza," he said with a smile.

The girl that was only a few years older than himself looked up, a moment of panic on her face before a smile took over. "Hey Danny. You made me think someone important had snuck in. Your stupid friend think's I'm a legal underwriter all of a sudden," she added as she turned to her desk to grab a stapler. Stabbing the top corner of the paper she held in her hand she offered, "Sorry. It's still a little crazy around here."

Danny threw off her concern with a wave of his free hand. "It's not like the past mayors have been normal."

"Amity Park and normal just don't go together," Lizza said with a shake of her head. She held out the stack of paper towards Danny and asked, "Can you take that to Tucker?"

"Sure," Danny said, taking it in his free hand. Giving a glance to the top sheet he asked, "Am I allowed to know what it is?"

"A proposal for a new bi-law about what to do in case the current mayor is incarcerated or otherwise found of any type of fraud." Lizza sat her stapler back on her desk and crossed her arms. "If it wasn't for Google, I'd be spending my free time at the library learning lawyer speak."

"Why is it so thick?" Danny asked, holding the bundle up to guess how many pages there was with one hand only to notice the paper was printed double sided.

"Lawyer speak," Lizza threw off. She dropped her hands and turned around to get back behind her desk as the phone started to ring. She picked it up while still standing and gave a wave to Danny as she said, "Hello. Mayor Foley's office, Lizza speaking, how can I help you?"

Danny gave her a wave with the hand holding the bundle of paper, smiling more at the world his friend was now a part of. He stepped over to the door that led into the offices and turned around so his wallet in his back pocket could hit the badge sensor, giving him a click as the door unlocked for him. Using the hand holding the new law-to-be, he let himself in and made his way to Tucker's office. Finding the door cracked open, Danny poked his head in to see his friend hunched over a computer on the desk. They had been friends since before school but it was still weird to see the teen without his red beret, the cap hanging from a coat rack by the door. Without saying a word, Danny lightly shook the two bags from Nasty Burger, getting the teen's attention.

"Danny," Tucker let out in surprise.

"Brought you your favorite," Danny said, pushing the door all the way open with his leg so he could walk in. "The mighty mega meal, extra paddy, and large fry. Lizza added her own thing to your snack." Danny put the bags and paper packet on his friend's desk and started pulling out the napkins to unbury the food.

"Oh, is this that new bylaw I asked for?" Tucker asked more to himself as he reached over Danny and the food for the papers.

"Something about in case we have another Vlad?" Danny asked, pulling around a chair from the guest side of Tucker's table to the corner holding the food.

"I mean, because we don't have anything I was able to be mayor without much of an election," Tucker pointed out, flipping through the document as Danny continued to pull out the food. "I'm hoping by November, when elections happen, I can prove to the voters keeping me on will be a good idea."

"I'm surprised you could be mayor since you're only 16," Danny said, unwrapping his burger to sit his fries on the wrapper.

"There's no law on the mayor's age," Tucker said, sitting the packet aside to open his own burger. "Didn't know that until the school election last year."

"Oh shoot, you still got sodas in the fridge? I forgot to get the drinks," Danny realized as he rose to his feet.

"Yeah, grab me a Boyal," Tucker said, skimming through the large stack of papers.

Danny left his friend's office and made his way down the quiet hall of office rooms. He quickly found the break room and grabbed the sodas out of the fridge. He turned, shutting the door, only to realize someone had stopped in the doorway. Looking up he noticed a gray haired woman standing there with a scowl on her face. Forcing a smile on his face he said, "Afternoon, Mrs. Carr."

"The break room is for employees only," Mrs. Angela Carr said, stepping just inside the room.

"Just trying to help Mayor Foley get a snack," Danny tried, remembering the woman didn't like anyone referred to by their first names. He gave the woman a polite nod of the head and stepped past her.

"I will prove your young friend isn't fit to run this town," Mrs. Carr said, stopping Danny.

He kept his back to the woman, fighting the urge to give her a retort back. Taking a deep breath through his nose, he left the room and headed back to Tucker's office. Stepping into the room, he pushed close the door, getting his friend to look up from the new bylaw. Tucker watched as Danny came over before the raven haired teen asked, "How do you work with people like Mrs. Carr?"

Tucker gave him a knowing glance, a smile hiding on his face, as he set down the stack of papers to replace it with a can of soda out of Danny's hand. "She was one of the biggest Vlad supporters here in the office. Learning what all the public believes happened, she was still sure he was the best mayor we've ever had so when human Vlad was pronounced unfit for office, she started a petition saying Vlad only was possessed for those last days and that he should be allowed back. The higher ups that know the truth got her to stop quietly but…" Tucker let his voice fall away as he picked up his burger.

Danny gripped tight to the back of the chair, feeling the wooden frame under the leather upholstery before forcing himself to let go. "So you're saying that even if a republican had taken office, she'd still be this…" Danny paused as he took a seat and tried to find the right word only to settle on, "crotchety?"

"You're starting to sound like Sam," Tucker laughed. He took a bite of his burger and added through the mouthful, "I think she'd still be this bad even if I was white. Though she's made it known she doesn't like my age or lack of a political party."

"Well I've learned my lesson," Danny offered, smiling as he unwrapped his burger. "Once I'm old enough to vote, you've got mine."

"Thanks man," Tucker said, smiling at his friend. Taking a sip of his drink, he asked, "So when's your week at NASA?"

"Two weeks," Danny corrected. "Beginning of next month. Maybe before we can pull Sam away from her secret project and hit Floody Waters."

Tucker picked up his burger and wrapper, taking a look at the calendar on his desk. "Next Saturday I'm free." He grabbed a pen and scribbled down a note for himself on the day as he added, "Hey, maybe we could get Valerie to come too."

"Not if she knows I'm coming," Danny mumbled, shoving a fry in his mouth. "I think she's hoping to avoid me all summer."

"You two need to talk," Tucker pointed out. "You haven't seen her at all? Not even ghost hunting?"

"All the ghosts have been laying low, so all I've seen are the elementals," Danny reminded. "She's been letting me take care of the town."

"Well she'll have to show up while you're outta town."

"Shoot, I didn't even think of that," Danny realized, lowering his burger to the table.

"Maybe you two need to talk before we go to Floody Waters," Tucker said, eyeing his friend.

"Can you call her? She's not answering my calls," Danny said, finishing his burger with the last bite.

"Sure, you wanna try and meet up with her today?" Tucker asked, sitting his burger down and reaching for the desk phone.

"Yeah, and tell her she can even pick where," Danny said, worry prickling his slowly digesting burger. He took a sip to try and settle it as his best friend dialed his ex's number.