A Means to an End, Beginning of Another
Episode 01: Second Chances, Part 1
"Dan! Daniel!" called a voice from below, "Daniel Fenton, wake up!"
Morning. Oh god, how he hated mornings. Mornings meant going to school, and that, in all honesty, made him less and less wanting to get out of his warm, comfortable bed. Another shout from his mother roused him from his bed, his arms going slack as he pulled himself from his comfort zone and drew himself in front of the mirror. He was lanky, his tank top hanging unceremoniously over his shoulders, and his boxers hung on his hips threateningly as if to tease any female onlookers.
He looked sleepily into the mirror, tugged one eye down and peered at the image that looked back at him. "God, I need to sleep more..."
He'd been up till three in the morning doing his project which was now safely tucked away in his backpack. He threw an arm up, stretched and yawned, his messy black hair sticking up in places they shouldn't.
"My hair is crap." he said to the image that looked back at him.
Shaking his head a bit to clear the sleep from his brain, he wandered towards the bathroom, about to head into the door when another shout made its way up from below.
"Dan, wake your sister up!" called his father.
Hanging his head at his inability to deny his parents anything, he sighed and trudged slowly towards his sister's room. Pushing the door open, his hand remained on the face of the door while with eyes half open he peered into the room, scanning for his target.
It was quite girly, with pink covering all the walls and stuffed bears scattered in various positions of rest all around. He wrinkled his nose in distaste before making his way over to the bed. He peered at the lump beneath the blanket quizzically, raised his foot and began lightly poking at the lump with the ball of his foot.
"Hey," he voiced in a voice slightly louder than he wanted, "Hey wake up." A little mumbling and stirring occurred beneath the blanket. "Jules, wake up." he said to the mass of person and blanket. Sleepy blue eyes peeked out from beneath the blanket, a small tuft of black hair hanging over adorable eyes that could charm even the coldest of hearts.
"Wha...?" She looked up towards him, noticing the annoyed expression strewn across his features. Sitting up with the blanket over her head and stuffed bear in her arm; rather cutely, the blanket slips from the top of her head, revealing the ten year old's visage.
Reaching a balled hand up to her eye, she rubbed gently, trying to remove the sleep from her eyes, "Morning already...?" she muttered as Dan shook his head.
"I told you, you shouldn't be eating all that junk food before bed." he chided in a surprisingly brotherly fashion.
The younger of the two made a face, "You sound like mom."
He wrinkled his nose in distaste, turned on his heel, and began to march to the bathroom, "Someone has to be responsible for you. Might as well be me."
Make no mistake about it, he cared a lot about his little sister, but sometimes she was just a real pest. Locking the door behind him, he began stripping himself of his nightly garments while reaching for the shower knob. He turned it to the on position and let it run for a few moments. The cold water was always, always, trapped in the pipes; if one was not careful they'd get a rude, six second cold shower that felt like the ice of the Arctic Circle was descending upon them. Feeling comfortable with the warmth from the water after a few moments of waiting, he hopped in, and thus began his daily routine.
Wandering down the stairs, he yawned a bit; the shower had woke him up significantly however he was still quite tired. It was probably because he wasn't exactly a morning person. Bringing his arm above his head as he entered the kitchen, he popped his back audibly, and smiled brightly. He was clad in a simple set of baggy jeans, two T-shirts with the upper T-shirt showing an Autobot Logo, and a digital watch strapped to his right wrist. The ensemble was rather typical of him.
Sauntering towards the table, he grinned happily, "G'morning mom."
The young woman at the stove turned her head a bit to see her son, returning the smile with one of her own. "Good morning Daniel."
He wrinkled his nose distastefully; his parents had a weird habit of calling him by his full first name most of the time. It was a little irritating to say the least and was quite embarrassing whenever company came. He dropped into his seat automatically as his mother came over with eggs, with a side of a couple strips of bacon, and toast; the usual brain food for a growing boy.
His father sat at the opposite end, reading a newspaper. Andrew Wied Fenton was no slouch; he studied the stock market and pinpointed trends before they even started. It was possibly the main reason why it seemed as if his parents didn't work and why they could live so comfortably was mainly because of him. He was the bread winner. Why he opted to adopt his wife's family name was always a mystery to most people, but he couldn't seem to argue with the orange haired woman anymore than the greatest lawyers could. She always seemed to have an answer for everything.
...that also meant that Dan could never argue with her either. Though they were few and far between, his mother was very doting, protective, and above all, very, very, right in everything she told him. It was almost as if she'd gone through the whole damn thing beforehand and picked all the right answers. He couldn't understand it. As he finished his plate, he polished off the milk, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
His mother peered at this critically, wrinkling her nose as the young boy sighed, "I'll use a napkin next time, and I'm going to be late."
She merely nodded, watching after his retreating form. It reminded her so much of him she could barely stand it. But he was a large part of her happiness, he was almost the age when Danny disappeared, she thought to herself quietly. Letting out a small sigh, she said to no one in particular, "He's getting to be that age..."
"Hey squirt," he said while he placed his open palm over the top of her head.
The younger Fenton swatted at his hand, squeaking, "Quit it!"
Dan merely grinned, then headed up towards his room to gather his belongings. "Be glad you don't have school for another hour pipsqueak!"
Little Julia Fenton brought her fist up and shook it, shook it hard so that he might feel her displeasure! "I hope you can see this because I'm shaking as hard as I can!" she squeaked out before heading down the stairs, calling to her mother.
He grimaced slightly as he headed into his room. That girl watched wayyyyy too much TV. He picked up his bag, throwing his books and things into it, zipped it up quickly and made a once over of the room while throwing the bag over his shoulder. Normally he'd be a little tidier than this, but he couldn't help it. Last night was a long night and his project took forever to get done.
Rushing down the stairs, he literally bounded over the last four steps and started out the door, "Alright I'm going! See everyone later!" Before any reply could be heard, he was gone.
A little early by his standards, but he wanted to get to Alex's house before the bus got there. It was such a nice day and he felt carefree, now that the project was out of the way, he felt like walking to school today. He was actually very intelligent for his age, but because of his laziness he didn't quite make the grades he should have been. It was said by his mother that in that respect he resembled his uncle more and more. Either way though, he got things done just to get by. Days like this were enjoyable; he couldn't help but feel happy about it.
Sitting in front of her mirror, she lightly applied a bit of cherry lip gloss, and looked into her reflection. Her tanned skin was rather light, considering her heritage; her eyes were inherited from her mother, though the pigment in her skin made her glad her father was African American. Even if she was mistaken for Peruvian, or Mexican, the bit of tan made her feel exotic. Or more individualistic. She couldn't tell which, but her father said she seemed to have inherited that kind of thinking from her mother. Tucking raven black hair behind her ear, with her soft violet eyes lightly lined with a bit of eye shadow; today would be her first day as a freshman at Casper High School. She brought her hand to her hip, turning a bit in the mirror, and felt a little self conscious.
It wasn't the fact she was trying to look good for anyone. Undeniably she was pretty but not to a point where she immersed herself in her looks. She didn't mind what people thought of her, be it weird, or strange. Some thought she was rather bubbly. It wasn't anything like that; from the simple shorts, with the black tank top with a character of a bunny skull over the front, Alexandria Foley has always been and would always be her own person. It was another thing she got from her mother.
She didn't mind too much of anything, her sarcastic wit got her through most situations unscathed, or at the most, they were sort of were afraid of her. She was a woman activist, or that's what she told herself. She didn't mind meat or the vegetarian stuff her mother ate, though she did find it a little strange that a carnivore like her father would marry a woman who was a complete vegetarian. Not that she had a right to complain, after all, she was proof of their union. They chalked it up to love, which made her scrunch up her face as it was nauseating. Love was such a foreign word to her. More like an imaginary thing or maybe a mental disease.
She brushed her hands down the shorts that lowered halfway down her slender thighs while quietly fixing her slightly shorter than shoulder length hair. She didn't know why she wore it like this, but ever since seeing a few anime series her cousin Harold decided to lend her, she'd been dressing more and more like a few of those girls simply because she thought their outfits were cute. Though some of them made her absolutely sick, she guessed you couldn't please everyone completely.
Her bangs hung freely, framing her face beautifully as she smiled into the mirror with her hair pulled back into a small ponytail. She lightly dipped her fingers into some gel and proceeded to spike her bangs out, grinning into the mirror at the image reflected back at her. It was some days like this where her hair was obedient that she could truly be happy.
A ring of their doorbell shook her out of her thoughts, her body moving swiftly as she swung her hand down to grab her bag and slid it over her back. Grabbing a few of her books and bringing them to her chest, she ran down the stairs, she cried out, "I'll get it!"
Too late, her father was already at the door, talking with Dan. "It's fine honey, I got it."
Her mother was nowhere in sight, again. Probably off doing some sort of art piece or something or other. Dan waved from the doorway, grinning like mad, "Ready for your first day?"
She wrinkled her nose a bit, looking the least bit amused, and feigned looking indignant "Not in the least." Despite going to school, she was pretty happy he had come to pick her up. Her father merely smiled at the exchange.
It was a bit weird how well her parents got along with Dan, ever since she could remember they talked to him a lot. An excessive lot and as the years went by, they talked to him more and more like he was their oldest friend. She had such a bizarre family. She shook her head, waved a little towards her father, "Later dad." Really... she wasn't looking forward to this first day after a month long vacation.
Smiling, Tucker Foley waved towards his daughter. "Have a pleasant day. Goodbye Danny."
Waving a bit behind him he replied, "Later Tuck," and began walking side by side with Alex, his hands tucked comfortably beneath the straps of his backpack.
When they had gotten far enough away, Alex made a side glance towards him, "Aren't you a little creeped out by my parents? I mean you're on a first name basis with them all the time."
Looking thoughtful, the dark haired boy looked up to the sky, "I never really thought of it. Seems a little natural to me, they're really friendly."
He and Alex had been friends for as long as they could remember and they had been going to school together for years. Well, save for this one, she and her parents were off on a month long vacation, the same month that the school started and she was a little behind.
Only a little. Apparently her parents' combined usage of the left and right hemispheres of the brain drained into young Alex and pretty much made her a genius level scholar and artist on all levels. She'd finished all the work Dan had given her over her vacation and was ready to turn it in. Turns out, thankfully, they had all the same classes together. It worked out well for her and she didn't fall behind the month she was gone. They talked to each other everyday by phone, so much so it was routine. They'd speak about their days and things, and just ramble on about their parents. They were pretty close, though they got teased all throughout Elementary and Junior high about it. By the time graduation for Junior high came around they didn't even seem phased by the notion. They were friends, the best of friends and friends like that were one in a million.
"Hey!" came a shout from behind them.
Alex crossed her eyes, holding her books to her chest a little tighter. Dan turned, his head tipping back a bit as he craned it over, "Yo, Harold."
The slightly taller African American boy jogged up behind them, then moved to the other side of the two, grinning, "G'mornin' Cuz."
The way he had said it had made Alex grind her teeth a bit. "Good morning Harold." she replied with some annoyance in her voice.
Harold was a little bit of a trend whore, he seemed to wear the most expensive clothing just to fit in. He was practically the absolute opposite of Alex socially, but was still considered an outsider to most of the groups at school. At least his clothes didn't get him beat up as much, Dan's mind had prodded. Today he wore a set of green pumas, a matching set of green track pants and jacket on his shoulders. Beneath the jacket was a simple white tank top, and his tilted sideways green baseball cap with the Puma logo over the front seemed to complete the look.
Dan was never one for fashion, but Harold was just extreme. Dan enjoyed wearing what he wanted so long as it was comfortable and despite the whole look Harold projected, it looked pretty comfy he admitted.
Alex merely rolled her eyes as if catching Dan's thought, "Don't encourage him." she said simply.
Dan had known Harold a little longer than Alex and was inseparable from him in terms of friendship. When Alex joined their group, the trio never seemed to be able to part, and thus, the three continued their elementary school days up to this point as such. They were outcasts and as long as they had each other, they were invincible.
"Hey, Fendumb!"
Stopping in his tracks, Dan hung his head, gathered up the necessary nerve before turning, flashing a large smile, "Hey Flash how's it going?"
Flash Baxter, the bane of his existence. He didn't know what in the world he had done to deserve the sort of treatment implemented upon him by this individual since the beginning of his junior high year, but the abuse was steadily growing with Dan's affection towards his sister. Flash was much taller, blond hair, blue eyes; he was practically the all American guy. He wore the school's leather jacket, and some form fitting jeans, his gaze currently turned downward towards Dan. He brought a hand up and pushed a finger into his chest, his muscular physique putting a little bit of pressure behind the finger.
"If I hear that you're eyeballing my sister again Fenton, I'mma personally pound you into kibble."
Eyes not seeming the least bit amused, Dan hung his head, waving a hand. "Alright alright."
"Flash stop picking on him!" came a voice which sounded more like a melody to Dan's ears.
Flash turned, frowning as Dan picked his head up like a groundhog looking for its shadow; Alex could only roll her eyes as Harold shared Dan's gaze. Standing before them was a petite young woman, a little more tan than Flash, her body seeming to look as if she was poured into the outfit she wore. The mini skirt and tight shirt she wore seemed to accent all the curves of her body like some sort of chiseled goddess, her hair pushed back neatly with a few hair pins as her bangs slid by her full lips which were dabbled with lipstick. Her physique looked as if she kept in shape regularly, her midriff shown slightly. Her soft green eyes fell upon Dan briefly before turning to Flash.
"Flash, Dad has told you a million and a half times; do not to pick on the Fenton kid."
Dan winced; she didn't even know his first name...
Folding his arms over his chest, Flash looked down upon his sister, "...alright fine. But if I see him even glance in your direction, he's going to get a pounding."
She frowned slightly, "Flash..." Making another face, she shrugged a little, beginning to head towards the school.
Flash began to follow, turning to look at him and leaned in close, hissing between his teeth, "I expect you to be at your locker in two minutes. Got it?"
Dan only waved with eyes half opened and empty of amusement, "Right, might as well not stop the inevitable."
With that, Flash wandered behind his sister, leaving the trio slightly awestruck.
Alex frowned, peering over her friend, "Why do you let him treat you like that?"
Sliding his hands into his pockets now, he begun walking with the other two in tow, "Might as well let it go. It's nothing to get angry about. The universe works so that everyone gets what they deserve. ...I heard it in a movie once." said the current target of Flash's tortures.
Harold grinned, "Leave it to movies to solve all your problems."
Alex cut in immediately, "It didn't solve anything!"
Harold's smiles grew a little wider, "Exactly."
Growling, she threw her arms up into the air, screaming a bit before moving up her pace up to walk beside Dan, who continued to trudge along.
Today, is going to be a bad day, thought Dan dryly.
"Is he gone?" she asked quietly, her voice almost coming out as a squeak as she came out of her studio. Standing near the doorway, a full figured woman wearing a smoke dabbled in paint splatters, leaned into the doorway and folded her arms over her stomach. A habit her daughter probably caught from her, her mind added. Her black hair was clipped short, spiky somewhat which seemed to make her look pretty cute and much younger than her actual age. Her slender arms folded a little more, almost as if she were hugging herself, her form fitting jeans hugged onto her hips and the stained T-shirt she wore hung loosely on her figure.
Tucker glanced over in the direction of his wife, smiling wistfully, "Yes he is. He's ending up more and more like him every day y'know. It's hard to look at him sometimes, but when we talk, it's. ...it's almost like old times, y'know?"
Samantha Foley sighed at her husband's ramblings and knowing her thoughts were just as similar; bringing her hand from her elbow up to her temples, she rubbed her forehead gingerly and let out another sigh. "It's hard looking at him, period. He's looking exactly like Danny did at that age."
Tucker laughed softly, leaning against the door a bit as he looked towards her, "No kidding. I wonder what Danny would say if he were still around...?" The question seemed to hang in the air, almost as if there had been a bomb dropped.
Samantha smiled thoughtfully before she spoke, "He'd probably say 'was I that naive when I was that age?' or something about his voice being so pitched."
Tucker smiled as he moved from the door, and headed towards his wife, reaching out for her with a sense of reverie in his eyes. "It's been a long time hasn't it? ...since we last talked about Danny."
Sighing as his arms fell around her comfortably she nodded quietly, resting her head lightly against his chest, and quietly stared at his buttoned up dress shirt, "It has. I still love you and all Tuck, you know that... but..."
He smiled and nodded in understanding, "But there's that little spot in your heart for him. I know, I understand... it's the same with me too Sam... I miss him too..." He lightly squeezed her, her body relaxing slightly in his embrace and going slack.
Closing her eyes, she rested silently against him, offering a quiet and contented sigh. "Twenty years..." she whispered, the words seeming to linger in the air longer than they should have.
Tucker merely nodded silently, "Maybe it's time we paid a visit to his 'grave'?"
Nodding quietly in agreement, she smiled up at Tucker, lightly placing a kiss along his mouth. "I couldn't ask for a better friend or husband..." she murmured.
Tucker merely laughed with a single eye shutting as he peered at her with the other, "I can think of someone better. But only slightly."
She smiled gently into his eyes, both seeming to come to a small understanding as she replied, "I can too... strangely enough..." Both nod at the mutual agreement of their own cruel joke as Tucker headed towards the phone to call Jasmine Fenton.
Two hours. He'd been stuck in that locker for two hours now. Thankfully he handed Alex his project before he got stuck in there. He leaned his head quietly against the metal door of the locker, sighing lightly to himself. This had been going on since junior high and continued on into the beginning of what would be referred to as the 'golden years' of his life or so they said. It didn't seem so golden to him at the moment by being stuck in a locker. Where was the silver lining in any of this?
Rapping on the door of his locker with his forehead, he groaned, "Anybody? Heeeeeelp?"
He could see the headlines now, 'Boy Dead, Shoved in Locker. See Obituaries'.
"That'd be such an embarrassing epitaph." he muttered to himself, lightly bumping his forehead against the locker door. He'd been bellyaching for someone to let him out for a while now; no one seemed to come to his rescue each and every time he got thrown in the locker. At least not till near fourth period. He wondered if liking Gwen Baxter was really, really worth the trouble.
He quietly thought over those beautiful eyes, those full lips, and the way she threw her hair back lightly with a flick of her wrist, his heart skipping a couple of beats in the process. Yeah, she was worth it. He lightly began banging his forehead on the locker's cool metal surface once more; it was something he developed every time he got stuck in this situation since the first time it happened. It was a strange habit, but it kept him sane in the long run. At least, he hoped so. Maybe permanent brain damage wasn't so bad?
"Heeeellllpp..." he groaned once more, before finding himself lurched forward, the metal door swinging back from his weight and a comfortable pair of familiar arms encircled around him. He blinked slowly as he shifted his weight backwards, pulling himself away quickly and staring into two very surprised, yet familiar violet eyes.
"Doesn't anyone let you out sooner than this?" she asked while her face was flushed with a tinge of red along her cheeks; he couldn't tell whether it was out of embarrassment or surprise, so he decided to go with the former rather than the latter to be optimistic. He, on the other hand, wasn't too flustered; after all, they had hugged before right? Best friends do that.
"Yeah actually. Well, most of the time. Today's just, uh, a bad day since Flash told the hallway if anyone let me out they'd suffer the same fate or something like that. Probably not in as many large words." he flashed her a small, cynical smile, one she returned before smoothing out her clothes.
"Thankfully I remembered your combination for you," she said with a gentle smile.
He nodded a bit, looking into his empty locker. He decided to keep as many things out of there as possible; after all, he was shoved into the locker one or twice daily so might as well leave stuff out the stuff that might give you a cramp. Or something.
"Yeah, Harold usually lets me out but I can't always count on him to do so." He threw an arm above his head and stretched with his back popping, "Thanks again, I might've had to wait another hour for Harold, he usually doesn't come by this way till around fourth period."
She nodded, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips full lips.
"C'mon," she said as she began walking away, "we're going to miss our third class at this rate."
He nodded, adjusting his backpack on his shoulders and shutting his locker behind him. Moving quickly to keep pace with her, he slid his thumbs beneath his shoulder straps, and sighed slightly. A few moments of silence came between them before Alex made a side glance towards him, "What do you see in her anyway?"
He blinked, a little off guard at her abrupt question and that she came relatively close to where his thoughts were earlier, but simply replied, "She's beautiful."
The answer didn't seem to satisfy her as she wrinkled her nose with some disdain, "Is that all?" she ventured.
Dan rubbed his nose with the back of his hand, his eyes half closing in an annoyed expression, "At the moment; I haven't had a chance to get to know her without Flash throwing me in a locker for even glancing in her direction."
Alex winced slightly at the bit of venom dripping off his words. She guessed Dan was tired of getting stuffed in a locker, hell she probably would have too if it had been going on for this long; practically three years by her count. Surprising the boy didn't go insane already.
For the most part Dan was a mellow sort of person; he disliked the whole thing about conflict and took just about everything in stride as far back as Alex could remember. He was kind, strong of heart, pretty athletic (though it was only to get through P.E. with as minimal work as possible, but still...), and an all around nice guy. People like Flash seemed to take advantage of that and bullied Dan on a daily basis; because of this, he was labeled as a nerd or dork or whatever and was an outcast along with her and Harold. Well, not Harold so much, he mainly got by because of his clothes she surmised and people just stayed away from her. She made another glance over to him; she let out a small sigh while reaching her hand out and lightly pushed some of his untamed hair from his eyes, her fingers slightly tangled in his messy hair.
He wrinkled his nose, watching her fingers work at his hair a bit before settling the whole thing settled back into place, "It's a mess, I know."
She laughed lightly as they reached the door, merely replying, "I know, but it was a lot worse since apparently you've been beating your head against that locker door for a while." He blinked a bit, seeming mystified before she added in, "There's a large dent in your locker and your forehead's a little red." she pointed towards his forehead as he sighed, bringing his hands up to his hair and attempted to tug it down over his forehead.
"This day's just getting worse," he muttered to himself in disgust.
She shrugged lightly, before moving behind him, "Enough moping. Get into class, we're going to be counted as absent if we don't hurry." with that, she nudged him in through the door, following quickly behind.
Opening the door Jazz smiled at the couple now standing at the porch. Tucker leaned forward to peer inside and snickered, "Still looks the same."
Jazz, smiling quietly nodded as she ushered the two of them into her home.
"How's Drew?" asked the former Goth girl turned artist.
Jazz tipped her head slightly from left to right, laughing lightly to herself mostly, "He's ... wrong as usual about family stuff, but he's dead accurate on the stock market." Sam nodded with a bit of a knowing look, Tucker seemed to wrinkle his face in a bit of feigned indignity, but he knew it was all in good fun.
"Danny's grown up quite a bit, even if we do see him practically every day," he said, adjusting his glasses which made him seem slightly more mature. As he grew older he opted for smaller glasses, something more sophisticated, which seemed to work much better for him. Sam nodded a bit, folding her arms over her stomach habitually, her bangs lightly drawing over her violet eyes. It still hurt her quite a bit to look at how much he looked like their Danny.
Jazz, noticed this merely patted the younger woman's shoulder softly before smiling, "Alex seems to be quite taken with him."
It was true, Sam realized, though the two people in question probably didn't realize any of it. Ahhh, the ignorance of youth, she thought wryly, her cynical nature showing through in her thoughts. They had dressed up a bit, more of casual clothing but in black, Jazz seemed to be following the trend. This sort of gathering was special to all of them; they treated it with the utmost respect. Every now and again they would visit his 'grave', the old laboratory barely being touched after that horrible incident.
Maybe it was the fact that they could have done it another way that made it so hurtful, but as Danny said at the time; this was the only way he knew how to deal with it with what time they did have. The trio began conversing about things like work and their children, before finally arriving at the door to the laboratory. It had been cordoned off with caution tape that hadn't been removed in years. A legacy of Danny's parents, they all thought. Removing the tape, Jazz opened the door quietly, bits of dust flaking downward from the top of the door causing her to cough.
Flipping on the light switch, the light begun to pour into the dark room, and illuminated it. White seemed to overtake the entire room before their eyes adjusted to the unexpected brightness. The scene that spread out before them was like a fixed setting in time from the worse horror movie of their lives. Broken beakers, test tubes, even the dents in the walls from that battle were still there, mockingly reminding them of their failure to save their friend.
Tucker, wandered in slowly with a wistful, pained smile as he headed towards the middle of the room. With Sam and Jazz in tow, the three headed towards th familiar object that had been caked over with dust. Tucker reached down, plucking the device up in his hand, and cradled it with his palm. He'd grown so much since then but the thermos still felt the same since that time, still had that weight of responsibility.
Brushing it off lightly, he smiled, almost whispering as he spoke, "We had a lot of good times didn't we?"
Sam peered over the thermos, her eyes shutting as she sarcastically quipped, "Yeah, the best years of our lives."
Though, she did have to admit that that thing, this place, held a lot of memories for all of them, good and bad. The lab was always a bit fascinating, but the company there was a lot better. The memory of their little trip into the Ghost Zone made her crack a small smile. Inside of the cobweb infested, dusty place of the laboratory, was the memory, or at least, the feeling that this was their secret headquarters. A secret place for the three would be ghost catchers, with one of their ranks, a ghostly superhero. She laughed quietly at the thought, the bitter smile on her face remaining as she looked over the Danny sized dent in the wall, lightly running her fingertips over it.
Jazz, noticed the look in her eyes and couldn't blame her. She really did care about that stupid brother of hers, and although she knew how much she cared for Tucker, it still didn't make the loss of Danny any easier on her. On anyone. Jazz turned her eyes down towards the countertop, lightly drawing her fingertips over the surface. She was right a lot of the time, but how she couldn't see the strange things happening around Danny was beyond her. It wasn't until he transformed in front of her did everything fall into place. The failing grades, the late nights out, hell, his friends' bumbling excuses for him; it all fit now and she sometimes wished she had seen it sooner, so she could have stopped that terrible day from happening.
The console was still broken she noted, looking over the fist mark Danny had made in pushing it. He was probably a lot smarter than what she gave him credit for; after all her parents hadn't been able to fix what was wrong, like Danny had taken some essential component that made it work and took it with him into that Ghost Zone. She wasn't sure what it was, but it might have been Danny himself that made it work, she surmised. All three seemed to be lost in their own thoughts, a sigh lingering into the air every now and again. They remembered him, quietly saying their little prayers, hoping it would reach him.
A crackle at the console caught their attention, the electricity that had been disconnected for years beginning to sizzle. The laboratory doors shut, a huge metal door sliding down in front of the exit with a loud clang and all three turned in unison to see. Red lights descended from the ceiling, green light begun to gather in the center of the long dead Ghost Portal.
A computerized voice echoed through the lab, 'WARNING, WARNING! SUPERNATURAL OCCURANCE REALIZING'
Apparently the doors were a failsafe in case the portal was to be opened from the other side. The green light began to expand until a small boom echoed through the laboratory, the familiar green field pulling a bit from suction. On the other side of the portal, screams could be heard, sinister laughter as well. Sam and Jazz made their way to Tucker, who held their only means of defense really, the Fenton Thermos. Unconsciously and automatically, with practiced ease Tucker found himself unscrewing the lid from the thermos, staring at the green portal which seemed to be eyeballing him back.
From the portal, a speeding form was launched out, sailing by over their heads, and was sent crashing into the wall behind them.
Tucker swiveled his head back, eyes wide as Sam shared a similar expression, familiarity crossing their features with both shouting in unison, "SKULKER?!"
The large ghost appeared dazed, shaking his head as he pounded his fist into the wall looking to steady himself. He looked to the trio and growled out, "You three, GET OUT OF HERE."
Blinking a bit, the three begun backing away from the center of the room, Skulker swung his hand out as it transformed into what looked to be a blaster weapon. He leveled it towards the portal, a sinister laugh coming out from beyond the green portal. Slowly stepping out, the figure of a boy moved from the green hole in the dimensional space, his fist glowing with red ectoplasm. He opened and closed his hand as Skulker began to fire at the boy.
The boy raised his hand, dissolving the blasts with a simple wave of his hand as Skulker shouted at him, "Phantom, get control of the body already!"
The boy growled as the opposing hand glowered in emerald and he begun holding himself, his eyes burning out the red within them and shifting to a familiar and pained electric green.
"I'm trying alright?!" the familiar voice bellowed sounding annoyed with the order they both knew he'd take anyway.
Sam slowly gathered her wits about her, staring at the boy and finding her breath caught in her throat. He hadn't changed, not at all... Tucker grabbed onto her wrist, tugging her back a bit as they both stared at the unbelievable.
"D...Danny...?" she ventured quietly while the green eyed boy snapped his head around to see her.
"Sam?" he blinked in confusion.
Skulker growled, beginning to open fire upon Danny, "You IDIOTS!"
The green burned out of his eyes as a blue light launched from the body, and fired out in a random direction.
Grinning, the red eyed phantom boy brought his arms up above his head. "Finally..." he hissed, the voice wasn't his and though as much as it seemed like him, it wasn't him. He brought his hands together, red light beginning to funnel into his fingertips and constructed a sphere. He hurdled the sphere towards Skulker, whom leapt aside while the three humans had begun moving back.
"Spectre...?" asked Sam questioningly, almost too scared to hear an answer. The being inside their once friend smiled, a twisted Cheshire like grin that didn't belong on that young face of the one they called their friend.
"It's been a long, long time hasn't it?" he said with a tone of whimsy.
The sphere impacted against the wall, sending debris forward as Skulker growled, "He has the body now!"
Bringing his arm up, 'Danny' flexed his arm, his snow white hair hanging over irises of the most dreadful crimson imaginable. "Finally... after all this time of being stuck in the Ghost Zone with that Do-Gooding Halfa, I now have this body. It belongs to me now."
Sam edged back into the arms of Tucker, who merely stared at what was once their friend. Hot jealousy flashed in the eyes of the once hero of the trio as he begun towards the couple, eyes wisped with vapor.
"Seems some of Phantom's emotions have rubbed up on me..." a sinister grin drew across his face, the white hair hanging over his eyes. His hand crackled with the scarlet energy, his teeth grinding as he stalked towards them.
Skulker, having picked himself up from the floor, rushed over in front of the two, and growled, "Get out of here NOW!"
With that, his hands transformed into a pair of cannons, beginning to let loose a hail of ectoplasmic energy from the barrels at his wrists. Jazz, finding herself, grabbed the couple and began hauling them to a safer distance. Numb and shocked, Sam stayed in Tucker's grasp; her eyes wide as saucers and completely shell shocked. What had just happened, she didn't know. All she knew was that some ghost was in Danny's body, and Danny was no where to be found. 'Danny' reached out, grabbing the cannon and crushed it between his fingers easily, the grin still spread across his face.
"Spectre!" sounded the taller man as the shorter of the two beings brought his hand out to Skulker's chest.
"You and Phantom are no match for me now that I have the body. Your little gamble failed." He discharged a round of concentrated ectoplasmic energy, sending the bounty hunter known as Skulker backwards towards the wall. Charging forward after him, he swung his arms back and begun shooting after him, and his shooting forward immediately to pummel the larger ghost on the way to the wall. When they collided with the wall, the punches continued to impact against him, 'Danny's' fists digging into the ghostly flesh again and again.
Looking upon his prey briefly, Spectre pulled himself from the body, leaving him in the wall. Stalking towards the trio, his hands began glowing with the gathering of spiritual energies. "You two betrayed me..." he said with a voice that sounded like Danny's, and yet not. It echoed in the lab while he narrowed his eyes dangerously upon them. His white hair wavered over his eyes as Tucker moved in front of the two females, opening the thermos and aimed it at what assumed the form of his best friend.
Nothing happened, no light, no energy; it only let out a small spark of malfunction probably from its lack of use as the ghoul of their former friend stalked closer. Sam opened her mouth; her jaw slacked as tears had filled her eyes with terror running throughout her body. She shook visibly as this twisted version of her best friend was making his way to them, to kill them. Tucker stared as well, dropping the Fenton Thermos and Jazz watched helplessly once more.
A cruel fate, she thought, a crueler fate worse than death...
Spectral energies gathered as he brought his hands in front of him, grinning madly. "I'll make you pay..." he uttered, before Sam's eyes shut tightly.
Her voice found once more, she screamed in terror, her voice filling the laboratory, and caused it to reverberate with her voice, "DANNYYYYYYY!"
A blast of green energy lashed out from their left a few moments later, effectively sending Spectre into the wall with an amazing amount of force. The Danny sized crater in the metal wall seemed to keep him pinned for a few moments while he slowly pulled himself out.
Growling, he looked for Skulker, finding him gone. "Skulker..." he ground out through gritted teeth, the red in his irises glowing brighter as he clenched his fist, fury beginning to consume him.
"No." a familiar voice echoed as footsteps came towards them. In a dark part of the lab near the door, the footfalls became louder. The three turned their attention towards the origin of the footfalls, each staring in disbelief. Luminescent blue eyes shining in the darkness as the raven haired mirror image came into view, sporting the Autobot logo upon his shirt while he held Skulker upright with his arm around his neck. Black hair hanging over his eyes as he clenched his fist, Jazz stared at the young boy she had raised herself.
"D...Daniel?"
The boy's fist seemed to glow with green light, the doppelganger begun to grin, "So, it seems you have a body now as well."
Setting Skulker down by the trio, they watched as he offered them a small, familiar, reassuring smile. "Take care of him okay?" Nodding dumbly, Sam and Tucker pulled the apparition to them, before Danny glanced over his shoulder, peering at his twin.
"Nothing to say Halfa?" scoffed the doppelganger.
He growled lowly towards his opposition. Dan brought his hand out and snapped his fingers downward, a voice from the past echoing forward into the present, using a phrase that hadn't be uttered in a couple of decades. "I'm goin' ghost!"
To Be Continued...