"Ken Bruce?" Tucker said in awe over the webcam, "The head honcho of Paranormalics?"
"Yeah. Frost must've made an extra file on me or something because he knows what I am. At least he said he did."
"Do your folks know?" Sam said on the phone.
"No. Not yet, anyway. We've gotta watch out for Paranormalics big time now. So how're your evenings going?"
"Great. If you don't count my still having no date."
"Can't help you there," Sam said loudly over the phone, "I'm already going with someone."
"You mean I can't even resort to desperate measures!? Great!" he mumbled sarcastically before shutting down the camera.
---
Thursday came and went, and Friday was here at last. Tucker, still left dateless, was not in a good mood.
"If Mr. Lancer even thinks about throwing some kind of pop quiz, I'm gonna..." his mumbling was cut off by Mr. Lancer entering with a television set once more.
"Good morning, students," he greeted them, "Today..." he was interrupted by Tucker's long, annoying half-moan, half-yell. He then realised he didn't even know what Mr. Lancer was about to say.
"Oh," he laughed nervously, "Sorry."
"As I was saying. Today, there is yet another report on the anti-ghost situation," he pressed the power button to the set.
"General Gary Conrad has been found," the reporter was saying, "He and several men who also went missing from Paranormalics were recently confirmed as the terrorists who attacked five Paranormalics agents trying to take down an overweight ghost who controlled boxes," Danny rolled his eyes at that, "Ken Bruce has declared them 'the enemy.' President Hartman refused to comment, but his approval ratings have continued to decline in light of this incident."
---
"Why would General Conrad fight Paranormalics?" Tucker asked at lunch.
"He and the President thought that The Order was the only real enemy," Sam said, "remember? That's why they sacked him."
"I didn't think he'd start defending ghosts, though."
"Neither did I," Danny said after taking a bite from his sandwich, "Let's just hope they keep it up so Bruce has something else to worry about."
---
"Danny!" his mom called down to the lab, "Dear, you're going to be late to your dance!"
"Be right up," he called back before turning his attention to the computer screen again. He was dressed up for the dance, the same outfit he wore to the first one and to Frost's party. On the computer was a file containing every bit of anti-ghost news that had been on since The Order's attack on Paranormalics. Sam had given him all the information that went up while he was captured, and he had taken care of everything since. Now he was adding the news of Conrad's attack.
"There we go," he said to himself. Then he got up and headed upstairs.
---
"'Get down with the funk.' 'Yo, radical.' 'This dig is hot,'" Mr. Lancer leaned against the punch table, practising his 'hip' phrases. The school dance had begun. Paulina had a line of 12 boys (lacking any dignity whatsoever) waiting to dance with her. Dash was showing off to as many girls as he could. Tucker was sitting down, bored and still dateless. All in all, what most students of Casper High were expecting. Danny and Sam came in quietly, Sam in her stunning dress from the last dance.
"Hey Tuck," Danny said as they walked by him, "Still no date?"
"What do you think? Wait, you're Sam's date?" he pointed at Danny.
"Yeah, why?"
"Where's the gym teacher?!" Tucker shouted, marching away, "He owes me $5"
"Did everyone we know place a bet that we would go to this thing together? My brothers bet my mom $57."
"Now that is weird," Danny said, "Want to get something to eat?" she nodded. They headed off to the snack bar.
---
The science teacher walked down the halls of the school. Even though it was a school dance, the students were only aloud in the gym and commons. While Mr. Lancer handled the students with his "hip, young lingo," the rest of the teachers roamed the building, insuring that no students would sneak into a classroom and pull a prank, among other things. The science teacher checked his watch and sighed.
"Two more hours to go," he muttered, looking downstairs. The other English teacher was scolding some of Dash's friends for attempting to break into Mr. Lancer's classroom. Same as the last dance. He went back to his classroom. The music was too loud for anyone to hear the sound of a black van approaching.
---
The DJ popped in the first song for a slow dance into the CD player. It just happened to be "Face to Face."
"Remember this song?" Sam asked.
"Yeah. Too well," Danny looked at his left shoulder; underneath his jacket and shirt, the mark from that soldier's laser was still there.
"If you don't want to dance to this song, then..."
"Nah, I don't mind," they started to dance. Tucker walked up to one girl who didn't appear to have a date and started to open his mouth.
"No!" she said, and walked away.
"I didn't even say anything yet!" he shouted back.
---
The grappling hook caught onto the roof of the school securely, and the sergeant signalled to his men that it was safe to move up. The window to a room holding Mr. Wynn's history class was shattered, and one-by-one the soldiers moved in, one of them opening the door with a skeleton key. They moved as stealthily and silently as possible, but the science teacher had sharp ears. Grabbing a flashlight, he headed off to the hallway where he had heard the noise, shining his light around. Nothing.
"Must've been that music," he said to himself, shaking his head, "Those dang kids have no taste in music. I remember..." he was silenced when someone came up from behind, holding his mouth shut and hitting him over the head. The solider who did it signalled to the others that it was safe to move out. All of them readied their ghost-trackers and ectoplasmic lasers.
---
Danny, Sam, and Tucker had taken a table in the commons and had brought over a pizza. Even Tucker was cheering up. He told a joke, and they all laughed. Danny's laughter was soon cut short, however, by a strange sight. He thought he had seen someone upstairs, and it wasn't a teacher.
"What's wrong?" Sam had noticed his change of mood.
"I saw something," he opened the doors to the commons and headed over to the stairs, Sam and Tucker following.
"We're not allowed back here, Danny!" Sam whispered.
"She's got a point," Tucker added.
"Shhhhh," Danny saw another person, "Wait here," he headed upstairs. No one was there. Only the noise alerted Danny that an ectoplasmic laser had been fired. He quickly ducked, going ghost and standing back up. The Paranormalics agent who had fired the shot was charging down the hall.
"Guys," Danny looked down to the first floor, "We've got trouble," his eyes caught a small, round bomb rolling down towards him. He jumped back just in time.
"You!" a gym teacher caught Sam and Tucker by surprise, "What are you two doing in here?" he quickly had his attention diverted. The soldier who had tossed the bomb had now charged forward, engaging in a hand-to-hand duel with Danny, creating a lot of noise from upstairs.
"What's going on up there?" the teacher demanded. As he finished, Danny kicked the soldier away, knocking him over the side and falling on top of the teacher. The sound of his crashing not only brought the other soldiers coming; it was heard by some students near the door, Dash among them.
"What goes on out here!?" he barged in.
"Nothing," Tucker smiled weakly.
"That's a brilliant cover," Sam rolled her eyes.
"I'm getting to the bottom of this!" the gym teacher knocked the unconscious guard off him and charged upstairs. Danny was pinned up against the railing that prevented students from walking off and crashing to the first floor, holding back a soldier with a knife coated in ectoplasmic material. He kicked him back into two other soldiers, ducking to avoid a punch from another and taking him out with a chop to the neck.
"Ghost!" the gym teacher shouted, "Ghost! Ghost! GHOOOOOOOOOOOST! The school is haunted!" he charged down the stairs, following Dash back into the commons, both of them now screaming. As the school slowly broke into a panic, the only ones not screaming were Danny, Sam, and Tucker; Danny still stuck upstairs with the soldiers, Sam and Tucker looking more and more concerned by the second.
---
Things in the gym stayed calm with another slow dance playing until Dash barged in.
"Ghost!" he screamed, "There's a ghost!" everyone immediately started flowing out of the gym, trying to catch a glimpse of the ghost. The door was broken down, and more Paranormalics agents flowed into the building. The school was now in complete and utter chaos.
"What is the meaning of this!?" Mr. Lancer demanded before being trampled by his students.
---
Having finally disposed of the guards upstairs, Danny phased down to the first floor.
"Great job handling that secretly, Danny!" Tucker shouted sarcastically.
"Well when I came here, I didn't expect that Paranormalics agents would attack me. I didn't even know they knew where I go to school," they now noticed the majority of the students gathered nearby, mouths hanging open.
"Romeo and Juliet!" Mr. Lancer exclaimed, covered in bruises.
"Fenton!" Dash pointed, "You're a..."
"Run," Danny whispered to Sam and Tucker. In a flash, the three friends took off in separate directions, students, teachers, and agents alike charging after them. Danny had phased up to the second floor and was now flying down the hallways, Dash and his jock friends coming after him. Seeing two Paranormalics agents running up the flight of stairs up the hall, Danny stopped in mid-air.
"Great," he moaned, and then flew up, causing the two parties to crash into one another. Before he could get away though, Dash's hand shot out, grabbing Danny by the foot. One Paranormalics agent was wearing more compact ghost gloves than Jack's. He grabbed Danny in a half-nelson, the ghost gloves keeping him from phasing through. One soldier readied a three- pronged trap and prepared to fire, but before he could, a laser knocked the weapon from his hand. Sam had come up from the staircase the soldiers had used. His group loosening due to surprise, Danny managed to get free, knocking both men out and flying over to Sam.
"Where's Tucker?" he asked hurriedly.
"Downstairs getting chased by Lancer."
"Let's go," he grabbed her arm, phasing them through the floor and flying off. Tucker was backed into a corner, Lancer blocking his escape.
"I'm not even a ghost!" he moaned. Danny grabbed him with his free hand, and the three phased through the floor, re-emerging outside and becoming solid.
"Bad idea," Sam motioned to the street. Five Paranormalics cars were lined up in the front of the school. Danny grabbed his two friends and phased back through the street before they could get caught.
---
"Do you think it was on the news?" Tucker asked as they opened the door to Danny's house, Danny still in ghost mode.
"When a government agency finds something in a school interesting, then it's probably going to be on the news," Sam said.
"I just hope..." Danny's parents walked into the room, their jaws dropping when they saw him.
"Danny..." Jack managed to say.
"Dad," Danny looked over to Sam and Tucker; their faces showed their support for whatever he decided to do, "There's something I need to tell you."