Sing to Life
By JadeRabbyt
PART II: ARCHIVES
Chapter 9: Anxious in Amity
Sr. Electrician's log, 3:08 AM, 10/2/--: Around 1:09 the turbines blew, half the wires in the plant fried, and now I've got six dead men on my hands and twenty more injured. That's all I know. You can expect my resignation tomorrow.
Sunlight cascaded over the darkened Midwest, washing over the tired face of an unfortunate survivor and creeping through the window of a certain ghost-powered freshman.
Danny sighed and opened his eyes. The light filtered through his blinds and lit up a picture of the Horsehead Nebula tacked up by his door, illuminating the colored red and green pillars of stardust. He grinned. That picture didn't even come close to the real thing. Danny rolled over, pushing back the wrinkled sheets, and lifted his head to look out the window. The sun hadn't risen high, and a few puffy clouds scurried around the blue. The digital clock on his desk was blank. He gave it a lazy smack, with no effect but to produce a huge lump of free-floating anxiety in his forehead. Danny dismissed it as early morning paranoia. The power must be out. That was all.
Danny drew his feet over the bed, stretched, and stumbled downstairs to the kitchen. An opened box of cereal sat on the table, and a raw egg slid around in a pan on the stove. Dad must've forgotten about the power. The egg crouched there in the pan and stared up at Danny like a big yellow snake-eye. "Hm." Danny drew out a fork and gave it a poke. The yolk dribbled into the white and coated the pan with yellow slime. Danny shivered, laughed, and fixed himself some cereal.
Something was squawking away down in the basement. Sounded like a television. It confused him until he remembered that the lab had its own generator, on separate circuits from the rest of the house, of course. Danny rolled his eyes, crunched some of his cereal, and padded in pajamas and bare feet down the metal stair. The lab door opened with a hiss of pressure, and there was his family clustered around a small television, the chrome equipment of the lab shining dimly in its glare. His parents stood, father tapping at one of the computers, mother making hasty sketches on a clipboard. Jazz leaned against a lab stool, arms crossed, facing the TV.
Danny slammed the lab door. His mother looked up and mumbled good morning. He wandered over to Jazz and glanced at the television, fidgeting with his cereal spoon. "Hey, what's going on?"
Jazz shook her head and looked back at him. "It's incredible. Most of the Midwest lost power because of this weird… Well, they don't know what it was, but there was this whole series of fires that broke out for miles around, and, well-" She waved at the TV and sighed. "Just watch. They're repeating the same thing over and over again anyway."
"-at one in the morning," the TV was saying. "Electrical fires erupted throughout Green Bay area." Danny stopped chewing his cereal. The television flashed pictures of whole neighborhoods going up in smoke, red and orange flames reaching skyward. The shaky perspective panned over the skyline. The entire city was on fire.
Danny had a sudden burning need to look out a window. "Hey Jazz, are we in any-"
"No Danny," his mother replied. "We're safe. It's just the power that's gone out."
Jack glanced away from his computer. "Green Bay. Huh." He shook his head. "I sure hope Vlad didn't get caught in any of this."
Danny set down the cereal and took a closer look and the television. Hopefully nobody would notice that he was having trouble breathing normally.
Jazz nodded. "No kidding. Quiet for a minute. Let Danny see the picture."
The TV continued to burble away. "-the only view we have been able to obtain of what appears to be the epicenter of the disaster. Authorities quickly closed the area to media and evacuated remaining civilians-" A crater flashed onscreen, a deep scoop in the earth that would have easily encompassed Casper High's football field. The earth around it was burned and bare, and the inside of the hole was torn with dirt and rock.
"Holy crap," he muttered. "What happened?"
Jazz shrugged. She picked at the hem of her shirt. "They don't know. Nobody knows anything."
"Is this like nine eleven?"
"They don't know."
"A tornado, maybe? Or a-"
Jazz whirled around. "What part of 'they don't know' is confusing? Nobody knows anything." She slumped back in her chair. "The whole disaster is a freak of nature." Danny looked down at his shoes.
Maddie put down her clipboard and looked over Jack's shoulder at the computer monitor. "Well, it might have something to do with ghosts. Your father and I are pretty sure of that."
Jazz threw up her arms. "Of course it has to do with ghosts. It always has something to do with ghosts."
Danny walked over to his father's computer. "Is that the same picture?"
Jack smiled. "Yup." On the monitor was a magnified picture of the TV image. "Got it a half hour ago from the network."
"Probably cost him half our college money to get it."
Maddie tapped her head with the clipboard. "Quiet, Jazz. We used the grant money."
Danny took a closer look at the picture. "Why-" He had to stop and clear his throat. "Why do you think ghosts are involved?"
"See these?" Jack pointed to a couple discolored spots on the monitor.
Danny squinted. "It's a white smudge and a black smudge. So?"
"Sorry. Let me zoom in." The picture cleared and focused on the two objects. The white smudge resolved itself into something that might be a body, and the black smudge rounded into a circle. "You can see dirt through the white man! It's a ghost!"
"Well, the guy might just have gotten dirty," Danny suggested.
Maddie shook her head. "We don't think a human could have survived this, sweetie."
"Maybe he got there afterwards." Danny looked away from the picture. The TV continued to show alternating images of the fires and the crater, and his sister lounged in the chair, worrying her shirt and watching the TV. Green Bay, Plasmius, and- Something else? Danny pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to clear his head. It was way too early for this.
He wandered from the TV to the rest of the lab, leaning against one of the many cluttered benches. His eyes drifted over the bizarre gadgets and unfinished projects, assorted anti-ghost inventions and switches for a couple things. Nothing he could use. Danny picked up a bare circuit, traced over its copper paths, and set it down again.
He should go and check it out, just to make sure it was something nice and natural that would not want to hunt him down, but the place would be crawling with cops and it was already so late that it would be incredible if the figure in the picture was even still there. Sam wouldn't be happy to hear about this either, and Tucker would just be confused. Danny didn't know what he could tell either of them, but he wasn't feeling well about any of this. He rolled his head, exasperated. The black and yellow stripes of the portal clashed in front of him. As if things weren't bad enough, its pilot light was out. Danny stood and took a closer look at the welcome distraction.
The portal wasn't doing anything at all, actually. Danny put his thumb on the keypad, and the doors opened alright, but there wasn't anything inside it. Just the back wall of the Fenton labs. Danny strode back to his dad's computer and sneaked a printout of the magnified crater. He folded it his pocket and started for the stairs. "I'm going out."
His parents told him to be careful. Jazz asked where he was going.
"Just to Sam and Tucker's."
She jumped up and followed him into the kitchen. "I'll drive you. Give me a second to get the keys."
Danny smiled. "Thanks."
Moments later they were both seated in white two-door. Jazz shoved the key in the ignition and held it there, leaning on the steering wheel with one arm, the other clasping the key. She took a breath and turned the engine. It coughed to life, and Jazz leaned back against the seat. Danny watcher her stolid face loosen as she pulled out onto the road.
She pulled to a stop at a darkened street light. "This is horrible. The people who did this are in for it. Who knows what the politicians will do after 2001, and-" Jazz stopped. Danny wasn't listening. His whole manner seemed a little left of center. If he was stressed about something, usually he'd jabber and fidget and call his friends for help with whatever it was. She could only remember one or two other occasion where he'd been quiet like this. "Danny? Is something going on?"
"What? Why?" He looked away from her, adjusting his seat. "No. There's nothing going on."
"Alright, just checking. You seem a little off, is all."
"Yeah, well, Green Bay just got turned into the world's largest bonfire," he grumbled. "I doubt anybody out there is too happy about it right now."
They pulled up outside Tucker's flat and picked him up. Tucker had heard about the accident on the radio, and the two of them exchanged superficial complaints. Danny responded monosyllabically to most of Tucker's proddings, and the conversation went belly-up. Danny fumbled and said that he wanted to wait for Sam before talking about it.
Jazz stopped again outside Sam's mansion and waited as Danny went up to retrieve her. Sam opened the door with a falsified smile, and Danny took her hand and led her back to the car. The two of them crawled in, Danny sitting between his two friends.
Jazz drummed her fingers on the wheel and looked back at them. "Where to?" The backseat trio exchanged helpless looks and gave her a collective shrug. Jazz rolled her eyes and put the car in gear. "The park it is, then."
Danny sneaked his arm around Sam as they pulled into traffic. She rested her head on his shoulder and murmured, "I don't feel very well today. Has something gone wrong?"
"Yeah," Danny sighed. "I think Something has." A small shiver rippled up her back, something he never would have noticed had he not been holding her. Sam pulled away and looked out the window.
"What?" Tucker looked over at them. "Do you guys know something I don't?"
"No," they chorused.
Fifteen minutes later, all four were all seated around a thick wooden picnic table. Other families, mostly parents with younger children, played around them, throwing balls or frisbees or eating lunch. The kids were confused, and the parents were distracted, but everybody tried to put a good front on it. The attitude was infectious, and the foursome found themselves trying to look at the bright side in spite of everything that suggested the contrary.
Tucker folded his arms on the table. "Okay, we're all here-including Sam-so spill."
Danny explained what he had gathered from the television. Midwest power out. Green Bay fires. Small-town sized crater. They took it in stride. "My dad enhanced the picture they were showing on the news," Danny explained. He unfolded the printout and passed it around. "He says this is a ghost, and the circle thing is probably something important."
Tucker picked up the picture and adjusted his glasses. "How could that be a guy? Look at the size of this thing!" He shook his head. "Not even a ghost would stick around for something like that."
Danny quirked his head. "Plasmius, maybe. His outfit's white."
Sam barked a laugh. "Right. Plasmius did this. Let's go with that."
"It could happen," Danny insisted. "He's pretty powerful, and it's not I've had a whole lot of experience with him."
Sam took the picture from Tucker and looked again. "I guess. Maybe."
Jazz nudged Danny. "Excuse me, but who's Plasmius?"
"Oh, right." Danny looked up. "Well, I guess he's..."
"Hey Danny," Tucker interrupted. "Should Jazz be here?"
Jazz put her elbows on the table. "Yes. Yes Jazz should be here. You two-" She pointed to Danny and Sam. "-obviously have an elephant in the room, and I'm fairly certain that I know who it is."
Tucker blinked. "Okay, seriously. What's going on?"
Jazz sighed. "Danny and Sam think that Alex is responsible."
"That is so not true," Sam shouted. She nudged Danny. "Right?"
Danny inspected the grain of the table. "Yeah, sure."
Tucker groaned. "Not him again. Didn't you lock him up with Walker?"
"Yeah, but the portal isn't working, and Green Bay is ground zero for this thing..."
Tucker scowled. "You guys are nuts. How can you even point fingers at Alex, when for all we know Walker's still got him locked up? Where's your evidence?"
"There it is!" Danny jumped from his bench up and slammed a finger down on the crater. "There's the evidence! No WAY Plasmius would draw this much attention, and even if he did, he's not crazy or powerful enough to do anything remotely like this." Jazz touched his shoulder. Danny gave her a dirty look, but he mumbled an apology to Tucker and sank back into his seat. "Alex may as well have signed it."
"Touchy," Tucker grumbled.
Sam looked down at her hands. "You know, Danny, Tucker might be right." She smiled. "We are being a little unreasonable. Nobody here knows a whole lot about Vlad Masters anyway. He might have just gotten his hands on something explosive and set it off accidentally."
Danny brightened. "Yeah. That's possible." He sat up straighter on the bench. "Look, I'm sorry I've been acting strange today. I'm sure you all mean well. It's just that, since I got up this morning, things have been really… odd. Everything just kind of smells like Alex."
"I know what you mean," Sam muttered.
Jazz cleared her throat. "Okay, I can understand that, but can somebody clue me in on this whole Green Bay-Vlad Masters thing?"
Danny clapped his hands. "Right. Vlad Masters is half-ghost, half-human. His ghost name is Plasmius, he's evil, and he's on a mission to marry Mom."
Jazz blinked. "Oh." She glanced over the crater picture again. "Too bad. I wanted to ask him for grant money someday."
"The obvious thing to do now," Danny continued. "Is to head on over to Green Bay, which is currently a blazing, possibly radioactive inferno, and check out the guy in the picture and the little circle thing. Who'd like to spend the weekend getting cancer and third-degree burns!"
Tucker's hand shot up. "I would!" They both collapsed into giggles.
"Cancer." Jazz frowned and shook her head. "Real nice, guys."
Sam cocked an eyebrow. "You two do realize this is a disease that kills millions, right?" For some strange reason, Danny and Tucker found that uproariously funny.
Danny gasped for breath. "Maybe it'll get Alex!"
"Brain cancer for the psychopath." Tucker composed himself, straightening his sweater. "Doctor doctor, I need an operation on my evil ghost-brain. It's too crowded in there!"
Sam's mouth worked stubbornly before at last melting into a smile. "You are so bad."
Jazz shook her head and stood up. "So we're going to Green Bay?"
Danny leaned back on the bench. "Yup. Here we come, cheese heads."
With much affected good-humor, the four of them piled back into Jazz's car, collected a map and gassed up Jazz's car, whipped out their cell phones, and arranged fake sleep-overs because their friend 'was pretty upset about it,' and a more accurate excuse couldn't have been given. As they got onto the highway, Jazz pushing the accelerator in the fast lane, she went over what she remembered from the last time she'd seen Alex: dangerous ghost, soul-sucking abilities, sadistic, murderous, and generally 'evil.' Jazz didn't like that last term. He had seemed evil, but he'd also been human, in his way. Up to a certain point, Jazz remembered, she had even been able to relate to him.
"Hm," she said.
Danny looked at her through the mirror. "What?"
"Nothing." Jazz reminded herself that Alex was a ghost, not a human, and probably incapable of psychological advancement. She should treat him carefully, but this one was no sympathy case. Highly unstable, too, given that crater.
Danny looked away from his sister and back to Sam and Tucker. They talked for the first hour and a half, exchanging school gossip and opining on the latest movies, dancing forever around the subject at hand to hit on something else. After a time they fell quiet. The day wore on, and the late morning sun rose to noon and fell again to heat the afternoon, glaring through their back window. They stopped once for food, lunching in some convenient fast-food joint, then stretched and climbed in again for the ride. They talked again, far enough away now to remark on the scenery and various off-beat roadside attractions. They passed away from the cities and through hills, orchards, fields, and cattle ranches, occasionally rolling through a small city or town that had grown up on the highway. The Sun passed down into the evening, and Jazz stopped to grab a couple cups of coffee before the long night ride. They three in back took one last opportunity to stretch, then it was back in the car, rolling back onto the road and into the oncoming twilight.
Hours later, Jazz slurped her coffee and stole a look in the backseat. Tucker slept, leaning up against Danny, his omnipresent tech backpack lying dormant at his side. Danny and Sam lay cuddled against one another, purposefully tangled in a somnolent embrace. The three sleeping teens breathed evenly, their cheeks and mouths clear of all worried contortions, smoothed into softness by unconscious dreams.
Jazz looked back to the road. She kept the picture of the sleeping children in her mind, wondering what they dreamed, wondering what she looked like when she slept. She wondered if they could have slept as soundly in separate beds.
You know, she thought, I think everything may just turn out alright, even if it is Alex.
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A/N: Many thanks to smile7499 for the French correction. I suspect that you may be right about the style, but I'll have to think about that one. I want to continue with 10 before I go back to 8. And yes, I know this one took a while, but I wantedto get it right. Hopefully I did. Thanx also, once again, to the lovely reviewers: Sakura Scout, cheerin4danny, Mrs. Granger-Weasley, and smile7499.