Hello, once again!

I hope all of my readers are enjoying my longer chapters; they're making things so much easier for all of us. The storyline has been cemented in place now, thanks to the reviews that you all have been sending me!

Also, a disclaimer: the song isn't mine. It was written by someone whose name I don't know.

Now, let's rock!

Chapter Eleven: O.G. the Mastermind

"This is all just too confusing," muttered Danny.

"What?" asked Tucker. "It doesn't seem that complicated to me."

Danny looked at his friend with a mixture of annoyance and misunderstanding. He had called Sam and Tucker over to help him recap on what had happened in the past week, since they hadn't visited him in the hospital for quite some time. Now that he was back at home, he could see his friends on a regular basis again.

"Are you telling me that Spectra coming back, a looney opera ghost from an old story teaming up with her, me being vampirized, and Bertrand stealing something off the Fenton Mainframe isn't complicated?" Danny winced at further pain from his ribs.

"Not at all," Tucker replied. "I've been at work trying to find out what he took, but my PDA hasn't been able to find anything yet."

"But it should show up, right?" asked Sam.

"This is the problem," explained Tucker, "Bertrand used some kind of backdoor file to turn the key-checks off on the safety systems, so we can't look through the keystrokes to find what he did. All this leads to a file on the image folder: whiteshrd.obj. It looks like a Trojan, but I can't be sure. The only way to find the command that he used is to go through the individual lines of code one by one."

Danny blinked comically. He had not understood a word that his friend had said. "In English?" he asked.

"He used a virus to hack into your computer and cover his tracks. It'll take me about an hour to find the command."

The other two groaned with exasperation.

"This is ridiculous," sighed Danny. "Why don't we just fly down there and make Spectra tell us?"

"No," said Sam sternly. "I'm not gonna let you get pounded into paste again."

Tucker smiled at this. "Aww! Aren't you two cute, the way you care about each other!"

Danny and Sam blushed. Their so-called crushes on each other had been the topic of speculation for months in many social circles. Some said that it was only a matter of time before they got together. But of course, the two denied having any sort of intimate relationship, despite what it may look like.

"Well, would you look at the time!" said Sam out of the blue. "I gotta get over to the school to...uh..."

"Spy on Spectra?" Tucker filled in.

"Yeah!" Sam walked out of the room, slinging her backpack over her shoulder. As she went outside to her electric scooter, she didn't notice a pink sedan following her about three car lengths behind. A bumper sticker on its rear bumper read: "HAVE YOU HUGGED YOUR INNER CHILD TODAY?"

It was hard to dodge the students that were here for the football game as Sam arrived at Casper High. However, it seemed like the inappropriate weather for a game, as she could hear the roll of distant thunder in the clouds to the South. No matter; she had other things to worry about.

Sam was walking towards the office of Penelope Spectra when she heard lively music and singing coming from the room at the end of the hall:

I've got you under my skin

I've got you deep in the heart of me

So deep in my heart than you're really a part of me

I've got you under my skin

The song was extremely cheesy for the modern era, making Sam wonder why anyone would listen to it, let alone sing along to it. She decided to investigate and walked down the hall.

I tried so not to give in

I said to myself 'this affair, it never will go so well'

But why should I try to resist when, baby I know darn well

That I've got you under my skin

The goth stopped at the door, remembering what Tucker had said: he thought that Claudine, the new music teacher, was the ghost that stole the music sheets from Sam a few nights back. Sam didn't believe him, saying that we couldn't just blurt out that anyone might be a ghost. Still, it didn't hurt to be careful.

I'd sacrifice anything, come what might

For the ake of having you near, in spite

Of a warning voice that comes in the night

And repeats, repeats in my ear:

'Don't you know you fool? You never can win

Use your mentality; wake up to reality'

But each time I do, just the thought of you makes me stop before I begin

Because I've got you under my skin

As the bridge to the music started, Sam eased open the door. There, dancing alone in the orchestra pit of the band room, eyes closed, was Mr. Claudine in his gray suit-jacket and fedora. He had picked up a violin and was playing along to the music of the bridge. Sam had to stifle a giggle; the whole display looked utterly embarrassing. Claudine then proceeded to throw the violin to a corner of the room as the bridge ceased, and he continued to sing:

I would sacrifice anything, come what might

For the sake of having you near, in spite

Of a warning voice that comes in the night

And repeats, how it yells in my ear:

'Don't you know you fool? Ain't no chance to win!

Why not use your mentality? Get up, wake up to reality'

And each time I do, just the thought of you makes me stop just before I begin–

The music teacher whirled around to face Sam, his eyes suddenly open. He yelped in utter surprise, obviously thinking he had been alone. The teen's snicker grew into raucous laughter as Claudine turned off the CD player and tried to compose himself.

"You–door–knock!" he managed to get out.

"Sorry," giggled Sam. "I didn't know you'd be doing anything so embarrassing."

"Shouldn't you be outside?" asked Claudine quizzically.

"I'm not here for the football game."

The teacher raised a brow. "Then why are you here?"

"Um..." Sam couldn't think up a credible answer.

"No matter," continued Claudine. "I need your opinion on something, anyway."

As she followed him to the pipe organ, Sam began to wonder what had made Tucker think that Claudine was a ghost in the first place. Spectra radiated her own special brand of menace, but this man seemed about as sinister as Walt Disney.

Still, she couldn't help but notice that Claudine had the same eyes as Danny...

Those thoughts were shooed out of her head as organ music filled the room. It was a bit like the music from Sam's box, hauntingly beautiful and mysterious. However, the notes were far different: it seemed like a cross between a wedding march and a funeral mass. As the last note reverberated through the room, Claudine turned around to face the goth, his mismatched eyes wide and expectant.

"Well...what do you think?"

Sam was just about to answer that question when she saw the music sheet: it was written entirely in red, faded notes and bound into what looked like an enormous manuscript. On the other side, another set of notes, also in red ink, were bound into it; the wavy writing at the top all too familiar:

Don Juan Triumphant

Sam started to back away, reaching for the Specter-Deflector she had stored in her backpack. As she felt the buckle of the belt-like device, Claudine's expectant expression crumbled away into a snarl as he lunged at the girl, knocking the backpack to the floor.

"Penny was right," said Claudine, the dry warble in his voice gone. "You are smarter than your age would imply."

Two halos of light shot out of the man's mid-section, traveling vertically along his body in opposite directions; just like Danny. His gray suit-jacket and fedora were immediately replaced with a fine tuxedo, an opera cloak, and a floppy, black slouch hat. His silk-gloved hands were now wrung into fists as he stared down at Sam, his eyes burning with arrogance.

"Did you really think that you would be able to stop me when your friend was hospitalized from my efforts?" The Opera Ghost grinned as he said this, revealing small, sharp-looking teeth that were the color of polished ivory.

Sam got to her feet. "It was a thought," she said dryly, not showing her true fear.

"Don't waste time thinking," said O.G. "After all, it may be the last thought you'll ever have alive."

The ghost walked up to the goth and drew his cloak about them. Immediately, Sam felt light-headed and numb as the world dissolved into darkness around her...

"It's done!" exclaimed Tucker as his PDA started to beep.

"Finally!" sighed Danny, who winced at the pain in his ribs.

Both teens read the small screen of the hand-held computer, looking for the right combination of code. At last, they came to a piece containing whiteshrd.obj. In the line was a file called Fentonworks Inventions and Compounds, and within that same line was a particular file: EC2.

"What does it mean?" asked Danny.

Tucker's eyes went wide with fright as he read through the feed. "Oh my..."

"What?"

"WE HAVE TO GET DOWN THERE NOW!" Tucker's scream hurt Danny's ears.

"What do you mean? What's EC2?"

"Never mind that! Just go ghost and get down to the school! I'll follow you!"

"But I–"

"Never mind your ribs! This is a matter of life and death!"

Upon hearing that, Danny sat up, wincing at the pain. He transformed into Danny Phantom and floated in midair, his ribs feeling slightly less pained from no pressure on them.

"How fast can you fly?" Tucker asked.

"I don't know," replied Danny. "I'll try to clock forty, just to be safe."

"Got it!" And with that, the ghost-boy got his backpack of Fentonworks gadgets, phased through his window and shot off towards the school, Tucker following closely behind on his scooter.

There we go!

I'm gonna have to spend some more time on the next chapter, as it's quite longer than the other two. Keep with me, people, and keep the reviews coming in!

Until another day.

Your sincerest regards,

Monsieur Caracal.