She looked around the wood paneled room, wondering how she came to be there. The only light came from a lantern that sat on a nearby table and the moon that shone through the collapsed roof. It seemed to be an attic of some sort. The back half of the room was sectioned off by a floor-to-ceiling chicken wire fence, behind which stood the terrified form of her son.
"What do you fear most?" asked Silver. Behind the fence, a pair of marksman appeared and took aim at Danny.
"No!" she cried, reaching out to her boy. "Leave him alone!"
"You remind me of my madre," Silver said kindly. "She always defended me."
The marksman fired.
"NO!" Maddie screamed.
"Easy!" Danny exclaimed. "It was a nightmare! Okay?"
"Danny?" Maddie gasped, hearing her son's voice. Her face fell when she saw it was only the ghost boy standing next to her. "Oh, it's you."
There was a decidedly uncomfortable pause, and she looked up to see Danny staring at his feet. He sighed, a bit sadly it seemed, then looked back at her. "You were talking in your sleep," he explained quietly. "Silver was feeding you that dream. It wasn't real."
"How do you know about her?"
She was rather alarmed to see the boy's eyes brighten considerably, his expression identical to the one her son wore when he thought about Silver. "We've met," he replied curtly.
The abrupt sound of static filled the establishment. Alarmed, Maddie jumped to her feet, but Danny merely groaned as the televisions that lined the back wall resolved themselves to a sepia-toned image of an old psychiatrist's office. Dr. Killjoy strode into frame and stripped off his dripping rubber gloves. "My dear boy, I do hope you haven't forgotten me," he said pleasantly. "I must say, I do rather miss my projectors. Ah, well. Se la vie, as the French are wont to say. And this must be your dear-"
"Maddie!" Danny interrupted quickly. "Her name is Maddie, and she hunts people like me." He noticed the odd look his mother gave him and pretended not to.
Killjoy clucked disapprovingly. "My, my. 'Oh, what a tangled web we weave.' I should certainly like the opportunity to have the lot of you in my office one day."
The ghost boy grumbled something that sounded like "Over my dead body." All things considered, it was rather ironic, or so Maddie thought. She decided to put his responses away for contemplation later and turned her attention to the doctor. She thought she could honestly say that she had never seen a ghost quite like him. He seemed nice enough, and Danny was displaying more of an aggravated attitude than a hateful one toward him. She took a few steps towards the monitors and asked, "Who are you?"
He made a grandiose bow and contritely replied, "A thousand apologies madam! How positively boorish of me to forget my manners. "I am Killjoy. Doctor Killjoy, Ph.D. I am your son's…ahem, and our dear Phantom's psychiatrist." Danny muttered something unintelligible, but the doctor continued as though he hadn't heard. "Although, it does pain me to admit it, I seem to have a bit of trouble calling…ahem, them in for their appointments."
"Just shut up, already," Danny hissed. His mother was getting that look in her eyes again, the one that meant she was thinking about the similarities between her son and the ghost boy.
Killjoy merely gave him a superior look. "An interesting conundrum, to say the least." He may or may not have been referring to his inability to continue his sessions with Danny, a fact that was not lost on Maddie. She had noticed how he emphasized the plural terms, and firmly pushed the possible implications out of mind. Danny Phantom and Danny Fenton could not possibly be the same person. They couldn't.
Because the thought that they might be was too heart wrenching to contemplate.
She was drawn back to reality when the object of her musings said, "So are you here for a reason? Or do you just like to my life difficult?"
Killjoy chuckled lightly. "You mean 'afterlife', do you not?" If he had a physical body, Danny would have strangled him. "As it so happens, I did have a reason. Well, besides the obviously vain hope that you might like to share today, that is.
"I was looking into that fellow Copperfield's life; he would be that one with all the maulers, trying to hunt the both of you down. Quite a fascinating history, as a matter of fact. Apparently, he allowed his dogs to devour their prey, often still alive. A pity really that he won't speak to me. He would make a most fascinating case study. But, I digress."
Maddie leaned over to whisper, "Is he usually like this?" Danny gave a resigned nod.
Apparently oblivious to the exchange, Killjoy continued. "From what I can gather, he has spent his days tracking down the descendants of those who actually managed to elude him. Fortunately, he seems unable to leave Baltimore. However, that does little for the two of you. It appears that your progenitors were directly involved in the successful escapes of quite a number of slaves. It would seem your presence, my dear boy, coupled with the Fenton heritage has conspired to awaken him again."
"And I'm sure Silver had nothing to do with it," Danny remarked sarcastically.
Of course, not, she replied, earning a growl from the ghost boy. I'm just here to watch the game. And to play…
Ever needing to be the center of attention, Killjoy cleared his throat. Once both sets of eyes were on him again, he bowed slightly. "I would suggest you run very quickly," he said casually. "And now if you will excuse me, I have a lobotomy to perform." The screens flickered out again.
Danny and Maddie had just enough time to wonder what he meant and begin to address each other when they heard the barking. The ghost boy grabbed his mother and started to fly for the roof. Suddenly, he felt like all his internal organs were being microwaved inside him and fell to the ground screaming.
Now, that's no fun, is it?
He was vaguely away of Maddie's truly concerned queries as he tried to fight off Silver's overpowering suggestion. "I'm not…letting you do this…to me again," he said between tightly clenched teeth. The pain released him as suddenly as it began, but they were out of time.
The hounds, or maulers as Killjoy called them, crashed through the store window. Maddie yanked Danny to his feet and dragged him into the backroom, slamming the door behind her. "What happened?" she demanded.
"Silver's locked my powers away," he explained as he led the way to the alley-side door. "I think I can fight it off again, but not while they're after us."
Then the maulers broke through, and they had to save their breath for running. Danny twisted around to blast at the few that got too close, and was gratified to see that Silver had once again left him with a sporting chance. Maddie did likewise with her ecto-pistol, but the ghost hunting weapon was little use against physical monsters.
A fence appeared to block the way; Danny blasted a gaping hole in it, and they were back on the open streets. They ran past a firing squad of triggermen about to shoot a helpless Jack and Jazz, and Maddie stumbled to a stop.
"It isn't real!" Danny yelled. He grabbed her hand and pulled her away from Silver's illusion mere seconds before the lead hound caught up. It was right on their heels, but the boy didn't dare let go of his mother to blast it, and trying to hit it with his free hand would only have made him lose his balance. After what seemed like an eternity, but was probably only a few minutes, Maddie pulled free and shot the thing herself.
Ahead, the image of Silver appeared to wave them into an alley. Neither of them was certain what her motive was, but they ran down it anyway. A wall at the far end forced them to stop.
Danny growled something that shouldn't be repeated, then laced his fingers together. "Climb up," he said, leaning down slightly.
The ghost hunter didn't bother to hesitate, but let Danny boost her up to reach the top of the wall. She had just barely grabbed hold of the edge when her support vanished in a mass of snarling and snapping. She scrambled the rest of the up and started blasting the hounds. "Leave him alone!" she exclaimed, punctuating each word with a shot. She wasn't sure what would happen to a ghost under those circumstances, but it didn't seem likely he would survive without better help than she could give. Fortunately, she was spared from having to find out as a green glow knocked the maulers several feet away before forming a half-sphere around the boy.
Danny held his arms as meager defense from multiple bite marks and stab wounds. Outside his ghost shield, the maulers worked themselves into even more of a frenzy trying to reach him. He didn't think he would be able to maintain consciousness for much longer, but he had been left with no means of escape. If he let his shield down to run, they would attack. He closed his eyes and wondered what his mother would think when she saw the remains of his very human body. At least he would be a full ghost then, and possibly able to defeat these creatures. Maybe she'd even let him explain before she accused him of possessing her son.
Now, I'm disappointed. This isn't like you to just give up.
Was it his imagination, or did Silver actually sound worried?
Get up, niño, she said, her "voice" bordering on panic now. Do something. You are the fantasma muchacho. You can't just give up.
"What other choice do I have?" he said quietly.
He flinched as a gun shot rang out, and turned to wait for his mother to topple over the edge. A second report, and he realized the shooter wasn't aiming at his mother. A third, and he saw a mauler topple to the concrete. Suddenly, the pack was more interested in the white-haired woman who stood in the alley entrance, holding two silver-plated colts. Twelve shots rang out in all, and the remaining maulers were slammed repeatedly into the walls and pavement by an invisible hand.
Danny let his shield drop and sank to his knees. Through rapidly dimming sight, he saw Silver give an ironic salute before running away again and was vaguely aware of Maddie as she slid back down the wall to check on him. He gratefully collapsed into her arms and let the darkness overwhelm him.