Chapter 2:
Amity Park was a nice little town. It had all the staples of a small city. The town hall, the local school, and the artery-clogging burger joint were all in place. However, the first thing I noticed about Amity Park was its oddly morbid undertone. While it seemed like a nice, cheery little town, I noticed that the names in it were all connected to something darker. They all seemed to be pulling from horror and ghost stories.
I pointed this out to Daisy, who gave me a blank look.
"Come on Daisy, think! Casper High, after Casper the Friendly ghost, Amity Park, after the Amityville Horror, Fenton, which sounds suspiciously like Phantom, heck, the Football team is called the Ravens, like that Poe ballad!"
"What's your point?"
I rolled my eyes. Daisy was a sweetheart, but sometimes she could be so blonde.
"My point is… well it's weird, okay? I'd expect this out of a place like Salem but…"
A girl squealing at a display in a nearby store window, which advertised "DANNY PHANTOM EVERYTHING", diverted my train of thought!
"Never mind?" Daisy asked, smirking at me.
"Maybe not. That's the kid we saw earlier."
I dragged Daisy after me to the window display and the girl who was swooning over a poster with the familiar white-haired boy on it.
"Miss, could you help us out?"
The girl turned to us, glaring a bit. I noticed a bit of a blush about her cheeks, probably embarrassed of having been spotted gushing over the boy, who she had a very obvious crush on.
"Yes?" her annoyed accent was of a definite Spanish origin. She glowered at us both.
"Could you tell us who that white-haired boy is?"
Her eyes lit up suddenly.
"The Ghost boy? He's Danny Phantom! He's a hero! He fights all the ghosts that haunt us. He's saved my life so many times!" Her eyes glazed over as she stared off the side, taking in the image of the poster, which had replaced the boy's legs with a translucent tail.
"So he is a ghost? Not just some kid with ghost-like powers or something?"
She looked at me blankly. "I think so. Can humans have ghost powers?"
I shrugged. "Um, do you know where we could find a Danny Fenton?"
She glowered at me for pulling her away from the display again.
"He and his dorky parents live down the street. You can't miss it." She then pointed to a huge, garish glowing sign proclaiming "FENTONWORKS" and a gigantic arrow that pointed down at the building's door.
"Thanks"
As we walked away, and I'm pretty sure I heard the girl sigh to herself "Paulina Phantom…"
The sign next to the Fenton Family's door stated "Jack and Maddie Fenton, World's leading experts on Ghosts, specters, spirits, phantoms and wraiths! Please bring fudge."
I rang the doorbell, which gave a nice, innocent buzzing sound. I was rather relieved. I was certain that it was going to scream, "Boo," "Beware," or the Ghostbusters theme at us.
A short, red-haired girl of about sixteen opened the door to us. She had a tired, exasperated look about her.
"Yes?" she asked. It sounded more like a groan.
"Yeah, can I talk to a Mr. Jack Fenton?"
"About ghosts!" A huge, wide man in an orange jumpsuit shoved the girl out of the way, leaning into my face.
"Erm… Yeah! About Ghosts!" I forced a smile. "I want to know all about the ghosts in this town!" It seemed like a good way to get into the house.
Jack Fenton grabbed me about the shoulders and pulled me into the house roughly.
"You've come to the right place, my man! The Fentons are the world's-"
"Leading experts on ghosts, spirits, specters, phantoms and wraiths?" I injected.
"Right!"
"Jack, honey, who are you talking to?" A woman in a blue jumpsuit walked in, carrying a bizarre little contraption with a dish and a bunch of buttons on it. I recognized her instantly as Maddie Fenton from the photo the client had emailed us on the way.
"This is… umm" Jack Fenton looked me up and down, trying to think of the name I hadn't had time to give him.
"I'm Chris Hau-" I paused, not wanting to give my actual name, especially in this group of obsessed ghost hunters. "I'm Chris Hartman. My colleague, Daisy," I pulled Daisy over to my side, "and I are here in town on business. We were attacked by a couple of ghosts while flying over the city and decided to find out more."
"You saw a ghost!" Jack Fenton shoved his face in mine again. He'd been eating ham. The ham had been a little overdue for a trip to the dumpster."
"Two, actually. A white-haired kid and a glowing green wolf."
"That Phantom kid again!" Fenton pumped his fist in the air. Don't worry, I, JACK FENTON, will catch that ghost!"
I looked over at Daisy. What exactly had I gotten us into now?
I was slightly taken aback by the Fenton's lab. It was filled to the brim with odd contraptions, beakers of glowing slime, and on the back wall was a huge octagon shaped door, which Jack Fenton called the Fenton portal. He pulled out contraption after contraption; giving me it's name and explaining what it did. Everything from the Ghost Gabber to the BOO-merang had a crazy name and an even wackier use. As he went on, I couldn't help but get swept up in his enthusiasm.
"Dad?" a slight, black-haired boy stuck his head down the stairs, "What's going on?"
"DANNY! Come on down! I'm showing Mr…."
"Hartman"
"… Mr. Hartman the lab!"
Danny's eyes widened as he looked at me. Like he recognized me. Of course, there was no way he could, since I'd never seen him before… except for Master's emailed photo again. I felt a twinge of guilt. Despite his blustering, bravado, and the numbness I was getting in my shoulder from him clapping it and pulling me this way and that, I kind of liked the man. He had a very enthusiastic, warm personality. It pained me to think that I could have a hand in causing this man pain.
Danny couldn't believe it. The black guy from the plane was now in his house? Maybe it wasn't the same guy.
"Hey Jack, Daisy and I are going to be in town for a while, do you have any suggestions to keep the ghosts off our back? We have business and don't have time to get chased by ghosts."
Nope, it was the same guy. Danny looked around for the dangerous blonde who'd been hurling drinking glasses at his head only a few hours earlier. She wasn't in the lab. Maybe she hadn't come to Fentonworks too?
Jack Fenton pulled out a gigantic round gun. "It's brand new! It shoots out ectoplasmic rays that are guaranteed to knock ghosts straight into the next county!"
He plopped the ray gun into my hands. In retrospect, I probably should have told him straight out that I wasn't very good with guns.
The Fenton ray shot off, blasting a hole in the ceiling. I was knocked to the floor by the kick, and the gun went off again, this time at Danny's head, which he fortunately ducked just in time, and the ray blasted a hole in the door behind him. The gun was firing randomly now, the kicks dragging me across the floor. Jack grabbed onto my legs, but that only managed to get us both knocked down by the blasts. One hit above the Ghost portal's control panel, knocking a beaker of glowing ectoplasm onto a button. A warning light started flashing, and the yellow and black striped doors opened, revealing a swirling green mist.
In the depths of the mist we could see forming what looked like a huge dust cloud bearing in on us. The ghostly moan coming from the cloud turned into a moo as we realized that a hundred head of spectral bison were headed high speed straight towards the portal.
"STAMPEDE!" Jack and I yelled. I aimed the still misfiring Fenton Ray through the portal. The blast launched whole line of red-eyed bulls backwards into the air. With a cry of triumph, Jack let go of me as I struggled to keep the Fenton Ray steady, firing into the ghost zone. Jack grabbed up another gun from a rack on the wall and started firing from behind me. Though his gun didn't have as much firepower, his aim was definitely better than my sporadic blasts. Wave after wave of spectral buffalo were blasted back into the depths of the ghost zone. Finally Maddie Fenton ran down and slammed her fist against the control panel of the Portal, and the doors closed.
I sat on the ground, the Fenton Ray smoking green from the muzzle.
"Hair trigger… right. I need to make a note of that." I said as I handed Mrs. Fenton the gun.
At least the fight was over. Danny had been afraid of having to enter the fray as Danny Phantom. He didn't want the mysterious guy from the plane making any more connections than he must of already had. How had he traced him back the Fentonworks?
Danny sat down at the kitchen table, mulling over this and his math homework. He was sure Hartman had reacted to his face, but how could he? He'd only seen him as Danny Phantom for a moment. Was it the Guys in White again? Danny had been sure he'd taken care of them during the whole Reality Gauntlet fiasco. Hartman didn't look like one of the guys in white. For one thing, he wasn't wearing white, and he wasn't nearly as bulky on top. Nor could he handle that big gun like a government agent should be able to.
"Oh Jack, you're bleeding!" He heard his mother exclaim as the voices rose up from the stairs.
"It's nothing, Maddie, just a nick." His dad assured her.
"He probably got it while we were struggling with the Fenton Ray. That thing has got a really strong kick!" Hartman's voice sounded excited and exhausted.
Danny sank his head down lower, trying to avoid eye contact with Hartman.
"I'll get something for it." Daisy's voice came from behind Danny, making him jump a little.
"It's in the upstairs bathroom cabinet, dear." His mom told her.
Danny sank his face in his hands. He wished he could go invisible, but couldn't in the suddenly crowded kitchen. He felt like space was pressing in on him. He needed to call Tucker and Sam. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe Hartman and his friend showing up here was only a coincidence. Maybe Hartman just knew someone who looked like Danny from his past.
Someone like Danny Phantom? Sometimes even Danny wondered how people didn't know it was just him; with a slight change of hair and eye color of course.
Daisy came back down with the med kit. She wiped Danny's father's brow with a swab, then went about putting a small bandage on it.
"Good as new. I'm sorry about your husband, Mrs. Fenton, but Chris has always been pretty rough on his toys."
Maddie and Daisy laughed over this as Jack and Chris compared battle notes.
Danny groaned and rushed upstairs.
"Did you get it?" I asked Daisy.
"Yeah, it wasn't much of a problem. It was kinda lucky you guys got into that fight. I didn't really like combing through their stuff and trying to figure out what belonged to who."
"I know. They're nice people. Overzealous, but nice." I laughed. "I wonder what it was like for those kids to grow up with parents like that."
"Eventful?"
We both laughed at this on the way to our motel rooms. But the jest was hollow, like the victory. I went from almost hoping that our client was wrong to praying for him to be wrong.