Kat leaned against, and partially through, a nearby wall, humiliated that anyone had seen her as anything less than cool and calm. She glared at Shade who, she was mollified to note, seemed rather scared of her. Hovering between them, Danny stared up at the battle in progress and wondered if he should do something. Neither of the ghosts were friends, or even allies, but it felt wrong to simply leave. His indecision had set the nanobots looping again
"What would happen if you hit?" Shade ventured quietly.
"I wouldn't have," Kat returned, dragging herself to her full height.
Danny rolled his eyes. "Knock it off, Kat. I think he's actually losing."
"Which one?"
"Ours."
It had quickly become apparent that Electra was able to overshadow AU Skulker's ecto-skeleton and strengthen his attacks. Danny was half-tempted to ask Kat to do likewise, but their Skulker suddenly plummeted to the road, barely missing the two ghost boys, and hitting with enough force to crack the pavement. As his ecto-skeleton sparked and whined, he phased through the metal and fell weakly to the ground.
"Interesting," AU Skulker muttered, watching as Danny gave in to "good guy" instinct and rushed forward to make sure the little green blob of ghost energy was okay. He glanced over to where his quarry was practically hiding behind the righteously enraged Kat and heard a quiet snicker next to his ear. He glanced back toward the derelict hunk of machinery, surprised by how strong his counterpart had been forced to become because of the half ghost. "Can we add that power to ours?" he asked his electronic passenger.
"Is the sky orange and green?" Electra scoffed.
AU Skulker nodded once; he knew what she meant. "Good. I think I'd rather have the stronger of the two." Chuckling to himself, he flew away with the destroyed ecto-suit in tow. Danny watched them go, equal parts grateful and annoyed.
"Shouldn't we go after them?" Shade asked. His voice implied that he was praying the boy would say no, and he breathed a sigh of relief when Danny shook his head.
"Kat's hurt, we're both exhausted, and Skulker's out cold," he explained, ignoring the gremlin's outraged exclamation. "There's nothing more we can do tonight…I am so grounded…"
Kat waved a hand dismissively as she walked past. "Just tell them you were attacked by ghosts," she grumbled. "I'm sure you look the part." She drew a circle in the air and started to jump through to Technus' lair.
"Could you take him with you?" Danny called, referring to Skulker. She stopped, turned just long enough to flash an impish grin, and vanished inside. The ghost boy sighed and drifted into the air. "I give up. Let's just go home."
"Y…you mean…I'm coming with you…?"
He turned to see his double, grinning and trying not to dance in place, and laughed quietly. "Duh. Come on."
It was about two in the morning before the Fentons finally trudged inside. They had to push the GAV all the way home, and even Jack the Incorrigible was too tired to care about repairing it. He wandered into their room and collapsed facedown on the bed. Smiling fondly, Maddie walked past their room to Danny's and eased the door open. She knew he'd been there, and she wanted to make sure he'd gotten home all right.
She blinked and started to say something. He was in bed, yes, but there was an unmoving, glowing green blob lying in his half-open sock drawer, and someone who looked astonishingly like him was passed out on a pile of blankets near the closet. After a moment, she simply added that to the list of questions she would have for him when he decided to tell her the truth and eased the door closed again.
Jack was snoring loudly when she entered their bedroom, still fully clothed and lying on top of the blankets. She chuckled quietly and decided to simply be grateful that he wasn't on her side of the bed. She almost envied him for a moment; he didn't have to worry about their son getting himself killed while trying to play hero. She was proud to know that her little boy was so selfless and responsible, but…
She wondered if the mothers of police officers and firemen felt the same way and decided that they couldn't. They had never tried to hunt their children down and eradicate them from existence. She felt like such a bad mother that she had never figured it out, but half ghosts shouldn't have been possible. Danny shouldn't have been able to exist like that. With a forlorn sigh, she settled down to nightmares about actually succeeding in hunting him down.
Danny opened bleary eyes to meet a pair of tiny red ones and very nearly went back to sleep. "Do you always sleep through your alarm?" Skulker asked. The boy pried his eyes open again and glanced at the clock. He was going to be late if he didn't get up, but he couldn't seem to care.
"Get off of me," he mumbled, rolling over.
The little ghost squeaked in alarm as he tumbled to the mattress. "Humans," he muttered peevishly. "I know for a fact that you only need eight hours of sleep, and you've had that that. Now, get up!" He kicked Danny in the forehead and dodged a violent slap.
"Knock it off!" the ghost boy exclaimed, almost fully awake for a few seconds.
"Keep it down!" Shade called from his place by the closet.
"Get up, whelp!" Skulker commanded, not lowering his volume in the slightest. "I helped you rescue him; now, it's your turn."
The argument might have continued, but Jazz took that moment to hammer on the bedroom door. Danny threw the blankets off, taking care to make sure they landed on the ghostly annoyance, and grabbed his clothes off the floor. He grinned apologetically at Shade, who had practically jumped to his feet at the noise. "I have to go to school. Are you going to be okay here?"
Blinking owlishly, the boy nodded, and flopped back down. "I'll keep an eye on him after I wake up."
"You can have the bed if you want it," Danny pointed out, but his double seemed to have already fallen asleep again. He gave Skulker an amused glance as he left the room.
The ghost folded his arms and stared after the boy. They didn't have time for Danny to go to school. They needed to go after AU Skulker and Electra and get his ecto-skeleton back. Since it clearly wasn't in the room, he had no doubts that they had taken it; it's what he would have done in the same situation. He briefly considered rousing Shade, but decided against it. That one couldn't even beat their mutual enemy before he acquired the means to power up. He'd be next to useless.
Every fiber of Skulker's being demanded that he go after the interlopers, but he had no power to do so. He dared not trust the Ghost Master despite their tentative alliance; the alligator just might decide he would make a good snack after the way he'd beaten them last time.
In fact, running through his short list of potential allies, he realized his prey was the only one he could actually trust. Vlad might help, but he'd be more likely to make Skulker sort things out on his own. Technus would just laugh at him. Walker would use the opportunity to lock him up for good.
Grumbling, the little ghost slid off the bed and headed for the door, vaguely hoping there was something in the Fenton's lab that could help. He was about three feet away from freedom when a hand closed around him and dropped him in Danny's sock drawer again. "Would you just stay out of trouble, please?" Shade asked through a yawn.
Skulker didn't bother to respond; he simply turned away and pretended to pout. After a moment, he glanced over to see that the ghost boy was more or less asleep again and became intangible to fall on the floor. After a moment's thought, he dropped down invisibly into the kitchen and sneaked down the steps into the lab.
It was empty, a fortuitous situation. It was also way too big for such a tiny ghost, and he swore quietly. He didn't fly well, hence the suit's jet packs. He wasn't very strong, hence the suit's strength. He was tiny, hence its size.
Danny had once teased him about using his natural abilities, but the simple fact was that he didn't have any. Hence the ecto-skeleton.
He had just noticed a chair he could climb up to reach the tables when a faint whine alerted him too late to the presence of a Fenton Thermos. "I told you to stay out of trouble," Shade laughed, shaking the device slightly. He thought he could hear Skulker inside demanding to be let out.
Suddenly, something thudded to the ground behind him, and he whirled to face a Ghost Bazooka wielded by Jack Fenton. "What are you doing here, ghost?" the man demanded.
"Oh, I was…uh, j…just…um…" Shade looked around quickly and grinned. "Bye!" He dropped through the floor, then flew around to sit on the ops center until everything cooled down again.