Chapter 4

Danny took back the flashlights now that the three were back within the safety of Fenton Works and asked, "So future twins, how much about ecto-tech do you know?"

"Not much," Misty admitted. "We only really started learning last year."

"Mom said it was too dangerous," Jackson complained. "We're ghost hunter's kids, you think they would let us fight."

"You're only twelve," Danny pointed out, sitting the flashlights on the coffee table.

"Oops, that's his bedroom," a voice said, getting all three's attention to the stairs.

"Who's there!?" Danny called out. He stepped over to the closet in the dining room and pulled out the broom that had defeated the turkey and held it tight in both hands. Standing at the base of the stairs he called out, "I heard you!"

"Danny? Is that you?" the male voice asked.

"Is that Tucker?" Misty asked.

Danny gave them a look as he said, "That voice was too deep."

"Tucker?!" Jackson called, pushing by Danny to run up the stairs.

Misty followed her brother, throwing over her shoulder, "Tucker from our time."

Danny kept hold of the broom but followed the twins up the stairs and into his room to see an older Tucker Foley on his computer screen. "Tucker?" Danny asked, his voice barely audible.

"Hey twins! How are you holding up?" Tucker asked as the two came into the web camera first.

Danny side stepped closer, confusion on his face as he took in an older version of his best friend.

"Man, Danny," Tucker said with a laugh. "I forgot how baby faced you were."

"Hey!" Danny exclaimed, hearing another voice from Tucker's end say the same.

"Where's Mr. F?" Tucker asked. "I thought all four of you had gone missing."

"Grandpa went missing again," Misty informed.

"He went outside more than an hour ago," Danny admitted. "We followed his footsteps till they vanished."

"Vanished?" Madeline's voice said from off screen.

"I told you, I don't remember," Jack's voice said, haggard from age. His voice came from the other side of the screen, just off camera, as he added, "I've never knew what happened to me."

"Our luck, it'd be aliens," Jackson mumbled. "There's no ghosts here, no ectoplasm at all."

"How are you two holding up?" Tucker asked.

Misty gave a glance to Danny before returning to look at the desktop. "As best we can. If feels weird."

"Danny," Tucker said, startling Danny into retightening his grip on the broom handle. "Your mom from your time is working on a device to bring back Fenton Works."

"She'll get done with it about midnight," Madeline informed from her place off screen. "What time is it now?"

Danny looked at his alarm clock only to be told how long it had been since the generator took over. He turned around and stepped over to his nightstand, digging through the drawer to pull out his watch. Turning around, he faced the screen and said, "8:34."

"Three and a half hours," Tucker quickly realized. "Do you think you could move me into the lab?"

"Dude, you're on my desktop," Danny pointed out. "That thing an't moving nowhere."

"Okay, then you're gonna need to bring everything up here," Tucker said.

"For what?" Danny asked.

"For a human scanner," Tucker said with a wide grin.

"A what?" Misty asked.

"How do you even search for humans like that?" Jackson asked.

"It's actually pretty simple," Madeline tried. "Easier since you've got access to his hair brush."

"No, I mean, ectoplasm doesn't exist here," Misty said again. "All your tech works off ectoplasm."

"There should still be some in the small fridge in the lab," Madeline said. "It should still be stable. But make sure Danny's the only one who touches it."

"We don't eat it," Jackson defended.

"You kinda do," Tucker said, his lip curled in small disgust.

"You'll have to dig out our old proto-portal too," Madeline said.

"What's an old portal gonna do to help us find Grandpa?" Jackson asked.

"Bring it up here with a Philips head screwdriver," Madeline said as Tucker was shooed out of his seat.

"And the ectoplasm samples?" Danny checked.

"Yeah. Jackson, go help Danny," Madeline ordered as the woman took the seat. "Misty, I need to know what you've told them." Danny found himself staring at his mother, the mother he will have in another twenty years. Her hair looked the same, abet a little longer, and new lines had appeared on her face. She gave the boys a glare as she added, "Danny?"

"Sorry, we're going," Danny said, ripping his eyes away from the computer screen. Remembering he had the broom in his hands, he rested it against the closet door before following Jackson out of the room. He looked over his shoulder at Misty to see she was watching them.

"Like I know what the proto-portal looks like," Jackson said, his voice raising as he talked to himself.

Danny turned back to the boy, following him down the stairs. "I think I know what it looks like," Danny offered. "Just not where it is."

"Well, what does it look like?" Jackson asked, jumping the last step to land on the ground floor.

"Just a small circle with a type of generator that houses some of its components," Danny described, taking the last step. The two turned to walk through the kitchen as Danny added, "It might be with the big portal."

Jackson led the way down the basement steps only to stop at the last step. "It's off."

Danny passed him as he threw off, "It's never been on." He headed over to the blueprints still opened on the workbench and looked around the mess, hoping to lay eyes on the circle outline that was the old portal. Leaning down he let out a sound as he found the thing he remembered being stored there. "Found it! Jackson, can you help with it?"

"Yeah, coming," Jackson said as if shaking his mind free.

Danny looked up, holding himself up by the table edge, as Jackson came over. The boy knelt down next to Danny as Danny pointed it out. "That thing. Could you dig it out? I'll start collecting the ecto-samples from the fridge."

"Okay," Jackson said, sitting down on the floor to pull the boxes out that held the proto-portal. "Don't forget the Philips head."

Danny rose to his feet and took in the strewn tools, finding the screwdriver fairly easy. "Got it," Danny said, pocketing the tool. He gave a glance at Jackson, noticing the boy slip a box cutter into his pants pocket, but didn't think much about it. He turned around and went to the other wall full of work benches. Kneeling down in front of the little fridge, he pulled open the door to be greeted by a green glow. Looking inside, he saw covered beakers full of the green goop, grabbing the first one on the shelf. He noticed it had a date only to be shocked as the glow faded and it dried up into a brown powder. "Oh come on, really?" Danny grumbled. He sat it on the workbench above him and dug through for one with a more recent date. Finding one from yesterday, he closed the door and rose to his feet.

"Why aren't you bringing all of them?" Jackson asked, getting Danny to notice he had all of the proto-portal in one box in his arms.

Danny held up the dusty beaker to show the boy as he said, "The older one did this as soon as I took it out. I don't want to risk it on any of the others." Sitting the beaker back down, he showed the other one in his hand to Jackson. "This one's from yesterday, so I hope it's got a little life left."

"You and me both," Jackson said, turning pale as he eyed the dusty ecto-plasm.

AN: While I was writing this, I feared writing this before the accident would be problematic. I don't tend to write normal humans. Now that I'm going through, editing this, I realize my subconscious planned this. Danny after the accident would have been in the same situation his kids are in, drained of their powers and unable to touch the ectoplasm for fear their body would absorb it.