Hello! Happy Friday!

I've realized that the mythological names I mentioned in the last chapter weren't properly explained. Sorry. Inanna was the queen of heaven in sumerian myth. Ereshkigal was the queen of the underworld. Inanna tried to invade the underworld using 7 objects of power. However, she was stopped by Neti, a minor god, at each of the underworld's 7 gates and made to divest herself of one object at each gate. Once she got to the underworld she was powerless, and was killed by the 7 judges of the underworld for her impudence. Another god, Enki brought her back to life. However, Ereshkigal demanded a replacement, or else, so Inanna gave her her husband. That's the quick and dirty version.

MsFrizzle: Yeah, Danny isn't going out of his way to kill them, but he isn't at all interested in protecting them either. He will probably freak out later, but it will take a while for him, or anyone else, really, to process. The lair isn't helping because it can't. It and the shadows can only affect things that are inside the lair.

Tenuem: Yes, that can happen, but it hasn't happened to Danny. Having a human body gives him an advantage in this instance. (will get back to you on the other thing, thank you for your help!)

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Chapter 73

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It was Tucker who spotted them first, the three, then four, ghosts coming up behind them. This was good, because it gave them a chance to convince Maddie, who was once again armed, as trigger-happy as ever, and currently very high-strung on account of Danny's suicide mission, not to shoot them. That was very good, because as they got closer, the ghost detector on the glider began to scream.

"Hey!" called one of them, a woman with black hair and four arms. She was the fastest, having come from behind to join her companions. "Are you the ones with Phantom?"

"Yeah!" said Tucker. "Who're you?"

"We're with Libra! We're looking for the Guys in White. You have their trail?"

"Danny does! Probably. We have his. He thought they were going to the Core, this was his shortcut."

"Okay," said the woman. "Lead the way!"

"Got it!" said Tucker. He glanced at Maddie, who looked... weird, behind the faceplate of the protective suit. Like she had finally realized that everything Danny had told her was true. That ghost law was a thing, and that ghost law enforcement was standing, well, flying, right next to her.

These people would arrest her if they knew what she had done. Gosh, Danny would be freaking out so much if he was here right now. You wouldn't be able to see the freak-out. Danny had learned how to hide them, but it would be there.

As it was, though... If Tucker hadn't been worried that the government would cut his friend up, he would have probably... He didn't know. Done something. Told someone. He liked Mr and Mrs Fenton, but the situation with Danny bordered on neglect, even ignoring the whole 'hunting his alter-ego' thing.

Then shapes began to emerge from the ectoplasmic fog. A green-tinted island, almost invisible against the green background.

It was made of spears, swords, and other weapons. White-suited bodies were impaled on it, their machines shattered against the ground. A smaller, darker figure stood at the center of the island. Danny. But also... Not Danny.

There was something wrong. Something off. Once Tucker had been blind to this kind of thing, but he had since forced himself to learn. The world had forced him to learn. Danny had been impersonated too often, mind controlled too often, for Tucker to ignore.

Of course, the costume change, and the way that the ectoplasm swirled around Danny's frail, slender form was pretty much a dead giveaway (and there was the pun. Danny would be so proud.). Overall, Danny didn't go for capes, especially long, tattered, black ones. He also usually didn't have ice in his hair. Or fire and lightning licking up his arms. He didn't like either in general, really, although he could use both.

Oh. And there was the island. It was clearly a construct. Danny wasn't terrible at creating ectoplasmic constructs, but he simply wasn't this good at it.

He could tell that Sam had recognized it too, from the way she tensed. They had all been ready for a fight, but not this kind of fight.

"Danny?" called Maddie, setting her glider down and swinging off it. She wasn't attuned to the signs, clearly. Of course she wasn't. She hadn't even noticed that Danny was dead.

Tucker would give her points for not recoiling from the carnage, though. Even he was sort of freaked out. This wasn't like Danny at all. Which was another clue, come to think of it. Danny wasn't this flashy. Typically. He had his moments, just not when he was injured so badly. Danny was more... efficient, was how Tucker would describe it. Economical. Yeah. He wouldn't have wasted time or energy on tearing a guy literally in half. Nor would he have wasted it by staying in ghost form after the fight was won.

Sam landed, too. "We aren't here to fight you," she said, trying to stave off a disaster. "We just came to help Danny fight the Guys in White."

Danny turned, and Tucker's suspicions were confirmed.

Danny's eyes were weeping. Greenish, faintly glowing tears streaked his cheeks, putting Tucker in mind of Fractal's chalky blue tears. His eyes themselves were covered by a luminous green film. Danny's eyes, his pupils, iris, and sclera, were distinct and visible behind it, but only just. It put Tucker in mind of the time everyone had been mind controlled by Undergrowth. But the fire and lighting in his hands faded away, leaving only his gloves.

One of the ghost women made a noise of surprise. They knew what was going on here, Tucker realized.

"Who are you?" demanded Maddie. She had her hands on the rifle she had been given, but she did not raise it. Good. She was beginning to understand the damage that she could do Danny.

Danny's lips curled into a smile, and the person controlling him began to speak, their voice unlike any other Tucker had ever heard. It echoed, like any ghost's, including Danny's, tended to do, but it was also layered. It sounded like a dozen or more people all speaking in perfect unison.

"My children, you, I think," they said, nodding to the ghost women, "know me. But to humor your question and borrow a turn of phrase..." They lazily, yet delicately, stepped over a corpse. "If these are Inanna," Danny's hands lifted in a dismissive, yet encompassing gesture, "and this precious little one," they raised Danny's hands, and pressed them to his heart, "is my Neti, then I am Ereshkigal."

"You're the Queen of the Underworld?" asked Jazz, sounding confused.

"Hm. I suppose that's one interpretation." With another gesture, they smoothed the island, the weapons, but not the corpses, running together, vanishing, rendering it less immediately dangerous to walk on.

"No. You aren't the Queen," said Sam. "You're the Core, aren't you?"

Danny's head tipped to one side, the gesture almost familiar. "Yes. It isn't so strange, is it, that so many of your predecessors called the underworld and its ruler by the same name? It is only natural. Still. Clever little one, aren't you? I see why he loves you so." Then Danny's costume rippled, changing even more. The ice in his hair was a crown, now, one made of silver and icy flowers. His clothing was the odd, part-medieval European, part-Asian, part-Egyptian, part-Celtic mix that served as the Ghost Zone's equivalent of international high fashion. A sword hung at his hip. The jewelry, embroidery, and other decoration was deceptively restrained. The smile broadened, sharpened (if Tucker couldn't see where Echo came from before, he could certainly see the resemblance now), and they spoke again, as they stepped closer. "Do you like what you see?" they asked, almost teasingly. "This is only what may yet be, not what will be. My eldest children debate this part," they touched the crown, "even now. You, my little ones," they said, now looking at the ghost women once more, "if you have the ears of your elders, tell them this, that this," a hand was pressed once more to Danny's chest, and his eyes burnt bright, "is the one that I want, and no other. Tell them that if they deny me this, then I shall sow such chaos, wreak such destruction, that the years of Pariah's rule shall seem like nothing."

The ghosts bobbed nervously. "As you have commanded it," said the four-armed woman, "it shall be done."

"Good," they said, returning to their former, languid stance. "Now, for what you may ask. Fear not. These," and again, they gestured at the corpses, "shall be punished accordingly. I shall allow you to have the ones that remain in the lair this one shares with his cousin, and elsewhere. Our people must have a clear villain in the face of this near disaster. Their sense of justice must be satisfied, lest it spill out onto the less deserving."

"Um," said Jeremy, still clinging to his glider, and looking like he already regretted speaking. "I'm sorry, sir, um, ma'am, I'm not quite following here. What, what do you mean 'shall?' Aren't they already dead?"

They scoffed. "Didn't you know? The armies of Hell are comprised of sinners. What greater sin could there be, than this? Than what they have done, to even make this attempt? Their souls shall be bound to their bones, even as their flesh rots, and they shall be buried beneath the black castle until they have repaid their debts, and redeemed themselves. If they can." The smile they wore was cruel. "At the least, it shall be a very long time, for such an affront." They were quite close to the five humans now.

"Hey," said Tucker, suddenly. "Where's the bomb?"

"Where it can do no ill." They closed Danny's eyes, and pulled a sigh. "This one, he is so suited for this. A cup of ice cannot hold water for long, and humans, you are not cups at all, but this one..." another sigh. "But he has cracks. He must rest soon." One by one, they fixed those present with a piercing gaze. "You will bring him to Imhotep. He is closest. You, my vengeful ones, you know the way?"

"Yes," said one of them, "we do."

"Good. But first, a gift. Not for you, but him. To you three who are his best beloved, I give my blessing, my permission, and one more thing."

They lifted off the ground, startling Tucker, who had somehow forgotten that yeah, duh, ghosts can fly. They moved swiftly, planting a kiss on first Sam's forehead, then Tucker's, and then Jazz's. Danny's lips were cold. The spot where they had kissed him tingled, and he rubbed it, confused.

"Why..?" asked Sam, recovering a little faster than Tucker.

"You will find out soon enough." They drifted back to the ground. "Catch him," they said, looking up at Jazz.

The film cleared from Danny's eyes, and the additions to his costume vanished, dissolving into ectoplasmic mist and dissipating, leaving him in his usual suit, blood- and ectoplasm-stains clearly visible. Now it was Danny staring up at Jazz, and he looked terrible. Beaten, bruised, and bleeding. The ectoplasm in his eyes receded, revealing their natural blue. Then his aura flickered, and went out. His suit began to unravel, and his hair bled black. Soon, he was human again. His eyes rolled back, and he crumpled, Jazz barely catching him. He slipped through her fingers intangibly, at first, but she caught his shirt, and dropped down with him, making sure that he didn't hit his head. Maddie was down with them in the next moment.

Then Tucker and Sam slid over. Danny's eyelids were fluttering, and he moaned, a ghostly, keening noise. This reminded Tucker way to much of the Accident. Sam was picking up on it, too, or he'd eat his hat.

"What did it mean, that it wanted Danny?" asked Maddie, her voice strained.

"I don't know," said Jazz. "Come on, we've got to get him to a doctor."

"We'll take him," said the four-armed woman. "We'll be faster, and I don't think that you'll be able to carry him on those... things." With one of her arms, she gestured to the gliders.

(Tucker noted peripherally that the 'corpses' were sinking into the ground.)

"We can make an oath, if you'd like," said one of the winged women. "And, like, we're with Libra, so, you know. Rule of law, and all that." She frowned. "I guess that, uh, Addy's the only one actually in Libra, though? We're just, like, what's the word? Independent contractors. Yeah. But we're cool."

"Jeez, Meg. That was, like painful. But, yeah, we'll swear on anything."

"River Styx good?" said the third winged woman. "I mean, it's not as good as doing it with the actual water, but, whatever."

"Yeah," said Sam, "that'd be a start."