Chapter 9: Coming Together
"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."
- Henry Ford
Jack had trouble getting to sleep that night.
In the aftermath of the fight, he and Danny avoided each other like the plague for the rest of the evening and Danny turned in early after a lonely dinner in his room leaving Jack aggravated with himself, his son and unable to talk it out (not that Jack knew what to say).
It took him awhile to finally fall asleep and even then he kept waking up. At one point he noticed Maddie was gone but he didn't feel like looking for her. She had either woken up and realized that there was something she had forgotten to do or she had had an epiphany in her sleep and was down in the lab trying to get it down before the dream faded away. It didn't matter, the next time Jack woke up his wife was dozing peacefully beside to him.
After having his unrestful sleep broken half a dozen times Jack decided that going back to bed wasn't worth the effort. It would take him a solid thirty minutes to pass out again and then he'd only get maybe an hour of sleep before waking up feeling just a crappy as he was right now. What time was it anyway? He sat up and squinted at the angry red numbers of his bedside alarm clock/radio. 5:37am. Well Jack wouldn't call it morning but he knew a few people who considered any time after five to be morning and the sun was already rising so he supposed getting up wasn't too crazy an idea.
As quietly as he could Jack left the bed and went down to the kitchen to fix a pot of coffee all the while thinking about what Danny had said. He trusted his son. It was just that… sometimes he could be a bit irresponsible and prone to impulses. Danny always meant well. He had good intentions but the road to hell was paved with good intention. What Danny had said was absolutely right; he and Jazz had more experience with ghosts than any other kids (and adults) in Amity Park with possibly the exception of Sam and Tucker who hung around FentonWorks enough to be considered honorary Fentons.
Danny knew enough to not blindly to trust some ghost. But that brought Jack to his second problem with his son's decision making. He had a habit of being blinded by his emotions. Something Jack could admit to and attest the dangers of. There had been several 'friends' in his life who had taken advantage of his good nature. He didn't want that happening to Danny. As bad as people were ghosts had the potential to be even worse and his son apparently dealt with the spooks on a regular basis if his little slip yesterday was any indication.
"I understand ghosts just as well if not better!" When did Danny start getting to know ghosts? Sure there were attacks at the school but those weren't situations where you could just strike up a conversation. The students were herded away from the spirits. Perhaps he helped Phantom out and had met some of the ghost boy's friends. The thought was funny. Danny made such a fuse whenever he or Maddie suggested family ghost hunting and he seemed wary of most ghosts. Speaking of Phantom…
Maddie was right. Phantom was no ordinary ghost. Jack had personally observed and interacted with him enough to understand that now. He was different but different didn't necessarily mean better. In Phantom's case 'different' meant more intelligent and more free. Quite simply he was more dangerous; a loose cannon who wasn't tied down by obsession or animalistic mental capacity. No, Phantom had the potential to be one of the most dangerous ghosts in existence power aside.
Jack put his head in his arms and slumped forward on the table. Phantom could destroy the town if he wanted. He had the power and was equal parts cunning and slippery. If he didn't want to be caught he wasn't gonna be if he ever went on a rampage. Jack couldn't see that happening though. If nothing else Phantom wasn't a world, or town, domination kind of guy. He genuinely seemed to want to be left alone in his own way by spirit and person alike.
At first he and Maddie had assumed that Phantom's obsession was fighting because that had been the one constant whenever he appeared. But recounting the facts now Phantom's 'obsession' didn't add up and Jack was honestly beginning to question how accurate that sentiment was.
Ghosts didn't make exceptions where obsessions were concerned, obsession was the term for a reason. Yet he had witnessed situations with Phantom not fighting. Several instances no less. How could Phantom ignore or temporarily let go of his obsession while remaining a ghost? He couldn't. If a ghost ever got closure enough to let go it ceased to exist having lost its tether.
Maybe Phantom had no obsession? Was that what made Phantom so special? It would explain his clear mind but then how was he able to maintain his form? Perhaps a physical object acted as his tether, something or someone he couldn't leave behind just yet. If that was the case eventually it could, would, turn into an obsession. That would also mean that Phantom was a young ghost in more than just appearance. It was hard to gauge how old ghosts were when they didn't age and male ghosts were even worse since guy fashion tended to be more fad resistant.
The coffee maker gave a short series of beeps. Registering that the coffee was done Jack sluggishly sat up. Whatever Phantom's case was it didn't matter at the moment. He stood and turned the machine off before grabbing the pot and a ceramic mug from the dish rack along with a metal spoon and set everything on the table. Once his hands were free he got a bottle of chocolate syrup from the fridge and poured what any other person would have considered an overkill amount into the steaming liquid. Coffee now acceptable Jack settled back into his wooden chair and thought about what he wanted to accomplish with this time to himself.
He was analyzing Phantom but Jack wasn't here to figure out Phantom's mysteries, not all of them at least. He was sitting at the kitchen table sipping coffee at just before six because his son was apparently in cahoots with the most dangerous ghost he and Maddie had ever come across and he needed to figure out just how he felt about that.
Danny being acquainted with Phantom didn't bother him. Not at all. Everyone knew Phantom to one extent or another and plenty claimed to be on good terms with the ghost. The two being friendsis what unsettled Jack. And they had to be pretty close for Danny to give out sensitive information and FentonTech. But was the friendship mutual? Was it even real?
It all boiled down to if Phantom was being honest with Danny or if he was tricking him into some fake one sided friendship with Danny as a means to an end. For all he knew Phantom was overshadowing his son and trying to leave good impressions in his mind or doing something as equally sleazy.
Jack wanted to give Danny the benefit of the doubt, he really did. But trusting his son wasn't the issue. The issue was trusting Phantom who despite being labeled a good ghost by many hadn't proved himself in Jack's eyes.
He took a long sip of his coffee and set it down staring into the murky dark brown liquid. Phantom, for all anyone knew, could just been protecting his territory and the inhabitants that came with it. Where was the proof that Phantom was doing this for their benefit and not his? That his actions were from altruism not a self interest that happened to coincide with the well being of Amity's citizen? And that didmake a difference because if it was the latter and those interests changed that could spell disaster for Jack's town.
Maybe he was over thinking things. His gut said that Phantom wasn't bad. He wasn't out to get anybody or do anything malicious. He trusted his gut. So why was it also telling him that Phantom was hiding something huge?
xXxXxXxXxXx
If Danny thought he could get away with it, without anyone hearing the sound of an ecto blast, his alarm clock would have been a smoking pile of burnt metal and ash. It had woken him up one too many times before his liking this marking period (his mom must have found a way to permanently set it to go off 6:30 on weekdays) and the acid green numbers only served to worsen his bad moods whenever he looked at them.
Three hours of sleep. That's what he was running on. It would have been less but Jazz had knocked on his door around 1:30 asking him to stop playing Doom so he could get some sleep before going to bed herself. He briefly considered ignoring her request but decided that he'd regret it during school the next morning.
When he woke up at a little before five Danny reasoned that he had enough sleep to function at an acceptable level for the rest of the day and immediately logged back on to Doom. He wasn't sure whether he was annoyed or touched when the player who turned out to be Lancer reminded him about test he knew Mr. Fallucca was giving. Danny settled on touched when Lancer let slip the fact that he was planning a pop quiz during English after Danny had explained why he was adventuring in his little escape world so early in the morning.
As he turned off his computer and grabbed The Scarlet Letter out of his backpack Danny wondered why he bothered to tell Mr. Lancer that he had been fighting with his dad the night before. It was probably because Danny liked the man more then he used to. The English teacher truly seemed vested in his student's lives and problems in and out of school. Maybe he'd be more understanding if Danny seemed slightly off kilter during class today. Mr. Lancer would probably leave Danny alone for the most part during class and expect to talk about it after school.
The fight wasn't too personal, or at least what he'd tell Lancer wouldn't be. He would explain that his dad didn't like the fact that he was helping Phantom and was appalled by Danny sticking up for the ghost. Lancer appreciated what Phantom was doing so Danny knew he'd have his teacher's sympathy.
Halfway through the list of flagged paragraphs Danny heard a soft knock on his door. He frowned when his Dad opened the door and took a step inside.
"I figured you might be up. Would you mind if we talked a bit more? You kinda stormed off yesterday." Jack said quietly trying not to disturb anyone else in the house. He didn't sound particularly mad so Danny figured a night's sleep must have calmed him down.
"It'd be better to talk in the kitchen." Danny whispered back after a minute. Jack nodded and the two walked down stairs.
"I'm not sure there's anything for me to say." Danny said voice tight as they entered the kitchen.
"Well there's plenty for me to say so sit down. Coffee?" Danny raised an eyebrow and Jack shook his head. "Your mothers not here so you can have a cup if you want."
"Alright."
Jack grabbed another mug as Danny sat down and filled it halfway. "Nest quick?" He passed the bottle when Danny shrugged and nodded.
"I thought about what you said. I also gathered some things you didn't." He paused and watched his son's face. "When did you start helping Phantom? Was it from the beginning or after you two became friends? And speaking of friends did you drag Sam and Tucker into it or did they follow you to hoping to keep you safe?"
Leaving his dad to stew over this wasn't probably a good idea. His imagination tended to go rampant and he was going to try and find out one way or another. Cutting him off at the pass was the best option. The only question was how was Danny going to answer.
Half truths were always easiest to work with. "I met Phantom during one of the early ghost attacks at the school. We- me, Sam, and Tucker- got attacked by the lunch lady ghost and Phantom saved us from being seriously hurt or worse. I saw him battling more ghosts after that and decided to help since no one else was at the time. Even you and mom weren't doing much in that regard since creating effective weapons to fight with was top priority."
"So you were friends right from the start." Jack speculated.
Danny smiled to himself. "Not even close. I'm not sure I hated him but I really didn't like Phantom before he saved me. He was a ghost and well…. I had no reason to think anything else." And that was the truth. He hadn't wanted his powers at first. In fact he had been resentful of them. They were constantly acting up and getting him in trouble despite his and his friends' best efforts. Until the lunch lady incident he hadn't realized just how lucky he was to have them. While being Phantom had a price not having those powers with other ghosts running around also had a price and that cost was much worse.
"Even after the incident I wouldn't call us friends. Our relationship was friendlier than before but it was mostly a working relation. He'd catch the ghosts and I'd toss 'em back into the ghost zone."
Jack nodded. The explanation so far was more reassuring than he had expected. Danny hadn't blindly gone to Phantom as a fan. Hell apparently he hadn't approved of the ghost at first which was a shock to Jack. His son had slowly evaluated the ghost and through that found that Phantom could be trusted somewhat. That did raise a question though. "What happened? What got you two closer?"
Danny stared at his hands trying to think of an answer. When did he start getting comfortable with his powers? At what point did they really become a part of him and his identity? Where was it that he first started being unable to imagine his life without being Phantom?
"Don't know?"
"I'm… not sure that there was necessarily one major event that did it." Things were kinda blurred together in that regard. Accepting his ghost half had taken time and he had no idea when it had happened or even if it had fully happened. There were times he thought he was okay with being a hybrid and then something would happen that left him bitter and angry about his condition. Thing that made him question how much Amity wanted or even needed him. The incident with Spectra. Then Cujo and Valerie. Of course Walker and being made public enemy number one. Freakshow mind controlling him into robbery. Vlad taking over as mayor because of a prank war gone too far. But there was one ghost who took the cake. Himself. Or rather his alternate future self, Dan.
"If you spend enough time with anybody you'll eventually get closer to them whether you want to or not. I slowly started getting used to the idea that Phantom was a good guy and he never let me down." Until Dan of course. The fact that he would have gone dark side and Hitler on the world if Clockwork hadn't intervened still deeply unnerved him. Worry of ever turning into something remotely similar would always sit in the back of his mind. But… "Whenever something bad happened he'd always explain the whole story. I know some of his track record looks criminal but it was never done intentionally or with malicious intent." And that was the one thing he took solace in. The fact that nothing bad was ever done intentionally. He was only human after all and so prone to mistakes.
"But why you? Phantom's helped most people with one thing or another and yet no one else seems so close. What makes you special to him Danny?"
That hit a lit too close for his liking. What made him special and so intimately connected was the big secret; the fact that they were two halves of the same whole. "People are hard on him and constantly scrutinizing everything he does. I guess Phantom liked the fact that I gave him a chance instead of judging one way or the other. I was probably the first person to do that so he stuck around me more."
"And Sam and Tucker? How involved are they?"
'Too involved.' "As deeply as I am. We mostly watch Phantom but if he looks like he's struggling we'll create a distraction."
"I see."
A pregnant silence fell on the two. Danny fiddled with his hands a moment before the working up the courage to ask Jack, "How much trouble am I in for everything?"
"…You're not."
"Wait- what?"
"I'm trusting your decision regarding Phantom like your mothers."
"Like mom's?"
"Maddie seems to have taken a liking to Phantom. A mutual one apparently and she's kindly asked me to be less hostile with him unless I have good reason to be. I don't know exactly what brought it on but Maddie's instincts are usually right and if you're agree with her then I suppose I can start giving Phantom a little trust. He has done some questionable things but you're right. He does try and everyone makes mistakes. If they weren't intentional then I shouldn't be crucifying him for them."
"So you're not gonna tell me to stop helping him?"
Jack shook his head. "Nah, it wouldn't do any good. You're as stubborn as any Fenton. I doubt you'd give it up just because I told you to." A thought struck Jack. "Is that why you're out late sometimes? You're helping Phantom with ghost hunting?"
"Yeah. I can't blame him for every night though. Sometimes I would just lose track of time."
"How come you never told your mother or me?"
"I didn't think you'd approve of me helping him. You would have said it was dangerous and that Phantom would shoot me in the back when I wasn't looking."
Jack chuckled. "I probably would have. Might have used you to capture Phantom to. You don't have any other surprises regarding Phantom do you?"
xXxXxXxXxXx
"Hold him steady." Maddie instructed walking over.
"Right 'cause I'm not already trying to do that." Phantom muttered adjusting his grip on the ectopus. It thrashed more urgently as Maddie approached with brandished the syringe. "You think you could hurry up? My two arms aren't going to be able to hold his eight for very long like this." What he wouldn't give to be able to duplicate himself instead of just winding up with two heads or two torsos on the better attempts.
"I'm going as fast as I can. I don't want to miss and have to stab him again which means he can't be moving around so much." She responded steadying her hand again the ghost's skin. The ghost started glowing blue and Maddie looked up to see it partially frozen. "You couldn't have done that to start with?" She asked drawing her sample.
"My ice powers aren't fully developed so they're more draining and I'm putting out a continuous stream so he doesn't break the ice. It's taxing so doing this with every ghost so far wouldn't have been an option. He's weak enough that I can manage."
"Got it." Maddie declared withdrawing the needle and setting it on a desk next to a dozen others. Phantom quickly stepped away from the ghost when she grabbed the Fenton thermos sitting on the desks corner and the octopus ghost vanished in a swirl of blue light. "How many more do you have in your thermos?"
Phantom floated to a chair and dropped into it. "He was the last one. It wasn't a very busy week."
Maddie pressed her thermos into the deposit lock on the portal control unit. "I think thirteen ghosts is busy enough." She said pushing the flush button. They watched the ghosts flow through the connecting cable and into the portal.
Phantom shrugged. "The most I've had in any one week was a little over forty so a baker's dozen is nothing."
"Forty? That's an awful lot of ghosts. Why was that week so busy?"
Phantom got an annoyed scowl on his face. "Your husband was showing off the portal's genetic scanner and kept opening and closing the damn thing. I understand from friends that there was literally a line of ghosts waiting their turn to cross over."
Maddie shrugged. "Well you've seen Jack. He can get a little excited with his inventions."
"Oh and you can't?" Phantom said knowingly.
"Most normal people take pride in their achievements. Fenton's are no exception. Don't you take some pride in the fact that you managed to capture that many ghosts at once?"
"I do. It's not something I enjoyed having to do but the experience you get from situations like that is great. If you ever want any tips I could give you some."
"With you catching all the ghosts before anyone else can show up I think there's little need. Besides there's something else you could give me that'd be a great help."
Phantom quirked an eyebrow. "And that is?"
"Would you be willing to give me a sample of your core plasm?"
"For your invention?"
Maddie nodded. "I've worked out all the other components as much as I can without that last piece." The amount she had wasn't enough. It was sufficient for getting some calibrations but to power the thing she'd more. "You don't have to if you're not comfortable with it. I'd never force you."
"No but you'd force every other ghost I come across to play donor. I can't help but wonder why." Maddie had no reply and he couldn't shake the feeling that she knew something. "Take your sample. I know how important your research is I don't want to hold it up."
It took Maddie a minute to find an empty syringe but there were a few left. When she came back over Maddie put a hand on Phantom's shoulder and he flinched. "Relax. I'm not going to hurt you." She said gently.
"I know. I just… I'm not a big fan of needles."
"Can I trust you to hold still?"
Phantom snorted. 'I've never needed anyone to hold me down when I get shots." He was nowhere near as bad as Tucker.
"Alright." Maddie unzipped his suit slightly searching for the spot she'd previously found. When she found it Phantom looked away as Maddie pushed the thin metal into his flesh. In a moment she was done. "You want a lollipop and sticker?" She joked.
"I'll take an ice pop instead."
"You want toasted almond, éclair, Oreo, or strawberry shortcake?"
"Éclair. I've always loved chocolate."
xXxXxXxXxXx
Jack and Maddie sat at the ops center mainframe inputting data from Maddie's earlier collection session with Phantom. "This is the last sample Jack."
"Really? He didn't catch the Crater Creep this week?"
"Apparently Phantom hasn't seen him in several days and his name is actually the Box Ghost."
"I think I like Crater Creep better."
"Neither name is particularly threatening but then again he's not a very menacing ghost."
"I'll say. Did you have any problems with the ghosts?" Jack asked.
"None. Phantom was very careful with them so no one got hurt. I'm not sure when we're going to do it again though. I didn't get to discuss that with him."
"That's ok. This is a start."
Maddie nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah." It was a start. The data base was finally coming together. It already had a dozen ecto-signatures on file and Maddie was in the process of compiling the information she had taken from Danny's computer. There were those four files she couldn't crack but that was okay. There was much more than she had expected to find and Maddie was still going over new material because of the sheer volume.
Most of the files were on specific ghosts. The level of detail ranged from just a name and speculated background to abilities, connections, haunts, weaknesses, lair, and more. Some files had detailed information about specific places and those sometimes had maps that accompanied them. Most of the drawings were rough like Skulker's Island, Klemper's Tundra, and Dora's Kingdom. A few though were fully illustrated and meticulously labeled such as the Far Frozen, Clockwork's Tower and Pariah's Keep. Perhaps this is where Danny's first interest in art had come from.
One kept a running list of abilities Danny had come across. That document sorted the ghost powers by nature. The ice section was all highlighted and littered with various marks and comments. A few things under generic had an asterisk next to them which according to the little legend indicated that Danny wanted to learn the technique or was in the process of learning it.
Another was about ghost artifacts. Of the thirteen listed Maddie only recognized the Time Medallion which she's seen once or twice before in her son's room when he had torn it apart looking for something. At that time she had no idea what it was other than some weird looking necklace she assumed Sam had give Danny for one reason or another.
Danny's files weren't complete but they were a start. And speaking of starts Maddie finally had enough of Phantom's core plasm to start the final stage of her project.
It would take time to sync everything up. She needed to link the transmitter and conversion ship together but the hard part was going to be finding the right spectrum of impulses that would the conversion chip could use to communicate with the ectoplasm. It was Danny's ectoplasm though so she'd start with the information she'd gotten from the EEG. It would have been nice if there was more data from his conscious range but she hadn't expected Danny to lie on the table for very long once he'd woken up.
The last stage was going to be the hardest but the challenge was one she was looking forward to. Once everything was finished Maddie would have a better understanding of her son and what he could do. This was a chance to walk in Danny's shoes and once she could she'd be out there fighting beside him.
"Alright Mads it done."
Good. She had work to do.
Omake:
"You seemed in better spirits today then I was expecting Mr. Fenton. You even participated more than usual."
"Me and my Dad talked this morning before school and got things resolved."
"What was the fight about anyway?"
"You know how I sometimes come to class banged up?" Mr. Lancer nodded. "I sorta help Phantom out from time to time and my Dad found that out yesterday. He wasn't quite as appreciative as Phantom about my involvement."
"I'm not sure I blame him. That seems pretty dangerous for someone as young as yourself."
Danny shook his head. "That wasn't what his problem was. He's been trying to take me and Jazz ghost hunting for a few years now. His objection was hunting ghosts with a ghost. Specifically with Phantom. His other problem was me occasionally giving Phantom access to some of their equipment. I understand where he was coming from but my parents aren't the ones out their fighting. Phantom is so I figured that's where FentonTech would do the most good."
"While that is a fair point it, whatever you've given Phantom wasn't yours to hand out as you saw fit."
"Are you playing devil's advocate or are you really siding with my dad on this?"
"I happen to be a fan of Phantom's and I agree that it's not your parents I see on the scene whenever there's a ghost attack so if I was taking sides it would be yours. I'm merely saying that even though most people tend to think of Robin Hood as a hero there are still who label him a common criminal. Whatever the case I'm glad the issue has been resolve."
Danny nodded and started packing up. It was time for both of them to get going.
"By the way, I have those quizzes graded if you want to see yours. If not I can just give it to you tomorrow."
Danny thought about it for a moment. Whatever the grade was it couldn't be too bad. At worst it would be a C. "I'll take it now."
Lancer handed the piece of paper face down to Danny and smiled. "It was actually one of the best grades in the class. I think only Michael and Samantha got a higher score."
Immediately Danny flipped his quiz over and his eyes found the 20 in bright red at the top of the right corner. "Wait how did they score higher than me if I got a perfect score?"
"There was an extra credit question at the very bottom."
"I thought that was a joke. Since when do you put Doom questions as extra credit?"
"It was supposed to be a gift for students needing the extra two points. Don't worry about it. You didn't need to extra credit."
"No I guess not. How many people got it right?"
"Not too many actually. Most people just took guesses as to what was in the safe. I guess no one can figure out how to crack the MegaMart safe open."
A/N: So Jack and Danny are cool again. Even better than before actually and Jazz is so awesome. I had to throw her in because she's always trying to look out for Danny even if it's just something small like making sure he gets some sleep. Speaking of awesome my first date EVER was great last night. Deadpool was really good and dinner afterwards was also nice. It's hard to talk about first date topics when you've know the other person for over three years.
Notes
1) Jack is a very trusting person and, as we can see with Vlad, can be very oblivious to a friend's mistreatment. I don't think it's a stretch to say he's been betrayed before and would worry about that happening with Danny.
2) Danny for his part during the conversation is being very truthful. 'Phantom' is the full manifestation of his powers so he's recalling how he got used to his abilities.
3) Maddie gets her samples for SAILS and can now start finalizing the ecto-skin. She's in for quite the ride trying to figure out how to use Danny's abilities. They were his powers and gave him hell. As for the four files that were encrypted those were Plasmius, Danielle, Phantom, and Dan.
sS