Tucker groaned.
It took him a moment to wake, his head pounding.
He blinked his eyes open, taking in new surroundings.
He was lying on the cold floor of a room that looked like it was made of metal. It was lit only by a single light in the ceiling. He blinked a few more times until-
Memories crashed instantly.
GIW.
Agent E.
Danny.
"Danny!" cried Tucker, jerking up.
He was alone in the room. There was a single, bolted door in one wall, the others bare.
Tucker ran to it.
There was no handle. Tucker pressed his hand where it should have bene, the cold of the metal seeping into his skin, with a slight static from what must be some sort of anti-ghost technology.
No handle.
No way out.
Tucker stumbled backward.
"Nonono," he whispered. He pressed his hands to his head. "No, I can't be-" His eyes burned. His back hit a wall. "Danny…"
Who knew what they were doing to him by now?
"This will be more interesting than we could have ever imagined."
Tucker shut his eyes, hot tears burning his skin.
"I won't let them hurt you, Tucker."
Danny's worst nightmare.
Danny was going to… to be...
How could I let this happen?
Danny risked his life-his life-to protect him. He didn't have to come here. He didn't have to fly straight into his worst imaginable hell…
And when Danny needed him-needed him-
Tucker couldn't do a damn thing about it.
Danny hadn't just looked afraid. He had been terrified. Tucker had never seen his best friend so openly scared in his whole life. When Danny was Phantom, he took on this persona, this air of confidence that was even regal to Tucker. And, maybe foolishly, Tucker almost believed that Danny didn't get scared. But that confident, superpowered hero he always saw as his best friend...
That wasn't the Danny he saw on the floor in that room.
This Danny was just a… kid.
And he was about to be…
He was about to be-
A sound-something between a sob and a groan-escaped him, and he slid down the wall to the floor.
Something clacked on the floor as he sat, and his eyes opened. Something was in his back pocket.
Realization struck him.
"My baby!" he cried.
He scrambled to get the small device out of his back pocket, and held it like a lifeline.
His PDA.
He smiled, hope flaring in his chest. "Oh, baby, you have no idea how-" His words died in his throat as he inspected it further.
Hope died instantly.
The entire thing was fried. It was charred a bit on the metal, the screen a rainbow of colors and a crack in the center. Tucker stared at it in confusion until it hit him.
The electricity.
In the chair.
Tucker shut his eyes, dropping his head back on the wall.
The electricity had been too powerful for it to handle.
It was more than dead.
He could have gotten a message out to Sam. She was there for what happened, but Tucker didn't know if she just told Danny and hoped for the best or was on her way herself. Though, he was in that ambulance forever on the way here. There was no telling if she would be here in time to stop the GIW from doing what they were planning to do to Danny, message or not.
Tucker let the hopelessness sit for a moment before he opened his eyes again.
He had to do something.
But what?
There was nothing he could do.
Tucker buried his head in his hands. He groaned into his fingers. Why couldn't he ever do anything?
He was trapped in one of the most high security buildings he's ever seen, one that was wired to trap Danny and never let him go. Tucker could care less about being trapped here himself; they'd let him go eventually. They had to. But Danny? The only way he was getting out of here would be by phasing through the place and getting away but the damn ghost-proof technology wasn't about to let him do that. Tucker groaned again. He lifted his head, blinking blearily at the room. He looked at his murdered PDA. The poor, unsuspecting technology. Tucker scoffed. If only he could kill the power in the building the same way they-
Tucker's head snapped up.
He stared at the broken, fried device in his hands.
He grinned.
Tucker shot to his feet.
That was it.
If he could shut down the ghost-proof technology in here, there would be nothing stopping Danny from phasing out of the building and getting free.
Tucker's grin widened.
"I'm Tucker Foley, Casper high renowned tech wizard and ladies man."
If there was anything he could handle, it was technology.
He kicked himself for not thinking about it earlier.
Tucker hastily wiped the tears off his cheek and pocketed his PDA. Doing this remotely with his PDA would have made things a whole lot easier, but he could still do it. He just had to find their server room and, well, crash it.
But first, he had to get out of here.
Tucker expertly examined the room. No handle on the door, but it opened electronically.
That was good.
Finally.
Something he could do.
I'm coming, Danny.
He scanned the room, finding the outline of metal plating he was looking for by the bottom corner of the door. Perfect. It was hard to see unless you were looking for it. Behind it would be the circuitry for the door, and maybe the light in the ceiling. Tucker hesitated, wondering why it wasn't hidden better. If they had a ghost like Technus in custody, he'd find this in no time.
But when Tucker reached a hand toward it and his fingers brushed the metal, static tickled his skin. It was similar to the static he felt from the chair, the same static that shocked Danny when he tried to free Tucker. That must be why Agent E was so surprised with Danny's 'stamina' when she still thought he was inside me.
Tucker looked around; only the walls had the strange static. Realization dawned; ghosts were the common prisoners in this room. Any touch of the walls or door would result in a painful shock. Giving credit where credit was due, it was actually a good attempt to keep ghosts from attempting an escape.
The GIW did at least think some things through.
Tucker pried off the plating, that opened like a little door, to reveal a mess of thin and thick wires. He breathed out in pure joy; something finally made sense.
Carefully, he sifted through the wires, pinpointing which ones would do what he needed. He settled on one thick and one thin. Without these wires, the signal would no longer reach the door, and if Tucker was lucky, would release it from the lock.
Tucker paused, holding the wires, realizing he had nothing to cut them with.
He looked briefly around the room, but there wasn't anything sharp within distance. He looked down at himself, eyes freezing on the outline of his PDA in his pocket. He sighed.
Tucker pulled out his PDA. He looked lovingly at it, sadness in his eyes. "I will always remember you," he whispered, then slammed it against the floor.
It shattered in several pieces, and Tucker felt a pang in his chest at the sight. With a heavy heart, he picked up the sharpest shard and used it to cut the wires.
The moment the shard sawed through the wires, there was a shudder and the door slid open an inch.
"Yes!" breathed Tucker, jumping to his feet.
Slowly, Tucker slid the door open further, poking his head out.
He was in a hallway. It looked identical to the one he'd been dragged down earlier. It was empty. They obviously assumed he was no threat.
Good.
Tucker let himself out of the room, looking both ways. The whole building was buzzing with that same energy he heard where he was held first. The buzzing was enough to shake the floor. Identical doors to the one he opened lined the hallway, and Tucker realized this was where they kept the ghosts they caught captive. The buzzing was louder here because they were trying to make sure their hostages didn't go anywhere. He was closer to the source of the power than he was earlier.
There was only one way to find the server room.
Follow the power.
Luckily, the power the GIW used created sound.
Tucker ran down the hallway, trying to listen for an increase in the sound. There was one door at the end of the hallway, and Tucker pushed it open.
It led to a stairwell.
Tucker slapped his hands to his ears.
The buzzing was almost deafening.
Tentatively, Tucker ran up the stairs to the next floor, each step closer increasing the palpable energy. The stairs seemed to shake.
There was a door at the top of the stairs and, slowly, Tucker pushed it open.
His jaw nearly hit the floor.
It wasn't a hallway this time. It was a large, long room. There were hardly any lights on, making the air close to pitch black, but Tucker had no trouble seeing.
The glow of hundreds of machines lit the air in neon. For half a second, Tucker's mission was forgotten and the tech lover in him lit with a sort of glee. This was his kind of heaven.
...If it wasn't trying to kill his best friend.
His game face back on, Tucker headed down a narrow pathway between tables and shelves and stacks of computers, interfaces, monitors, and tech Tucker didn't even recognize. The static in the room lifted the hair on his arms. He could feel the sheer amount of electricity.
Tucker made his way to the end of the room, where six monitors were set up to work automatically. Wires upon wires upon wires snaked from it to the rest of the room, in through the walls, the ceiling, to fuel the rest of the building.
Tucker rubbed his palms together, the light from the screens reflecting off his glasses.
"I gotcha, Danny," he whispered.
He smiled.
Time for this building to meet its match.