A/N: Sorry guys for the unannounced hiatus! April is rough for college students in the Spring, especially if you're applying for graduation. I've been able to build up a few chapters for the next few weeks, so we'll be back to regular posting schedule on Thursday mornings after this. Thanks for understanding, and thank you for the favorites!

Danny enjoys his evening patrols. Calm, quiet, serene. He enjoys gliding around the city, and appreciates how the glass of the skyscrapers and business district buildings bounce the colorful rays of the setting sun amongst the city. He would linger there, watch the businessmen set off back to their families in safety. It helped remind himself why he did this. Due to the recent peace, he's found time to people-watch more frequently, which definitely had a positive effect on his mood.

Although, there were negatives to the lack of ghosts around. Crime was increasing. Muggings, robberies, break-ins. The ghosts didn't keep them at bay anymore. Amity's crime rate was steadily growing to that of an average city of its size.

Honestly, Danny should check out the ghost zone and see what's going on. He'd gladly sacrifice property damage to have the ghosts back. At least then nobody got hurt, not seriously, for the most part. It seems weird to him that otherworldly beings with what are essentially superpowers cause less long-term damage than other humans. Have more respect for life than humans.

So he really wasn't surprised when he saw a man in a white button-up harassing another, smaller man in an alleyway along one of the skyscrapers. A dingy, dark alleyway with the whole 'leaky dumpsters and scrap metal' vibe to it. Exactly the type of place you would expect a mugging in.

What did surprise him, upon closer inspection, was the gun the aggressor was brandishing. It's been a long time since he'd seen one of those, a real one anyways. Ectoguns were common enough among the adult population, his parents sold them for cheap and nobody bothered to regulate them since the most they could do to a human was cause a minor burn. Sure, there's a possibility it could become contaminated, but that was slim. BB guns were worse than ectoguns, honestly.

So, while descending towards the scene he just scowls, dropping his invisibility as he floats towards the two men. Usually, it was enough for him to just appear and spout some heroic nonsense to get criminals to back off. Even if they weren't from Amity and didn't buy the whole ghost thing (which was common for said criminals) they'd be afraid enough of a floating, glowing person to run away, and if they were from Amity- then his reputation would lead the way. Easy. Straightforward.

So he floats down, orients himself pointedly off the ground and beside the two scuffling men, and clears his throat.

"Halt, citizens! Phantom's come to resolve this dispute." He raises his hand up towards the man with the gun, his 'heroic' voice unwavering. "Lie down your weapon, and nobody gets hurt."

The two men turn, and then look up at him, meeting his toxic green eyes. The one pinned against the wall smiles, his flushed, damp face brimming with hope. The other one, the one with the gun, just continues to scowl. And point his gun at the guy. Not an improvement.

So, Danny is once again surprised. He hit all the checks- floating, glowing, name drop, heroic nonsense, and yes, he was in ghost form. He even flashed the scary eyes for a moment.

Let's try this again, before his nerves get to him and the fact that a gun is pointed at a man's head weighs too heavily on his mind.

He clears his throat a second time. "Please, I implore you to lie down your weapon. We can easily work out some sort of solution." He says in his most official voice. He eyes the criminal up, taking in his entire appearance. Short, almost buzzed hair, a white button-up with rolled up sleeves, pressed black slacks, black dress shoes, and a white belt. Peaking out of his shirt on his forearm Danny also notices an elaborate tattoo, depicting what looks like a slew of ghosts climbing his arm and howling. Huh, him being from Amity would explain his composure right now from being approached by an otherworldly being, but then he had to know who he was, right? Unless…

The guy's eyes seem to widen with recognition, the fog behind them lessening. Was he drunk? Maybe just tired, but definitely not in his right mind.

He draws in a shaky breath. "Phantom, finally." He sighs. He lets go of the mug-ee, who falls to the ground and scrambles away to the street, not once looking back. The mugger turns to face Danny, completely disregarding the fleeing man. He brandishes the gun back and forth like a harmless piece of plastic. "I knew you'd show up, eventually." He brushes a hand across the tattoo.

Danny drops the heroic act and lands on the ground, calmly walking towards the guy. He intermittently glances at the tattoo. "I'm not going to let you rob an innocent man. I'm taking you into custody until the police arrive."

The man laughs. "Oh, no no no." He points the gun at Danny, who raises an eyebrow. His core thrums for a split second. "I've been looking for far too long, I'm not going to let this chance slip away again."

Danny looks between the gun and the man, shaking his head. His core calms. "Are you kidding me? I- you realize I'm a ghost, right?" He barks out a laugh. "Bullets literally go right through me. Are you from around here?"

"I'm actually from out of state." He steps forward, continuing to point the gun at the ghost boy. "You ruined my life."

"I've never met you in my afterlife." Danny responds, disbelief sinking into his tone. He crosses his arms and stands his ground. "But get in line, I've got a bunch of other people that would claim the same thing."

The man keeps edging forward. "Oh, I know. You're a menace. Drawing the ghosts here, hurting innocent people, playing up your little 'hero' act to convince the citizens that you have their best interests in mind. Damn lunatics, believing a disgusting ghost."

Danny backs up and narrows his eyes at the man, trying to connect the dots. This man… seems oddly familiar, now that he takes a good look at him. His gaze flicks back and forth from the gun, to the tattoo, to the unmarred dress pants and shirt the man wore, and to his eyes, at the glazed look he wore. While he still couldn't pin the identity, his eyes reminded him of something else, something common in ghosts but rare in humans.

Obsession.

"Stop." Danny commands. The man's approach falters, almost as if he tripped, but only for a second, and then he continues. Danny furrows his brow. Either this man was used to ghosts possessing him, or he had a very strong will.

Dang it. This situation was tricky. Very tricky. Irritatingly tricky. On the one hand, he could simply possess the guy and walk him to the police, or subdue him, use his strength to force him down, but that would lead to more controversy on his part. There's no doubt this man, who had such an apparent vendetta against Danny, would go to the press with cries of injustice and evil falling from his lips. That combined with his parents' ghost scans or his injuries he would give himself from fighting against Danny would probably corroborate his story, at least to the general public. No, force was a last resort.

And it's not like he's threatening anybody here, aside from Danny, kind of. Hopefully the runner has enough sense to call the police for help. Them showing up and taking this guy down would be the best outcome. Then again, having a gun pointed at you didn't do wonders for logical thinking, but he didn't have many other options. Good ones, at least. His best option is to just stall for time.

This guy though… he sent an uneasy feeling through Danny. He wouldn't be surprised if he turned the gun on himself. That would be the worst outcome.

The man takes another step forward, a twisted gleam in his eyes. Danny unconsciously floats backward a few feet, raising his hands in the air on impulse, despite the shroud of intangibility protecting him.

"Listen man, you really don't wanna-" A faint beeping makes his hypersensitive ears twitch, craving to hear more. The gunman squints at Danny's hesitation. Gradually the beeping grows in volume, and two familiar voices join it.

Danny curses, a shred of emotion revealing on his face for a split second. The man looks confused, but cocks his head to the side and waits, eventually being able to hear the clicking and thudding of shoes on pavement. He scowls and steps forward at a faster rate.

"Damn freelance ghost hunters, I'm not letting you get away again, punk." He points the gun at Danny, and he dodges on reflex, despite his intangibility shrouding him.

A loud bang echoes through the neighborhood, and Danny's shoulder instantly feels as if it's been ripped open. His hand reaches to the pain, and- dang, it was ripped open, judging by his hand that is now covered in ectoplasm. Great.

His world spins momentarily, but he can faintly hear panicked civilians on the main road. Good, hopefully now the cops'll show up. He looks towards his wound.

"Y-you… shot me?" Danny's flight suddenly falters, and he falls ungracefully to the ground. He staggers into the wall as he lands. "But I was…"

"Intangible, yes?" The man asks, voice deep and menacing. "I came prepared." He keeps the gun trained on Danny and speedily walks towards him, reaching into his pocket with his other hand.

Suddenly, things click. The pressed suit, the tattoo, everything he's said…

And that. Ectoranium- the only solid thing that can bypass a ghost's intangibility. He only knew three people in possession of that technology. Vlad, with his containment cube and Plasmius Maximus, his parents, with their high-tech nets and traps, and...

"You're a GIW." Danny says, grimacing through the pain. "Except you've ditched the tacky white suit."

"It was taken from me!" The man tries to slam the gun into the side of Danny's head, but he nimbly dodges, backing further into the wall of the alleyway.

The man continues advancing. "Our officers saw footage of one of the fights. You made us look like fools and we were discharged. Replaced by rookies and repurposed soldiers that don't know a damn thing about what they're dealing with!"

Danny lunges at the man, punching him in his lower jaw, but it lacks a majority of the inhuman strength he's used to- courtesy of the vile metal still embedded in his right arm. His opponent staggers briefly, and Danny uses that chance to shove his good shoulder into his chest. The agent tumbles onto the ground, and Danny quickly follows.

The faint beeping grows louder.

"Running out of goddamn time." Before even standing, the former GIW operative pulls something small out of his pocket, smacking it onto Danny's chest while he recovers from the fall. The ghost boy looks down to see a white, sticky orb attached to his suit, giving off a strange energy right over his iconic Phantom logo.

And right over his core.

Panicking, Danny pries at it, but it doesn't budge. The jumpsuit beneath doesn't even shift, almost as if this thing is a powerful magnet holding it onto his body.

"W-what is this? What are you doing?!" He stutters. While he's distracted, the man stands and lands a heavy kick right on Danny's injured shoulder. Crying out, Danny falls onto his back. The man stands up and wipes his chin.

"You can relax, punk." He presses a button on a small white remote. To Danny's relief, the blob stuck to his chest doesn't explode or pierce into his skin or anything, but instead grows in size, eventually engulfing Danny in a flimsy, translucent, plastic bubble. He tries to stretch out, pushing on the bag with his legs, but the bubble severely restricts his range of movement, only allowing him to extend to around half his height. While he couldn't phase through anything at the moment, he doubts he'd be able to anyway.

The man continues. "I need you alive to get my rank reinstated, they wouldn't believe me if I just said I destroyed you." He says, speech muffled through the strange material. "So, you'll be coming with me."

The man spins around and trains his gun at the rear opening of the alleyway, preparing for the two approaching ghost hunters. "But first, stay quiet. I won't allow us to be interrupted."

The beeping transitions to a long, drawn-out whine. A feminine voice echoes against the brick walls of the alley. "It's close Jack, in here!"

"No! Stop!" Danny yells, his obsession flaring at the potential danger to his own parents. He imbues his breaths with as much power as his energy-deficient body can manage, but he realizes that the ghostly echo it carries will no doubt cause them to approach faster.

It doesn't stop his woozy mind from trying.

"He has a-"

Maddie rounds the corner, only to be greeted by a man with a gun and a captured, bleeding ghost. She halts in place, and Jack almost barrels into her at full speed.

"Mads, what's-" he follows her gaze, taking in the scene as well, and a frown emerges on his face.

The group is quiet for a moment, every member assessing the situation. Maddie swallows.

"Sir," She yells. "May I ask what you are planning on doing with that ghost?" She moves her goggles onto her forehead and draws her brows together. Calculating. "Civilians aren't allowed to detain or capture ghosts without the express consent of the mayor or another official expert, such as us.."

The gunman absentmindedly rubs his chin where he was previously hit by Danny. "I'm aware. My name is Operative C, I'm not a civilian, I'm with the GIW. This ghost is currently property of the federal government, so stand down."

Maddie narrows her eyes at the man, scrutinizing him from head to toe. "If it's not too much to ask, I'd like to see your badge, please. And drop the weapon, it's unnecessary and placing my husband and I under duress." Danny has to admit, while he was sweating at the possibility of his mother getting shot and him with absolutely no possibility to help, she was remaining amazingly calm in the situation. His dad on the other hand… Jack looked as if he wanted to rip the GIW operative apart molecule-by-molecule and was really not doing a good job of hiding it.

Operative C scowls. "Unfortunately, I am in no position to do such a thing, as my orders are to present this ghost to my superiors. Before all else."

(Man, was Danny getting tired of being talked about like an object.)

He cocks the gun and nods his head. "Now you two can leave. The situation's under control."

"Are you threatening us?"

"Go."

Maddie and Jack exchange a look before nodding and retreating down the alleyway they came from. The man keeps the gun trained on the opening while returning to look towards his captive.

"Now, were going to go for a nice long drive. I can't believe catching you was this easy."

Danny rolls his eyes, struggling to stay upright. "Yeah, when you threaten innocent people it gets so much easier, doesn't it? You're crazy."

The man shrugs, bending down to grab at the bubble like a plastic bag. "I wasn't actually going to hurt him, I just needed to get your attention." He drags him towards the back opening, where his parents used to be standing. Danny struggles to keep his shoulder propped off of the ground, but the jostling still causes him to hiss and his head to swim. "I know you pass by this location at around this time every day, I assumed that I could easily have you come to me."

He turns the corner with Danny, holding the gun up as he goes, and smiles when there's nobody there. "I'm surprised." He says. "Seems those idiots have an ounce of sense still left in them." Operative C only manages to take a few steps down the alley before a small cylindrical can is thrown in from the opposite end, ricochets off the walls, and lands right in front of the two of them. He points his gun at it.

"What the f-" is all he's able to get out before a bright white light fills his and Danny's vision.

"Now- Jack!"

Heavy thuds sound down the alleyway and the pull on Danny's bag jerks backward, and then releases, causing the back of his head to slam onto the ground. He yelps in pain, which the tousling ghost hunters pointedly ignore.

"Mads! I got him- The gun!"

"On it!"

Danny blindly tries to reorient himself within the bubble, blinking furiously as cloudy sight slowly returns. He grips his bad shoulder with a gloved hand and tries to pinpoint movement in his faulty vision, only noticing his Mom's heeled boots clicking on the asphalt past him as she sprints to his father.

Grunts, curses, and clicking metal can be heard, and Danny's core thrums at the possibility of his parents getting hurt while he's blind and stuck in a damn bubble.

Just as his vision begins to fully return, he jumps as he's jerked towards the opening of the alley. Danny again groans uselessly as pain aches through his body.

"Jeez M-Maddie, fragile contents, you know." He moans out. A feminine voice scoffs at him. He can almost feel the eye roll beneath his Mom's goggles.

"Jack, you got him? The police are on their way." She asks. Danny looks back to where his father was, noticing a large orange blob rising into a sitting position.

"Yep," he huffs. "these cuffs weren't designed to capture humans, but I figure the reinforced, double-plated steel will hold you just fine." He looks at the man on the ground for a few moments, his white button-down stained with whatever was previously caked onto this alleyway floor.

"Ah." Jack mentions, and stands up off of the man. "You probably couldn't breathe, could you?"

As soon as the large man's body weight vanishes, Operative C furiously coughs, cursing at the other ghost hunter with words even Dash might hesitate to use.

"Hey!" Danny slurs out, unable to help himself. "There are children present, ya deadbeat!"

His bubble is briefly lifted and thrown into the GAV unceremoniously, easily knocking the wind out of him.

"Ouch. Better call CPS, huh?" Danny looks up at Maddie with a woozy smirk and a wince, smiling at the unknown irony.

"Shut it, ghost." Maddie finally responds. "With how solid you are, you're probably decades old."

"Pff, like one and, uh… three quarters. Hardly plural."

His mother places both of her hands on the doors of the GAV and shakes her head. While most of Danny's vision has returned by now, he doesn't manage to catch the expression she wears with his blurry sight.

What he does see, however, is her turning her back to him before swiftly and unemotionally slamming the doors shut on her son.

Danny uses this isolation to allow his smile to fall into a cringe, release a shaky breath, and fall onto his back, head clanking onto the hard metal floor of the vehicle.

"Aw man, today was such a good day, too."