Ultimate Danny Phantom

by Grumbles

Impossible choices. Webs within webs. Gods and monsters. The righteous path is not easily tread. -now under heavy revision-

2. Dragons in the Mist

DRAGONS IN THE MIST

Christmas. The word evokes so many reactions and feelings from so many different people. One woman in Amity Park will light up at the mentioning of the word, even if December 25th is another year away – the very thought evoking fond memories of cherished time spent with loved ones. Mention Christmas to a man on the other side of town and his eyes will roll with unrivaled vigor, unable to contain his disdain for what he sees as a commercialized holiday born from ancient pagan traditions.

Few people in Amity Park would respond the way Danny Fenton would when asked about Christmas. If he were answering truthfully and honestly he would tell you that he has always hated the holiday. His parents, the world-famous ghost hunting pair – Jack and Madeline Fenton – began their seasonal hostilities just before Thanksgiving. They didn't let up until New Years Day. The Famous Fenton Feud pitted husband against wife over the existence of Santa Claus; Jack a firm believer, Madeline a stubborn skeptic. The couple's arguments never failed to explode into Mythbusters-style experimentation and weapons testing, always at the expense of their children's holiday season.

Long ago, Danny decided even no Christmas was better than spending it with his family. Until January 1st, when Jack was certain there would be no Santa attack until the following December, Danny was determined to spend as much time away from home as humanly possible. Fortunately for Danny, this year he was a little more than human. This would be obvious to anyone who could see the boy as he flew through the skies above Amity Park.

"Hey, you missed the store!" Sam's voice jostled Danny from his musings about his most miserable time of year.

"Huh?" Danny looked down and saw that he had, indeed, overshot his destination. "Oh, right. Sorry." Danny circled around and headed down towards the assortment of stores outside of the city.

"You alright?"

Danny quickly glanced over at his friend. Sam had her arms wrapped around his neck. Tightly. "I should be asking you the same question. How are you holding up? Or, I guess, on?"

"Just fine, thanks." Sam's grip said otherwise. They were still a few hundred feet off the ground. "Hurry up, will ya?"

"Don't rush me! I haven't had a lot of experience with this whole flying thing."

As soon as he finished the sentence, he felt Sam's grip tighten even more. "Don't remind me."

The ghost boy touched down behind one of the stores and let Sam get down. She was shaking ever so slightly. "I hate heights," she grumbled.

"You don't hate heights," Danny said, "You went up on the top of the space needle when you were in Seattle last summer!"

"That was different," Sam took a moment to pull a bug out of her hair. "The Space Needle wasn't a nerd with flaky superpowers."

Danny ignored the jab and willed his body intangible. He walked through the wall behind the store and vanished from sight, leaving Sam alone behind him. Danny entered a break-room and checked to make sure there were no cameras or possible witnesses. Satisfied he was alone, out of sight of prying eyes and cameras, Danny relaxed his focus and his body regained its solidity. Then he focused on returning to his human form. He heard the familiar crack-whine sound that accompanied the appearance of the glowing green ring at his waist that started the transformation. The ring split in two and each half traveled away from each other on a vertical axis. As the rings passed over him his appearance changed. His black and white hazmat suit was replaced with his regular clothes. His skin regained its color, and his snowy white hair and glowing green eyes reverted back to their natural black and blue, respectively. Danny Fenton was a human again, as far as anyone else could tell. "Hey, kid, you're not allowed back here!" And just in time.

"Sorry ma'am," Danny said to the middle-aged woman that had discovered him. "I got lost looking for the bathroom."

"Over near the changing rooms," the woman gestured out back the way she came in.

"Thank you," Danny replied in a hushed voice as he maneuvered his way past the portly forty-something and out into the store.

After a quick scan of the modest assortment of women's clothing Danny spied Sam's ponytail bobbing up and down as she navigated the displays. He followed it, almost tripping over a display once or twice. He caught up to Sam and tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around with a startled look, but relaxed once she saw it was Danny. "What took you so long?" she asked sarcastically

"I was looking for the bathroom."

"What?"

"Never mind. Find anything?"

Sam looked around and sighed. "I'll find something, that's for sure. Whether or not these should be worn by human women is another question."

The joke brought a small grin to Danny's face. "I thought you didn't have to dress up for these Hanukkah dinners with your grandma?"

"Well she says I don't have to," Sam clarified as she grabbed an unremarkable black dress from a rack. Making her way through the displays, Sam added another black dress to her collection, then a purple one. "But my parents have threatened to keep me from going to Circus Gothica when it comes to Amity Park next summer. Normally that wouldn't mean jack. Y'know, being me and all. But they met this couple at the art festival last month who has a son about my age, and… hey, are you even listening to me?"

He was, in fact, not listening. Sam had lost his attention many words ago, and his focus was now directed out the window at a family that had stopped in front of the store. Sam followed his gaze out the window and they watched the father and mother laughing and playing with their son and daughter.

"Danny…"

"Sorry, Sam," Danny tore his eyes away from the window and focused back on his friend. "It's going to be tougher this year."

"What is?" The two made their way to the dressing rooms. Danny stood awkwardly near a display while Sam disappeared into a room. He silently cursed women's clothing stores for their lack of seating.

"This whole Christmas feud thing with my parents. It was bad enough before, but now I have," he paused as the woman he encountered in the break room passed by and gave him a quizzical look. "That thing," he finished in a hushed voice.

"Ah, yes, your thing." Sam pushed open the door to the dressing room and took a step out. "Can't be any worse than this thing," she remarked, fidgeting with the poofy shoulders of her possible purchase. "What do you think?"

"I think that dress has seen better Christmases than I have," he replied.

"So you like it, thanks," Sam returned to the dressing room. Seconds later, Danny saw the black number carelessly tossed over the top of the door. "You know what I think?" Danny didn't respond. "I think it's not going to be that bad. Your parents are always fighting over Santa anyway, how are they going to make time to hunt you down and vivisect you while they're trying to do the same thing to Old Saint Nick?"

Danny's distaste for Christmas had clouded his ability to see the bright side of anything. "That's not a bad point," he said. "Maybe some time without the parents looming over my shoulder could give me some time to work on my thing, get the hang of it a little better."

"Geeze, Danny, now you just sound like a perv." Sam stepped out of the dressing room again. "Well?"

"It's very… black? And it looks like the shoulders are not as… dumb?"

"Danny Fenton the fashionista. Hey! That could be your superhero name!" Sam said laughing before she entered the dressing room for a third time.

"Can you hurry up? This is excruciating."

"Don't rush me, Fenton, or you'll be trying on this next one."

Danny shifted his weight from one side to the other. "Do you think I should tell them?"

Sam took longer to emerge from the dressing room the third time. She was wearing her normal outfit, the two black dresses draped over her arm. "The zipper on the purple one was on the side," Sam hissed, pointing at the crumpled purple dress on the floor of the dressing room. "Who does that?"

"Sam?"

"What, tell your parents?" The two made their way to the counter where the same woman from earlier rang up Sam's purchase. "I don't know. Your situation is a lot like my situation with these dresses; it's uncomfortable and doesn't look good, but eventually you'll figure out how to make it work."

Danny rolled his eyes as the two exited the store. "Oh, yeah, thanks, my mind is completely at ease about my thing."

"We're outside; you can say 'powers' now."

"-my powers. But seriously, the more I think about it, the more I want to sit down and talk to my parents about them. But then I remember all the stuff they do to ghosts, the Ghost Wars, and it's just…"

Sam linked her elbow with Danny's as they walked. "You'll find the right time to tell them. It might take a while, but it will happen, I promise. Now can you do me a favor?"

The boy looked down and noticed Sam's arm. "Do you need me to throw my coat down over a puddle, m'lady?"

She withdrew her arm and slugged Danny in the shoulder. "I'll just use you, smart-ass. Really though, do me a favor and try not to let this get to you. Tucker and I have grown accustomed to your holiday grumpiness. We find it endearing; you're like our sixteen-year-old grandpa angry about the whippersnappers on his lawn. We'd hate to see you extra sad during your saddest time of the year."

"I'll think about it. No promises, though."

A light snow began to fall while the two teenagers continued on their way to the lake. Surrounded by the assortment of stores, the lake was a popular meeting and relaxation spot for shoppers. Tucker Foley was doing more of the relaxing as he sat on a bench near the water's edge, waiting for his friends. None of them were aware they were being watched.

---

Amity Park's Terror Tower was a massive, six hundred and fifty meter tall monolith built in the heart of the thriving downtown area. The Terror Tower was completed in 1995, one year after the end of the Ghost Wars (and one year after Danny Fenton's birth), to serve as a monument to the triumph of humanity against the extra-dimensional invaders.

Perched atop this building was an ectosapien known as Skulker. Only two feet tall and containing no unique supernatural powers, Skulker spent years using his intellect and composite memories to survive in the Void. His adventures led to the creation of his mechanical suit. Inside the suit, Skulker now stood over two meters tall and his bulk was complimented by a startling array of weaponry. Skulker proved to be a most proficient mercenary, which led him through the years to his current assignment.

The telescoping optical receptors built into the suit were presently magnifying the image of his primary target and his two companions, several miles away on the other side of the city. Skulker mentally scrolled through the checklist of his armaments, and calculatedthe damage each one would cause at this range. It was strictly a mental exercise; Skulker's present employer did not want any of the three children harmed, and he was being paid good money to stand around all day and do nothing in particular.

Even if his employer wanted to eliminate the children, Skulker would find some difficulty in obeying the order to kill them. Daniel was struggling to compete for his parent's affection with their passion for ghost hunting. Recent psychological analyses by Technus v1.1.2358.132134c, or Technus for short, indicated that the boy was even more troubled since the acquisition of his powers. Skulker scoffed at the report. One did not require an artificial intelligence construct to point out painfully obvious and observable facts. Both of the boy's friends had picked up on it easily enough.

Skulker tapped into the feed from one of the mobile recording devices located near the children and listened as Tucker Foley offered his support to Daniel. It was a fascinating triangular relationship to watch. Both Tucker and Samantha were drawn to the ghost boy. Tucker idolized Jack and Madeline Fenton and was able to experience all of their scientific exploits by association with Daniel. Samantha was drawn to the weird and supernatural and similarly got her fill via association with Daniel. At least, that was a foundation for their friendship. Over time it was strengthened. Daniel gained two good friends who shared his legitimate interests, two confidants with whom he could disclose his hopes and dreams and fears.

Learning about these children over the past several weeks had been a refreshing change of pace from threatening and assassinating dangerous enemy assets or business rivals. Skulker felt as though he knew the children as well as they knew each other. This line of thinking was harmless to entertain, but attempting to befriend these children could jeopardize his task, and place him in ill standing with his employer. That was something Skulker planned to avoid at all costs.

"It is thirteen hundred hours, reporting in, as ordered." Reporting in as ordered – every hour on the hour during surveillance – was one such way to avoid his employer's ire.

"Situation report." His boss was very to the point. Skulker's current assignment was run like a military operation, something to which Skulker was no stranger. He rather enjoyed the formality of it all, even if his employer did not do things strictly by the book.

"Situation normal, Delta is with Sierra and Tango, they are socializing, no spectral activity nearby." Even though Skulker's communications were heavily encrypted, it was still safer to keep any potential eavesdroppers out of the loop. The NATO phonetic letters helped serve that function.

"Roger that, stand by."

A click notified Skulker that the individual on the other end of the line had switched off the transmitter. The hulking mechanoid ran a brief simulation to determine the damage a .90 caliber anti-dinosaur rifle utilizing incendiary ammunition would cause to the ghost boy. The result was almost comical, and Skulker made a mental note to add that particular weapon to his on-board arsenal.

A second click signaled that the lines of communication had been reopened. "Technus informs me that GIW satellite imagery has been picking up an unusual energy signature in Amity Park, and it isn't the boy. Can you confirm the presence of this energy signature?"

An energy signature? "Stand by."

Skulker began shifting his optics to scan the area in the full electromagnetic spectrum. He cycled through the different frequencies, but nothing immediately grabbed his attention. He shifted his focus from the three children, who looked to be engaged in a snowball fight, to the lake. His hunter's intuition began to make him feel uneasy, and he filtered his optics until he arrived at the ultra-violet frequency. Skulker visibly tensed, as much as a robotic shell could.

"Confirmed, repeat, energy signature confirmed. A portal has opened at the bottom of the lake."

"Threat to Delta?"

"Unknown."

"You have permission to engage any hostiles that emerge from that portal, but be discreet if possible. Sierra and Tango are expendable."

"Expendable? You can't mean-"

"Sierra and Tango are expendable, Delta is priority. Confirm."

"Confirmed, moving to intercept."

Ghosts lit up like a proverbial Christmas tree in the ultra-violet frequency. Ghost portals were even brighter, and Skulker was staring at a massive Christmas tree emanating from the lakebed. When it began to fade, Skulker activated his jets and blasted off from the roof of the building. Portals opened and closed at random, but even a brief window of opportunity was still an opportunity. Skulker hoped he would arrive on the scene to run interference before the trouble started.

He was not fast enough.

---

Dodge, spin, duck, slide, somersault – the weeks of fighting ghosts had given Danny a ground work for what might later become a fighting instinct. He was able to evade Tucker and Sam's snowball attacks with relative ease. He had gotten very good at avoiding being hit. Returning fire –

"You throw like a girl, Fenton!" Tucker shouted.

Miss.

"Yeah, Danny, you- wait, what?"

Another miss.

"I mean, you throw like an equal individual of nondescript sex!"

Two more misses.

"Tucker, I will kill you and make it look like a rabid werewolf did it."

Missed it by that much.

"That's ridiculous, Sam, there's no such thing as werewolves."

– was another story entirely. His two friends were standing motionless, Sam ready to throttle Tucker, and Danny was unable to land a single shot. He was upset that he could not hit anyone, but also glad that nobody saw his blunder. As he wound up to take another throw, he felt a familiar tingle run up his spine. The snowball rolled out of his hand just as twin streams of green mist billowed from his nostrils.

"Hey guys-"

"- no, Tucker, what's stupid is that there is evidence of a supernatural presence in this world, but your scientific community is completely unwilling to even entertain the possibility of things like werewolves or Draculas." Their conversation had gone on uninterrupted.

"Draculas? Is that a thing? Multiple Draculas?

"Whatever!"

"Hey guys?" Danny's two friends had become embroiled in one of their science-versus-faith debates. Unlike normal people who argued over the existence of a supreme being, his friends argued over the existence of things like werewolves, dragons, and, apparently, Draculas. They were unaware of the imminent danger Danny was sensing.

"We have factual, scientific proof of ghosts and the Ghost Zone. We've sent probes into the Ghost Zone, we've seen it. Show me the Dracula dimension, Sam! Show me a Dracula bone!"

"Guys, seriously." The green mist was still billowing from his nose.

Before either Sam or Tucker could respond to their worried friend, the surface of the lake nearest the two exploded upwards. A deafening roar pierced the air and a concussive shockwave threw all three teenagers to the ground, but Danny was unable to see the source. Water splashed to the ground around him, and he instinctively looked around for a place to transform. A crowd had gathered, looking for the source of the commotion

"What was that?!" Tucker was frantically scanning the skies as he stood, looking for their assailant.

"C'mon, Tuck, we need to move!" Sam grabbed Tucker by the shoulder and dragged him in a low run toward Danny. "Danny, you need to get ghostly and find this thing!"

Danny was hunched down, but kept his eyes to the skies like Tucker. "Too many people!" Another ear-splitting roar shook the ground, sending the crowd running in fear. In the distance, Danny could just hear the sound of the ghost alarms activating. "And my parents are on the way!"

"DANNY!"

"OK! Fine! I need a place to hide-" a lone jeep caught his eye "-and that should do just fine." A third roar almost knocked Danny to the ground again. Sam and Tucker were not on asoffirm footing and went down.

A woosh sound, followed by a forceful rumbling in the air, let Danny know the ghost had just flown past him. Based on the wake trail that slid the abandoned jeep a few feet and sent Danny tumbling across the ground, he could tell it was big. Not wanting to risk getting snatched up in another fly-by, Danny sprinted to the vehicle and slid underneath it. The ground shook again, this time more forcefully. Whatever this thing was, it had just landed. Danny focused again on his transformation and waited for the rings to make their pass.

The very instant his eyes turned green, Danny was able to see his attacker. The sight paralyzed him with fear; a massive serpentine dragon was advancing on Tucker and Sam. "GUYS, RUN!"

Alerted to his cry, the dragon turned its focus on Danny. The boy felt his stomach drop when the piercing yellow eyes of the beast met his own. Tucker and Sam screamed; they could see it now as well. The dragon opened its mouth and exhaled. A stream of purple fire shot forth and engulfed Danny and the jeep. The pain was intense, and magnified when the fuel in the jeep's gas tank ignited behind him.

Shrapnel from the explosion stabbed into his burning flesh and sent him spinning across the ground, unconscious, and unable to help Tucker as the beast flew into his body. The weight of the dragon knocked Tucker through the air and out over the lake. When the ghost had disappeared inside Tucker's body, gravity took control and dropped him into the water. His clothes quickly became waterlogged and dragged him beneath the surface.

One of the only drawbacks to Danny's regenerative ability was that it repaired damage to the brain much, much faster than damage to the body, which was already impressively fast. This meant Danny regained consciousness before his charred and shrapnel-riddled body was done fixing itself.

Danny was jolted awake by the agonizing pain of his body shifting and readjusting as it repaired damage that would have killed anyone else instantly. Slowly, he rose to his knees and looked at his hands. They were crispy and blackened. Bone was showing beneath the skin. Somehow he had remained in his ghost form.

"Danny! Oh God, Danny, are you alright?"

"Shhaann," it was then Danny realized his lower lip and some of his tongue had been melted completely off. Replacements were growing in, but not fast enough for Danny. His eyes, which had fully repaired themselves, watered involuntarily at the pain. "Sham, ohh it hurtshh. Whaat awot you? Whereshh Tucker?"

"The dragon, ghost, whatever it is, it flew into Tucker's body and dropped him over the lake!" Sam gestured wildly behind her. "Danny, I think he might be dead! I don't see him!"

"I'll go look for Thhucker-" Danny stopped as a shattered tooth was pushed out by a new one. He spit it out, along with a mouthful of green blood. "Call my parents; see if they're on their way." He stood to his feet and stretched. A few muscles were taking longer to repair than others, but he was mostly restored. His hazmat suit sported some green-stained cuts and gashes, but its fire-proof Kevlar mesh underlay kept it mostly intact. The same could not be said for his gloves, which had melted off.

"Be careful, Danny. If that ghost is overshadowing Tucker…"

Danny could only think to nod in acknowledgement before he took, unsteadily, to the sky and flew out over the lake. The residual pain was slowly leaving his body, freeing Danny up to focus more attention on his search. Steam and bubbles from one single spot in the lake looked like the best place to start looking. Danny took a deep breath and dove down to the surface.

---

Tucker always hated the cold. Too many layers, too much hassle, too much snow; it was all unbearable. Being dragged to the bottom of a near-freezing lake put his hatred in perspective. He couldn't see anything but a purple glow, and it relaxed him. Tucker began to feel sleepy and started to drift off.

AWAKE

The voice, or at least Tucker thought it was a voice, snapped him back to consciousness. He tried to speak, but didn't want to lose his oxygen.

AWAKE TUCK-ARR

It sounded like a voice, but it was coming from inside his head.

Who are you? What are you?

Silence answered him. Tucker thought he must be hallucinating before he died. It was an unsettling thought.

ARAGON. FIND WITCH. KILL WITCH.

Witch? What are you talking about?

I FIND WITCH, I KILL WITCH, REVENGE

Look, you can't use my body to kill anyone, that's not-

TUCKAR CANNOT STOP ARAGON, ARAGON NOT LISTEN TO MORTAL CHILD, YOUR BODY IS MINE

His speech was improving, but Tucker wished the ghost would remain inarticulate; it was less scary that way.

Why do you need my body?

I WILL FIND THE WITCH WHO CAST ME OUT. SHE WILL DIE IN TERROR, STRANGLED BY HER HUBRIS AND HER ENTRAILS.

More articulate and decidedly more evil; Tucker was very scared. He had read extensively about overshadowing, and none of the results ever bode well for the human host.

Someone will stop you. Someone will save me.

THEY WILL TRY. THEY WILL FAIL. I AM ARAGON, SON OF THE FRIGHT KNIGHT, AND HEIR TO THE SOUL SHREDDER. THE WITCH WILL BURN FOR MURDERING MY FAMILY

As intriguing as this all was, not to mention the scientific knowledge gained from the experience, Tucker was in no mood to talk to this creature.

YOUR FRIEND STILL LIVES. HE IS STRONG. BEFORE I KILL THE WITCH, I MUST SEE HOW STRONG.

---

Even though winter was well underway in Amity Park, the near-freezing temperature of the water did not affect Danny in the slightest as he plunged into the murky depths of the lake. His body hardly registered temperature since the accident, and the effect was more pronounced in ghost mode. He was still sensitive to extremes at either end of the spectrum; ghostly fire, for instance, was more than hot enough to register on his pain radar.

The light from above quickly faded to darkness as Danny descended further into the lake. For an artificial lake that served purely aesthetic purposes, the lake was much deeper than he thought necessary. He finally reached the bottom and was almost overwhelmed by the sensory deprivation. No sounds reached his ears, he could barely feel anything, and smell was not in operation at the moment. The lack of senses, in addition to floating in water, was the most disorienting and strangely comforting feeling he had ever experienced. A dull purple glow off in the distance reoriented him, and he floated forward. The glow became an outline, and Danny recognized the shape as Tucker.

Suddenly, Tucker spun around to face Danny. His eyes were glowing purple and bony spikes had sprouted from his head and gasped at the sight, and then grabbed at his throat when he realized he had just inhaled water. Tucker sped toward him and slammed a fist into his stomach, expelling the water and air stored in his lungs. Danny was thrown back, but the punch didn't send him far through the water. Tucker closed the gap and delivered another punch, this time to Danny's face. Even with the water slowing Tucker's fists, the punches hurt. Danny's head snapped back from the blow and he slowly sunk to the ground holding his broken nose. Tucker grabbed Danny by the neck and sped for the surface.

As they broke the surface of the water Danny kicked away and floated away from his friend. "Tucker!" Danny coughed up the rest of the water in his lungs, "What are you doing?!"

Tucker opened his mouth and roared. Danny recognized it as the ghost dragon's roar, from both its sound and the way it broke his eardrums. While he was distracted, Tucker flew in close and threw a third punch. This one really hurt, and Danny became intimately acquainted with Tucker's knuckle spikes as they stabbed into his side. The force of the punch cracked two ribs. Danny lost focus on flying and dropped several feet, inadvertently missing Tucker's follow-up punch.

"Stop!" Danny flew backwards as Tucker advanced on him, taking several more brute force swings"Tucker, stop it! I'm not going to fight you!"

The plea fell on deaf ears. Tucker continued to advance with unbridled fury. Danny was able to dodge most of the attacks, but Tucker landed a blow to the side of his head. Another one caught him in the jaw, and a third cracked his skull. A clawed hand dug into his shoulder and Tucker rammed his fist into Danny's abdomen repeatedly. Bones were pulverized and organs were crushed. Danny coughed up green and red blood; he was unable to escape Tucker's grip.

"I SAID STOP!" Danny lashed out with his own punch and hit Tucker right in the face.

Stunned by the attack, Tucker let go of Danny's shoulder and floated back. Danny flew in and landed a few more punches, but Tucker regained his senses quickly and grabbed Danny's arm before he could continue his attack. Tucker's free hand opened and Danny saw as purple energy began to accumulate above his palm. The stored up energy shot forward and rushed over Danny's face. Danny screamed as his skin bubbled and melted off, and the muscle and tendon underneath burned and blackened.

"YOU ARE A DISAPPOINTMENT." Tucker's voice was deeper, warped, and sounded angry. "YOU STORE WITHIN YOU THE POWER TO DESTROY THIS WORLD, YET YOU HAVE BARELY TAPPED INTO YOUR FULL POTENTIAL."

Glowing green eyes stared through scorched sockets into Tucker's solid purple orbs. "Will you stop for ONE SECOND AND LISTEN?!"

Tucker's grip weakened and Danny took the opportunity to wriggle out of his grasp.

"Tucker-"

"TUCKER IS MY SHELL; HIS BODY EXISTS TO SERVE MY WILL."

"What will?"

"REVENGE ON THE WITCH WHO MURDERED MY FAMILY."

"Alright," Danny's face was almost completely healed. "Whoever you are, just listen to me for a second, ok?" Tucker, or the ghost controlling Tucker, floated in the air and did not move against him. "Ok. This witch, the… the murder, whatever, fine. I'm really, truly sorry for your loss. If you're inside Tucker's mind you know I'm not being, uh, you know…"

"DISINGENIOUS."

"…Yeah, ok, that. You know I'm not being that. Go find this witch, ok? Go mess up her face or whatever you want to do, but you don't need to overshadow my friend here. I need you to leave his body. Will you do that?"

"NO. YOU KNOW WHY I HAVE TAKEN CONTROL OF YOUR FRIEND; MY BIOLOGY DEMANDS IT. IN THREE DAYS I SHALL BE WHOLE AGAIN, AND I WILL LEAVE YOU IN PEACE."

"But Tucker… you can't-!"

"ARE YOU WILLING TO PROVIDE ME ANOTHER VESSEL?"

"I can't just… sacrifice an innocent person to you, there has to-"

"THIS IS MY ONLY RECOURSE, AND I HAVE INDULGED YOUR HUMAN WEAKNESS FOR SPEECH LONG ENOUGH. DO YOU STAND WITH ME, OR AGAINST ME?"

Tension hung in the air like fog between the two beings. "If you really are inside Tucker's mind, then you already know my answer."

A snide grin spread across Tucker's face.

The attack was too fast for Danny to react. Tucker's eyes lit up with purple energy and a flare forced Danny's eyes shut. If they had remained open, they might have seen the twin beams of energy lance forward from Tucker's eyes. What the thin beams lacked in concussive force, they made up for in precise cutting power. As they struck Danny's neck they easily sliced through skin, muscle, and bone. Danny's head was lopped cleanly from his body. Tucker's hand darted forward to grab the head, and Danny's vision faded as he watched his body tumble from the sky to the ground below.

---

It took every ounce of strength in Sam not to fall to her knees when Tucker's eye beams decapitated Danny. Sam closed her eyes tight and struck that notion from her mind – whatever this was, it was wearing Tucker like a costume; it was not her friend. She refocused her attention on not-Tucker; he floated over to her and stepped down out of the air as if he was descending a flight of stairs.

"THIS HAS BEEN A DISAPPOINTING ENCOUNTER AT BEST," not-Tucker growled in his new demonic voice.

"You're a monster. You killed Danny!" Sam had wanted to call him worse than monster.

"I'M NOT SO SURE, BUT THIS IS BEYOND MY INTEREST."

At that moment, Sam noticed that not-Tucker was holding something. The realization of what it was drained the strength remaining in Sam and she sunk to her knees. Not-Tucker dropped Danny's head to the ground and unceremoniously nudged it with his foot, rolling it over so that the pained grimace frozen on Danny's face was now staring at Sam.

"CAN'T HAVE A PROPER WARRIOR'S BURIAL WITHOUT THE REMAINS."

The words pulled Sam's gaze from Danny's head to Tucker's glowing yellow eyes. "Tucker, I know you're in there," she started quietly. "I just want you to know that I am going to do everything I can to save you first."

"A NOBLE GESTURE, BUT FUTI-"

"I probably won't be able to do it by myself," she continued. "And if I find out how to kill this thing, even if it's still inside you, I'm going to do it if I can't find a way to bring you back. I want you to know, if it comes to that, I'm sorry."

Not-Tucker looked at Sam, but did not respond. Sam was staring daggers at the beast controlling her friend. Her heart was racing and she firmly believed she just signed off on her own execution.

Neither of them expected a metal fist to collide with the side of not-Tucker's head and send him crashing into the side of a building half a football field away. A bewildered Sam crab-walked backwards away from the metal warrior, only to have her confusion magnified when an armored panel rotated down to reveal the face of Madeline Fenton.

"Mrs. Fenton?!" Sam's heart was beating so fast she was almost certain she was going to go into shock. "Wha…"

"Get to the RV, Samantha. Run as fast as you can, and don't look back." The armored panel rotated back into place, shielding the better half of Team Fenton's face.

The ground shook and another roar pierced the sky. Sam knew not-Tucker was back in the game. She began crawling to the RV as sounds of combat raged on behind her. Before Sam got very far she remembered Danny's severed head only a few behind her.

"Oh, come on," Sam mumbled.

She chanced a look over her shoulder and froze. Mrs. Fenton was encased in some kind of armored suit. There was no way to tell who was driving it if you didn't already know; the thing didn't even have a head as far as Sam could tell. Regardless, Mrs. Fenton was holding her own against not-Tucker. Maddie's martial arts training was easily able to counter not-Tucker's primal rage and deal some serious damage on its own. One of not-Tucker's arms was already dangling by his side, limp and useless. Several heavy-hitting punches sent not-Tucker tumbling along the ground until a tree broke his momentum.

Despite her fear screaming at her to run, the spectacle kept Sam rooted to the spot. She slowly picked up Danny's head, angling the open neck wound away from her clothes, never taking her eyes off of the fight.

"Samantha! Get out of there, it isn't safe!"

Jostled by Jack's command over the Fenton RV's megaphone, Sam backed away, watching not-Tucker and Mrs. Fenton exchange a few more blows before she turned and ran for the RV. Inside, Jack was too busy priming weapons systems to notice Sam's cargo.

"Is she ok out there?" Sam asked as she grabbed a discarded jacket from the floor and wrapped it around Danny's head.

"Who, Maddie?" Jack stole a glance of the fight and smiled before focusing back on the console before him. "She could take on anyone, anywhere, anytime in that suit. Just not forever."

"What do you mean?"

"Suit's a prototype; it has a finite internal power supply that lasts about five minutes unless it's hooked up to another power source."

That news was unsettling, but Sam was focused on the bundled mass in her arms. The realization that Danny was dead was starting to catch up with her. She fought off the urge to cry and shifted her attention to the fight outside.

"Don't you worry," Jack continued, not paying attention to Sam or her cargo. "The suit is just to keep that spook busy while I spin up the Fenton One Shot."

Normally, Sam would roll her eyes at Jack Fenton's names for weapons. In fact, out of habit, she did this time as well. However, the Fenton One Shot was not a misnomer for some poorly-constructed gadget. The Fenton One Shot killed the ghost overshadowing a human with just one shot every time. It also killed the human host. Every time.

"No! Mr. Fenton, you can't-"

"This is the first Level Three ghost we've seen since the end of the Ghost Wars, Samantha. I'm sorry, but the poor soul out there is as good as-"

"That's Tucker!" Sam saw Mr. Fenton visibly tense. He stopped fiddling with the weapons console and remained silent. "We have to find another way," she added quietly.

"Jack," Maddie's voice came in over the radio. "Is the One Shot ready? I'm almost out of juice."

Several seconds passed before a realization hit Sam. "We can't kill Tucker, but Tucker doesn't know that."

Jack looked over his shoulder with a knowing grin on his face. "We're ready, Maddie," Jack answered. "Retreat to minimum safe distance, we're ready to engage."

Outside, Maddie was showing some signs of slowing down. Not-Tucker had taken quite a beating, but he gave as good as he got. During their near-five minute struggle, the prototype suit had lost its right forearm, and the suit was riddled with energy burns and claw marks. A sweeping kick dropped a battle-weary Tucker to the ground, and Maddie took the lapse in combat to perform a single-handed back handspring out of the RV's line of fire.

Panels on top of the RV shifted and made way for the weapons systems to rise up and take aim. Jack targeted the ground right next to not-Tucker and fired the Fenton One Shot. The blast sent dirt and snow in all directions. It also caught not-Tucker's attention. Sam watched as his purple eyes focused on the weapon that had just fired. Menace changed from confusion, and then quickly melted into fear. Sam knew the ghost inside her friend had tapped into Tucker's knowledge of ghost weapons. She knew it recognized the One Shot. With a mixture of relief and despair, Sam watched not-Tucker rise into the air and blast off into the clouds and out of sight. At least Tucker would survive for the moment.

"Jack, what was that?" Sam turned and saw Maddie maneuver the prototype suit into the back of the RV and exit it. Sam hugged the bundle in her arms tighter. "We had him, what happened?"

"That was Tucker, Maddie," Jack replied sadly. "If it wasn't for Samantha's quick thinking, we might… we would have…"

"Tucker? I didn't even recognize him. That ghost, it was way too powerful for a Level Two, Jack."

"It was a Three, Maddie."

Sam watched the two Fentons for a moment as they talked about the ghost and what to do now, but another realization quickly dawned on her. They would soon ask her about Danny. Her arms tightened around his covered head at the thought of them finding out, especially like this. Her mind raced, trying to find a suitable explanation.

As it happened, the hand of fate was not ready to let Danny's secret to slip from its grasp. Instead, it invisibly reached up through the floor of the RV and grabbed Sam's leg. Sam let out a yelp as she was turned intangible and yanked down through the floor. The Fentons spun around just as she disappeared through the ground, helpless to save her.

---

Even though Skulker conducted the observations and wrote his own reports on Delta, Tango, and Sierra, actual interaction with the children provided him with unexpected data. For instance, he had not thought Sierra would attempt to gnaw off his arm to escape his grasp. She had even chipped a tooth in the process. Her thrashing and kicking and screaming did her no good and even if she did escape, the sewers beneath Amity Park were a labyrinth. His hideaway was nearly impossible to find without sensory equipment and ghost powers; escaping would be no easier.

But Sierra was not a prisoner in Skulker's sewer lair. She was a guest.

"If you continue to chew on my forearm, you will break that tooth completely. I imagine it would be rather expensive to have it replaced."

"Worth every penny, you scum," she spat. The chewing ceased, at least for the moment.

"I assumed, correctly, that you would not come with me willingly. Otherwise I would not have had to resort to these means."

"This is kidnapping, you know. Super illegal."

"I was unaware your judicial system acknowledged super crime, Ms. Manson."

The joke was meant to alleviate some of the tension. Skulker was quite sure he was not successful.

"How do you know my name?" Skulker chose to ignore the question and continued on through the tunnels.

The platform that housed his temporary base of operations came into view. While Skulker was unable to fly with ease like many of his fellow ectosapiens, he could utilize his power to levitate for short distances; just enough to lift himself and the girl to the platform. He set the girl down and watched her back away as far as she could. She was holding Daniel's head tightly in her arms.

"I do not mean to harm you, Samantha," Skulker said as calmly as he could. "I am here to provide assistance."

"Assistance?" The girl shifted her weight and nervously looked around, but she saw she had nowhere to run. Being in a small space with a ghost like Skulker would put any human ill at ease.

"With your friend there," Skulker gestured at the bundle in Samantha's arms. "I saw the battle. Daniel fought well, but he was clearly outmatched."

"How do you know his name? Any of our names?"

Skulker moved over to his work station consisting of a large table and a metal crate. He seated himself on the crate and looked from Sam to the object lying on the table; it was obscured by shadows, and as far as Skulker could tell, Sam did not know what it was."I have been watching the three of you for several weeks, since the incident with the Lunch Lady ghost. My intent was merely to collect data, but the appearance of a Neutron-Level Three Ectosapien was unexpected, it forced me to intervene personally."

The girl took an uncertain step forward. "Alright then, I have more questions."

"Ask them."

"Who are you working for?"

"Who said I was working for anyone?" Even if he wanted to reveal that information, Skulker could only see negative consequences arising if he divulged his employment situation to Samantha.

"Are you?"

"No. Your friend Daniel fascinates me. Humans with supernatural powers are rare, I am curious to see how his powers evolve as he becomes a man." The truth might come out eventually, but that was not his call to make.

"Why did you bring me here?"

A pause to phrase his response, then, "To avoid your interrogation by the Fentons regarding Daniel's whereabouts. Had I taken only his head, you would undoubtedly be questioned. I am unsure how the Fentons will respond to their son's new abilities, but it is too early to place that burden on him."

"Not that it matters now," Samantha looked down at Daniel's head and removed the now-blood soaked jacket from it.

"It matters quite a lot, actually. Before I answer any additional questions, I must attend to an issue of some significance." Skulker stood and activated the light above the table, revealing Daniel's headless corpse.

Samantha gasped and almost dropped his head. "How did you-"

"Same way I brought you here. I retrieved Daniel's body while Tucker Foley was preoccupied fighting Madeline Fenton." Skulker gestured to the neck region. "How about we speed this up? Tucker has less than seventy two hours until he dies."

The statement froze Samantha in her tracks as she was walking to the table. "What?!"

Gently, Skulker removed the head from Samantha's arms. "What do you mean 'what'? Do you not know how overshadowing works?"

"I'll level with you… guy… when people start talking about ghosts, I usually tune it out, or at least I used to. I'm not really into the nerd-speak, but I'm trying to catch up now that Danny…"

"My name is Skulker, not Guy," Skulker grumbled. "When a ghost overshadows a host on the material plane, it is for one of two reasons. Either the ghost has just emerged from the Void and requires a temporary host to keep its molecular structure from destabilizing, or it is attempting to have some… fun with the locals." Skulker set Daniel's head down on the table and lined its open wound up with the wound on his body.

"I'm guessing Tucker got picked for option number one?"

"Precisely."

"But why Tucker?"

"To use one of your colloquialisms; wrong place, wrong time." Skulker pressed the two parts of Daniel together where they were separated, "Stand back." Skulker accessed his suit's defensive systems and activated his protective electric barrier. The surge of electricity surged around Skulker, traveled through his hands, and jolted the two pieces of Daniel as well.

"What are you doing?!" Sam shouted upon seeing Skulker light up. The surge of energy powered down, and the two watched as Danny's wound began to seal itself over. "Oh my God…"

"All he needed was a jolt," Skulker mused aloud. "No more energy than it takes to power a car, and this child defies death."

The two watched in silence as the wound finished healing. Within seconds any evidence that Daniel had been decapitated was erased completely.

"Is that it? Is he ok?"

Skulker did not answer, but continued to watch. Seconds passed, then minutes. After five minutes, Skulker straightened his back, keeping his eyes trained on the boy. "Maybe it did not wor-"

"AHHH!" Daniel sat up screaming. This turned to coughing, and blood and water were both expelled from his body. "Oh man," he continued coughing until there was nothing left to cough out. "What's going on? Where…"

Skulker watched as Danny's expression flashed from bewilderment to terror to something resembling nausea. Green mist briefly billowed out from his nostrils. Danny lunged forward, Skulker was not sure if it was to attack or flee. A large metal hand grabbed the boy's shoulder and kept him from moving around.

"Danny! Danny, calm down! Are you ok?"

"Sam?" Daniel looked to his friend. Skulker noticed the boy visibly relaxed. "What's going on? Are you ok?" Danny continued to relax, right out of his ghost form. Exhausted from his ordeal, the boy slumped to his knees.

"I'm fine, but I didn't just come back from the dead," Sam hurried over and knelt at his side. "And before you do anything stupid, this guy, Stalker, just saved your life."

"Skulker," he corrected. "And Samantha's concern mirrors my own. It is very rare for anyone, even ectosapiens, to survive decapitation. How do you feel?"

"Your concern?" Daniel scoffed. Skulker cocked an eyebrow, attempting to convey his dwindling patience. Danny sighed. "I feel fine. I have a… healing factor, like Wolverine in the comics. I heal pretty fast from some really nasty stuff, and really nasty stuff happens regularly around here in case you haven't noticed."

"Oh, he's noticed," Sam chimed in snidely. "Stalker here has been watching us since the Lunch Lady thing."

"Before you start, either of you," Skulker looked back and forth between both of the children, "if I had wanted to kill you, I could have done so already. I have had plenty of chances. If I had wanted to hold your friends and loved ones for ransom, I could have done that as well. You are a curiosity, Daniel, I only wish to observe."

"That's not gonna fly with me, dude. You're invading my privacy and… and learning my weaknesses and stuff, no way am I going to let you keep spying on me."

"Maybe you cannot be killed, but we have learned today that you can be incapacitated indefinitely. All I have to do is cut off your head and phase it into a rock or a slab of concrete and you are as good as dead until I decide to put you back together." Skulker let the words sink in. Both of the children were clearly uncomfortable. Samantha held a firm grip on Daniel's arm. "But I have no plans to do that. And the longer you sit here arguing with me, the less time you have to save Tucker."

Neither of the children had said anything for a while. Skulker moved away from them and over to another end of the platform, waiting for one of them to ask the question he knew was coming.

"How can we do that?"

Skulker grinned; he knew it would be Samantha. "Daniel, did this ghost say anything to you during your battle?"

"He did," Danny said softly. "He said he was going to kill… the witch? I don't know what that means."

"That is not important for you to engage the dragon," Skulker stated. "Understanding his motivations and the identities of all the parties involved in his tragedy are not going to help you physically save Tucker."

"That makes no sense!" Sam shouted. "Understanding why he's doing what he's doing is exactly what we need to-"

"No, Sam," Danny interrupted. "He's right. This thing wasn't interested in negotiating, I doubt it would give up and go home if we tried sympathizing with it."

"Then what do you suggest, Ichabod?"

"Most of my kind is quick to anger," Skulker said, cutting off what sounded like an argument in the making. "If this ghost is angered enough, it will lose his hold on the boy and be expelled."

"That's definitely good to know," Danny spoke while rubbing the back of his neck. Skulker knew it was a sign of nervousness. "Will Tucker be alright if we do this before his three days are up?"

"The boy will be slightly dehydrated, but he will not be permanently damaged."

"So how do we get him angry?" Sam asked.

Skulker contemplated his answer.

"I have given you all you need to succeed; the rest is up to you. And I suggest you make haste, every second brings Tucker Foley closer to death."

Tempting as it was to assist, Skulker did not want the children to come to depend on him for information, otherwise Daniel would not be able to grow on his own and develop his own perspective. It was important, both to Daniel and to Skulker's employer, to foster independence in the boy at this stage of his life. He watched intently as Daniel picked up Sam and shakily flew them both up through the ceiling and out of the sewer. Skulker began packing away his base for relocation.

"Situation report," the voice of his employer demanded through his radio.

"Suggest we meet in person," he replied, continuing to move equipment. "I have some information you might find… interesting."

---

After the Ghost Wars had officially been declared "won", the Fentons chose to remain in Amity Park to act in the capacity of sentinels against future threats. They received authorization from various organizations to act in such a capacity in the face of ectosapiens incursions, but that authority came with responsibility – namely, the responsibility to report to the local government in the event of an ongoing incursion. This served to simply notify the city's representatives of a present danger and efforts being taken to end the threat; nobody ever stood in the Fenton's way when ghosts were about. Human captives, however, changed the rules of this engagement - especially when the captive in question was the son of the mayor.

"My SON?!"

"I'm sorry, Maurice," Madeline said softly, but with confidence. "We didn't realize who the victim was until after we engaged. Civilians were near the area, there was no time to waste-"

"So you leap into battle wearing this… this robot suit," Maurice was gesturing to the video footage of Maddie's brawl with Tucker, "and almost kill my only child!"

"We weren't trying to kill Tucker-"

"Oh no? What about here?" Maurice fast-forwarded the footage towards the end, replaying the part of the fight where Jack had fired the Fenton One Shot. The Fentons, sitting on the opposite side of his desk, looked on uncomfortably. "I might not be an expert ghost hunter, but I sure as hell know what that thing is," the mayor said, oozing resentment.

"That was just a warning shot," Jack offered. "Samantha told us who it was just in time; we figured Tucker's instinct could drive him off. And it worked, see?" Jack pointed at the screen just as Tucker flew off.

"Oh, don't you think for a second I forgot what you told me about Samantha. Grabbed by a ghost through the bottom of your own anti-ghost car? Jeremy and Pamela are going to love that. So, two children are missing and my boy could be anywhere on the planet, if he's even on the planet anymore. We have no way to track him, and he has less than three days before-"Maurice was trembling; he was unable to finish the sentence. Tears welled up in his eyes.

"We'll get him back," Maddie said quietly. "I promise, we-"

"No. You're not going to do anything."

"Excuse me?" Both Fentons asked in unison

"As far as I'm concerned, you're the reason this awful thing happened in the first place! If Tucker wasn't always being dragged around by that boy of yours, none of this would be happening!"

"Maury, think about what you're saying!" Jack stood up urgently. "This was just a random attack, it could have happened to anyone!"

"But it happened to TUCKER," Maurice stood and met Jack's gaze. "I won't have you trigger-happy glory hounds taking down half the city along with my son. I'll have the police handle this." He dropped down into his chair again. "What a world, when I can't rely on the experts to handle a situation properly."

"You can't be serious," Maddie stood alongside her husband. "The police don't have the experience we do to deal with Level Three-"

"Enough! Enough of your damned levels, and everything else, both of you! You do not have authorization to engage this threat. If I so much as smell either of you near this situation, I will have you in court so fast your heads will spin, I don't care who you think you are." Maurice stormed around the table and thrust his arm towards the door of his office. "Now get the hell out."

Maddie and Jack exchanged looks. Confusion, anger, betrayal, sadness, all of it bubbled up inside the two; ultimately, it was empathy which won out. They lowered their heads and quietly exited, leaving the distraught father alone.

"He's right," Maddie said once the doors slammed shut behind them. "Jack, we can't keep fooling ourselves. We are responsible for this."

"We didn't start the Ghost Wars, Maddie, but we finished it. We saved thousands of people, maybe millions."

"But things like this still happen, and we have no way to stop it. We can't sit back and be complacent with a victory from a decade ago; we aren't doing enough to keep our world safe."

"We have some of the best counter-measures ever created in the history of mankind!"

"Counter-measures weren't enough to save Tucker and Sam today, and we don't even know if they're still alive. These are children we're talking about here, Jack! We can't wait to respond anymore, we need to strike first."

Jack was silent as he walked out the door of City Hall with his wife. Her words had the sting of truth, and Jack was beginning to see the bigger picture. "So much time," he said finally, "I've spent so much time on little things, like this Christmas feud; time that could have been spent on your idea, on preemptive measures. I'm such a fool, Maddie. Danny's friends… how are we going to tell him?"

Jack had lowered his head again, waiting for his wife to reassure him and give him the confidence to drive forward and solve this problem, but she remained silent. He turned his gaze to her, noticing he eyes were wide open and her mouth agape.

"Danny was with them today, at the lake," she said, almost inaudibly. "Jack, where is Danny?"

---

"Where are you going? My house is back there."

Danny snapped out of his daze and looked to where Sam was pointing. He had missed his target for the second time that day. He sighed, "Sorry, I'm a little distracted."

"Yeah..." The lack of a sarcastic quip showed Sam's mind was also elsewhere.

Danny flew down to Sam's bedroom window and phased the two of them into her house. He looked around, noticing how slovenly Sam appeared to keep her lair. "I just realized I've never been up here," he observed. "A little messier than I imagined."

"You imagine my room?" Ah, there was the quip. Sam flopped backwards onto her bed and laid there, motionless. Taking that as his cue to leave, Danny turned to leave through the wall. "Don't go." He turned back to look at Sam, who was now sitting up and staring at him. "Please."

As if his body chose to answer for him, Danny transformed from his ghost form back to his human self. The instant the rings disappeared, he sank to his knees. A wave of exhaustion washed over him like a wave. "Oh man," he mumbled. "What's going on?"

"Is something wrong?" Sam crouched down next to Danny, placing a hand on his shoulder to steady him.

"I didn't mean to transform, it just happened," he said, shakily rising to his feet. "Feels like I just got hit by a walrus."

"A what?"

"I don't know, leave me alone, I'm exhausted."

Sam placed her hands on her hips and gave him a concerned look. "You had a pretty rough day, Ghost Boy. I'm surprised you could even get us both back here."

Realization dawned on Danny. "That's true, I usually don't last this long."

"Phrasing."

Danny rolled his eyes. "I've never stayed in ghost mode for that long before. It's been hours since the lake." Danny rubbed his eyes and failed to stifle a yawn. "I can feel the energy coming back, but slowly."

"Which is good, you're gonna need it when we find Tucker."

Danny gave Sam the same concerned look and moved to sit down on her bed. "My parents can handle that. Best thing for us to do is just wait it out."

"Excuse me?"

"What?"

"We aren't going to wait for anyone to do anything, we're going to save him ourselves."

"Did Mister Roboto erase your memory earlier? Tucker broke more of my bones in a few minutes than most people break in their entire lives. He also cut off my head, in case you forgot that part too."

"I didn't... I'll never forget that."

"Yeah, well," Danny trailed off, sensing this was more sensitive to Sam than she let on. "I'm no match for Tucker with the powers he has. He almost killed me, Sam."

"But he didn't, you got to walk away from that fight. Tucker won't be so lucky in three days, is that what you want to happen?"

"Of course not, but-"

"Why are you even hesitating? You should be out there right now searching every nook and cranny between here and the Moon, but you're here making excuses."

"I'm not making excuses, I-"

"Then why aren't you out there? Why aren't you saving Tucker?"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Danny saw a flash of green reflecting off of Sam's desk wall-mounted mirror; his own eyes glowed back at him from across the room. Sam had involuntarily taken several steps back from her friend's outburst. Danny looked from her mirror back to her, his irises returning to their default piercing blue shade. Tears were forming in the corners of his eyes.

"I never wanted you guys to get hurt. Hanging out with me, you were always closer to the danger than anyone else and I couldn't protect you if something happened."

"But nothing ever did."

"We've been lucky; it was only a matter of time before this…" Danny gestured wildly out the window, trailing off and fighting back the surge of emotion threatening to open the floodgates. "When I first got these powers, I didn't know what to feel. The last few weeks I was starting to think… I was starting to think I could protect you, finally, if something ever did happen. And now," the tears began to stream down his cheeks. "Now Tucker is going to die, and I wasn't strong enough to save him." Unable to speak between sobs any longer, Danny hung his head in his hands and cried softly. "I'm not strong enough to save any of you."

Moments passed in silence. Sam stood uncomfortably, wringing her hands. She sat next to him on her bed and patted him on the back. It was very awkward. "I know this whole thing sucks, but you need to get it together, Fenton."

Most of the emotional outpouring had worked its way out of Danny's system. His eyes and nose were red, and the occasional sniffle could be heard from his cupped hands. "I tried, Sam."

"Then you need to try harder," she snapped.

Danny looked up from his hands, his brow furrowed.

"I know it isn't easy, it isn't fair, or whatever. You're right about one thing; if you sit here and do nothing, our best friend is going to be dead before Christmas Day. And you know what? Maybe you're right to be scared. Maybe he kicks your ass from here to Shanghai and back again, maybe he filets you alive and feeds you our own liver-"

"Jesus, Sam, what the f-"

"My point is… that you owe Tucker. I don't believe for a second that this is somehow your fault, and you shouldn't either," Sam was finally finding coherence for her pep-talk. "This is a crazy and terrifying world we live in. The boogey man is real, and nightlights only piss him off. You just got superpowers of your own, what, like, a month ago? And already you have a hero complex that makes Superman look like Little Jack Horner."

"What the hell are you even talking about?"

"You have to try to save Tucker even if you don't believe you can win – even if you might die. You have to try, not because this is your fault – it isn't – but because it's the right thing to do. And what's more, he's your friend. He'd do the same for you."

Danny's face slowly regained its normal peachy complexion as he sat, letting Sam's words sink in. "You're right," he murmured. "You're right," again, with more feeling, "I have to do this."

"We'll do it together," Sam corrected, rising with Danny as he stood up.

"No. Maybe this isn't my fault, but if I brought you and something happened, that would definitely be on me."

"You can't expect me to sit on my hands and do nothing while you have all the fun," Sam remarked incredulously.

"I need you to find him. We can use his phone's GPS to track him down."

"Oh, really? I can just go ahead and do that because I totally know how, right?"

"Tucker waterproofed his phone last summer; with any luck he still has it on him. If it's on, you can trace the GPS signal."

"News flash, Fenton; I'm not one of his tech-club misfit buddies, how am I supposed to do that?"

"I don't know, think of something. I'll start looking on my own." Danny transformed, wincing at the sudden feeling of soreness that washed over him – his power had not yet fully returned. "Call me when you figure that out."

"Yeah, leave me with the real work," Sam griped. "You might want to go home and change first; you look like a homeless scuba diver."

It had been hours since his first engagement with Tucker. Danny hadn't noticed that his boots had melted off along with his gloves. The tattered remains of his black hazmat suit looked as though they were about to fall off. "Just find Tucker," he mumbled before flying through the wall and off into the night.

---

Humanity learned a great deal about their ethereal enemies from the Ghost Wars. The more hands-on experience humanity gained, the more it became apparent that not all ghosts were savage beasts. Some were virtually identical to their Earth counterparts. Others had strange powers. Others still appeared to retain some level of intelligence beyond just animal instinct. The acquisition of this information from research and combat reports led to the development of the Neutron Level system coined by J.I. Neutron towards the end of the Ghost Wars.

Tucker mentally ran through the information he had memorized on the subject of the Level system. It was not helping to calm him down.

YOUR SCIENCE HAS LEARNED SO LITTLE OF OUR KIND IN THE MILLENIA OF OUR COEXISTENCE, Aragon scoffed inside Tucker's head. IT IS A WONDER YOUR KIND WAS ABLE TO SAVE ITSELF.

We're full of surprises, Tucker replied mentally. He had no physical control over his body; his only way to communicate to his captor was by thought.

INDEED. I CERTAINLY WAS SURPRISED HOW EASILY YOUR FRIEND'S HEAD WAS REMOVED FROM HIS BODY. THESE BONES OF YOURS, Aragon paused and ran one of Tucker's clawed fingers down the opposite forearm, SO FRAGILE.

Aragon quickly grabbed the limb and snapped it at a ninety-degree angle. The sickening wet crunch was accompanied by an intense flare of excruciating pain, but Tucker could not scream. He could only watch as his limb dangled uselessly in front of him.

Please… stop…

Aragon reset the limb and held it in place as it regenerated. DO YOU REGRET THE COMPANY YOU KEPT DURING YOUR LIFE?

My life isn't over yet, someone will come for me.

YOUR COMRADE, DANIEL, HE HAD A PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO SAVE YOU. DO YOU REMEMBER? BEFORE I KILLED HIM? I OFFERED HIM A CHANCE TO SAVE YOUR LIFE.

You wanted a human sacrifice. Danny doesn't do that.

NOT EVEN FOR YOU? I HAVE DELVED INTO THE RECESSES OF YOUR MIND, TUCKER. THE BOND YOU AND DANIEL SHARE IS THE BOND OF BROTHERS. IS THE LIFE OF A BROTHER NOT AS VALUABLE AS SOME VAGRANT PEASANT ON THE STREETS OF THIS METROPOLIS?

That isn't the point. Those kinds of decisions, they aren't up to him.

DANIEL IS NOT SOME MERE MORTAL, HE CHOOSES TO LIVE AND PLAY AS A HUMAN, BUT HE TRANSCENDS YOUR MORALITY BY RIGHT OF HIS POWER.

You're talking about him like he's some kind of god.

DANIEL COULD HAVE STOOD ATOP MOUNT OLYMPUS; CHAMPION OF THE GODS, SLAYER OF THE GHOST KING. NOW HE LIES IN PIECES IN ONE OF YOUR RIDICULOUS LABORATORIES.

Tucker remained silent, unwilling to think of his friend actually being dead.

DESAPAIR NOT, CHILD. I HAVE ALMOST FINISHED ATTUNING YOUR BODY TO THE ENERGY CURRENTS OF THIS WORLD. SOON I WILL BE ABLE TO LOCATE THE WITCH, AND YOU SHALL HAVE THE HONOR OF WATCHING HER HEART PULSE ONE FINAL TIME ONCE I REND IT FROM HER CHEST.

I thought you were going to strangle her with her entrails… and hubris.

SEMANTICS

What did she do to your family?

THAT IS NOT FOR YOU TO KNOW. NOW BE SILENT, I MUST PERFECT THE ATTUNMENT BEFORE THE HUNT BEGINS.

Tucker obeyed. There was nothing else he could do.

---

Flying was one of the easiest powers for Danny to master. This was surprising; flying was such a new experience, he imagined it would have taken the most amount of time to master. What he had begun to notice was that flying was as instinctual as flinching when Sam wound up to take a swing at him. Danny had wondered where this instinct had come from, but most of his theories were half-formed and carried uncomfortable implications. The ease of flying did not eliminate its entertainment value, and Danny enjoyed flying as much as anyone would expect. Unfortunately, Danny was unable to enjoy the experience when the life of his best friend hung in the balance. His attention was focused on the streets below, the tops of skyscrapers downtown, and the horizon far off in the distance. His ghost sense had no so much as tingled in the past half hour.

It was then Danny realized he had been flying around Amity Park for half an hour without returning home to change out of his tattered hazmat suit, as Sam had suggested. The thought of returning home triggered a flood of emotions, mostly panic, over the thought of his parents looking for him. Even the Fentons would drop the Christmas feud in the wake of a Level Three ghost attack. Danny landed on top of the nearest building and reverted back to human form. He reached into his pocket for his cell phone and breathed a sigh of relief when it still worked. Danny and his friends were still trying to figure out where Danny's clothes and personal affects went when he transformed…

His flip phone informed him of one hundred and seven missed calls from his mother and father, an equal number of voicemails, and over fifty text messages from his sister. He would have to sort through all of that - just after working out an alibi to explain his absence for the entire day. His phone interrupted that line of thinking with a soft vibration, alerting him to an incoming call. Fortunately, explanations and alibis could wait – Sam was ringing in.

"Hey, Sam, find anything yet?" Danny asked.

"Are you near a TV?"

"Uh, no, not really." Danny looked around. There were no TVs in sight on top of his perch. He quickly asked himself why he even needed to look around. "Why, what's going on?"

"They found Tucker. Someone called it into the police; he's on top of the old clock tower in the historical district, now there are news cameras and cops all over the place."

"I'm on my way," Danny moved the phone to hang up, but was stopped by Sam's piercing shout.

"Not without me, you're not!"

"Sam, I am not bringing you to this place. Tucker is way too powerful, and if I can't stop him-"

"I'm not going to watch you die again today, Danny."

"And I'm not going to let you get killed at all, Sam! Please, just stay out of the way." Danny hung up before Sam could protest again. He slid the phone back in his pocket and transformed into his ghost form. "The historical district, huh?" he mumbled to himself, "A ghost after my own heart."

Flying and super powers; this was the stuff dreams were made of. Danny was hoping he would wake up soon.

---

The anonymous tip reporting the location of the Level Three ghost had come from a phone booth several blocks away from the clock tower. A man with dark skin, offset by a pristine white suit, made his way from the booth to the other side of the street where another man with lighter skin and a matching suit was leaning against the side of a building. The two had waited patiently until the police arrived, and continued to wait until the news vans and helicopters showed up.

The men listened intently to the radio chatter playing through their ear pieces. The police were quick to criticize the Mayor's judgment in not calling in the Fentons – it was well known that bullets and tasers were ineffective against ghosts. The news media were wondering if the ghost would ever leave its perch. A distant roar interrupted the radio chatter; Tucker had leapt from the tower and unleashed his power on the masses below.

Cars and SWAT vehicles were reduced to smoldering rubble with optic blasts. Men and women were set aflame with fire belched from the mouth of the beast. More still met their ends at Tucker's clawed hands and feet. The carnage sent the crowds fleeing in panic as the historical district burned behind them. News choppers were picked off out of the sky by ectoplasmic energy blasts; they careened into nearby buildings, toppling the structures. In just five short minutes, the overshadowed Tucker had rekindled terror in the hearts of mankind with vivid recreations of devastation from the Ghost Wars.

The two guys in white suits were well out of the radius of the carnage. They looked from the scene unfolding before them to the skies, still waiting. The Heads Up Display built into the pairs' sunglasses picked up movement several miles out. One of the men elbowed the other and pointed up, the other nodding in affirmation. Finally. The lighter-skinned man tapped his ear and whispered something unintelligible. He then motioned for his partner to depart with him; this distance was no longer safe. The pair entered a simple black car and drove off.

---

As he made his way into the Tucker-blasted ruins of several city blocks, Danny realized for the first time that the images he had seen in school from the Ghost Wars did not do justice to the genuine articles. Try as he might, Danny was unable to avoid seeing the mangled bodies of the dead and dying littered among the burning debris.

In an attempt to distance himself from the gruesome sight, Danny perched on top of the clock tower and began scanning for his friend; it did not take long. Tucker had made his way to a news van, and was slowly peeling the driver side door back like it was tin foil.

No, stop thinking of that monster as Tucker. It might look like him, but it isn't.

Gathering up his courage, Danny leapt from his perch and steered himself down behind not-Tucker. He landed with a gratifying crunch, the concrete cracking beneath his feet. Not-Tucker sneered and turned to see the source of the noise. His eyes widened and he dropped the van door when he saw Danny standing before him.

"Hello there," Danny said, unable to think of anything else to do.

"YOU… YOU ARE DEAD! I KILLED YOU! WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?!"

"More like… witchcraft," the words just slipped out, but when not-Tucker's body tensed up, Danny saw this as the opportunity he needed. "You remember that witch you were telling me about?" Danny took a step towards not-Tucker, and not-Tucker took a step back. "She's really not so bad."

"WHERE IS SHE."

"You know, I would tell you, but I'm still mad about earlier," it was then Danny knew what he had to do. And his face was going to bear the brunt of his master plan. "But I'll tell you where you can shove it, how's that?"

Another roar erupted from not-Tucker's mouth, this time loud enough to cause Danny's ears to bleed. A clawed hand darted forward and grabbed Danny's throat. "YOU WILL TELL ME! YOU WILL TELL ME, OR I WILL EVISCERATE YOU AND EVERYONE YOU HAVE EVER KNOWN!"

"Is… that sup…posed to… per…suade me?"

Not-Tucker roared again and threw Danny down the street. He tumbled and rolled a few dozen meters until his momentum was stopped by an idle car, its owner long since fled. Danny stood and wiped a streak of blood from his forehead. "That was kinda fun!" Danny winced as his brow finished sealing up. "But this time, go for height, not distance!"

Again, Danny found his neck in not-Tucker's super strong grasp. The powerful hand easily crushed Danny's trachea. "YOU ARE WASTING TUCKER'S TIME! TELL ME WHERE I CAN FIND THE WITCH, OR I WILL MAKE HIS LAST DAYS MORE AGONIZING THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE."

With no way to speak, Danny made a ridiculous, cross-eyed face. Not-Tucker's eyes went wide with rage. Another glass-shattering roar trumpeted through the winter skies just as snow began to fall. Not-Tucker launched Danny into the sky and followed the throw with a concussive blast of purple energy, sending the boy higher and higher into the air.

Not-Tucker followed shortly after, crossing the distance in seconds and stopping just above Danny. A brick-busting blow broke several of Danny's vertebrae and sent him careening towards the ground. Not-Tucker got there first, and struck out with a skull-shattering kick, which sent Danny crashing through the entrance of the clock tower.

Blood and grime covered Danny's face. His body worked to mend the fresh wounds, and finished repairing his crushed trachea. "You know," he said in a gravelly voice, his throat not fully healed, "the witch was right about you." Danny pushed himself off the ground as not-Tucker stormed into the room, knocking aside the debris in his way. "You are pathetic, you and your family deserved to die."

Not-Tucker's mouth opened, but no words came out. The glowing purple eyes widened, not in rage, but in surprise. His hands grasped at his throat, but it was too late; Aragon had lost control over Tucker's body. The dragon form of Aragon shot out of Tucker's mouth in a burst of smoke and purple embers. The gaseous form swirled around in the now-cramped lobby of the clock tower and began to take shape. Danny did not wait around to see the process; he dashed towards Tucker, grabbed him and fled the building just as it began to collapse behind him.

---

Sam had gotten as far as a few blocks away from her house, headed towards the historical district, when her phone rang for the umpteenth time in the last hour. She pulled it out of her pocket to see if her parents were trying to reach her again, only to see Tucker's name on the caller ID. In her excitement, she almost dropped her phone trying to answer.

"Tucker, ohmigod, is that you?"

"No, Sam, we have an emergency-"

"Danny?" Sam immediately recognized her friend's voice on the other line. "How did you get Tucker's phone?"

"No time to explain. I have no idea where my parents are, and this ghost is about ready to tear down the whole city-"

"Where is Tucker?!"

"Tucker is safe, Sam! Listen, go to my house and grab a Fenton Thermos, I need to end this thing here and now before anyone else gets hurt."

"Ok, yeah, I can do that. But Danny, geeze, your house is, like, fifteen minutes away from where you are, and that's by car. All I have is my bike…"

The other line was quiet for a moment, save for indistinct background noise. "I'll try to hold the line here for as long as I can. And Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"… nothing, see you soon."

---

Most children Danny's age like dragons. There's something about them that captures the imagination and appeals to their sense of wonder and fantasy. Danny was no longer part of that demographic. His aerial acrobatics had managed to keep him out of the maw of an enraged ghost dragon for the better part of five minutes, but he was wearing down.

"Come on, Smokey, is that the best you can do?"

Even though the dragon was no longer in a human body, it was still perfectly capable of understanding human language. Danny's taunts were chipping away at the already worn patience of the beast. The dragon circled around in the air above Danny and swooped down in for another pass. Danny narrowly avoided the snapping jaw of his opponent by spinning out of the way of its charge.

"You almost nicked me that time!"

That taunt came too soon; the dragon's pointed tail stabbed through Danny and pulled him along for the ride. The dragon pulled up sharply and snapped its tail towards the ground, flinging Danny down into the concrete. A wet crunch sounded when the boy hit the street facedown. He tried to scramble to his feet, but the dragon was on him faster than he could react. Jagged claws held him to the ground, and Danny could only cry out in pain as razor sharp teeth dug into his shoulder.

"Hey, come on, buy a guy a drink firaAAHHHHH!"

Jokes escaped him as the dragon ripped Danny's arm off from his torsoand flung it aside.

"I AM GOING TO ENJOY THIS. YOU SHALL BE AS PROMETHEUS, FORCED TO LIVE FOREVER WHILE I FEAST ON YOUR ENTRAILS DAY AFTER DAY UNTIL THE END OF TIME."

"Whoa, hey," Danny fought off a fit of laughter brought on by his delirious pain and loss of blood. "Maybe you should get a social life instead?"

"FOOL! YOU MAY HAVE SAVED THE HUMAN CHILD, BUT THERE IS NO ONE LEFT TO SAVE YOU."

Danny would soon learn not to question timely interventions of fate, like the blast of energy fired from the Fenton RV that sent Aragon flying back into the rubble of the collapsed clock tower.

"Do you spooks ever get tired of being wrong?" Jack's voice boomed from the Fenton RV megaphone. "Ghost Kid, this is a once-in-an-afterlife-time opportunity for you; get out of here, we can handle this."

His face still caked in green and red blood and grime, Danny lazily raised his head from the ground. He tilted it back until he saw the imposing Fenton Exosuit looming over him. The central panel was withdrawn to show his mother's face looking down at him with… pity? Disgust? He couldn't tell. A robotic arm reached down and offered an open hand, which Danny was barely able to grasp. The Exosuit pulled him to his feet and quickly released him.

"I think this is yours," Maddie said with no particular inflection. She offered Danny his severed arm, which he accepted despite overpowering disbelief. His mother, encased in a full-body battle suit, handed her own son his severed arm. "Now get out of here," she said, more forcefully as the face plates slid back into place.

Danny watched his mother stride past him and head towards the dragon, still reeling from the concussive blast from the RV. He stood in the street, holding his severed arm, and watched as Maddie pounced on the dragon and began pummeling it in the face.

"Ghost Kid, not gonna say it again; get out of here."

As if someone snapped him out of a hypnotic trance, Danny fully understood the seriousness of the situation, and that his father and mother were both equally likely to turn their guns on him if he did not obey their orders. However, there was one last item to cover before he left. Danny flew, not up, up and away, but into and through the side of a nearby shop. He emerged carrying the unconscious body of Tucker Foley. Danny gently set the body down, making sure his father saw, before blasting off into the sky.

---

Sam's rage was a powerful energy source, but even that had its limits. The girl was taking a short break from her hilly bike trek to the historical district – or what was left of it by that point. She was furious that Danny had left her behind, furious that he had asked her to come anyway after leaving her behind, and furious that she had to cover the distance on a bike. When she saw him, she was going to throttle him.

"Sam!"

In reality, she was relieved to hear his voice calling from somewhere in the night. It meant he was alive, at least.

"Danny!" she called back. "Am I glad to see – oh, damn, what happened to you?"

The sight that greeted Sam was not the homeless scuba diver she had last seen. Danny now looked like a scrawny miner, his face covered in grime. He was also carrying his own severed arm; green blood had caked around the wound on the appendage and on Danny's body.

"Hey, you should see the other guy," Danny quipped. Sam's raised eyebrow informed him that she was not amused. "Right. Well I bought enough time for my parents to show up, I think everything is gonna be… you know, not 'OK', but… resolved, I guess."

"And Tucker?"

"He's alive, but unconscious; I left him with my Dad, so don't worry. Lucky we got the ghost out of him when he did, all those spikes and horns didn't disappear, and Tucker is still pretty ripped. Any longer and he might have been looking more like Darth Maul meets Jurassic Park. But with some sandpaper for the horns, and Tucker's natural diet, he should be back to normal in…"

Sam took Danny's arm from him, cutting him off mid-sentence. She pressed it up against his open wound and waited, Danny watching in silence as well. The sound of muscle and tissue regenerating and reconnecting was, at once, disgusting and captivating – even more so since it was coming from his own moments, Danny could wiggle his fingers, and within a minute, he had full feeling back in his arm.

"Sorry," Sam mumbled. "That was bugging me."

"Right."

"So what do we do now?"

A grin appeared on Danny's face, his eyes finally broke their lock on his reattached arm. "This is probably a bad idea, but I think I have an alibi we can both use. We just need to make sure Tucker is in on it when he wakes up."

"Yeah?"

"Only thing is, we need to get back to the action. Just as well, because I think this is going to come in handy," Danny took the thermos from Sam and clipped it to what was left of his pants.

Sam hopped on Danny's back and the two took to the skies once more. Sam's uncomfortably tight grip encouraged the boy to fly faster.

---

Something about the past several hours had driven Maddie into a fury; Jack wasn't sure how it had happened to his normally cool and collected wife. Whoever or whatever was responsible, Jack was glad Maddie was using the ghost as an outlet for her pent-up frustration instead of the mayor.

The beast thrashed about, trying to free itself from the Exosuit's ironclad hold. Maddie was trying to keep the ghost in place long enough for Jack to take a shot, but he was occupied moving Tucker's unconscious body into the RV.

"Jack, I can't hold this thing much longer!" Maddie barked over their radio.

"Just a second, almost got him strapped in and… OK, hopping back on the guns now!"

Maddie spun around, nearly losing her grip on the ghost. "Do you have a shot? I can't hold this thing all night!"

The Fenton RV fired, but the dragon smacked its tail against the ground, using it to propel itself and Maddie out of the line of fire. Now free, the ghost swooped down on the RV too fast for Jack to track it with the turret. Maddie sprinted to the RV and leapt at the dragon, tackling it off of the vehicle and into a building across the street. The wall crumbled beneath their combined weight, and the roof collapsed on them shortly after.

"Maddie," Jack shouted through the radio. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, but I can't see the – Jack, shields up, now!"

Jack's large fist smacked the large red button on the center of the dashboard just as the dragon attempted to phase into the RV. A jolt of electricity drove itback. Unable to touch the vehicle, the ghost belched purple fire at it.

"Shields are doing a major fade, Maddie, where are you?"

Over the radio, Jack heard his wife struggling with the debris on top of her. "Jack, I'm stuck, I can't get enough leverage to move these support beams."

Unable to see out of the windshield, Jack frantically attempted to divert auxiliary power to the shields before he remembered the RV did not have an auxiliary power supply. Curse you, Star Wars. Instead, he primed the weapons for when the shields went offline and prepared to unload the full force of the Fenton Family Assault Vehicle on his spectral opponent.

Suddenly, the stream of purple fire stopped on its own. Jack saw the dragon ghost tumble to a stop a few meters away. It arched its serpentine neck and roared at the new opponent, and Jack tried to make out the form of his savior through the shimmering green energy field surrounding the RV.

"Maddie, you're not gonna believe this."

"What? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, no, I'm fine. The Ghost Kid is back, and he just saved my bacon."

Jack watched the ghost kid take off, fly past the dragon, and around the corner at the end of the block. The dragon sped around the corner to pursue its prey. Jack then saw a flash of bright light, and then… nothing.

"Jack? Jack, what's going on? I can't hear anything."

"Just a second," Jack powered down the shields and tried to get a better look, but he saw nothing. The dragon was gone, and so was the Ghost Kid. "I think it's gone, Maddie."

"Make sure, please. And do not exit that vehicle until you're absolutely-"

"You worry too much," Jack said as he switched from weapons control to navigation, "I'll be fine." The RV lumbered forward out of the pile of rubble that had accumulated around it during the skirmish. Slowly but steadily Jack maneuvered down the block and around the corner. His eyes immediately zeroed in on a single object lying in the middle of the road.

Jack stumbled out of the RV and up to the object. "Maddie," he whispered, holding a finger to his ear communicator. "The ghost is gone."

"You're sure? Did the Ghost Boy kill it?"

"No," Jack knelt down and picked up the Fenton Thermos. The indicator read [FULL]. "He caught it."

---

Nothing short of an actual ghost could stop Madeline Fenton on a rampage. Fortunately for Amity Park, her rampages were usually directed against ghosts. Unfortunately for Mayor Foley, it was not exclusively against ghosts.

"Mister Foley, I'm sorry, they just-"

"You shut your mouth," Maddie snapped at Maurice's secretary. "I see you're up to date on current events," she gestured at the television screen on the wall. It was showing footage of not-Tucker's rampage in the historical district from the day before.

"You were told to back off," Maurice growled.

"What are you gonna do, have us arrested? With half the city's police force dead? Do you have any idea what you've done, you arrogant son of a bitch?!"

"Whoa, Maddie!" Jack stumbled into the room, having fallen behind his wife before even entering the building. He paused to catch his breath. "Let's take a minute, take a deep breath, and let cooler heads-"

"No, not today. This man," Maddie strode up to Maurice's desk and jabbed a finger into his chest. "This man is responsible for all those deaths; deaths we could have prevented!"

"I'm responsible for the safety of my child!" Maurice spat back. "If I had sent you in, he could be dead right now, I wasn't going to let you maniacs blast a hole in his chest so you can get another parade and a key to the city!"

"You little man," Maddie scoffed. "Tucker wasn't the only one missing. You better count your lucky stars that Danny and Samantha weren't hurt, or… worse because you tied our hands, otherwise you'd be the one with a hole in your chest."

"Maddie, come on now, you don't mean that," Jack cautiously placed his hands on his wife's shoulders and maneuvered her back from the mayor's desk. "We didn't come here to yell at the man."

"That's right, that's absolutely right," Maddie pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to Maurice.

"What's this?" he asked, taking it.

"That's Governor Wahlberg's private number. He asked us to give it to you after the chat we had this morning; he has a few things he'd like to talk about."

Maurice looked at the phone number in shock, unable to form words.

"Sorry, Maury," Jack chimed in, sincerely apologetic.

Maddie turned and strode out of the office. "Jack, we have work to do."

Jack turned to follow his wife, casting one last glance over his shoulder. Maurice had sunken down into his chair, his head in his hands. Footage of his son's body being used to murder police officers and civilians played again on the television, drowning out the mayor's quiet sobs.

---

Shortly after the Ghost Boy and the dragon ghost disappeared, a bewildered and terrified Danny Fenton and Samantha Manson were found wandering the ruined Historical District of Amity Park by an Emergency Response Team. They shared with the medics, the Fentons, and eventually the news media, their harrowing experience as prisoners of the terrifying dragon ghost, using Tucker Foley's body like a puppet. The world was introduced to the Ghost Boy through amateur footage of the various fights, and the poor teenage victims' accounts of his heroism as he freed them and Tucker from the dragon's clutches. Tucker was lauded for his bravery in the face of such a terribly powerful foe. The teenagers had their fifteen minutes of fame and quickly retreated back into obscurity when the pervasive news media machine found a new story to pick on.

Several days after Christmas, Tucker was still being kept in North Mercy Hospital under observation. His shoulder and head horns had fallen off hours after his ordeal was over. His muscular physique, no longer fueled by ethereal energy, faded away with Tucker's return to his lack of exercise and questionable dietary habits. He was scheduled to be discharged within the next day or so. Danny and Sam joined him for lunch, as they had done every day. This day was different, because Danny and Sam were not alone.

Tucker looked on with a mix of suspicion, fright, and curiosity as Skulker materialized next to his bed. Tucker's curtain had been drawn half-shut to keep any orderlies and doctors from seeing this unusual visitor.

"Tucker Foley," Skulker said in a hushed tone. "I am pleased to see you survived your ordeal. The odds were decidedly not in your favor."

"Tuck, this is the guy who helped us. Without him, I'd still be in two pieces."

"And I would have had to beat the ghost out of you," Sam added. "But I didn't want to steal Ghost Boy's spotlight."

"Can we talk about how much I hate how that's my name now?"

Tucker chuckled, then grimaced. His two friends immediately dropped their antics and focused intently on him. "It's ok, guys, I'm still a little sore from the pounding Danny's mom gave me."

"Boom, phrasing!" Sam shouted. Tucker and Sam cackled while Danny's face turned red.

"Great!" Danny threw his hands up in the air. "Mom jokes before noon!"

"I am glad that you are able to continue to function so… normally, after this ordeal," Skulker remarked.

The three friends exchanged glances. "This is kinda what we do, man." Danny said. "We get hit by bad guys, we hit back harder, bad guys go in a Thermos so my parents can test cosmetics on them, or whatever. We won!"

"These first two invaders have been chance encounters, but they have provided you all opportunities to test yourselves against the power of the Void. So far, you have triumphed. But know this; vanquishing this dragon ghost was no small feat. You have drawn the eyes of much more sinister and cunning foes. From here on out, the challenges will only become more difficult; the stakes will be much higher. Celebrate this victory, but do not grow complacent. Your survival is not yet guaranteed."

Skulker vanished from sight. Tucker looked to Danny, who appeared to relax after several seconds. Tucker guessed this meant Skulker had left the room. After several more hours, Sam and Danny departed. Tucker watched television in their absence, not really paying attention. He didn't touch much of his food. When darkness settled in outside, Tucker switched off the TV and tried to get some sleep.

Like every other night spent in this hospital after his rescue, Tucker was unable to sleep at all. Every time he closed his eyes, demonic purple irises stared back at him from the darkness; visions danced through his mind. Unspeakable horrors crept up from the darkness, thriving in the silence all around him. Tucker turned the television back on, his sunken eyes not following the people on the screen. Nightmares, insomnia, PTSD, these were all known aftereffects of overshadowing.

But in all his research, Tucker had never heard of survivors experiencing visions of the future.

To Be Continued