Chapter LXXXVI
Melee slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was that his mask, shirt and gloves had been removed. The only reason his pants and boots were still on his body was most likely due to his immense size and the medical staff's inability to find a hospital gown large enough for him to wear. That hardly mattered. He had lost to the ghost by. A child had beaten him.
"Hey there big guy," said a familiar voice.
Melee turned his head sideways and saw his partner enter through the open window. X-treme flopped down into a chair and looked at the line of stitches that sealed the wound just below the giant's neck.
"What are you doing here?" he asked; his voice just above a whisper. "I thought for sure you would leave."
"Are you kiddin'? There are two reasons why I can't leave you alone. First, you'd take up all the good bounties out there. Second, when shit like this happens, you're always ramblin' on about seppuku or whatever you call your fancy ninja suicide."
Melee stared back up at the sterile white ceiling. "I failed," he said after. "I wish the ghost child had pierced my windpipe. At least I would have died honorably."
X-treme sighed. His black visor dangled from his belt and anyone who was not familiar with the man's eyes would have been shocked. He didn't have any. "All this self-pity crap is startin' to get old. You always talk about how you aren't worthy to keep livin' and stuff, but I got news for you pal; you've never pulled the trigger. Not one day out of the ten years I've palled around with you have you ever gone through with your stupid seppuku schemes."
"This time may be different."
"How's that?"
"He has my weapon."
X-treme's jaw dropped open. "He took it? Why?!"
"I do not know, but I am only half the warrior I was without it."
X-treme stood from the chair and slid his visor back on. The neural interface activated the optical reception device that was hardwired into the long, thin lens. The man looked around the room again as he did when he first climbed in the window. This was no place for his comrade.
"You know how you're always lookin' out for my safety?"
"The one time you chose to ignore me cost you your natural sight."
"Well maybe its time we stopped doin' that. We're supposed to be a team, y'know. I'm not just the computer geek that's small enough to squeeze through vents to unlock doors from the inside when we're breakin' in somewhere."
"What difference does it make now?"
"You're gonna be outta here in no time. A big guy like you? Pshht! You're ready to leave now. And when you're back in action, we're going to take down Phantom. Not just you and definitely not just me. Both of us."
"And how do you propose we do that?"
"All we need is a plan."
Lydia flew invisibly through the streets. The number of bounty hunters had dropped exponentially since the day before. Those absent from the hunt were either hospitalized or had been scared off. After Melee had been taken down the other man, whose name Lydia could not remember, had disappeared as well.
Too bad, she thought. He was cute.
But now her travels had brought her to the heart of downtown, looking for the ghost boy. Frederick had not previously been interested in the bounty that had been posted in Amity Park, but once he learned who the bounty had been placed on he almost came to the city himself to try and claim the reward.
Of course his brilliant and cautious mind took over his enthusiasm and instead, he sent Lydia in his place. She was taking a risk by hunting for Phantom while carrying the vial her lover wanted so desperately. But Lydia enjoyed the challenge.
The sound of jet engines shook the ghost from her thoughts. She turned and gasped as a steel sled shot straight at her body. Not thinking quickly enough to simply turn intangible, Lydia flew up allowing the young woman and her flying machine to pass harmlessly underneath her. A human girl, no older than fifteen, riding around the town on a flying sled? Interesting.
Lydia trailed the girl for some time, following her as she darted all over the town. The tattoo ghost guessed that she, like all the others, was hunting for Phantom. The Huntress slowed down as she reached the edge of the inner city. Casper High was visible in the distance and the girl mumbled something about the pointlessness of education before making off for the school.
Wearing a smug grin on her invisible face, Lydia followed.
Jazz gaped at her brother in shock. "HE CUT YOUR ARM OFF?!"
"Jazz!" Danny hissed. "Shut up!"
"I-I'm sorry, but your arm?! He really cut off your arm?"
"For the last time, yes! He sliced it off with this!" Danny pulled the black rod from his book bag and held it out. "It's some kind of energy weapon that can turn into a whole bunch of different things, like," Danny tapped the button and the same glowing orange axe that was responsible for taking his arm yesterday sprung from the open end of the hilt with a snap-hiss, "this thing. Or," he pressed the button to recall the weapon and tapped it again, watching with a grin as the whip snaked out, "this one. There's a bunch more, but I don't think it's a good idea to activate them all in here."
Danny slid the object back into his book bag and looked at his sister. "I kept it as a trophy. That, and its freakin unbelievable."
Jazz rolled her eyes. "You know if this Melee person ever gets out of the hospital, he is gonna want that back."
"Yeah, whatever. He's not getting this thing until . . . I get bored with it."
"And if your previous relationships are any indication, that'll be soon."
Danny scowled at his sister. "They broke up with me," he defended. "It wasn't my fault."
"I never said it was. So what were these voices you were telling me about earlier?"
You ignoramus! You have exposed us!
She knows too much. TEAR OUT HER HEART!
No, you imbecile! She is his sister! He cannot kill her!
She will tell the world of our existence out of fear! We will be dissected!
She is Daniel's only intelligent human confident that cares about his wellbeing.
What of Tucker?
What of him?
Daniel should have told him instead!
I already did, remember?
Ah, yes I do. Why has he not brought it up?
Because he forgot, Danny replied mentally.
That is what I meant by the 'cares for his wellbeing' part.
Very well.
"Danny? Danny!"
"Hmm? Oh, sorry Jazz, they were arguing about something."
"Who was? The voices?"
"Yeah. They tend to get pretty loud."
"So these aren't telling you to burn things or kill people?"
Danny chuckled. "The one does all the time, but he's kind of an idiot-" HEY! "There's a smarter one that keeps him in line with logistical stuff. They balance each other out, but they can be really, REALLY annoying."
"A smarter one, hmm? What's he like?"
"Uh, smart? What do you want from me, a sonnet?"
"Smart how, exactly?"
Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "Intelligent? He's book smart, but he has a lot of common sense too."
Jazz furrowed her brow. "Danny, these voices; they don't help you cheat on homework and tests, do they?"
"The smarter one does-"
"Danny!"
"But it's not like that!" Danny exclaimed. "He explained it to me once! They can't learn anything I haven't had the chance to learn. So when I'm, uh, not paying attention in class, they still hear everything that's being taught. Since they're in my head, they use my brain to analyze and comprehend the information. So basically, I am learning, they're just storing the knowledge."
Danny beamed at his sister, hoping not to be lectured.
"Mhmm," she mumbled at long last. "And the other one? What's he like?"
"The violent one? Well, he's violent. He really doesn't have a lot of foresight and tries to get me to do whatever is best to deal with a problem as quickly and brutally as possible. But he is smart when it comes to fighting stuff, especially if he knows that I could be seriously hurt or killed."
"I take it he's the one who starts most of the shouting matches in your brain?"
Why you ignorant little- "Not intentionally. He does say some pretty . . . straightforward and inappropriate things from time to time."
"Like?"
"Oh, you know, uh, 'KILL THEM NOW!' or 'DEVOUR THEIR SOUL' and stuff like that."
Jazz stared uncomfortably at her brother. "Can you eat souls?"
"What? No! What kind of question is that?"
"Well he's telling you to do it; maybe it's a ghost power you haven't discovered yet."
Is that true? Danny thought angrily. Can I really eat souls?
I wouldn't tell you to do it if you couldn't.
Stifle yourself, you boar! Daniel, it is not as simple as that, but in the most primitively barbaric terms available to sentient life forms; yes, you can eat souls.
I take it there's still a long ways to go before I learn that one, huh?
Yes. And please enjoy the time you have without it. I do not look forward to the day you begin to use that power.
"Danny! Stay with me, little brother, you're zoning out again!"
"Sorry, Jazz," Danny apologized. "Turns out you were right. Someday I will be able to eat souls, although the smart one says it's not that simple.
"Well that's . . . disturbing," Jazz noted. "If your voices tell you anymore disgusting powers, please hesitate to tell me about them."
"Yeah, I think I will."
Danny's ghost sense wafted from his nostrils and the boy looked at the green mist with disdain. "Uh, Jazz? I gotta go."
Jazz looked at the mist that had streamed from her brother's nose with interest. "Alright, be careful little brother."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Danny mumbled.
He stood from the couch and willed the silver-green rings to form at his waist. The molecules of raw ectoplasm surged from their dormant state beneath the genetic structure of Danny Fenton. As the rings passed over his body, his clothing disappeared in favor of the black and white jumpsuit. His black hair and deep blue eyes traded in their colors for snowy white and neon green respectively. Jazz stared in awe at Phantom; the ghost her brother had become.
"Oh, almost forgot!" she said, snapping out of her stupor.
Phantom floated over to her desk as the young woman retrieved a familiar device from her own book bag.
"Its mom and dad's Ghost Getter," she explained. "I figured it would get a better field test in your hands."
Phantom smiled and accepted the detection device from his sister, careful to point the satellite-looking attachment away from his body.
"I better be going, then," he said before flying off through the wall.
Jazz sat back in her chair with a grin. Her brother was Phantom! How cool was that?
Lydia had been searching the school for a while, trying to figure out which African American girl was the same one as the Huntress when her invisible body nearly collided with the clearly visible form of Phantom. She had never been this close to him. Come to think of it, she had never heard from many ghosts that had been very close to him physically. Most of those ones were dead. And Phantom's ghost allies were not ones to associate with other lesser ghosts.
This close up, Lydia grinned as she studied his physical features. Probably about the same age as the Huntress, but slightly more muscled.
He's really cute too, she thought as she compared him to X-treme. I wonder if he's single . . .
She never had time to delve deeper into her lustful daydream, as Phantom accidentally brushed up against her. Spinning around rapidly, he activated a strange device in his hands that emitted a sonic wave. Lydia felt her body shimmer as her invisibility power was knocked out of commission.
Phantom saw the ghost flicker into existence in front of him and yelped in surprise. This was not what he had expected at all. A green skinned woman with outrageously spiked hair, a pierced septum, and solid red eyes stared back at him. Phantom thought she was some kind of rock ghost after seeing all the lines on her body, but quickly realized that they were tattoos. And since she wore nothing but a black laced corset and a black thong with black boots to match underneath her cloak, there were plenty of tattoos to be seen.
"What in the hell?"
Lydia did not respond. Instead, her hand snapped out and a pair of bats sprung from her wrist. They latched onto Phantom's neck, trying to bite through his skin. Unfortunately for them, their jaws were not nearly strong enough. Phantom grabbed each of them in one hand and charged up an ecto-blast, which vaporized the offending body, and sent it at the ghost.
She dodged it with grace and agilely moved in closer, sending more distracting tattoo animals before getting close enough to Phantom to knee him in the groin.
Phantom sailed back, eyes wide and teeth clenched in pain.
I didn't think that would hurt me as a ghost!
Of course you didn't. No one ever does.
Phantom grabbed the ghost's leg as she aimed a kick at his head and turned her intangible. With a grunt, he tossed her body through a wall and outside the school.
Geeze, that hurt!
Stop whining and finish her!
Gimmie a second, you jerk!
Yes, he is recovering from a severe physical blow.
If it was a blow, then Daniel would not be in pain.
Is that supposed to be sexual?
Yes, but judging by the lack of animosity, it wasn't a very good joke.
Phantom growled in frustration and followed the ghost outside. She was lying on the ground, twitching slightly. Not far from her hand was a vial of some yellow substance.
"What is that?" Phantom said more to himself than to anyone in particular
Lydia's head rose slowly as she heard Phantom's rhetorical question. When she had tried to go invisible, it felt like a surge of electricity had washed over her body. It was so painful she had almost blacked out. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw the vial of Johnny 13's augmentation formula lying several feet away from her outstretched arms.
Phantom saw she had noticed it and figured it must belong to her. If that was the case, it was probably not good. The ghost boy flew at it, but a large tattoo snake rammed into him after unwinding itself from the ghost woman's leg. Phantom wrestled with it as Lydia grabbed the vial and slipped it back into the pocket in her cloak.
She turned in time to see Phantom rip the snake in half by tearing its mouth open. He looked from the remains of the serpent to Lydia and scowled.
The tattooed ghost assumed a defensive posture as the ghost boy lunged at her. Before he could land a punch, Lydia's cloak swirled around her body. All her tattoos sprang to life and circled her body in a similar fashion. Phantom was sucked into the tornado of ghostly energy and cried out as he was swung around in circles. The exertion was becoming too much for him and the corners of his vision were darkening.
Without warning, two hands gently slid along his cheeks and Phantom felt the ghost's lips brush against his before he was violently hurled from the swirling vortex and into a tree. The tornado subsided, and the ghost woman was nowhere to be seen.
Yuck, Phantom thought as he furiously wiped his lips. That's the second ghost that tried to make out with me! What the hell is going on?
I hardly think she wanted to show you her affection. And, if I recall from your memories, you were particularly fond of Spectra.
Forget that wench for just a moment, will you? A devious ghost like that tattooed one is bound to be back. You must be ready for when she returns!
You say that about every ghost I don't kill the first time.
Are we wrong?
No, I guess not.
Then you would do well to prepare!
But why did she kiss me?
Oh for heaven's sake! Is it against the rules to make an unexpected move during a battle?
Daniel may be onto something, other than inflating his ego. Allow us to investigate this further.
Hmm. I suppose an internal analysis wouldn't do any harm.
Phantom felt his others withdraw slightly. It was not a complete absence like he had experienced after he had healed Valerie, but it still made Phantom uneasy. Like it or not, the voices were starting to grow on him.
"Omigosh! Phantom!"
The ghost boy spun around and saw Paulina Sanchez running towards him.
"Oh man," his sighed.
Now that he thought about it, perhaps the momentary absence of the voices was a good thing.
The GIW main Base of Operations, also known as its "BOO" was built underneath Amity Park's penitentiary. After the initial sublevel had nearly collapsed several years after it was finished, a team of surveyors, geologists and some of the older residents of the area were called in to try and find the source of the problem. An elderly man proved more useful than the entire professional (and highly paid) team the GIW had brought in. He told them about the gold mine that his grandfather had once dug in. It was abandoned after running dry, and the penitentiary built over the entrance.
Rather than relocate, the GIW carved out the tunnels and constructed one of the largest underground structures in human history, possibly the largest. Once the GIW realized that they really had no use for over three fourths of what they had constructed, they considered sealing off the lower levels for later use. That order was scrapped in favor of the suspended animation and cryogenic stasis chambers that housed hundreds of hostile ghosts and possibly thousands of creatures and oddities that the "Genie Incident" had left behind.
In addition to the expansive, almost ridiculously so, research space, there was ample room for monitoring and surveillance equipment. Sixty four of the cameras linked to the GIW's MASS, or Monitor and Surveillance System, were located in a concentrated area within a mile radius around Casper High. Most of the others were located near FentonWorks and the remainder was placed in key locations throughout the larger city.
It was Operative O, formerly known as Agent 02, who was watching the feed coming from one of the cameras situated behind the school.
"K, come look at this," Mike said from his seat at the city-wide monitoring station
Operative K, formerly known as Agent 089, made his way from the box of donuts he had been scouring through, wearing a triumphant grin on his face as if to celebrate his ascertainment of the plain cake pastry he had retrieved; his favorite kind.
"Wussup?" he asked with a mouthful of the donut already in his mouth. "'Oo fine schum'n?"
"Yeah I found something. Check this out," Mike played back the footage of Phantom's battle against the strange tattoo ghost on a different monitor. "And now look at this."
Jackson's eyes watched the battle with mild interest before darting to the next screen. A grin appeared on his face as he saw their protégé wrapped into a bone crushing hug by a Latina girl around his own age.
"That's just downright adorable," Jackson commented. "He's growing up so fast."
"He'll be fighting alongside the Box Ghost in no time at all."
"What about the Box Ghost?" asked the aforementioned ghoul.
Both Operatives turned around as the Box Ghost exited a box portal he had created between the Ghost Zone and the human realm. It sealed behind him once he was safely through.
"Just talking about your soon-to-be apprentice," Mike jerked a thumb at the screen, now showing Phantom in a futile attempt to excuse himself from Paulina's hug. With each plea, her squeeze only tightened. Mike couldn't help but grin as he noticed a similar facial expression on the ghost boy as he was pulled closer and closer to the girl.
"Ah yes, Danny Phantom," the Box Ghost removed his hat and slicked back his hair. "You guys should probably know that he's on the Observants' hit list."
Jackson rolled his eyes. "What for? Crimes against being a ghost and a human at the same time?"
"Nah, that one got shot down by the Council last weekend," the ghost made a gun shape with his fingers and pretended to fire off a round. "They're worried about his future, or something like that."
"Whatever it is, it's probably their fault," Mike stated as he saw Phantom finally relent and pick up the Hispanic girl and carry her through the sky, no doubt trying to get her home quickly to avoid the attention of more bounty hunters.
The Box Ghost laughed. "That's what I told 'em. Didn't take too kindly to it, and here I am."
Jackson raised an eyebrow. "They chased you away?"
"I humored them," the Box Ghost said wryly. "Buncha eyeballs with hands don't scare me."
"Well they scare me," Mike chimed in.
It was only recently that the GIW was made aware by SPOOK 006 of the Observant High Council; a race of ghosts with the ability to determine the future. After the initial shock had faded away, the Guys in White did some investigation, going so far as to appoint Operatives K and O as Temporal Ambassadors, along with the Box Ghost. The relationship was a rocky one, but the two sides consented that the other could be a necessity in maintaining order throughout time.
The Box Ghost and the Observants agreed on one thing, and had just left out one itsy-bitsy detail about their work. Namely, Clockwork. The human race didn't need to know about a ghost that could control and manipulate time. Not yet, anyway.
"You guys should try to keep a handle on this bounty hunter situation," the Box Ghost said as he saw Phantom on one of the screens. The ghost boy soundly defeated two bounty hunters armed with guns while carrying Paulina on his back. "Have you seen the crime statistics once those idiots came to town?"
"Drug dealing, assault, rape, murder and even organized crime have inched up just a bit," Jackson confirmed. "It happens."
"Oh really? It just happens?" the ghost was becoming irritated, as he often did with humans and their shortsightedness. "Ever stop to consider if one of Daniel's friends or family members were caught in the line of fire?"
Both Operatives looked at each other, but did not respond.
"The Observants are unsure as to why the future happens the way it does, but one of the major power players in determining that future is Danny Phantom. If I was your superior, I'd be keeping much better tabs on him."
"What would you recommend?"
Jackson, Mike and the Box Ghost turned around to see Agent X, head of the Guys In White. He stood at parade rest, hands clasped behind him resting in the small of his back with his feet roughly shoulder-length apart. He did not look happy, but then, when did he ever?
"Get out there," the Box Ghost pointed a different screen, this one showing bounty hunters in the process of robbing a grocery story, "and stop them. One stray bullet, one laser blast, one overthrown grenade, one piece of falling debris is all its gonna take to make Danny Phantom's world, and everyone else's, come crashing down around us."
X looked at the Box Ghost thoughtfully. His head snapped towards his favorite Operatives after several seconds. "Do whatever he tells you."
K and O watched their leader leave in stunned silence. Leaving a ghost to head an assault on a human force? While Mike and Jackson were alright with the idea, they never would have expected it from a man who hated ghosts with every fiber of his being, down to the last molecule of his body.
"Well?" Mike said at long last. "What's step one?"
To Be Continued
A/N: Hmm, something must really have these Observants spooked (no pun intended). Now the GIW steps in to give Danny a hand . . . again, no puns. Next chapter? X-Treme, Valerie, Lydia and all her tattoos face off against Phantom and the Box Ghost? Incredible! So amazing even I wouldn't think to write it! Which is why I'm here to help me. Durr.
AND WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP CALLING HIM Danny PHANTOM?
Thanks to all my reviewers, especially darkbunny92, dpphan333, Shining Zephyr, Bloxham, Katreal, darkness over day, and Writin' Dude.
HAPPY EASTER '08