Chapter CVI
The high altitude of the nameless mountain was surrounded by an invisible veil of thin air. The minimal amounts of oxygen were suitable for the various creatures that had evolved to survive in such conditions. Sadly, that was not the case for humans. "Dad!" Danny choked out. "I'm not gonna make it. Go on . . . without me . . ."
With a roll of his eyes, Jack Fenton reached down and tossed his son over his shoulder. "See that cliff over there?"
Danny twisted his body around to look at where his father's finger was pointing. "I can't see anything," he whispered. "Not enough oxygen."
"If there's a cabin out here, we'll definitely be able to see it from there."
"Or we'll die before we get there," Danny replied sadly.
Jack huffed and continued onward. "So how's school?"
"Dad, as much as I'd love to make small talk, I really need some oxygen," Danny coughed, adding more emphasis to his weakened appearance. "Or you'll be the only one getting out of here alive."
"You are such a drama queen," Jack mumbled irritably.
"Don't you mean king?"
"No!"
Danny pouted. "Are we almost there?"
With a grunt, Jack hoisted his son from his shoulder with one hand and set him on the ground. Danny turned around and gasped as the sight of a valley came into view. Rocky outcroppings poked out in random locations like pimples on an otherwise flawless face. The tops of trees melded together to form an ocean of green foliage. And there, dead in the center of it all, was a lonely building. Lonely can describe many things, but it does not necessarily have to describe something small. The lonely building in the middle of the small valley was massive, easily three times as large as the Fenton's own home.
"A cabin?" Danny asked. "More like a mansion."
Jack opened his mouth to reply, but the shrill cry from earlier echoed around the valley again, only it sounded closer. "It's gonna get dark really quick, we need to find some place to stay for the night."
"Well let's just go to the cabin," Danny offered.
"That's at least a five hour hike, and by the looks of it," Jack squinted his eyes against the glare of the setting sun, "we have about two hours tops before we're stuck out here with whatever that thing is."
Danny tore his eyes away from the cabin. Something about it made him feel anxious, but he just couldn't pin it down. "Well where are we gonna go?"
"There!" Jack boomed, pointing a finger down the rocky trail that led into the valley. The worried expression on his face was now the excited smile Danny had become accustomed to, and for good reason. The trail hugged the side of the cliff edge all the way down to the valley. The mouth of a cave was easily visible along the rocky wall. "We'll be safe there for the night," Jack said cheerily as he picked up his pace from earlier.
"Yeah, right," Danny rolled his eyes and grudgingly followed along behind the hulking figure of Jack Fenton.
We have successfully completed our analysis of the animal's cry.
I never told you to do that.
Well we did it ANYWAY!
The sonic vibrations match those of Proximus with only a point-oh-two percent chance of inaccuracy.
Well that's just fantastic.
Thank you.
Do you think he'll attack us?
Undoubtedly. He has been reborn for the purpose of destroying you.
But he is Plasmius' creation, she would not want to destroy Daniel. At least not now.
None of this is making me feel any better.
And it shouldn't. You may be his equal in combat, but your father is not endowed with ghost powers. He will be a liability to you in the coming fight.
Then I better hope he doesn't get involved.
You don't get it, do you? He already is.
What?
For the second time that day, Danny's others answered him with silence. It was beginning to irritate him. "Jerks."
"Ok, now all I need to do is reroute access to the security system to this console and I should be able to get power back to the rest of the-" A low whine sounded from somewhere else in the house and steadily lowered in pitch until fading away completely. The emergency lights flickered and died as well. "-house," Maddie mumbled.
Jazz looked back and forth uneasily. "That isn't good, is it?"
"Why wouldn't the failure of the emergency power grid be a good thing?" Sam asked in a sarcastic tone.
Jazz spun around and glared at Sam. "Do not push me, Sammy-kins. If there is ever a time for you to keep those black lips of yours shut, this is it."
Sam glared right back at the older girl while thinking of more venom-filled words to spit back at her, but her irritability and urge to make sarcastic remarks faded. "I'm sorry," she replied. "I tend to pump out more sarcasm than usual when I'm nervous."
Jazz sighed. "Yeah, well," a creak from one of the floorboards downstairs sent shivers up the girl's spine, "try to keep it in check today."
"I can say for the first time since watching that Aqua Teen show that I have no idea what's going on," Maddie reported as she pushed her chair away from the computer and stood up. "The computer didn't detect any viruses, but it was still taken down."
"Was it a ghost?" Jazz looked from Sam to her mother.
"Possibly, although it seems rather superfluous for a ghost to take down the power on a whole city block just to get to us," Maddie replied.
"Ok, I know that you're the ghost hunting family and all, but why does everything that happens have to be ghost-related and have to revolve around you?" Sam spoke up.
Maddie and Jazz exchanged confused looks and shrugged. "Who would be targeting anyone on this block? And for that matter, who else would be targeting someone on this block other than a ghost?" The older of the two asked.
"Ok, I'm not saying that they aren't ghosts and I'm not saying they aren't after you, but, you know," Sam rubbed her forearm, hanging her head in embarrassment. "It might not be either-or next time."
"Duly noted," Maddie remarked with a wry smile.
Another creak echoed up from beneath the Op Center. Sam and Jazz looked from each other to the door leading down into the household. "I take it your house isn't still settling?" Sam offered.
"I wish."
"Girls, I need you to do me a favor," Maddie announced from her seat.
"Please don't tell me we have to go down into the lab and do something involving the circuit breaker,"Sam looked at Mrs. Fenton with a pained expression. She already knew the answer. "The pretty white girls always die doing something like that!"
"Then it's a good thing you won't be going down there unarmed," Maddie handed each of them flashlights. "These double as high-powered ecto-tasers. Just hold the button down and press it forward to activate it. Now get going. We can't just sit up here forever."
Sam opened her mouth to protest, but Jazz grabbed her arm and dragged her down the stairs before the Op Center could be filled with any more sarcasm. The house was even darker than Sam had anticipated and the fading daylight did little to improve her vision. Both girls ventured down into the house, flashlights in hand, unaware of the lupine eyes that hungrily followed them.
Skulkershifted his weight from one boot to the other for the umpteenth time that minute. His strategic mind for small-scale infiltration was unmatched, even without Kaine Manson. Still, Skulker never enjoyed sending others to do his own work. He would much rather be in there alone instead of risking the afterlives of his loyal hounds. The thrill of the hunt was something that Kaine had suppressed during his reign as the dominant consciousness. The new Skulker reveled in it. His sensory equipment was so sensitive that he was able to detect the fear in his prey. He could use this advantage to accurately predict his quarry's movements and manipulate them into going exactly where he wanted in order to set up the perfect scenario for capture or elimination.
His vocabulator emitted an angry grumble. There was no reason to risk the lives of his hounds for such a perfect stalking opportunity. Sure, it had been his idea to send them in to begin with, but the hunter was very fickle. Perhaps it was an adopted trait from spending so much time in Plasmius' employ. The woman had wanted him to protect Daniel in the event that Proximus was able to best the ghost boy, then she had flip-flopped and sent him to eliminate the Fenton women while her targets were away from home. Skulker had no idea why she had changed her mind, but he was not the kind of ghost that questioned orders. That was Kaine's forte, and it hadn't worked very well for the old mercenary.
The hunter telepathically sent new commands to his hounds, who replied with obvious dismay. The familiar feeling of pride swelled within his armor. The ancient canines loved the hunt as much as he did and, just like their master, they hated to be denied the kill. The dogs respected their master, though, and moved into their new positions. Skulker finished relaying his orders and leapt from the building with his powerful robotic legs. It was not as effective as flight, but jumping still served a useful purpose. The hulking, demonic robot landed atop the complex across the street from the Fenton household and examined the building's schematics as he had done several times before.
Skulker's concentrated EMP wave had effectively disabled all electronic equipment on the whole city block. The other houses' now destroyed power systems could be chalked up as casualties of war. Skulker's intended target, the Fenton house, had been plunged into darkness.It was the perfect time to strike and, if any of the movies Skulker had watched maintained any semblance of realism, one or more of the females would venture down into the basement laboratory to try to fix the problem. Hollywood had a strange way of using everyday actions as a means of bringing one's death upon oneself, but Skulker was not about to complain. His thermal imaging visor showed two figures moving right for the basement. One was still in the Op Center. Skulker leapt from the roof of the house he stood on and landed on the sidewalk just outside the Fenton's door. Seeing that the two young women were now in the basement, Skulker slammed a fist into the wooden door. The blow sent the remains splintering into the foyer and the robot confidently strode inside.
His primary target was up in the Op Center. She would likely be the most dangerous and Skulker didn't want to take any chances. Narrowing his sights on the two younger females, Skulker set off for the laboratory.His slow, ominous steps reverberated throughout the house, obviously alerting the girls that something was coming for them. His horns and spikes were intimidating, but he so dearly wished he had a mouth. If there was one thing Skulker loved more than the thrill of the hunt, it was the feeling of giddy satisfaction as life left the horrified eyes of his victim. And in those final moments, the hunter wanted his prey to know that they had brought him great joy. He wanted the last thing for them to see was his hollow black visor, his flaming green Mohawk, and his winning, razor sharp smile.
It hadn't taken long for Jack Fenton to get a small fire going inside their cave. It had taken even less time for Danny to fall asleep. Jack looked at his son's seemingly frail form as it tossed and turned on the rocky floor. He was proud of his son, but he was afraid for him at the same time. The world had never been a perfect place to live, andnow there were even more things to worry about. Ghost attacks were on the rise, crime in Amity Park had started to rear its ugly head, and Jack was still responsible for a wife and two children.
The man threw a few more sticks on the fire and pulled a small orange book from his boot and retrieved a pen from the other one. The word "Diary"was scribbled cross the front of the book and Jack flipped to the middle to the first blank page.
Dear Diary, he began, the father/son trip turned out to be something completely different. The plane crashed nowhere near Florida. Danny and I escaped with parachutes with our names embroidered into them. If this isn't a trap, then I don't know what to think. There were no people onboard after I came back from the bathroom and the pilot was gone too. I found several hologram projectors throughout the cabin, which explained the "disappearance" of some of the passengers. I still don't know what happened to the others.
We found a house out here and we're heading out for it tomorrow. Tonight, Danny and I are staying in a cave. I doubt it will protect us from bears or jackalopes or whatever other woodland creatures are out here, but at least we're safe from the rain. It's really coming down out here.
The other thing I'm worried about is the silence. There aren't any noises. No animals, no bugs, nothing. We heard a few cries from something, but it wasn't any sound I'm familiar with. This only happens when a super-predator is on the hunt, and even then I've only ever encountered this with ghosts. I hope we can get to that cabin. Maybe whoever lives there can help us. When we get out of here, I have a serious bone to pick with these "Dalv" people.
If any good comes from this, it might help me connect the dots between Danny and Phantom. I have my suspicions, but I can't do anything about it without solid proof. For now, we'll just try to survive the night. As soon as the sun comes up, we're heading out.
Love, Jack
To Be Continued
A/N: I know it's been a while, and I do apologize. But I'll be damned if this thing never gets finished.
Also, I'd like to tell you that I'm aware of the continuity errors here. I was really consumed by work and whatnot, and my mind drifted. If you're unsure as to what I meant, I know of two prime examples of this error. First would be the Nasty Burger conversations. I made each one seem like the first time Danny talked discussed his conversation with Valerie to his friends. I also threw in things that weren't there the first time. In my mind, I knew that I had already done it, but I wanted to have Danny explain the conversation to Jazz. Instead, I ended up doing the whole thing over again. The second instance of this is Plasmius' orders for Skulker. First, she wanted him to stay put in Colorado and keep his eyes on Danny to make sure Proximus didn't kill him. Then, she turns around and orders him to kill Maddie and Jazz. I tried to cover the second one up in this chapter, but there's really no excuse for such a large degree of inaccuracy. Rest assured that I won't let it happen again.
The other issue I have is that I've been drawing out the action in this chapter to ridiculous extents, especially the situation with Skulker and the Fenton home. I think this is the second chapter where absolutely nothing happens.
Is there anything I can do or say to make it up to you? As it happens, the next segment will combine the episodes "Control Freaks" and "Prisoners of Love" into "Dead Men Walking". Freakshow and Mr. Hunter officially join forces to keep Phantom out of the picture as they set the first phase of Operation: Reality Wars into motion.
"Dead Men Walking" Will FINALLY conclude the first season of UDP, and will be followed up by the 18-chaptered movie segment "Reality Wars", which infringes on more copyrights than you can shake a stick at while kicking off Season 2.
If that's not an acceptable apology, then I don't know what is . . .
Reviewers, I want to thank you for all the motivation you give me. I appreciate every last word. Special thanks goes out to phantoms-allie, CyberArcRotarr, darkbunny92, Akemi Clevek, darkness over day, General Razgriz, Shining Zephyr, alienphantom, inukagome15, MissMeliss4251, Thunderstorm101, and my wonderful beta, Cordria.
Stuff is going to start happening in the next chapter. I promise. Bear with me, people, this has been a very long, arduous summer.
NO U – Master Chief