Author's Note: No votes on my Poll? Hmm… Perhaps that's only useful for writers/stories that actually have a sizeable fanbase… Ah well, I'm just gonna choose an option, remove it from the Poll and leave it up anyway in case somebody wants to actually vote on what plot I should use next. I just thought it'd be something cool to do for a little audience participation, know what I mean?
Disclaimer: Do I really need to do this every chapter? Eh, either way, I don't own anything.
Part 5: It Had To Happen Sometime
Amity Park was a small city, by most standards. Therefore, it wasn't very surprising that Amity's biggest bank wasn't too huge. It also didn't have as much money in its vault like some of the bigger banks in major metropolises. But as with other viable targets of criminal activity, try convincing the local scum of that fact. 'You expect us to drive all the way to freakin' Green Bay or something to go for one huge score? Ha! Too much hassle! High security, getting there, getaway cars, where to get away to, how to get outta the city with it, and so on.' a criminal might reply.
Another evident factor was that some of the rogues in town are undead, therefore one would be hard-pressed to get them to haunt somewhere else, the territorial pricks that they are.
Such as the case with this current bank robbery in progress. In broad daylight, oddly enough. The leader of this small gang of living-impaired thugs appeared to be a carnival lion tamer, with a whip in one hand and a small wooden chair in the other. His somewhat-skeletal appearance was nearly comical due to the crazy, slightly torn-up carny outfit. A frilly shirt with a painted-on clown face on the chest, baggy pants, even a black silk bandanna on his head. Some citizens had almost laughed until he had cracked the whip, demonstrating that it's a pretty long whip (or perhaps stretchable) and it could apparently cut through things like a sword, as the remains of a security camera proved.
It kinda made some people wonder what the little chair could do, as they lay on the ground in typical bank robbery procedure. The things people think about when they're used to living in a town with a constant metahuman/ghost presence…
The undead lion tamer motioned his chair toward the teller desks, a signal for his ghostly minions to go forward and find the vault. Three ghostly carny folk obeyed orders, swarming behind the barrier of 4 teller stations and into the back area, searching for the vault.
"Yeah, dis shouldn't take too long. Hehehe… Da boss would surely be happy wit' dis." chuckled the lion tamer, an accent to his voice. A nearby minion looked at him questioningly.
"But why do we have to do this like a bank holdup? These guys couldn't do anything against us anyway if they tried. We could've just barged in and taken the money, easy peasy." asked the lowly carnival hand.
"Very true. But where's da fun in dat? Besides, wit' all da ghostly activity in dis damn town, the fuzz might have some of dem anti-ghost weapons. Haveta play this safe if the boss wants his money wit'out a problem, right?" he replied, passively cracking the whip so it cut a table in half. Apparently, a citizen was slowly trying to get up into a crouching position so he could try and move. The whip-crack at the table right next to the poor man was a warning shot.
"Right."
Suddenly, the sound of energy blasts could be heard from within the bank's back areas. A trap? Perhaps some wannabe hero trying his luck? No matter. Carnies are a hardy folk…
"Now relax, ladies and gentlemen. I'm sure dat's just some guard finding out what happens when ya interrupt da performance in progess! As long as ya stay in yer seats, everything'll be aces, alright?" the lion tamer announced, clutching the whip threateningly as he floated slowly around the bank lobby to make sure the audience was truly a captive one. (Although he really didn't have to check the hostages, seeing as anti-ghost weapons weren't exactly available to the public yet.)
Moments later, when he had his back turned toward the teller area, an ecto-blast hit his chair from behind, shattering it to little wooden splinters which soon evaporated to nothing by the time he turned around to see who had fired at him.
White hair. Black-n-white hazmat suit. Ghost powers… It had to be him, the famed Danny Phantom! Except… wasn't he taller?
"I'm afraid your paycheck bounced, sir!" the hero said cheekily. Wait a sec, that was a girl's voice. Who the heck are they dealing with?
"I should'a known one of you heroes would do something. But who da hell are you? I heard of dis Danny Phantom, but dey say dat he's a guy. …And taller too." said the lion tamer, glaring at the clearly-feminine heroine as she floated over the teller desks, knowing that a stand-off was in progress. The girl did seem to look a lot like a smaller version of Amity's hero, except that her hair was done up in a ponytail and that she was starting to develop a chest. Then again, not a lot of people know that she's actually Danny's clone…
"For a dumb carnival guy, you're quite observant. Nah, I'm just his cousin, Dani, with an I. So… Shall we fight, cause I know you aren't going to go quietly." Dani quipped, fists clenched and glowing with power as she instantly prepared for combat. She wasn't disappointed as his reaction.
"Damn right we're fightin'!" the ghoul roared, raising the whip to crack it at her. However, when he flicked it forward, it…didn't fly forward. More than that, it seemed to have been caught on something behind him, which should've been impossible for the razor-sharp power of the whip. Growling, he turned around. His minions were all gone, replaced by a red suit of technological armor, the end of his whip gripped in one of its hands.
"Wha?! What the hell are you?!"
The armor started pulling at the whip as if reeling in a fish, thus starting an impromptu tug of war match. "As much as I'd like to quote Ozzy Osbourne and say that I'm Iron Man, I'll just let my fightin' do the talkin'." Valerie replied, grabbing another part of the whip and pulling, dragging the stubborn ghost toward her bit by bit as he (tried to) plant his feet firmly on the ground.
"Impossible! My whip should be cutting you to shreds! It cuts through anything!" bellowed the lanky carny, trying desperately to pull his whip back to him. It never dawned on him that he could have a chance if he just let go…
"Dani, check the hostages. I doubt this goon will be much trouble now." The Red Huntress calmly ordered. Dani could almost tell that Valerie had a confident smirk on her face. "No problem-o. By the way, wasn't it Danny's turn to patrol today?" she asked as she floated over to the closest hostage, some of which were already getting up.
"Yeah, it was. But he had something important today." Val answered as she yanked the lion tamer in and grabbed him by the neck. "Alright, scum… Talk! Who sent you?" she growled at him.
"Wh…what? Sent? I dunno what you mean…" the tamer quivered. Classic two-bit thug behavior… Why do they even try lying these days?
"Bull. You don't even act like you can even run a poker game. You're clearly a lackey, I can see it in your eyes. Not to mention, this isn't the first incident we dealt with lately that featured some carnival gimmick. Now are you gonna talk or do we have to do this the hard way? Go ahead and get macho about you being already dead. I got ways around that. Notice how you can't phase out of my grip?"
The last sentence stopped the lion tamer cold. He did notice. Perhaps she wasn't bluffing about bringing the pain… Still… "I can't… No, I can't talk! He'll destroy me… I hate being dead as much as da next evil ghost but I at least wanna exist. Lemme go! Please! Just lemme go!"
That earned him a punch to the face. "That doesn't get me a name, clown shoes."
"No… Please, no… I… C'mon! You guys could probably figure it out! Do I really have to talk?! I wasn't gonna hurt nobody, honest! We just wanted da money, that's all! We're not killers! At least I'm not, anyway! Da boss might be, I'm not sure! Lemme go and I'll just float away. You can keep da whip! It's a good whip! Might help you against other criminal scum! See? I'm not such a bad guy!"
Ceaseless yammering, another typical nervous behavior. Good thing a knuckle sandwich can prove to be a good way of stopping that. "Sigh… You're only making it worse for yourself. How's it going, Dani?" the Huntress called. Dani waved back at her. "All good here! No injuries at all. A few rattled people, but that's normal." Dani floated back over, giving a light wave to the group of newly-free citizens. "So what's with slapnuts over here? I thought you would've canned him with the Thermos by now."
"Remember the other carny-related crimes lately? One of these bozos must know something." The Huntress gave the undead thug a good shake for emphasis. Dani sighed. When Val wanted, she could be perfect for aiding the cops with interrogations…or helping Batman 'scare up' some info, pun fully intended. All that was missing was the brooding.
Sometimes, Dani didn't know how Tucker managed to survive when Valerie had her 'time of the month'. Then again, that might explain those few days out of the month where he completely buries himself in between mayoral work and hanging out with Danny, Ember, and Sam…
Speaking of their friends, Dani could probably guess why her 'cousin' had to bow out of his turn at patrolling the city. After all, he had been mentioning that he should just get it over with, since it'd be good for the long run. Another possibly telling factor was that Amity had yet to see any evidence of the 'loose cannon' today… As Val continued to give the defeated carny a rough grilling for information, Dani wondered how things would turn out for the couple.
Most superheroes knew little to no fear. But even with his ghostly powers, Danny Fenton still had to do what some ordinary teenagers had to face: introduce a possibly controversial girlfriend to his parents. Sure, he knew that he would stay with Ember no matter what Mom and Dad would say. After all, it's been getting close to a year now and he still had a pretty good feeling about their bond.
Still, it would be nice if they could avoid going through the old-as-dinosaurs "in-laws" stereotype. He certainly had enough of disgruntled parents when he had his relationship with Sam, that's for sure. He still couldn't believe the nerve of Mr. Manson that one night he picked Sam up for a date, answering the door armed with a metal baseball bat and a cold glare…Danny knew that Mr. Manson wasn't in the mood to play baseball, that was certain. He would sometimes wonder if the Manson parents had any relation with a certain insane murderer. It was a relief when Sam finally had enough and put them in their place with the help of her incredibly supportive grandmother, but the damage had already been done. It wasn't the poor Goth's fault, not at all. But his superhero responsibilities were stressful enough without the prospect of dealing with perpetual extreme disdain about his love life.
Presently, the least he could try and do is have a proper introduction of Ember to his parents and hope that she didn't have to put up with the same thing, with his parents being ghost hunters and all…
Well, they did accept him for his superhero counterpart when he revealed his identity… So it shouldn't turn out too bad, right? Right…?
"Earth to Baby-Pop… Baby-Pop, come in." Ember said, having floated into his room minutes ago only to find him pacing around, seemingly zoned out in thought. "Danny!" she said louder, waving a black-gloved hand in front of his face when he paced by her. She frowned. It wasn't often she actually called him by name, mostly because the both of them actually liked it when she called him by her two favorite nicknames. Being the wild woman she tended to be, she didn't do well with stressing out and she certainly couldn't control herself when it came to talking to others that were stressing out.
She drew her guitar…
Danny's thoughts were mind-shatteringly interrupted by a loud rendition of the main hook of a certain AC/DC song… And she sang…
"Dirty deeds…. DONE DIRT CHEAP!
Dirty deeds… DONE DIRT CHEAP!
Dirty deeds… DONE DIRT CHEAP!
Dirty deeds and they're done dirt cheap!
Dirty deeds and they're done dirt cheap!"
Ears ringing and nerves shot from the surprise, it had taken a few moments for Danny to get his bearings and wrest the guitar away from Ember, who had a joyfully mischievous look on her face.
"Em, what did you do that for! Argh, my ears…" Danny asked, shaking his head to try and stop the ringing. Ember used the distraction to grab her guitar back, slinging it on her back like a sheathed sword.
"Well, you were totally spaced out. How else was I supposed to get your attention, Dipstick?" she asked like it was the most logical obvious thing in the world, a trouble-promising smirk on her face. Danny loved that smirk. She knew that and would take advantage of that fact. To his relief, Danny's ears finally began to stop aching as much.
It was fortunate that his parents were currently down in the (mostly-soundproof) lab and that Jazz was currently out with a friend. "Yeah… Yeah, good point, I guess… I'm just nervous, that's all." he answered awkwardly, not comfortable with admitting that to the woman who obviously had no lack of confidence at all. Funny how he could face Pariah Dark just on courage and a powered-up suit of armor and end up fretting over a simple conversation with his parents. Her smirk turned into an honest smile.
She could say what she would about being an untamed rock-n-roll megastar. But at the end of her day, she would always be glad to have ended up with the Dipstick. Unlike her past lovers (both when she was alive and during her afterlife), Danny actually cared about more than just what was within her tight leather pants/tank-top or the 'notability' of having a celebrity trophy girlfriend. She thought his occasional displays of honest timidity were adorable, a definite contrast from his usual looks of determination while 'on the job' and a reminder that he was very different from the selfish, macho assholes of her past. If it weren't for the fact that what was about to happen was so damn important to him, she'd playfully pinch his cheek while mockingly (but truthfully) telling him how cute he is. Perhaps later…
"Relax, Baby-Pop. I'll behave. Promise." Ember capped her promise with a quick kiss on the lips. "As long as I behave, the ball would be in their court, you know. I just hope that having a half-ghost son made them rethink their 'all ghosts are evil' stance." she added, feeling his arms come around her in a light embrace. Danny smiled lightly, watching her flaming hair flicker and dance in its usual almost-hypnotic way.
"I think they thought about it. They haven't been bragging about dissections or experiments even half as much as they did before I revealed myself." he said, chuckling lightly at how ridiculous that must sound. Ember playfully smacked him upside the head. "Ow!"
"Very funny, wise ghost…"
"Umm… Actually, I wasn't joking."
"Oh…"
Minutes later, Danny was making his way down the stairwell to the Fenton Lab in the basement, Ember invisibly trailing behind. It was a spacious workplace with all sorts of tech and tools lying around, some arranged in order and some strung about in a mess. It was somewhat obvious who had worked on what, Jack Fenton being the cheerful oaf that he was. In the very back of the lab sat the very nexus of Danny's whole teenage life, the Ghost Portal. Had it been open, he would've seen the usual liquid-like green swirls and ripples of the portal itself. But currently, it was closed. That was good, since it meant that possible criminal activity might be just of the mortal sort that police could handle. (Little did he know…)
His parents were nearby the portal, both working on…a satellite dish? He walked over, careful not to trip over anything. "Hey Mom, Dad. What're you guys working on?" he said, as casually as possible.
Maddie Fenton was the first to speak, her chipper attitude ever-so-present. "Hey, hun! Oh, this? Well, we just thought it'd be neat to develop a sort of city-wide ghost radar to help you with your superhero job. That way, if your little ghost detection breath doesn't work because a crime's happening completely on the other side of town, this baby'll let you know."
"Yeah, son! Nothing like good ol' efficiency, right?" Jack piped up, grinning at him as he focused on his work, turning a wrench to tighten up a bolt. Danny, nodding, could see the logic. Even after all this time, he still couldn't determine the approximate range of his ghost sense.
"Cool, Dad. Uhh… It's not portable, is it?" he asked, noting that the device didn't exactly look easy to carry, taking up a good deal of the worktable's real estate. Jack's grin disappeared… "Aw, fudge! I knew I forgot something! Portability! Everybody loves portability now." groaned the large ghost hunter before he proceeded to mumble in dejection.
Maddie put a hand on his back. "Oh, cheer up, dear. It's still useful. It could be like Danny's own Bat Computer. You don't see Batman hauling the Batcave's computer around everywhere, do you?" she said. Danny couldn't help but snicker a little. They'd soon know how much like Batman their son had become. Well, if they knew about the whole Batman and Catwoman connection, that is…
"I guess so…" Jack said, still somewhat dejected. He then proceeded to give the machine a good once-over look. "Well, either way, it's all finished. Shall we give it a test run?" the portly patriarch asked, suddenly excited about the prospect of a new invention actually working.
"Uhh… Dad?" Danny called, trying to get their attention. However, Maddie kept Jack's attention… "Sure, hun! We can see if there's any spooks in town." she replied, ever alert for any ectoplasmic threats. Jack immediately went to the machine's control panel, beneath its sizable monitor, and pressed a few buttons to power it up.
"Guys? I need to talk to you about something." Danny said, suddenly having a bad feeling about this since Ember was hovering nearby, still invisible. "Can't this wait?"
"Hush, Danny. In a minute." Maddie kindly replied. It was never easy to drag his parents' attention away from a new invention when it came to testing it. It must be their work ethic… The monitor came to life, showing a detailed map of Amity Park. It reminded Danny of the map screen of Lost Santos within Grand Theft Auto 5's pause menus.
"But Mom, this is important." Danny said, almost in vain as Jack and Maddie's eyes were glued to the monitor. With the press of a few more buttons, the scanning process began. What looked like rippling waves of sonar appeared on the monitor, representing the machine's signal being sent out. A few dots appeared on the screen. A couple were shown at Amity's central bank, oddly enough. A few others were scattered throughout the town, either on the move or stationary. All of which didn't seem to be causing any trouble, as the device also seemed to show whether ectoplasmic energy was being used or not.
Then, there was Fenton Works. Strange. It looked like two dots were placed upon their location… Jack and Maddie frowned. "Jack, can you zoom in on us, sweetie?" Maddie asked, her tone suddenly seemed more serious. Danny gulped, hoping they wouldn't jump the gun, almost literally.
"Sure, Mads!" he excitedly demonstrated the monitor's zoom-in/zoom-out feature. A part of him was glad to make sure that every aspect of a device worked to perfection. He just didn't remember to make sure of that sometimes… He couldn't be blamed for that, could he?
Sure enough, when the monitor only showed the layout of Fenton Works, there were clearly two ectoplasmic signatures, one right next to the other.
"Mom? Dad? I really need to talk to you guys. Now." Danny said, his tone getting serious.
"Son, there's a problem here. We have an intruder, it seems. I'm sorry, but your talk can wait." Jack said, immediately lumbering over to a nearby Fenton Rocket Launcher.
"Dad, no! This is urgent! Please!" the poor boy started to panic. This was not how he wanted this to turn out. He turned to his mom. "Mom, I… I know what that other presence is!"
"Really, Danny?" Maddie looked concerned, wondering why her son would hide something. What secrets would he need to hide, now that he's a renown superhero? Even so, her son's word was good enough. "Jack, honey! Put the launcher down! It's all clear!"
Jack groaned. "Aww! I wanted to use this…" Sometimes he could be such a man-child, both wife and son had to admit about him… Jack walked over to them.
"Now Danny, what's going on?" Maddie asked, not sure whether to be worried or just concerned.
"Umm… Well… umm… heh… This is… well… You see… I brought someone here to meet you guys…" he said, suddenly timid now that the moment of truth was finally here.
Maddie smiled. "Oh, a ghost friend of yours, I assume?"
"Uhh... Not exactly just a friend… She… umm…" he trailed off. What bad timing for his mind to suddenly draw a blank. Ember, watching, barely repressed a groan of embarrassment. How many times had she got in her own parents' faces when she was alive? She lost count. Even so, she could probably guess why he's flustering…
"She? A lady ghost?" Maddie asked. Then, Jack burst into the conversation.
"Hold on a minute! More than a friend? She? I see what's going on…" he said, suddenly narrowing his eyes, looking around at wherever the ghost could possibly be hiding.
Then, Maddie seemed to get it. "Wait… Danny? Are you…?"
Danny seemed to be sweating. What was going on in their heads? Was this not the right time to introduce Ember? Do they disapprove?
A small blue flame appeared out of nowhere a couple of feet behind Danny, surprising the two elder Fentons. The giveaway blue glow and the crackling of flames caused Danny to facepalm. She had decided to take matters into her own hands.
The little blue flame grew until it was the approximate height of a human. Then, as quickly as it came, it vanished. It left behind one impatient rock diva, visible to all.
"Hi. I'm Ember McLain. And yes, I'm Danny's girlfriend now. There. It's 'out there'. Sorry, Baby-Pop, but the drama was re-killing me." Ember said as she floated over and put an arm around Danny, casual as ever.
The two parents stammered, trying to put together a good first question to ask while sounding like gibberish. Ember wasn't surprised. Necrophilia, after all, was a major human taboo… Who knows how that would come into play with Danny's unique situation of being half-human.
Maddie seemed to snap herself out of it first, mostly out of frustration at her usually-sharp mind's momentary haze. "Alright, alright! Okay… May I ask how?"
"Uh, how what, Mrs. Fenton?" Ember answered, unsure what she meant.
"How… how this came about?" she said, gesturing a hand toward the couple at the word 'this'.
"Well… Umm… You want the whole story or just the cliff notes?" the ghost asked back, suddenly realized that she didn't exactly know how to clearly explain their strange-but-fruitful love.
"Whatever you're comfortable with, umm… dear." replied Maddie, hesitant to call a ghost by a term she used to love referring to Sam as. Technically, she still calls Sam that whenever she came over, but it just wasn't the same after what the Manson parents did…
"Okay…" Damn, this was awkward. "Well, I… It used to be that the Dipstick and I would fight constantly. I wanted to conquer the world, he desired to protect it… Sigh, yes, you could say that I have a criminal record." Ember added when she noticed Maddie's face harden into an untrusting glare. "But I'm not that way anymore. Dipstick here saw to that… Before him, I had somebody else for a boyfriend. Another 'criminal' rival of Danny's. But… Well, I guess I know the downsides of dating somebody like that. He was selfish, greedy, he refused to treat me to anything… The list goes on." She said, adding a passive waving-away hand-gesture at that point.
"One day, when Skulker… you might have seen him. A mechanical-looking ghost obsessed with hunting? Whatever, anyways, Skulker and I had Dipstick cornered. But personally, I had already had enough of his crap. So I backstabbed him. Heh… What a way to do it too. Wait 'til he's just about to get what he wants and then BAM! Take it right away." At this point, Ember was rambling. She knew it. But she didn't know how else to tell this kind of story to Danny's ghost-hunting parents.
"So yeah. I saved your kid. I didn't do it for him at the time. I did it for me. It was over and I needed to go out in a huge way. It's the way I am. But… well, it hurt. The whole thing. What he did, what could've been, my self-esteem because of that… Well, you know how heartbreak goes. But Baby-Pop… He came to me. Tried to make me feel better. We were enemies and yet he still took the time to come up to me and be an ear to listen to my problems. He could've very well just counted it a victory and flew home, you know. But he didn't.
"It touched me, I admit. And it got me thinking. Long story short, we called a truce. Then we started to just chill together. Hang out, take turns playing some music on my guitar, so on… Then we started to get to know each other. Before we knew it, I'm helping to patrol the city for him and he's proved to be wonderful company. Yeah, I know. Not your storybook relationship, but here we are." Ember finished. Right away, she began to wonder if she really stepped her foot in it this time.
Jack and Maddie both looked like they were deep in thought, processing the story. It definitely wasn't a regular kind of parenting conundrum. Jack sighed. "We spent most of our adult lives hunting ghosts. And now our son is in love with one. There's a word for this, isn't there?" he said, as if he was coming to terms with it.
"Yes, dear. It's irony." answered Maddie, almost quietly. Danny didn't like the sound of this one bit. But he would see where this goes. Ember remained quiet as well. She didn't want to stir up any more trouble than she might have. She held herself closer to Danny, however.
Moments later, Jack's face seemed to change to one of resolve. "I gotta admit, Maddie… We must've done a real good job raising our kids. I mean, managing to reform a ghost? I guess that takes real compassion to do that, ghost or not. Hmm… How long have you two been together?" he asked Ember, curiously.
"About… ten months, I think." she answered, feeling a little cautious.
"Ten months. Guess it's no surprise why you two would be sneaky about it around us." Jack laughed lightheartedly. "And there hasn't been one problem? No 'urges to dominate the planet' or anything?"
"Wow, that's presumptuous of you." Ember answered sarcastically, frowning bitterly.
"Dad!" Danny groaned.
"What? What's wrong?" Jack asked as if he had just heard about the situation. Maddie sighed.
"You made it sound like supervillainy is some sort of mental cancer or something, like we're all born with the urge." Ember snarled, detaching herself from Danny, her hands on her hips.
Maddie took over for Jack. "Now, Ember, I'm sure Jack didn't mean it that way. He's… not the best with talking sometimes."
"Yeah, Ember. He meant well." Danny chimed in, mentally praying that she would give the Fentons a chance. After all, villainous past or not, misconceptions of ghostly motives are a sensitive issue to not just Ember, but a lot of ghosts.
Ember glared at Jack, but sighed after a moment. "If Baby-Pop says you're alright, then you're alright. Fine… But to be clear, how ghosts are depends on the deceased soul. How they were in life, how they died, what their goals and motives were upon time of death, and so on. As for me? When I was alive, I just wanted to become a big rock star that would be remembered as one of the best female rockers ever. Obviously, that got cut short. Don't ask for details, please. That's something I'd only share with those really close to me. But anyways, that was my goal in life. Not to become some sort of "empress of Earth" or some shit."
"Language, young lady!" Maddie instantly snapped, as if a reflex. Danny cringed. That would not be a good impression…
Ember fell silent a moment. Normally, she wouldn't care if her use of foul language pissed somebody off. But this was her boyfriend's mother. She wanted to brush the criticism off like usual, but she still wanted to prove that she was a good match for Mrs. Fenton's baby boy. "Ummm… Sorry? I guess?" was her timid answer, having never been put in such a position before.
Maddie smiled. "Oh, it's alright, Ember. We were all young once. Besides, you rock-n-rollers cuss all the time nowadays, huh? Well, I'm not going to ask you to stop altogether, but just tone it down around Jack and I, alright?" she said, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Even Danny was stunned by now. His parents were starting to accept her as a person!
"Sure… That's fine, Mrs. Fenton. Umm… Anything else you wanted to know…?" she asked, hoping that the awkward moment was over.
Unfortunately…
"Yes, actually." Jack replied, a serious look on his face. "Seeing as you kept this secret from us for ten months, I have to ask… Did you two 'do it' yet?"
Both Ember and Danny's faces became red as tomatoes. Well, at the very least, Jack definitely started to accept her as Danny's girlfriend…
Batman never had to put up with anything like this with Catwoman! Not even Spider-Man had to put up with this! Well, maybe explaining Black Cat to Mary Jane or Aunt May… Danny wasn't sure on that one.
Both teens sounded something like "Umm, I…well, that is… He... She… um, 'do it'? Err…well…Hehe… That's…umm…" and so on. Maddie's face fell. It was evidently clear, if it wasn't a possibility already with the things she heard about female rock stars's "extracurricular activities"…
"Oh, Danny…" she said, in that all-too-well-known tone of a sorely disappointed mother. That snapped Ember out of her stammering.
"Mrs. Fenton, please! We… only started doing that a couple of months ago. We both wanted to be sure about 'us' first, and… we… umm…" She knew one thing: Danny would owe her big time for this whole fiasco. This was the smallest she ever felt in her afterlife, besides the initial transition from life to undeath, of course. "Well… What can I say? I love my Baby-Pop…"
Yep, she felt small alright. The rebellious side of her fumed at how girly she sounded just now, even though it couldn't deny the truth of the statement. Maddie simply nodded, as if storing the fact away as evidence. The mother looked toward Danny. "And what do you have to say for yourself, young man?" Everyone knows that kind of motherly tone… The "Your ass is about to be grounded for life" tone.
Danny did not see this coming at all. He imagined that Clockwork probably did and is now probably laughing his temporal ass off. Couldn't he give his own apprentice one heads-up? Just one? If he had to pick an incident he wished he'd gotten a warning about, it would be this one. Hands down. He felt trapped against a wall.
"Uh, Ember's right, Mom. We didn't want our relationship to be one that's just about… well, that… Even so, that wasn't the first thing we thought about when we started dating. A couple of months ago, the subject was brought up. We had a long talk. Maybe it was the fact that we both got the short ends of the sticks when it came to relationships, but we decided to just see if there came a time when we felt ready for it. Ya know, taking it nice and slow?"
"Dipstick, don't say 'nice and slow' right now…" Ember groaned. With her usually unruly mind bringing up that double-entendre, the poor ghost couldn't be any more embarrassed. Her dipstick owed her an entire music store's worth of stolen loot after this.
"Sorry, Em… Well… Days later, we had both thought about it. And well… Umm…" Danny trailed off.
"You two were 'ready'?" Maddie finished for him, like ripping off duct tape off of somebody's mouth. Damn, she could be very direct when she wanted to. Danny nodded.
At this point, Jack interjected himself. "Did you use protection?" Maddie looked at him as if she wanted to say 'Really? That's your big question?'
"Umm… Yes?" Danny said as if he was just blindly guessing an answer. Ember facepalmed.
Jack clapped him on the shoulder. "Alright then. I guess that's fine by me. A little surprising to say the least, but as long as you two genuinely care for each other. Who wants fudge!?" he said, abruptly bringing up his other favorite topic to end the conversation. Now it was Maddie's turn to facepalm.
"Jack, are you nuts?!" Maddie snapped, clearly not done with the subject. Jack turned to her. "Maddie dear, I'm sure I don't need to remind you of our younger days." he simply said with a smirk. Maddie blushed while Danny stuck his fingers in his ears, chanting "Not picturing that! Totally not picturing that!". Ember chuckled at her boyfriend's agony. Ok, so maybe not an entire music store of loot... But he still owed her!
As Jack left to head upstairs to get some well-deserved fudge, Maddie turned her attention back to the couple, Danny still looking a little disturbed by Jack's parting comment while Ember held his hand.
"Sigh… Well, as disappointed as I am, I guess I shouldn't be too mad about that. After all, I guess I should be glad that this relationship shows some sort of proof that some ghosts can be reasoned with." Maddie said in a calm but resigned tone that clearly projected the subtle message of 'That's it, I give up!'.
"Mom…?" Danny asked, knowing there was more to this than Maddie was letting on.
"It's alright. I'll just chalk this up as another aspect of your superhero career. Their love lives can get a little weird, right? Besides, I would suppose you two would have to be happy with each other for you to want to introduce her to us, Danny. A step forward in the relationship, huh? Well… that's a relief then. You two have my blessing, then." Maddie said, a light smile on her face.
"Really? Wow… Cool!" Danny said, a smile on her face.
"Um, we're not going to have one of those cheesy 'after-school special' moments where we all hug, are we?" Ember asked, suddenly getting a bad vibe of the overly-sappy sort.
"Well, I wasn't really thinking of that. But now that you mention it, why don't I welcome you to the family, dear." was Maddie's only reply before engulfing Ember in a hug. The diva could only squirm and protest within the Fenton matriarch's grasp. At least this was better than being rejected…
"Wait til Jazz hears she'll eventually have a new 'sister'." chirped Maddie. This triggered a random fact within Ember's mind that Danny once warned her about… Wasn't Jazz Fenton one of those crazy 'super-fans' that get clingy upon meeting their favorite idol? Yeah, Danny had better keep his sister under control if he knew what was good for him…
Later…
It was the middle of the night and only the drunks and the night-shift workers were out and about, which meant a decent chance of a nice quiet raid for music merch for Ember. It took a stern talking-to, but she managed to get Danny to admit that she did deserve to 'prowl' a bit after all that awkwardness. For a while during the beginning of their bond, Danny often wondered how she could get away with her 'prizes' after each raid. One would think the police would've caught on by now.
Nowadays, Danny just had Tucker secretly deal with the financial impact. It wasn't difficult or upsetting for the young mayor as Danny's superheroics (specifically, the Disasteroid incident) did manage to garner some reward money from, believe it or not, the government. Needless to say, Danny didn't have to worry about college costs or anything lime that, but still, he let Tucker deal with the money, since the constant criminal activity (ghostly or otherwise) ended up leaving the victimized parts of town needing money for repairs.
In this particular case, Danny would occasionally wonder if he was whipped, using a roundabout way to pay for Ember's every desire and letting her think she was ripping off the town a la Catwoman. His common sense would quickly disperse such thoughts. After all, for one thing, she caught her own share of petty criminals during her outings.
Ember set her sights on Amity Mall. It had a couple of stores that could be worth pilfering though. Perhaps some rare rock CDs? Maybe another kickass instrument? All it took was one phase through a wall…
As soon as she phased in, something felt… off. Then again, she was undead so she always felt off. But that kind of 'off' was normal to the point where she felt normal. This wasn't the usual. No, it was that negative sense of foreboding. Like there was something afoot but one couldn't place it until it was too late. She drew her guitar. Perhaps she wasn't the only one to think of the idea of raiding the mall…
Some asshole would soon learn that the privilege belonged only to her!
As she floated along the mall's second floor toward the center, the feeling of unease grew. Whoever was here wasn't human. Not unless humans finally started to develop meta-powers like in those anime shows about chi-powered macho men beating the crap out of each other… or perhaps humans with strange powerful objects, like those card-battling anime shows.
No, this was clearly ghostly. The evidence was clear once she came across the center of the mall, which was the food court. It was drastically altered. The hot dog and hamburger joints were left alone, but the pizza, Mexican, Chinese, and other food vendors and restaurants were trashed and replaced with stands selling peanuts, cotton candy, popcorn, and deep-fried everything.
She hid along the banister of the second floor and scoped out the area. Who knows where the strange vandals were at the time. She spotted three beings on the ground floor, apparently arranging the food court tables around into specific areas. All three dressed in bizarre, baggy costumes with glaring, loud colors and clashing patterns. It looked like they'd each paid a nickel for whatever could pass for a clown costume. They all wore a strapped carry-tray like the snack vendors that would go among stadium audiences, hawking their food products.
Ember had heard of a small string of gimmicked incidents as of late, all having to do with the circus or carnivals. Just a couple of hours ago, after Ember met his parents, Danny had gotten a call from Valerie about some foiled bank robbery by an undead lion tamer. It had seemed to bother him, as though this kind of thing was familiar in an unwanted way.
This was apparently the next move from whatever being was responsible. Their true motive was still yet to be deciphered, as the incidents all seemed random and sporadic. Bank robberies, petty vandalism, attacking a random citizen or two, breaking windows, raiding stores… All of which were on a small scale, done by two or three low-powered creeps.
Was it a message? A diversion? A cocky warning of things to come? Or all three? Nobody on Team Phantom knew for sure. But Ember knew one thing: A vigilante's work is never done and some clowns were about to get rocked.
Author's Note: And there's that chapter. With a lead-on for the next one, for a change! Hooray for continuity! I wonder if people can guess which villain I'm planning on using sometime soon. The clues should be obviously easy enough. Even so, we hardly see this particular ass-clown in DP fanfiction at all, it seems. In any case, take a guess!
I do hope I did Maddie and Jack decently enough. I think I did well for the idea of Danny introducing Ember to those two. I would really appreciate feedback about this chapter as a whole. So please Review. Please? Thank you in advance.
Anyways, a reminder: I have a POLL! Yes, I still have my poll up for voting on what I should do next, in case anybody's interested. I obviously took down the choice for "meet the parents", but I've added a new one. Perhaps somebody wants an actual story about the short Danny/Sam relationship that was hinted at in this chapter that got broken up by the assholes that are Mr. and Mrs. Manson. Well, now it's a choice. So if you'd like, please vote!
Review!
