Author's Note: Hmm… Ok, I told myself I would continue this story, and so I decided to roll with a couple of ideas that were left on the table from previous chapters. I'm not sure if I reached the point where I might need a beta reader or perhaps I should just consider this series done and over. But hey, that's for you guys to decide. :coughReviewcough!:
Disclaimer: Last I checked, I don't own anything. Not one show, not one song, not one piece of pop-culture.
Chapter 10: The Unhinged Clown Brigade
Danny Fenton's first day since making up with his beloved girlfriend, Ember McLain, was odd. Mostly because of his shiny, new, seemingly-permanent accessory on his neck. For something that's not exactly huge, it was certainly easy for attention to be drawn to it. It was probably the shininess of the golden words… Sure enough, some reactions were predictable. Maddie promptly got worried. She wasn't an extreme prude by any means (especially nowhere close to Mrs. Manson's level of prude), but she couldn't help her concern about her son possibly getting into extreme pain bondage or something. Just because she gave them her blessing for a relationship doesn't mean she would be alright with anything dangerous…
Jack, hands deep in fudge-flavored pancakes, waved it off as couples experimenting, again reminding her of the times they "spiced things up" in college, causing Jazz and Danny to cringe with horrible mental images. Speaking of the young redhead, Jazz found it curious of Ember's psychological behavior, again entering "Shrink Mode". Before Danny left the dining room, he had to endure listening to a theory about Ember's past villainous obsession with attention and power, warning him that he'd better not get the music spirit mad at him again.
Understandably, as he prepared to leave for school, he began to dread everyone's reactions. If their parents could easily notice it, what about Sam and Tucker? Or Dash if he decided to bully him again? Or Mr. Lancer if he was handing out tests or something? Or certain A-List gossips?
Expectations proved to be more than correct.
"Wow, Danny… And here I thought I was taking things too fast with Dani." Sam said in an amused tone, curious fingers feeling the gold lettering. "Feels like actual gold. You must really be important to her. Usually, it's the guy that's supposed to shower the girl in riches."
"More like Ember wants to show how precious her property is." snickered Tucker, having snapped a pic of Danny's new accessory with his PDA and sent it to Valerie.
"Real funny, guys… Sam, need I remind you of how you like making Dani your 'pet'?" Danny retorted, making Sam's face go crimson in record time. Tucker balked in surprise, his mind already imagining Sam 'walking' a leashed little clone.
"Uhh… You know about that…?" Sam stammered, her blush in stark contrast to her usual dark attire.
"Kinda walked in on her practicing walking on all fours… and meowing. Didn't know you were such a cat girl, Sam." Danny teased, the tables having officially been turned.
"Oh, what do you know, Mr. Love Slave?!" snapped the Goth, turning away from Danny and began stomping down the street in the general direction of Casper High.
"You know you can't win, Danny." Tucker said, an amused smirk on his face. It wasn't often that Tucker wasn't the one in the direct path of Sam's annoyance (mostly caused by his meat beliefs) so of course the young mayor would be amused at someone else being a target. "Still, I wouldn't worry. It's not like you pissed off Ember again. OoooOoOoh, EmBER, I'm SO SoRrY!" Tucker added, doing a crappy imitation of the autotune voicebox that the fiery rockstar had temporarily cursed Danny with. The halfa snorted in annoyance, choosing to catch up with Sam.
"Alright, alright. Sorry, Sam. I wasn't judging you anyway. If Dani's happy, I'm happy. Besides…" Danny blushed a little, remembering their past. "I couldn't think of a better girl for her." Sensing his sincere honesty, Sam sighed. She knew he wouldn't truly mock her relationship. He was just kidding around.
"Of course you can't. She's basically you. Wow, aren't we narcissistically selfish. Me and Ember all to 'yourselves'. Ooooh…!" Sam mocked playfully, lightly punching Danny in the shoulder.
"I… uh…er… That… No, I…" muttered a blushing Danny, reminding Sam and Tucker sort of like a sputtering engine. Sam laughed and slapped her former boyfriend on the back. "Oh, calm down, fearless leader! I know that idea's sexy enough to melt your brain, but I was just playing. C'mon, you think I'd actually get mad at you over you finding out one of my… kinks? If things worked out, you would've definitely discovered it anyway." she reasoned, unable to keep from snickering. Danny began thinking of some of Ember's kinks and couldn't argue the fact that he definitely wouldn't have minded Sam's, had things worked out.
Danny Fenton seemed to be destined to end up with a wild woman. At least that was the conclusion he mentally drew upon retrospect of what is and what could've been.
His collar returned to the forefront of his mind when he got to his locker, no thanks to the annoying upper-class faction known as the A-List. More specifically, Dash Baxter…
"Hey, Fenton! It's time for…. WHOA! What the hell is that?! Is that real gold?! No way!" Dash exclaimed, the collar once again proving to be an eye-catcher. Then, Dash got a good look at the letters…
"HA! Oh, man! Hey guys! Check this out! Somebody owns Fenton!" Dash guffawed. Kwan, Star, and Paulina got a closer look. Kwan resorted to the obvious 'whipped' hand gesture, Star wondered if that was real gold, and Paulina got a little jealous that she couldn't claim him like that, knowing that he was the Ghost Boy she was obsessing about.
"It's probably Ember, guys. Everybody knows she and Phantom here are going out." Star said, trying to be the voice of reason while remembering a notable word of gossip from the rumor mill. How ironically correct she was…
"What? Bull. They're rivals! She steals stuff! Isn't Fenturd here a total cub scout with the law? Besides, I bet she prefers a real guy like me!" Dash exclaimed, flexing his muscles for effect. Paulina glared at him, suddenly having dark thoughts about 'typical macho pigs'. Some boyfriend…
"Rivals? What about that free concert they threw one night? They performed together." Kwan said, remembering a YouTube video somebody had posted. Again with the irony as Danny remembered all too well of that night, when Ember wanted to show support for Sam…
"I said rivals, not arch-enemies. Rivals can work together sometimes." Dash defended. The halfa thought it surreal that the school's resident ignorant jock had attempted to use word logic, even if a little skewed…
"I thought Ember was his sidekick now, like with Manson and Foley." Kwan said, a little unsure. Dash raised an eyebrow at Kwan.
"What about that rumor about Ember smashing Phantom over the head with a guitar at the toy store a few days ago? That sound like a sidekick to you?" the blond jock fired back, annoyed that his word is being questioned like this.
"I'm sure that was more crap from that little pirate ghost they said he was fighting. That kid loves using props, right? I say sidekick." Kwan insisted. It wasn't often that the two jocks argued with each other. But whenever it did, things usually turned rough in a hurry.
"Rival!"
"Sidekick!"
"RIVAL!"
"SIDEKICK!"
Not to mention, incredibly juvenile…
"Now that I think about it…" Paulina said, having been staring at the bright lettering of his collar. She still had a thing for Phantom, but his identity threw her for a loop. It had made the young Latina actually think for the first time in her teenage life. As a result, she had seemed more and more like a decent person, despite retaining her spot on the less-than-noble A-List as well as being in an on-and-off relationship with Dash. "Love slave? Ember McLain does seem like the type of chica to do such a thing. Not to mention, I had seen them eating dinner at one of the nicer diners in town." she added, which momentarily confused the young hero. Ah, wait. Their one-year anniversary dinner! Of course.
"You seen them?! What would you be doing in the same restaurant as them anyway? You eat high-class only and, if that were true, those two don't seem to realize they can practically walk into any five-star joint no problem with their hero statuses!" Dash exclaimed.
"Uhh… We just want to keep doing normal things, Dash…" Danny muttered, clearly uncomfortable with his role as 'item of discussion'. He should just phase through the walls right then. He really should. But the last thing he wanted was for Lancer to mark him as tardy yet again.
"And I've been trying different things…" Paulina added. "Going to more average places really isn't so bad." Hearing Paulina say that made Danny have slightly more respect for her. Perhaps there was hope for the queen bee after all. "I mean, with Fenton as the Ghost Boy, of course he would hang around with the normal people! As luck would have it, I came at the right time! Too bad he wasn't alone…" Aaaaand there goes that respect…
"So… they were on a date?"
"Si! Si! The Ghost Boy gave her a necklace and everything! I couldn't tell what exactly it looked like but it sparkled like something expensive. Believe me, I can tell pricy and cheap jewelry from a mile away. Too bad the dinner was kinda ruined by some idiot that pranked the Ghost Boy with a pie in a box. Oh, the enemies you get when you're famous…" And Paulina gossiped on and on…
Danny wondered why his relationship with Ember was being misconstrued the way it is. Taking a quick look through his mental rolodex, he came to realize that they never really been blatantly open toward the general public about their relationship, especially Danny's classmates. They hanged out at public places sometimes and they had their fair number of public displays of affection, but now that he thought about it, those PDAs were more like 'Displays of Affection That Were Outside of Home', not exactly done in areas or times where tons of people would see and talk about it and spread the word. It wasn't like Ember wanted to hunt for cameras when they felt like "getting sappy" anyway. The rocker wanted attention, but she did have an image to maintain…
Not to mention the fact that this was the A-List that Danny was dealing with here. Not exactly the smartest or most observant of people, despite their strange allegiance as Phantom fans. Also, the places where the A-List liked to hang out were the kind of places that Team Phantom couldn't care less of anyway (except for the Nasty Burger). Confounding the scenario would be the fact that Danny and Ember are not only superheroes/vigilantes but also celebrities and, as such, are completely vulnerable to facts about them being misinterpreted or disregarded in favor of the ever-shifting rumor mill.
As the A-List continued to debate as though the halfa wasn't right in front of them, Danny had a revelation. It was shocking to him that the majority of his ghostly enemies and (from what he heard) the local criminal underworld could easily figure out that the two guardians of Amity were romantically involved, but not regular citizens or even Danny's classmates. Amity Park can truly be a strange city sometimes…
"Guys? GUYS!" Danny called, succeeding at stopping the nonsensical gossiping, even if it caused the jocks to glare at him. "Uhh… Alright, so… I'm just gonna set the record straight, alright? Yeah, I'm Ember's boyfriend."
Paulina sighed, her fantasies now fully crushed. What could she do against a confident, outspoken, famous rock star that legions of fans find incredibly hot? Dash, on the other hand, growled in envy. "Superhero or not, you're a freakin' goody-two-shoes! What the hell does she see in you anyway?"
"Don't you have Paulina?" Danny countered snidely. It was people like him and Skulker that really rubbed him the wrong way when the subject of women was brought up. Either way, his reply had the intended effect of causing Paulina to realize why exactly her boyfriend was reacting so negatively. "Dash!"
"What?!"
"Are you saying that you'd rather have Ember over ME!?" The Latina barged right in Dash's face, standing tiptoed in a failed attempt to match his height to look threatening. What followed was what Casper High would soon christen as 'The Dumbest Thing Ever Said'.
"She's a world famous rock star and a total babe! Why wouldn't I?!" the blond jock said. 100% machismo, 0% common sense… The small crowd (Danny included) let out a low, rising "Ooooooooh!" that you might hear on Jerry Springer or a Maury paternity test episode. With a wild shriek, Paulina lunged at her boyfriend, her manicured hands clawing at his face like a rabid animal. Out of surprise and pain, Dash fell backward and collapsed on the ground as Paulina continued to slap and claw at him, yelling random insults.
Not wanting to be around when Paulina's screaming inevitably brings around Mr. Lancer, the halfa grabbed what he needed from his locker, shut and locked it, and went invisible to get around the hooting jocks, angry girls, and curious passerby that were watching the A-List couple's violent breakup. Despite feeling like he might've been better off just letting the rumor mill churn its crap, he couldn't help but feel amused that his school nemesis caused his own downfall.
Danny caught up with Sam and Tucker who had overheard the final moments of the confrontation nearby after they went to their respective lockers. The young mayor couldn't keep from laughing as they walked toward class. "Aw, man! Dash'll never live this down! I was beginning to think that he'd never bury himself like that!"
"I'm just glad Paulina wised up. Guys like him shouldn't even get to first base." Sam sternly added with a look on her face that Danny and Tucker both knew all too well. If the jock wasn't number one on Sam's shit-list as it was, he certainly is now! Tucker suddenly had a thought.
"Wait, I got it! I wonder if we can use this to try to convince Paulina that regular people aren't that bad." Tucker said, causing a raised eyebrow from Danny and a glare from Sam.
"Wanna run that by me again so I know what to tell Valerie?" Sam threatened, steel in her voice. Tucker's eyes went wide with fear as he backpedaled slightly from his Goth friend.
"Ah, no! Not like that! Sam, hear me out. She's been different since Danny revealed his identity, right? Not getting in people's faces as much? Not even picking on us as much as she used to."
"Only because she wants to sleep with 'Phantom'…" Sam murmured darkly, crossing her arms.
"She's not picking on anybody as much as she used to. Dash and Kwan end up doing all the work, if you haven't noticed. I'm thinking that perhaps Danny's revelation made her think about her ways. I would guess she specifically learned not to judge a book by its geeky cover, but I could be wrong on that. Now that she and Dash are pretty much through, perhaps it's time to…" he then deepened his voice to that of a lame Emperor Palpatine impression. "…lure that one to the Geek Side…"
"Tuck, I dunno… Sounds more like a bad social experiment to me." Danny said, immediately picturing a thousand ways an attempt to create a friendship with the queen bee can go wrong.
"As much as I admit she would make a pretty hot Goth, I doubt it too." Sam added. Both boys stopped in their tracks, looking at her. This puzzled her for a moment, until she figured out what could possibly be on their minds. "Ugh! Just because I'm bi doesn't mean you clowns have to mentally picture me in bed with every girl we talk about! I have Dani, remember?!" she snapped, storming off.
"Dammit, is it really so bad that we instantly thought of that? I don't think it is…" Tucker grumbled as he and Danny followed Sam's trail toward class.
"50 Shades Of Grey, what the heck is this about, Fenton?!" was Mr. Lancer's shocked declaration when he noticed Danny's new 'accessory' up close when he was walking across the classroom, handing back graded quizzes. If the A-List encounter made him feel like he was put under an incriminating spotlight, Mr. Lancer made him feel like he was in a police interrogation room with the obligatory swinging overhead lamp.
"Umm… This?" Danny quietly uttered, pointing a finger to his gold-lettered choker. Lancer glared, not even a nod as he knew better that the young superhero knew what he was talking about. Celebrity status or not, the teacher didn't believe that young Phantom should be allowed to bend the rules (aside from when duty calls, of course).
"Uhhh… Well… umm… My girlfriend… put this on me… I can't take it off…" Danny lamely spat out, his face blushing crimson. Lancer raised an eyebrow. Was the local rumor mill right after all? Or did the school's resident 'former lovebirds' get back together?
"Girlfriend, you say? And what say you, Ms. Manson?" Lancer asked, turning his glance her way. Sam's eyes widened a little, clearly thrown off by the accusation. "Uh, no, Mr. Lancer… We're not getting back together. He means his 'sidekick', Ember." Sam said, a part of her not liking having to answer the way she did. It wasn't worth simmering over, though. Kwan was heard quietly gloating "See? Told ya she was his sidekick!".
"Ah, the rock and roll loose cannon? Hmm… Guess that would explain it." Lancer said with a concerned frown. "Well, in any case, Mr. Fenton, I expect your… ahem… wild woman… to take that off of you by tomorrow's classes. School is not the place to be advertising adult fetishes. Not to mention the fact that your intimate association with her is a concern, due to the reports I've heard of her stealing and vandalizing now and again…"
"Mr. Lancer, I've been with her for over a year now. I think I can vouch for her being a reasonable member of society as well as a great ally on the job." the halfa responded, his frown mirroring the teacher's. Sam and Tucker both gulped as they watched the two stare each other down. Unfortunately for Danny, a certain somebody just had to make things even more awkward…
"Of course you'd say that, Fenturd. Anything to get in her hot pants, am I right?" snarked a beaten-up Dash, his face red from the numerous scratch and claw marks from Paulina's nonstop face-raking from earlier. "So whipped!"
"Literally!" Kwan added. "Oh please, Mistress Ember! Whip me again, Mama!" he mocked in a high-pitched tone before laughing. Tucker facepalmed while Sam wished they'd just leave her best friend alone. However, before Sam could say a dark remark she had in mind, somebody else beat her to the punch.
"Oh, why don't you two just go home and play with Dash's teddy bear collection!" Paulina snapped, causing more than a few raised eyebrows and snickers. "You said you wouldn't tell anybody about that!" Dash whined childishly. The class took one second to realize what his scared griping meant before snickering and gossiping amongst themselves about Dash's big secret. "There's nothing wrong with a woman being in control of a relationship!" the Latina continued, mentally envisioning herself in a loving relationship where her dream guy (Phantom, as usual) obediently did whatever she asked of him without any attitude or resistance. Whoever wasn't busy laughing about Dash noticed the dreamy look her face suddenly took…
"Somehow, I bet she's thinking of having some guy under mind-control or something…" muttered Sam, still not sure of Tucker's claims of Paulina possibly changing for the better.
"C'mon, Sam… I doubt she's that cruel." Tucker defended. "Besides, I thought you'd actually agree with her. Girl power, right?"
"Her statement, yes. What she really means, no. She's probably daydreaming of having ol' Danny as her personal cabana boy or something. No, wait… Her pool boy. I wouldn't be surprised if even her fantasies are ripped off of cheap porno 'plots', if they can even be called that." vented the Goth, her fingers drumming on the surface of her desk as she returned her gaze to the staredown between teacher and student.
"Students, enough!" Lancer barked sternly. "Fenton, you have my orders. Get that off before tomorrow." With that, he resumed passing out graded papers as students began to quietly murmur amongst themselves before Lancer officially began class.
Lunch time came and, as usual, Team Phantom sat at their table, away from the A-List. Valerie sat next to Tucker while Sam parked herself next to Danny. As with everybody else, Valerie quickly noticed Danny's gold-laden choker. Even though Tucker had sent a pic of it to her, it was still something to see in person.
"Damn, Danny. Always knew you would be quite a romantic. One reason why I liked you." the ebony girl said in a mock-flirty tone, making her former crush once again go red in the face. Danny slapped his hands onto his face, groaning.
"C'mon, guys… Haven't I endured enough today?" the halfa sullenly moaned, slowly starting to develop a headache. How did any superhero deal with rumor mills about their love lives? As Danny groused, he suddenly felt warmth from his right side, like comfortable heat from the sun. A moment later, he felt 'something' grab his butt. Lifting his head with a gasp of surprise, he looked to his right. Nothing, not even anything behind him. Yet something still held his ass… Not very hard for him to figure out who had shown up.
"Guys, Ember's here…." he announced to the rest of the table, not really sure how to feel. On one hand, he was glad to have her company. But could she be here to cause mischief? Danny felt Ember's breath on his right ear… "Rough day, Baby-Pop?" she asked while blatantly groping his ass. He felt really warm down there, for some reason…
Sam, Tucker, and Val noticed Danny squirming with a conflicted, embarrassed look on his face and immediately adopted amused grins on their faces. Knowing Ember, they all figured that she was taking advantage of her invisibility to somehow fondle her boyfriend in public while remaining relatively hidden. At this point, such antics were normal, but still very amusing.
"Ah, yeah, it's been rough for Mr. Love Slave here." Tucker responded slyly. "If it gets any more outta hand, I'm going to have to use my mayoral authority to crack down on immature fetish jokes."
"Tucker, you're the one that said 50% of those jokes!" Danny indignantly snapped, having to hold his shirt down as he felt an invisible hand and arm crawling up his stomach and chest beneath the clothing, Ember breathing a soft sensual moan of arousal into his ear for only him to hear. Her warmth began to spread all over him, this time like resting next to a nice campfire. His mind began to cloud with thoughts of a certain nature…
"Yeah, well, there's joking and then there's overkill. We had to have a little fun with it. Would you resist?" asked Amity's youngest mayor, looking smug in his belief that he won the argument.
As it stood, he could barely resist Ember's subtle advances. But he knew he couldn't do anything in response to her, lest he look like he was losing his mind, grasping at something that seemingly wasn't there. Memories of Youngblood's "make Fenton look insane" scheme briefly came to mind… But those thoughts were rapidly dispelled when the hand that was firmly grasping his ass moved upward and stopped at the hem of his shorts, fingers slowly beginning to worm their way under and back downward.
Eyes widening at how far his invisible girlfriend was pushing the envelope, Danny stammered. "Uh, yeah… G…good point, Tuck. Guess I wouldn't… Um… So yeah, rough day…" He suddenly felt what had to be her lips upon his cheek. And again. And again…
"Yeah, Baby-Pop. So I noticed. Been a long while since I had to deal with any sort of rumor mill. Well, one with more crap than the Ghost Zone, anyway… Seriously, we're 'rivals'?" Ember said as her hands kept roaming. Danny was thankful that the A-List still didn't pay too much attention to the 'Loser Table'. His moving clothes and his nervous squirming might be enough to draw a little attention to the keen eye of those that weren't in the know.
"You were here the whole time?!" Danny kept his voice down with some effort. Her first response was a playful pinch to his ass, the halfa barely keeping down the yelp of surprise that threatened to escape. The flinching caused his friends to wonder exactly what Ember was doing…
"Course I was, Dipstick of mine. After a night like last night, well, not to sound sappy, but I couldn't let you leave my side so easily. Mmm…" Her sultry answer caused different reactions. Danny blushed but couldn't help but have one of those goofy grins of accomplishment. Tucker gawked, suddenly wondering if he just got outclassed in the sex department. Sam and Valerie, however, both had telling looks on their faces, the kind that said 'Gimme details, girl!'.
"So what they say is true? Make-up sex is awesome?" Tucker curiously queried. Of course, he'd be the one to ask such a question. Tucker's shin got a combat boot taken to it, courtesy of Sam. Despite that, Danny turned to him, goofy grin still plastered on his face.
"Is it? Hell yeah, it is…!" Danny declared with a fist in the air, feeling Ember's lips upon his cheek again. If this was just Danny and Tucker talking, with no Ember doing whatever she was doing, Sam would've felt annoyed at such a male response. But, the situation being what it was, she couldn't blame her best friend.
"By the way, Baby-Pop… The choker stays on. I'm not letting some prude teacher tell you what to do like that. That's MY job." the diva snorted, hands squeezing his chest and ass. Danny turned to where he thought her head was.
"Flame, he might make my grades go back down. It's bad enough he tends to side with the A-List often enough…"
"Ha. This'll just blow over soon enough, like all other big celebrity shockers… Who's to say these popular brats won't have their own embarrassing sex secrets? Besides… you like being my little love slave, don'cha?" Again with that flirtatious tone…
The halfa's face couldn't get any redder. The other three Team Phantom members seem to be in rapt attention, as if they had stumbled into viewing a romance film about to get NC-17 rated. "Umm… Well…"
"Mmm… Baby-Pop…" she moaned, a little louder. Danny's eyes bugged out. Was she trying to draw attention now? "Tell me you like it…!" The halfa flustered while Tucker snickered.
"Y… Yes, I like it." Danny said, as calmly as possible, despite his embarrassed arousal. He was feeling it, no doubt about it. But in such a public place and with her invisible, it made it real tough to keep up appearances of normalcy.
"Like you mean it, Baby-Pop. Tell me you LOVE it!" she commanded, volume increasing ever so slightly as the hand that went inside his pants started circle around his side, heading for a very particular appendage. Was Batman ever put in this kind of position with Catwoman in public? Doubtful. Catwoman doesn't have invisibility powers to play with…
"I… Alright, I love it!" Danny burst out. In his head, he didn't think he sounded that loud. In fact, for all of about two seconds, his mind was patting itself on the back for managing to keep his voice down despite being turned on and the frantic panic from being so exposed while Ember was doing her thing. Unfortunately, the reason why his mental elation lasted two seconds made itself evident as a few of the tables of students that were in the surrounding area stopped chatting and turned toward him, wondering what happened? Ember stopped her advances, but kept her hands and self where they were.
"Umm… Uhh… Yeah, Danny, we all really loved the new trailer for Star Wars Episode 7… Really kickass…" Tucker said loudly, his PDA already on YouTube with said trailer on display as he held it in such a way where a few students could kinda see it.
"Yeah, it was… 'Chewie, we're home'… Epic." Sam added, a smile on her face that she hoped showed excitement. She thought that she was better at her infamous Fake-Out Make-Outs than making believable false faces. Ember may have proven herself to have definitively gone legit, but that didn't stop the Goth from deciding that the rocker had at least a prank coming…
Danny heard the quiet snickers of his girlfriend trying to contain her laughter, the comforting warmth he had felt increasing again, this time making him feel like he was by a roaring fireplace in a nice and warm cabin during a snowstorm. She was happy, that much was certain. The same couldn't be said for him as he put on his own fake smile and chipped in. "Exactly… It's gonna be great."
"Yeah, well you can keep your excitement to yourself, Fentonio. If you get that way about the trailer, I pity the droids you're looking for if ya happen to find them!" Dash hollered from the A-List table, several students guffawing as a result. Tucker's face deadpanned.
"Man, that's hypocritical in itself! He had to have seen the movies to make that kinda reference! Bet'cha anything he's a closet-fan, just like with his teddy bears…"
"Tuck, that line's been quoted so many times, almost everybody knows where it's from." Sam interjected passively.
"This is Dash we're talking about. If he hadn't seen them, he wouldn't even know what a droid is." Tucker huffed, adjusting his red beret before closing out the YouTube app on his PDA.
"Huh… Good point. He is that dense." Sam chuckled, taking another bite of her mega-veggie salad.
"Guys? I think we have a problem…" Valerie said, nodding toward Danny, who had put his head down on the table in equal parts frustration and embarrassment once he was sure the rest of the nearby student body had resumed their normal activity. The halfa in question groaned.
"Dipstick, c'mon… I was only playin'." Ember's voice pleaded, having dipped her volume back down to where just Team Phantom could hear. A muffled, downtrodden "I know" was Danny's response. "He likes it." She simply stated in an amused tone toward the other three.
Sam crossed her arms. "Did he? It doesn't look like it, McLain…"
"Manson, if I wanted to be cruel, I'd have kept on going while everyone was looking. Now that's humiliating.
"She's got'cha there, Sam." Tucker admitted, right before yelping in pain as combat boot made contact with shin again. "Ow! Why'd you kick me? She's the one that made the point."
"Yeah, well, she's invisible and Danny wouldn't like that anyway." If Ember were visible, everybody would have noticed her sticking her tongue out at Tucker.
"…Fine…"
The rest of the school day went normal enough, despite both the gossip from students about Phantom's new accessory (still…) as well as Ember's constant invisible presence. The walk home started off more peacefully than the school day, the five teens (including a now-visible Ember) chit-chatting about anything. However, Danny's ghost sense went off as they neared the Nasty Burger.
"Ah, great. Rumors, pissed teachers, and now supervillains. Great way to end a school day." Danny said sarcastically as he transformed. Ember drew her guitar, instantly ready to rumble.
"Ah, shouldn't be too hard. Some of your ol' enemies are starting to finally get the hint." Tucker said encouragingly. He had forgot the last time that the Lunch Lady attacked. Or Johnny 13 and Kitty.
Valerie had become the Red Huntress. "Yeah, but there's still quite a number of blockheads out there." she countered, looking at her wrist monitor which currently displayed a radar map of the area as she tried to pinpoint the enemy. Turns out she didn't have to rely on that as Danny immediately spotted a ghoul flying overhead.
Something seemed to be very familiar about this particular ghost. Dark greenish hair, slicked back into two points... Egg-white face, thin with sharp features… Red lips which seemed to have a permanent grin… Purple suit…
"Are they kidding us?" Danny asked, watching the figure ripped out of a cartoon flying by, not paying anybody any mind.
"I think those carny ghosts might be back again. Either that, or some ghoul loves cosplaying as The Joker…" Valerie remembered the few times she busted some of those circus-themed ghouls. It was only a matter of time before they made another move in their shady hit-and-run campaign of crime.
"After him!" Sam declared, already chasing after the flying Ghost-Joker on foot. Danny, Valerie, and Ember took to the air to pursue, which left Tucker running after Sam. The trio in the air easily matched the speed of the flying clown but decided to see if it was heading anywhere in particular. A couple of minutes later, they got their answer as he descended down to a building that had apparently undergone a hostile renovation within the past few hours…
Amity Park Arcade. Or as it is now apparently known, judging from the hastily nailed on giant sign "Gothica Midway"…
"Hmm… Where have we heard that brand name before…?" Red Huntress mused. She was sure that she had heard mention of it somewhere before. Something significant…
"Hoo boy… I hope that's not who I think it is…" Danny said as he stopped next to Valerie. Ember hovered next to him.
"Care to elaborate, Baby-Pop?"
"During my first year as Phantom, a circus came to town. Circus Gothica. You might have heard of it in local ads or something, Val. It was kinda a big deal, mostly because of the kind of acts it was bringing along. All of its performers were ghosts trained to do circus tricks and feats. All of them, except the ringmaster running the show, a delusional tool we call Freakshow. He was the only human involved. Turned out, he had an ulterior motive, robbing the local banks using his ghostly performers…and myself…"
Valerie gasped. "I remember seeing that news report! So… Why'd you do it anyway?"
"Turns out he had this artifact… An orb that could control ghosts' minds. If one looked at it, bam! Instant pawn."
"So, basically, he got away with saying 'made ya look', eh Dipstick? And here I thought you wanted to try being the bad boy." Ember said in a flirty tone.
"Funny how things work out, Ms. Good Girl." Danny taunted, playfully placing an arm around her shoulder. Ember shrugged it off.
"Don't you start, Dipstick… Want me to be mad at you again?"
Danny gulped. "Heh… So anyway… Thanks to Sam, Freakshow's circus was eventually canned. Some time later, there was another incident with him. He had another artifact. A more powerful thing called the Reality Gauntlet, which granted endless power as long as it contained all the mystical Reality Gems."
"You mean the Infinity Gauntlet? That's real?! I thought it was just comics…" Red Huntress said, surprised that such a powerful artifact was more than just the fantasies of fiction.
"It was. Man, did we feel the wrath of that artifact. It tore up reality, my identity got exposed, the three of us ended up racing across the country to try and put an end to his spree, not to mention save all our parents. It wasn't easy, but we did it… For good measure, I destroyed the Gauntlet."
"Wait, wait… He exposed your identity? I thought you exposed it yourself, after the Disasteroid."
"Yeah. Right before I destroyed the Gauntlet, I used it to fix reality. To cover my own ass, I decided to personally use it to remove that fact from everyone's minds. I know that sounds selfish, but… I wasn't ready for such exposure yet." Danny finished, thinking his reason for that little adjustment sounded a little foolish when compared to the fact that he would end up revealing himself eventually anyway.
"I get ya. Some steps you can only take when you're ready to. He took that away from you so you took the chance to fix that. It's cool, Danny." Red Huntress said, again feeling a little ashamed of the many times she shot at him in her misguided crusade. The superhero life was definitely not an easy road to travel.
"Is this guy tough, Baby-Pop?" Ember asked, clearly ready to fight as she passively tuned her guitar, a sign of impatience. Danny glanced at her. "Physically? Not really. If he has yet another artifact, he might be a problem. Same if he has an army, which seems likely, given the on-and-off related incidents Amity's had… Numerous pawns, yet no leader. Until now, perhaps." Looking down, he noticed Sam and Tucker lurking in an alleyway facing the newly-rechristened "Midway". Motioning downward, he lowered himself toward them, the two women following.
Landing behind the two humans, Danny looked upon the carnival-style storefront. "How's it look, guys?"
"Well, we saw 'Joker' go in the front door, looking like he's late to a meeting or something. Maybe a clown convention. Hah…" Tucker joked, earning not even one chuckle. Poor Tucker…
"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin', Danny?" Sam asked, eyeing the new sign in its macabre large-lettered font.
"Yep." He placed a hand over his mouth and proceeded to sound like a police radio dispatcher's voice through a walkie-talkie. "Psssh… We have an arrest warrant for one Frederick Isak Showenhower, fugitive ass-clown, emphasis on 'ass'. Considered annoying and dangerous. Wanted dead or alive, although public opinion seems to favor the former, over." Everybody chuckled quietly at this.
Sam took over, raising her hand as if holding a walkie of her own, her voice taking on a lazy drawl of sorts. "Breaker, breaker, this is Team Phantom Lieutenant Manson. We have the perp's headquarters in site. Looks like what happens when a clown, a batch of my mom's 'super-cheerful' cupcakes, and a box of Cocoa Pebbles made love. Advise, over."
Tucker took a turn. "Captain Foley here. That sounds like one hell of a bad food-baby, Manson. Hmm… Commander Danny and his Mistress Ember take the front…"
"Hey!" griped Danny.
"Thanks, Foley!" Ember practically sang.
"Captain Grey will see if there's some sort of roof entrance and come in from there. Perhaps a sneak attack in case things get hairy. Manson and myself will take the back way in. There… is a back way in, right?"
"At least, a fire exit, if not an employee door." Sam answered.
Danny nodded. "A good plan, Tuck. Let's do it. Val, if there's no way in from the roof, join Tucker and Sam. Remember, we don't know what Freakshow has up his sleeve this time." He turned toward the vandalized arcade. "So let's go in there and bust up this operation as quick as possible. Especially before he has a chance to monologue…" he said, shuddering at the memories of how Freakshow loved to be so melodramatic with his speeches.
And so, Team Phantom spread out. Danny and Ember placing themselves by the doorway, invisible. A few moments later, they phased through the door together. The inside of the midway was just as much a circus as its outer appearance, with carny décor placed everywhere on the walls and support beams, even the ceiling. The numerous video games that the arcade usually had were replaced with games of chance and skill. Fill a balloon by shooting water into a target, throwing baseballs at a stack of bottles, rolling balls into holes marked by different point values, the hit the bell by smashing a lever with a mallet game, and so on.
The couple immediately noticed that they weren't alone… The familiar-looking cosplaying ghost was standing by the hit-the-bottles game, chuckling as only Joker can. However, he wasn't the only opponent. Appearing from behind the test your strength mallet game came…another version of Joker. From another game, another Joker. And another… and another… All of them snickering.
Each Joker seemed to look different from the rest, as if each ghostly minion decided to pay tribute to whatever version it could pull off.
(A/N: Is it redundant to use The Joker in this, seeing as when comparing gimmicks, Freakshow could possibly be considered a loose parody of Joker as the DP Wiki pointed out? In any case, the Jokers I imagine appearing here are as follows: "Batman: Animated Series" version, Heath Ledger version, Jack Nicholson version, Arkham Games version, the New 52 version (with his face cut off and sewn back together), and the new Jared Leto "Suicide Squad" uber-tattooed version.)
"Holy clown conventions, Batman. Tucker was right!" Ember said, immediately ducking as the closest Joker had drawn out a box and fired a boxing glove on a spring toward her. The most-likely lethal glove passed harmlessly where her head was a moment ago before returning to the box it came from. Danny fired an ecto-blast at the New 52 Joker, only for him to duck, draw a pair of knives, and quickly charge toward the halfa, a shrill laugh as his battle cry.
Weaving backward to avoid New 52 Joker's erratic slashes, he was shot from behind by Nicholson Joker who had an old-school pistol drawn. While the ghost-powered bullet wasn't as deadly to Danny as it would've been to a normal human, the impact was enough to distract Danny enough for New 52 Joker to actually slash him across the chest as he tried and failed to lean back far enough to dodge that strike. Thankfully, the cut wasn't deep enough to be damning, but it was enough for blood to profusely bleed out the long slash. Danny responded by throwing his upper body right toward the very-close Joker, headbutting New 52 Joker's head so hard, some of the stitches in his sewn-together shriveled-up face snapped off, corners of the cut off face flopping over in newfound freedom, exposing the facial flesh and muscles beneath. Not surprisingly, New 52 Joker found Phantom's attack hilarious, despite the pain of colliding heads.
Danny followed up by dodging another bullet fired from Nicholson Joker, aiming a glowing blue hand at the classic villain and letting off a blast of his cryogenic energy, hitting the pistol and freezing it as well as Joker's hand and forearm. The undead clown gasped in freezing pain, before resuming his chuckling. Danny didn't see what was so funny about having a frozen arm, so he stormed up to him and socked him across the face. The afflicted arm shattered on impact on the ground, as did the pistol. No blood or gore splattered out like one would think, however. If anything, only a growing pool of ectoplasm from the stump that resulted.
"What, you clowns never had someone from the audience complain about how crappy your balloon animals are? Guess your skin's as thin as your makeup." Phantom said, not caring that his audience wasn't exactly laughing at his joke as much as laughing for the hell of it. Noticing New 52 Joker recovering from the headbutt, Danny hurried over and promptly began brawling with him.
Ember had her hands full with the deadly pranks and devices of Animated Series Joker and the crazed lunacy of Heath Ledger Joker. Her battle got off to a bad start when Animated Joker managed to hit her guitar with a pie, making the guitar strings sticky with pie filling until it could be properly cleaned off. Ember got pissed. If it was one thing anybody took care to avoid in the music business, it's messing with a rocker's guitar.
"You annoying piece of crap! I'm the only one that messes with this guitar!" she shrieked, lunging at a suddenly frightened Animated Joker. Before she could smash her axe down on the demented villain, she was blindsided by Ledger Joker when he appeared out of nowhere on her left side and clotheslined an arm around her neck, slapping a hard chokehold on her as his body placed itself behind her. His right hand placed a knife close to her mouth.
"I ask you as I ask everybody, my dear. Why so serious? I know a way I could turn that frown upside down. Ehehehe…" sneered Ledger Joker, the blade glowing a dull green as he playfully moved it closer, clearly a weapon that could damage other ghosts… Ember growled as she noticed Animated Joker drawing his boxing glove jack-in-the-box weapon again, going with a 'you hold, I'll punch' kind of strategy. If only it were a human trying to choke her out, she could easily go intangible out of his grip. But this wasn't the case…
Animated Joker fired his giant glove again. The diva, running on instinct at this point, lifted both feet up, throwing her lower half feet-first at the glove as it came close. Her feet making contact with a kick and stopping the wacky weapon in its path, she immediately pushed off, her body curling upward and back, causing Ledger Joker to lose both his balance and his grip on her neck. Ledger Joker clumsily landed on his back while Ember landed on a foot and knee, gracefully. Animated Joker's glove was forcibly pushed back from Ember's kick, colliding back with its jack-in-the-box with such force that the clown took the punch instead, sending him crashing into the "knock down all the bottles" game. Ironically, his body actually did knock down all the bottles.
"And the clown is down." Ember said, her guitar still in hand the whole time as she raised herself up, took one step to Ledger Joker's squirming form, and put the body of her 'axe' at his neck as if it were an actual bladed axe. With her ecto-energy, it seemed to work just the same. "To answer your question, I'm as laid-back as the next girl…" she said with a devious smile, which Ledger Joker might've mistaken for understanding or perhaps even mercy. "But we're pretty serious about whupping your asses." she added after a pause, thrusting down on the axe. The now-headless clown faded from existence, a pool of ectoplasm being the only sign that he was ever there.
Suddenly, a bell started repeatedly ringing, once every couple of seconds. The flame-haired rocker looked over and couldn't help but snicker as she witnessed her boyfriend repeatedly slamming the head of New 52 Joker on the lever of the "test your strength" bell-ringing carny game.
"Alright, Baby-Pop!" she playfully cheered. "Such a strong halfa!" She knew that, with Danny's enhanced ability, most human-based strength games were no match for him. Of course, he had his strength limits. He wasn't Superman. But cheap carny games? All too easy. And she couldn't argue with the gruesome results on Danny's opponent either, the sewn-together face having been torn off due to the repeated smashings, the facial flesh within beaten in and practically rearranged. It would've caused her concern if she knew the enemy wasn't a mindless minion.
Her watching was interrupted by the Arkham Games Joker, who had taken advantage of her distraction to lob a handful of chattering teeth toys at her, which exploded on contact. Knocked to the ground by the surprise attack, Ember had enough time to look for her opponent and instinctively land a lucky punch to the side of his incoming head as Arkham Joker was trying to pounce upon his fallen prey, knife in hand. Her blow didn't send him flying or anything, but it was enough to stop the momentum of his charge enough for her to shove him off of her before he regained his bearings. Rolling away from Arkham Joker and getting to her feet, she took a quick look around. She noticed Animated Joker finally crawling and stumbling out of the booth he'd crashed into.
The test of strength bell had stopped ringing. Glancing over, she noticed that her lover was now struggling with another Joker while New 52 Joker lay crumpled next to the strength game in a defeated mess. Ember would never underestimate the persistence of circus clowns ever again…
Danny had just dealt the coup-de-gras blow upon New 52 Joker's head when the now one-armed Nicholson Joker bum-rushed the halfa, causing the two to roll around on the ground. Nicholson Joker managed to get his one working hand on Danny's throat and tried to choke him out. Fortunately for Danny, effective choking usually requires both hands. Not to mention the fact that Danny had his hands free to hit the clown point-blank with an ecto-blast, knocking Nicholson Joker off of him.
"Sorry, Jack. Don't have a string of little flags down my throat. Next trick!" Danny joked as the fallen clown scrambled to get back to his feet. After doing so, he did something surprising. He stuck his hand out for…a handshake? A second or two later, Danny's face took on an expression of such deadpan unimpressed disdain, it would have made the Teen Titans' resident empath, Raven, very proud.
"Really? A handshake? Like I don't expect there to be some super-high-voltage killer joy buzzer in your palm…" His verbal jab sounding just as annoyed as his face looked. The clown, his permanent grin unfaltering, looked at his palm. Indeed, he had been caught. Angered by this, Nicholson Joker charged at Danny, palm stuck out in an attempt to grab him. Danny backed up until he hit the railing of a booth. The enemy was still running at him. Danny waited a moment until he sidestepped, the Joker's palm hitting nothing while the clown himself hit the railing. Seizing the moment, Danny grabbed the bumbling foe and threw him inside the booth.
Danny then realized what booth he had thrown Nicholson Joker into…. The game where you shoot a target with a stream of water in a sort of race. He knew what he should do… Stationing himself at one of the water guns, he aimed as Joker got back up to his feet. Before the movie clown could even focus on Danny again, the halfa fired at him. First soaking his face and then getting some water over his upper half. Spitting out water that got into his mouth from the aquatic ambush, Joker was angry. He wasn't supposed to be the joke! Others were supposed to be the jokes! Too bad he forgot what he still had on his hand…
Danny fired at Joker's joy-buzzered palm. Amazingly, it had the effect Danny was hoping for. Being a weapon of high-voltage electricity, it wasn't surprising that one shoudn't bring it around water. Nicholson Joker would never exist anymore to learn from that error, as the sudden flashes of light, screaming that kinda sounded like mad laughter, and the smell of burning hair and facepaint would prove. Nicholson Joker looked like a charred steak before he melted into a small pool of dark-green ectoplasm.
"I'm surprised some people haven't learned not to use overdone strategies. Comes as a total shock to me!" he said, pumping his fist in victory and at his own nerve at using such an obvious pun. He figured Ember might call it cheap to use cliché puns to mock a cliché strategy, but he just thought it'd be kind of meta.
"Don't think I didn't hear that, Dipstick!" Ember said from a distance as she slung a hair-fireball at Arkham Joker. The clown quickly drew a red-and-white striped baseball bat and swung, hitting the blue fireball right back at Ember. With a disbelieving look on her face, the rocker grabbed her still-unplayable axe and expertly hit the repelled fire back at Joker. What ensued was a strange game of tennis that had the vibe of Russian Roulette. One miss and somebody's feeling the burn.
Danny was almost mesmerized by the odd back-n-forth 'game' between the two, but noticed that Animated Joker had grabbed some 'souvenirs' from the bottle game he crashed into. He was juggling the balls from the booth. Or what looked like balls… In actuality, they were grenades, most likely the kind that could affect ghosts as well as humans if all the past weaponry in this fight was any indication. However, Danny's position was too far from Animated Joker to even fire an ecto-beam before he could lob one of the grenades toward Ember while she's focused on repelling her own fireball.
As fate would have it, Danny wouldn't have to do a thing. Animated Joker was suddenly blasted from behind by a blue beam of energy, causing him to go lurching forward. His grenades scattered about along the floor in different directions due to the untimely interruption. The ruckus caused Arkham Joker to look toward Animated Joker, which would prove to be his ultimate downfall as Ember had struck the misdirected flame back toward him. The blue fireball engulfed the upper body of Arkham Joker as the ghostly minion suddenly felt a searing surge of pain.
Blue fire mixed with green hair in a way that was more humorous than it should've been as his laughs turned to screams. His frantic running was quickly impeded by one of the loose grenades, which he stepped on and lost his footing over. The clown landed with a thud as the fire continued to burn and consume.
"Looks like nobody told him to stop, drop, and roll!" a familiar male voice called from behind a few booths. In walked Sam and Tucker, both with weapons drawn. Tucker's weapon had a smoking nozzle, indicating that he's the one that fired at Animated Joker.
"Guys! What took you so long?" Danny pondered, glad for the cavalry. Now that they were here, it did seem to take the duo a little long to just come in through the back door…
"Would you believe Freakshow turned the back exit into a house of mirrors? Soon as we entered, bam, reflections everywhere. If I stupidly bump into one more inconveniently placed mirror…" Tucker grumbled, recalling memories of distorted Tuckers suddenly getting up close and personal as flesh repeatedly met reflective surfaces…
"So, how'd you two get here?" came Ember's reply. "Surely, this Freakshow douche wouldn't just leave an exit somewhere. I'd think that he'd make it so that you'd be lost forever."
"Ain't that the truth! But that jerk didn't bank on Sam using her 'super-mega-Gothy-rage face'. Still working on the name of that… She remembered that time when her parents pawned off all her possessions that related to the Gothic or supernatural and she got so mad that her face immediately broke a nearby mirror just from sheer rage."
"Never before has the concept of 280-plus years of bad luck sounded more like a great alternative." the Goth simply put with her best sinister-looking smile. Ember had to admit, the girl had balls. Not that she believed that broken mirror superstition, but considering what the group constantly faced on a practically daily basis, bad luck could just happen…
Only one Joker remained now. Hiding and biding his time amongst the booths and displays, he decided to hang back and try to pick them off at an opportune time, a time which never came as of yet. The arrival of backup served to complicate his strategy even further. Unlike the other constantly chuckling Jokers, this tattoo-covered, teeth-grill sporting, unhinged criminal remained silent. What could he do when the others only managed to provide a comically minor challenge?
What this particular Joker hadn't counted on was a crimson figure to burst through an air vent cover on the ceiling and land right on him. "Thanks for breaking my fall, ghost clown!" mocked the Red Huntress as she grabbed the last minion by his shirt collar while standing up.
"Huntress! That you?" Danny called, the group having heard the commotion. Moments later, the vigilante in question came into view, hauling another Joker over her shoulder. Approaching the group, she tossed Suicide Squad Joker down before them, the clown immediately scrambling to his feet, still oddly silent.
"Alright, douchenozzle. We're only going to say this once. Talk!" demanded Ember, voice dripping with venom, her guitar pointed right at Joker's head. Despite how cornered he was, not one word was uttered, not even a snicker.
"Listen, buddy. She gets real serious when she gets like this. I'd do as she says if I were you." Danny advised, sort of knowing from personal experience what it's like to be the target of her interrogations. Of course, it wasn't business, but the others didn't need to know that little factoid. Either way, SS Joker still kept quiet, shrugging as a response.
Sam couldn't help but chuckle to herself, her weapon aimed at the clown. "Good cop, bad cop? Never thought I'd see the day you'd go that route, Danny."
"Oh, I dunno, Sam." Tucker quickly interjected. "Sounds to me like they've had plenty of practice at their roles. Especially if Mr. Love Slave's little golden souvenir there is any indication." he added before guffawing. Valerie, who was standing near Tucker, smacked him upside his head with a free hand, getting an "Ow!" as a reaction.
"Dammit, I thought this situation drew attention off of it… Crap. Alright, dude, where's Freakshow?" Danny grunted, trying to steer things back on track. They still had a ringmaster to beat, after all.
At first, the clown remained silent. Then, his form began to change. His eyes became completely red, no pupils. His green hair faded, black spikes replacing it. His skin went from pale-white to a solid green. The numerous tattoos merely changed form to other ones that completely covered his body. Lastly and certainly telling was that his body adjusted itself to something clearly feminine, her clothes consisting of a black corset, panties, boots, and a red/black cape.
"Lydia… Well, that explains the silence. She's mute." Danny said, the last part he added as an explanation to Ember and Valerie. "I'm guessing you're not going to help us find Freakshow, huh?" Danny's question was met with a cold glare from the green Tattooed Lady, the silence as deafening as one of Ember's more wild concerts. "Ehehe… Heh… Thought as much…" he said nervously, a hand passively scratching the back of his head in a 'Isn't this awkward' kind of gesture. It's moments like this that made him feel like he was still Fenton back in school, on the receiving end of Dash's threats.
"Wow. A henchwoman loyal to her evil man. How surprising…Not." Sam couldn't resist putting out a little snarky side-commentary. Whether it was a jab toward Lydia's loyalty or Danny's awkward attempt at a peaceful resolution, none were completely sure.
"Baby-Pop, I'll make her sing harder than a drunk Joan Jett in concert." gloated Ember, holstering her guitar and pounding her fist into her palm. She couldn't tell why, but something about this silent specter made the diva want to punch her creepy face off.
Before Danny could respond, a voice came through over intercom speakers. "Ah, ah ah. I'm afraid I've let this sideshow attraction run long enough…"
"Freakshow!" Danny exclaimed, recognizing that arrogantly smug voice anywhere. The others tensed up, weapons in hand.
"Yes, it is I. However, don't expect a personal appearance today, foolish hero. You and your deplorable friends may have provided an entertaining show, but I'm proud to say that you were merely a diversion. I'm sure by now, both the authorities and this repugnant town's pathetic ghost hunters are already on their way to your location, late as always. However, with all the attention focused on my new ghostly carnival midway, there's nobody around to hinder me from my main attraction. Heh…"
"Aw, man! We were played!?" Tucker whined.
"Probably should've known… So what's your big three-ring circus of a plan this time, bozo?" Danny demanded, crossing his arms. Freakshow chuckled in response.
"Oh, what do you take me for? That pansy of a technology ghost, Technus? Bah! All you need to know is that Wall Street has nothing on me now. And as of right now, neither do the… ahem… formerly-wealthy parents of one Miss Manson. Just because I'm a mere ringmaster doesn't mean I don't have a particular set of skills. Stealth. Maybe picking a few locks… Perhaps rendering a few fools unconscious… It certainly doesn't hurt to have the mental acumen to strategize what to do with you lot in the meantime." The bragging of Danny's only all-human nemesis certainly didn't fail to annoy and enrage the duped heroes.
"You robbed my parents?!" Sam shrieked, seeing red.
Freakshow seemed to take great pleasure in Sam's reaction, remembering how much the little Goth had helped trump his previous plans. "Well, what would you expect? Amity Bank? With all their built-in security measures, guards, and the general public? No, that just wouldn't do for just one human such as I. Then I remembered that this was the hometown of one of the richest families in the region. Private, probably with their own little form of security, which was easy to bypass, I'll have you know… And while the silent alarm alerts the authorities, I would wager that they're a bit more concerned about the ghostly outbreak at the local Arcade. After all, with all this town's endless parade of otherworldly freaks, most people might find it easy to believe that a ghost invasion could happen anytime. Certainly tops a petty robbery of a one-percenter on the priorities list."
Team Phantom groaned in annoyance. Again with the villain monologues… Danny began to wonder if most criminals were in theater back in their school days. The ringmaster continued. "All this pomp and circumstance with this whole town arming and preparing themselves against anything ghostly and you all end up outsmarted by a human doing things the old-fashioned way. Breaking and entering. Now your wealth is mine. Bank account information, cards and numbers, whatever cash they had in their safe, everything. Oh, and if you're thinking of zipping right back over to the Manson estate… well, by the time you get there, I'll be out of the country. Too bad, so sad, as they say." Freakshow laughed before the intercom fell silent.
"Well… Aren't we feeling 'productive'…" Ember joked, feeling as bummed as the rest of the crew. It could be said that Ember being as fooled as the rest of Team Phantom might be a sort of karma for her previous afterlife as a force of evil, giving her a taste of what it's like to be on the business end of springing a villainous scheme. On the other hand, her own strategies were usually more direct, waving her mind-control of the people under the hero's nose. No matter the case, she wanted payback.
"Yeah, we're real champions alright…" Danny answered, sarcastically throwing up a fist pump gesture. He was reminded of how Freakshow got one up on Phantom with his mind-control orb. Once again, he had played right into the ringmaster's schemes, no mystical red orb necessary. And now Sam's family suffered as a result. How could this get any worse for the team?
The intercom buzzed back to life again. "Oh! Uh, one more thing I'd like to mention. Phantom?" Freakshow paused, an obvious build of dramatic tension. "Nice choker, 'Love Slave'. Had I known that all it'd take to keep you under control is a dominant woman, I would've done something about that a lot sooner." he said before guffawing hysterically.
That was it. The last straw. With a hand glowing with bright energy, Danny took out his frustrations on the closest target that was available to him. With a punch forceful enough to render a normal person's jaw completely shattered, Lydia was sent rocketing backward across the floor until she crashed into the ski-ball games, her head stuck in the 100 point hole. She would've phased out of it had she retained her consciousness… Nobody on Team Phantom objected to his action, knowing how fed up he must be over comments about his 'gift' from Ember. Even the diva in question began to wonder if she should've made her magically-created gift detachable.
"If you think you're playing human chess here, I guess I just took your Queen, Showenhower!" Danny seethed, his fist still glowing with excess energy. Tucker walked over, uncapping a Fenton Thermos, and proceeded to capture the dispatched second-in-command.
"…I really should've destroyed you during my circus scheme… I really… really… should have…" Freakshow muttered darkly, his elation turned to aggravation in seconds. Nobody but the criminal ringmaster himself could be sure what his exact relationship with the tattooed ghost lady is, but it was certainly obvious that she meant a great deal to him.
"Yeah, well, tough shit, Sherlock." the halfa shot back, just as pissed. Ember played enough gigs in bars to know all too well when a fist fight turned inevitable. If the pale clown-like thief was there in person, the first punch would've been thrown right then. As it turned out, Danny didn't even need to be wherever Freakshow was.
"Of all the disrespectful acts I've had in my servitude, I swear you are the… huh…? What the? What's happening?!" Freakshow suddenly panicked, much to the confusion of Team Phantom. "How did you get here?! You're supposed to be… Wait… You're a girl! Who the hell are you?! Some sort of Phantom fangirl?"
Silence followed for a moment. Phantom fangirl that somehow followed Freakshow? Sam realized it sooner than everyone else. "Oh my God, it's Dani!" The sound of an ecto-blast hitting something came over the intercom.
"Aagh! Shit! …You even have his powers… And me without the Reality Gauntlet. How did you even know where I was anyway?" Freakshow sounded nervous, as if cornered. The range on the criminal's mic didn't seem to be far, but the little clone seemed to be in range for her response to be heard. "You robbed my girlfriend, you jerk!"
Sam smirked. Previously, little Danielle had only been majorly upset at Vlad for obvious reasons. But now, Freakshow would learn what it means to cross the clone. "Girlfriend…? As in….?" Freakshow asked, not sure if he heard right. A moment passed. "Uhh… That's new. Even the younger teens go gay now? Huh… Ok then." he mused to himself, forgetting the mic's still on. "Either way, you're not taking me, ghost girl!" he then threatened. Team Phantom assumed that he had a concealed weapon of some kind.
It was brief but definitive. The sounds of punching and a couple of groans of pain came through, but no noise of weapon usage. Then silence, until… "Um, hey… Hello?" Dani said, apparently in possession of Freakshow's mic.
"Dani! Are you ok?!" Sam asked, worried that the ringmaster might've gotten a lucky hit in. "Sammy!" Dani said happily, much to Sam's chagrin. "Yes, I'm fine. I got your family's stuff back! I knocked him out before he could do anything. This cramped space certainly helped."
"Phew… I'm glad. And don't call me Sammy!" the Goth chided, having told her diminutive lover that numerous times already.
"Umm… Guys? Just one quick question." the clone said, somewhat timidly.
"What's up, Dani?" replied Danny, relieved that everything seemed to have worked out in the end.
"How do you pilot a helicopter…?" Almost everything.
A couple of hours and many frantic piloting instructions later, a helicopter clumsily landed on the roof of the reclaimed Amity Arcade. As with Freakshow's M.O., the vehicle also sported a Gothic-Circus décor on its paint job. It was also somewhat battered, due to the amateur piloting of a young halfa-clone.
"Gah… Can Freakshow be any more tacky? Now I'm ashamed that I thought Circus Gothica was interesting…" Sam said upon seeing the macabre vehicle. It looked like the ringmaster had stolen it, dumped black paint on it, dabbed a few spots and stripes here and there, and called it a day.
"It makes that 'clown smiley face' hovercraft that Bowser from Mario Bros sometimes flew around in look awesome…" Valerie added, giving the chopper a thumbs down. The pilot-side door of the helicopter opened. Almost immediately, a tied-up Freakshow was pushed out of the door, landing face-first on the solid roof. The audible crack from the landing and the snarls of pain that followed indicated a broken nose upon impact.
Danny and Ember didn't know about what the others thought, but this moment was too ripe an opportunity, considering the on-and-off months that Freakshow's minions had made their presence felt. Danny approached the glaring, growling criminal. "Well, now… What have we here? The very guy that's been making a nuisance out of himself lately? And an escaped fugitive too! My, aren't the feds just going to have a ball with you!" Danny said in a sickeningly-chipper tone.
"And look at who kicked your ass!" Ember then cleared her throat before singing…
"Send in….the CLONES!
Those daffy, laffy clones!
Send in those soulful and doleful, shmultz by the bowlful… clones!
Send in the clones!"
Dani then came out of the chopper, hovering above the fallen criminal and finished the song. "They're already heeeeeeeere!"
"That was… random." Tucker commented, not sure whether to applaude the 30-second concert or leave the resident metahumans to their payback.
"I dunno, Tuck. I thought that was very fitting. A clone kicking a clown's ass? C'mon, the bastard had it coming." Sam said with the air of a movie critic.
Freakshow writhed against the ropes he was tied up in. "'Send In The Clowns'…?! You dare mock me with 'Send In The Clowns'?! That is the last straw! I'll get you for this! I swear it!" he raved as Danny hauled the struggling clown leader to his feet, blood dripping from Freakshow's broken nose.
"How about you face the fact that today's your day the clown cried." were the last words Freakshow heard from his hated halfa nemesis before he knocked him out cold with a single punch. "Funny, I would've thought his broken nose would've honked from that punch."
"Alright, Dipstick, that's enough clown puns." Ember scolded. She had begun to develop a sense of when her boyfriend might get on a roll with a series of puns. Perhaps it was his way of playing with her about her tendency to pick on him about unoriginality.
"Oh, what's a little clowning around, flame?" the halfa asked, a brazen challenge to her, as he hauled the knocked out fugitive over his shoulder and flew down to street-level, where cops were surrounding the arcade to await their perp. Ember facepalmed, wondering why she forgave her cheeky dipstick.
Dani flew back into the chopper, grabbed a sack that she had found in it, and then flew straight at Sam. The little clone dropped the sack at the Goth's feet before clinging to her in a tight full-body hug around her chest and torso. "Sammy! I stopped a villain all by myself!" Dani said, excited from the thrill of avenging the sanctity of her girlfriend's home.
Sam couldn't help but smile and hug her lover back. "Very badass. I'm so proud of you, Dani. But how did you find him anyway?" Admittedly, the whole team was curious of how Dani managed to track him down.
"Well… I'd actually snuck into your home to surprise you after you came home from school. Which reminds me, I left a bouquet of black roses on your bed… Anyways, I'd heard some noises, like struggling or something. So I stayed invisible and took a look around. I came across a couple of your family's servants, knocked unconscious. I'm sure they're unconscious, anyway… I didn't see any blood around… So I flew around, until I heard somebody groan. I hurried over and I saw this skinny pale guy dressed all in black with a bandanna over his nose and mouth like he's some sort of 'gangsta' wannabe. He just knocked a maid out and was rummaging through your mother's purse before throwing the whole thing in that sack.
"I could've stopped him then. Probably should have… But I wasn't sure if he was some sort of ghost or perhaps another meta. Believe me, I've seen my share of deceptive superpeople when I was traveling… So, I just followed. He made his way to the small safe, cracked it, and took everything. Then he made his way out and bolted down the street, cutting through all the backyards. Then, he found his helicopter. Ya know where he parked it? On top of FentonWorks' Ops-Center."
"WHAT?!" the group burst out in unison, shocked by such a direct move. How could Danny's parents have missed a helicopter landing on their house?
"Yeah, surprised me too. Until I took a quick look inside and saw Mr. and Mrs. Fenton working in the lab. It's soundproof, right? Guess there's a downside to everything… Phasing back out, I saw that this Freakshow guy apparently had a grappling hook like Batman does, since he seemed to be pulled up the wall by a rope or something. Before he took off, I managed to phase right in and sit in the passenger seat. I figured I'd do what I eventually did and punk him mid-flight. I mean, a guy can't fight while cramped in the pilot's seat and focusing on flying, right?"
"Huh… That's true. Good logic, if a little reckless. Way to go, squirt!" complimented Valerie, her smile hidden by her Red Huntress helmet. It was moments like this that made Red Huntress proud that she was the one often paired up with the little heroine on patrol duty.
At this point, Danny landed back on the roof, having made sure Freakshow was securely locked up and weaponless in a police cruiser. "So, we all good up here, guys?" Ember hovered over and promptly kissed him. "Yep. Baby-Dip was just bragging about how she found the head clown. If she hadn't been at Sam's when the robbery went down, we definitely would've lost. Talk about lucky!"
"Guess that definitely makes up for my day today!" Danny once again found it funny how things turned out. A day chock full of gossip, taunts, speculation, and brawling concluding in a sudden appropriate end to the mysterious 'Carnival Gang'. The hero could only think of a couple of things that could make the end of today even better.
His mental musing was interrupted by Dani, who had gotten about 5 inches from his face with a curious look on her face. "Um… Dani…? What's up, cuz?" He asked awkwardly.
"Danny…? Why does this say you're a 'Love Slave'?"
Ember burst out laughing immediately as Danny's face turned tomato-red yet again. The rest of Team Phantom joined in the rock star's infectious laughter as they saw Danny's embarrassed face combined with his clone's confused one.
Now Danny could think of a few more things that could improve his day….
Author's Note: Tenth chapter anniversary! Lol. Kidding, but seriously, 10 chapters… Feels nice! I just hope this chapter was just as good as the previous nine. I hope you guys decide to leave me some reviews, because as I said at the beginning, I was a little concerned about the direction this one took. So I'd love some feedback, whether it's giving praise or expressing concern! In order to improve, it's always nice to have a general opinion of how I'm doing, after all.
Side note: As for the "Send In The Clowns" mini-parody, I was inspired by the classic Simpsons episode when Krusty The Clown sadly sang the main part of that song on his Comeback Special. I just thought it'd be a good joke to parody it the way I did, with Freakshow being a circus ringmaster and Dani being a clone.
I would do Review Replies, but all of the ones for the previous chapter can pretty much be responded with my heartfelt thanks, so… Thanks, everyone!
