Chapter Four

Brisket

Morning came, and was uncharacteristically dark. Black, swirling clouds, loomed in from the North, mixing with the breezy winds to create stormy conditions. Clear drops of rain fell down from the sky, turning into gray drops as they hit the windowpane, or becoming no more than water to the grass. It was as though nature was warning her of something. But of what?

Taylor looked out her window with a frown. Like the storm outside, she could feel something brewing. Every so often she would get a nagging drop in her stomach, reminding her that negativity was all around her.

Getting new ghost powers wasn't as great as she thought it would be, especially when they involved feeling the most horrible of feelings, and knowing when someone was going to beat the crap out of you. Now, she felt a different feeling, a more sinister one. It was descending upon her slowly, wrapping all around her.

Taylor let out an irritated sigh. When would she stop thinking so much? She'd always been an overly analytical person, and these stupid powers weren't helping her any. She looked away from the window down at her digital clock. It read 6:00 on the dot. Danny should arrive any moment now. Hopefully his presence would cause her only to think of him, and not how much her stomach felt like lead.

Soon she saw Danny's rusty Toyota pull up. He beeped the horn a few times to signal it was time to go. Taylor rolled her eyes at the impatient teen and grabbed her blue backpack, which was the same color of almost everything in her room.

The cold rain hit her on the way out, freezing her clothes to her body. She thought it best that she got as clean as she could now; the school cafeteria would be unforgiving. Taylor sighed yet another annoyed sigh and got into Danny's car. Inside it was warm. The heat hit her head on.

She turned around to see Danny, leaning back, an odd sort of look about him. Taylor raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"Well hello to you too, Mr. Weirdo."

Danny closed his eyes and chuckled briefly, and when he opened them they looked like liquid pools of water, cutting into her like knives. Taylor inhaled sharply. Why the hell did he always have to do that to her?

"I'll say it again, and again and again. . .you never cease to amaze me." Danny's voice was smug, almost as though he knew her far too well. He did, but he didn't have to rub knowing everything about her.

"If you're going to start badgering me about stupid shit, save it. I'm in no mood right now." Taylor grumbled crankily, wrapping her arms snugly around herself. "And why are you looking at me like that?"

Danny felt his mouth curl up into a smirk. Taylor's long curly hair was tied back into a long, wet ponytail, and her black sweatpants and turtleneck stuck to her like glue. Her lips were slightly blue from the cold, and a few strands of hair were sticking on end. He couldn't help but let a laugh pass his lips. Taylor scowled.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. . ." he responded with the same arrogance, pulling out of her driveway and driving down the wind and rained washed roads of Amity Park.

"Ugh.Daniel. Would you stop being an idiot for one moment and tell me why you're laughing at me?" Uh oh. She used 'Daniel'. He knew he was in for it now. Danny growled low in his throat with complete and utter annoyance. Having Taylor as a girlfriend could be impossible sometimes, especially when she started to act like someone he'd rather her never be like.

"It's nothing really, just that, well. .. "Danny looked to her with the same odd, penetrating stare.

"You look so cute when you're angry and wet."

He knew he would regret it as soon as the angered shriek escaped her lips. Danny looked over to see her, fists clenched, teeth bared. Danny gulped, his eyes darting back to the road quickly. Shit.

"If you're going to be like this the whole way there, I'm going to fly to the school!" she stated angrily. Danny felt angry waves course through him. Of course Miss Independent had to make her declaration, a declaration that no one needed to sign for it to be in effect.

"Fine I'll stop!" he said quickly through his teeth. There was no way in hell he wanted her flying around at 6 in the morning. This weather just screamed trouble, and unfortunately, so did Taylor. Danny glanced back to Taylor, who was starting to calm down. He was glad too. Sometimes Taylor lost control of her powers and would try to fry him with her laser vision, or do something worse.

Her eyes met his, and he gave her a quizzical look.

"Are you cold?" he said softly. He was really trying to mend things now.

". . .Not at all." she responded sourly. Danny knew she was still mad, so he sighed and turned the heat on more. He felt waves of it hit him, and saw her body become less tense. Apparently she was warming up now.

It was silent for a few minutes before Taylor spoke, rather politely.

"Sam and Mike are really getting along."

Taylor smirked and leaned back in her seat, the memories of Sam and Mike up until the early hours listening to music, talking, and just cuddling, flooded her mind. She looked over at Danny to see a dry sort of look on his face.

"What are you thinking about?"

Danny looked over. "Nothing. . .it's just .. . " he trailed off, his hands tightening on the steering wheel as he raked his mind for an explanation to why he suddenly felt like he wanted to strangle Mike.

"You're not jealous are you?" came Taylor's amused voice. It was times like these where Danny hated her beyond belief.

"I'm not jealous." he began indignantly, "It's just that well, I'm…this is going to sound really dumb."

"Like everything else you say?" Taylor responded slyly. Danny rolled his eyes.

"Well, I'm just used to being the main guy in her life. . . and not having her focus on me all the time well. . .I almost feel like I'm losing my best friend."

Taylor fumbled with her hair and sighed ."Sounds familiar."

That was his payback for irking her before and he knew it. The sting slashed him in just the right spot. Danny realized how Sam must of felt when he was starting to go out with Taylor. Karma really did bring justice.

There was a stiff silence all the way to the school.

Finally, the rotting walls of Amity High came into view, and the car clunked to a rusty stop. Taylor stuck her nose up in the air and slammed her door behind her moodily. Danny flinched at the noise and narrowed his eyes. Growling in annoyance, he too slammed his door, just a bit louder than Taylor had before.

The sun was starting to dot the earth. Strong hues of pink and purple accented a dark blue sky, and the stars were still visible beyond the large canopy of trees around the school entrance. A few birds were starting to rouse, and Taylor could hear their cheerful chatter perk up ever so often.

She looked around for Lancer, and low and behold, there he was. He looked more tired and sinister than ever, leaning against the door to the school. A few shiny keys glinted in the early morning light as he twirled them around lazily. He cleared his throat when he saw Danny and Taylor.

"Miss Hecter, Mr.Fenton." he said in his usual arrogance.

"You two actually made it. . ." he looked at Taylor's messy appearance and smirked," However barely."

It took all of Taylor's will power not to say anything back. She knew that Lancer was just looking for a reason to make her life more miserable.

Lancer looked at his watch, finding it was just after 6:30.

"I'll make this as breif as possible," he began in an authorative voice.

"Good." Taylor mumbled under her breath. Danny jabbed her in the side. "OW!"

Lancer ignored this and continued.

"I have some er.. . . personal errands to run." Judging by the thick beach towel he was carrying, he looked like he had a one way ticket to lake Eeery.

"And I'll be back by 1:00 on the dot."

Danny felt a surge of relief. HE and Taylor, for a moment forgetting their anger, looked at eachother with unreserved grins.

"But-" he added quickly,"The work had better be done when I get back, or may God help your sorry little souls."

"No problem Mr.Lancer Sir!" Taylor stated quickly. Lancer looked her over skeptically and shook his head.

"Well, I'll get going then . ." and without another word, wondering if he was doing the right thing, Lancer disappeared into his car.

When he was finally gone, and the only thing left of his presence was a trail of smoke from his car, Taylor exhaled sharply.

"Phew. That was a close call."

"I'll say," a voice to the right said with amusement. Sam and Tucker came strolling out from behind the large tree in front of the school, arrogant and smug looks about them.

"Sam! Tucker!" Taylor let out a squeaking noise before attacking Sam with a hug. Sam laughed heartily and grinned at her friend. "Surprised to see us?"

"Totally!" Danny said with a smirk.

"Well, we decided that you guys would need all the help you can get. That's why we brought this little dude!" Tucker said animatedly. He pulled out from his pocket a little box with a large red button in the middle.

"What is that?" Taylor asked skeptically, her arms dropping from Sam upon seeing the odd contraption.

"It's the garbage-o-than- 200." Tucker said proudly. He pressed the button, and after a few seconds of unraveling metal, there stood a robot. It stood about 4 feet off the ground, and was a silver cylinder. Poking up from its odd shaped body was a square head with a large mouth and two red eyes. At the bottom there were two stubbly legs, and two long hose-like arms.

The kids were silent for a moment, looking at the robot as it started up.

". .. Tucker. . .somehow I don't think this is a very erm. . . safe-"Taylor began,

"But it is! Just watch!" Tucker grinned broadly and pressed a remote control. The robot sprang to life with a series of wheezing noises. Danny's mouth fell open, as well as Sam's.

"Greetings Garbagio!"

So that's what he called it.

'Garbagio' turned to Tucker with steely red eyes. "That does not compute." It droned in a nasal tone.

"Garbagio, clean up." Tucker commanded. He looked to the others smugly; ready to show them just how brilliant his invention was.

"That does not compute." it repeated.

Tucker's smile slid right off his face." Garbagio, Clean.Up." he repeated slowly, as though talking to a young infant.

It was silent for a moment, until, much to the surprise of Taylor, it groaned to life, spinning around. As it did, the long hose-like arms unraveled and spun, sucking up everything in sight.

"TUCKER!" she screamed, over the whirling of the leaves.

"Tucker STOP IT! IT'S WRECKING THE SCHOOL!"

And it was. The robot had gotten out of control, and now was flying around the court-yard noisily, knocking over a few trash cans. Danny gasped, his black hair whipping around in the wind of the robot's terror. Taylor looked from the terrified Sam, to the stunned Danny, and rolled her eyes.

"Oh please." She drawled with annoyance. Taylor turned to the machine, locked her eyes on it, and two large pink beams shot out of her eyes right at the robot. They hit head on, and for a moment it was suspended in mid air, pink energy causing it to glow. Then, it blew apart with a loud BANG. The kids covered their eyes, and before debris could hit them, Taylor held out her hand and a ghost shield slithered around them.

Silence.

Taylor let her hand down gently, the shield fading as the smoke around them. It was a moment before Tucker fully understood.

"My robot!" he cried in anguish, running over to his ruined prototype and falling down beside it. Taylor smirked, an eyebrow raised with amusement. As Tucker began to tear, she gave a low chuckle. Danny shivered.

Taylor turned to her boyfriend and rolled her big brown eyes. "It was just a robot."

Sam looked over at Tucker and sighed. "I'm going to have to agree with Taylor on this one. . . I mean, it did almost ruin the school." Danny looked from the sobbing Tucker, to the clearly evilly amused Taylor.

"Sometimes you can be so cruel. . ." he said in a soft voice, but Taylor could tell there was a lot more meaning behind his words.

Taylor felt herself stiffen with anger. She turned on her heel and walked towards the school. "Come on you guys. . . We need to get this cleaned up." And she turned around to face all of them with an unreadable expression on her face.

". . . Cruel . . .and unusual." she hissed softly enough for Danny to hear.

As if she actually had to tell him.

A few hours had gone by since the kids first entered the messy cafeteria. Seats were overturned, there was spaghetti on the walls, and garbage littered the floors. The kitchen was even worse of a disaster. It was quite hard for them to believe that it was humanly possible to take less than 10 hours to clean a monstrosity of that magnitude, but then again, Danny and Taylor weren't exactly human.

Both had slyly decided that they would use their ghostly forms to help them clean the place, and so far it was working. Taylor flew high up into the air to clean the mess off the ceiling, while Danny used his super speed to clean the tables. Sam and Tucker were also helping. Things were looking good.

. .. Until tragedy struck.

"Ugh. . . If I have to scrape one more strand of spaghetti off the wall, I'm going to flip." Taylor complained moodily, her neon eyes falling on Danny who had a few trash bags in his hand. Danny flew up to her, a bag almost slipping out of his hand.

"Well, at least we only have the kitchen left."

And it was true. The cafeteria was shimmering like diamonds.

Just as Taylor was about to groan, the door to the outside swung open, a very sweaty looking Sam and Tucker walking in. Sam glanced at her watch and looked up at the two flying teens.

"Lancer should be here in an hour. If we don't have the kitchen cleaned, we're dead." Sam informed with a serious nod of her head. Tucker however still looked gloomy over losing his robot, and was refusing to speak to Taylor until she apologized. He casted her a disapproving stare and looked away.

Taylor sighed irritably and flew down to the ground, landing on her feet with her arms crossed. Danny followed. "Time goes by so fast when you're having fun." she remarked sarcastically.

"Yeah, really fast. . ."grumbled Danny. He turned around and flew to the kitchen doors.

"You know, I've never even seen the kitchen before. . ." Taylor said with curiosity. She always had wondered what it looked like.

"I've seen it. . .well, sortah. . ." Danny thought back to his Freshman year. Memories of him trying to gain control of his ghost powers came back. However, there was a vague reminder of something about the cafeteria, something very important. Danny frowned, in deep thought.

"What's wrong?" Taylor asked, pulling the door open.

"Nothing. .. I think." he responded, floating into the room. It was pitch black and it smelled strongly of rotting meat.

"Gross." Danny muttered, looking for the light switch. His cold hand found it, and he turned it on hesitantly.

The kitchen was smaller than he imagined. There were several large stoves, and two very large machines, probably meant for cleaning the trays. The floor was a light metallic color, as well as all of the walls.

"Sweet." Came Talyor's echoing voice. Danny and her laughed a bit, until Taylor gasped abruptly.

"What?" Danny asked, concern quite evident.

Taylor had a very uncomfortable expression on her face, as though she had eaten something sour. Her eyes snapped open, and for a moment Danny couldn't understand.

"What?! Are you okay?!"

"We have to get out of here, and now!" Taylor yelled. She grabbed Danny's hand, and as she did, their ghostly breath went off simultaneously. Danny and Taylor looked slowly forward in horror to see that the Lunch Lady had materialized in front of them, looking extremely pissed off. Her piggy little eyes narrowed at the two ghostly teens.

"Who dares come into my cafeteria during spring break?!" she screamed in her echoing voice. Danny and Taylor looked from each other, to her, mouths agape.

"You two do!" she answered for them.

Then she took on a quite harmonious look. "You children look hungry. Would you like some cupcakes?"

Danny and Taylor shook their heads no.

"Well you wouldn't get any anyway!" she screeched, turning back into the evil ghost they knew she was. She wasted no time spinning into action, her hair suddenly turning to flame as she charged at them. Danny and Taylor turned intangible and flew out of the cafeteria, the evil woman following behind. The bright light hit them, and Sam and Tucker gasped.

"We need to get her out of here before she wrecks the cafeteria!" Taylor screamed to Danny, watching as the Lunch Lady formed a green laser beam in her pudgy hand.

"Well, do something!" Danny said through gritted teeth.

"Me?! Why not you?!" she replied.

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Just do it!" he ordered angrily.

"Ugh fine!" Taylor turned to the lunch lady and made a few faces. "Na na na nan anaa you can't get me! You can't get me!" The lunch lady growled, and a glowing red aura appeared around her.

"I'm going to turn you into meat!" threatened the ghost in her evil, echoing voice.

"Shit!"

Taylor gritted her teeth in fear as the ghost came after her, and Danny and Taylor both disappeared out of the cafeteria, leaving a very disgruntled Sam and Tucker behind. Sam turned to Tucker urgently.

"We have to clean that kitchen, or Taylor and Danny are dead meat. . . no pun intended." Sam declared.

Tucker rolled his eyes." It's official. We're always stuck doing the dirty work."

Sam sighed. "I'll get the mop."

Meanwhile, the chase had lead to the school gym. Taylor figured they would need a wide open space to erm. . .finish things.

"No where to run now brat!"

And she was right. Both of the gym doors were locked.

"Now feel the wrath of my brisket!"

The lunchlady raised one hand, and instead of ghostly rays, old rotted brisket came flying out in massive quantities. Taylor's eyes widened as the mass came towards her. She still was uncomfortable with being intangible.

"DANNY!"

"Scrub Tucker! Scrub!" Sam yelled to Tucker as she cleaned the counters. Tucker was currently on the floor, trying to clean a stain left over from Sloppy Joe Friday.

"I'm trying! I'm trying!" he said, sweat forming at the base of his forehead.

"Time to cut the meat!" Danny called from behind. Danny shot a huge beam of energy at the meat, turning it to vapor. One piece however slipped away and hit the ceiling.

"Thanks!" Taylor called gratefully.

"Don't mention it."

The two teens turned to the angry ghost, who now looked like she was going to explode.

"You vaporized my meat! Stupid teenager!" The lunchlady said furiously.

"And now, it's time to vaporize you!" Danny replied. "Finish her Taylor!"

"Gladly." Taylor stated smugly, pulling out the Fenton thermos from a bag she had around her back from the last time she transformed. The lunchlady's eyes widened with shock, but by then she was too late. Soon she was slowly slithering into the Fenton Thermos, becoming no thicker than a strand of spaghetti. She shouted obscenities until she was no longer visible.

As soon as she was gone, Taylor let out a breath of air, and floated down towards the ground slowly. "Thank God that's over. . . " She transformed back into Hecter, looking very tired in her human form.

"You did good today." Danny did the same and stood in front of her, his black hair looking wind washed.

Taylor glanced down at her watch and gasped. "Lancer should be here any minute. . ." she said nervously.

"Relax. .. I'm sure Sam and Tucker have it covered." Danny assured with a gentle smile. "The important thing is that you're okay."

"I'm fine." she replied with annoyance. Danny treating her like some sort of China Doll wasn't what she would call heart warming.

"Alright alright. . ."Danny said nervously. He didn't want to set Taylor off, again.

"Let's just go before Lancer gets here." He took Taylor's hand, and they ran out of the gym.

When they got back to the cafeteria, Lancer was already standing there, looking for Danny and Taylor. Tucker and Sam, to preserve their secret, had obviously fled from the cafeteria.

Lancer looked quite tan, and he had a floral shirt on.

"Ah. There you kids are."

"We were just putting the erm… equipment away." Taylor explained, standing in front of him tiredly.

"I see. Well. .. this place looks. .. " he looked around, his mouth a thin line. "Very. .. satisfactory."

Ha. Nothing bad to say.

"I guess. . .you two have done a good job."

Taylor held her breath and waited for the magic words. "Now, out of my sights."

"YES" Taylor yelled, jumping up in the air. Danny jabbed her in the side yet again.

"Ouch! . .I mean, thanks sir!"

Danny nodded to Lancer, glad the experience was over. "See ya Mr.Lancer."

And they both rushed out of the cafeteria.

"Weird kids. . ." Lancer said when he was alone. It was then, he realized there was a draft. Usually when this happened, the gym down the hall was opened, as there was poor ventilation from the doors. Lancer sighed irritably and walked out of the cafeteria. When he got to the gym, he smelled something funny. His nose wrinkled in distaste. Perhaps an animal had gotten in somehow and was starting to rot.

Lancer raised an eyebrow, looking around. Then, something fell from the ceiling. Lancer shouted in fear and jumped back. Something slimy was on the floor. And it was then he realized that it wasn't a dead animal, rather, it was a piece of brisket.

Lancer raised a single eyebrow.

"Meat?"

Hecter and Fenton were weirder than he thought.

A/N- Sorry this took so long! I was literally so busy that I didn't have time to write. I made this chapter a long one. I've always had this skit in my mind, so it was good to write it! Hope you enjoyed!