-The Enemy At Home.
"You know, bringing a ghost to school, even if still locked inside a Thermos, might qualify as a major bad idea." Tucker commented Danny as the boys and Sam walked through Casper High's corridors.
"I know, but couldn't drop him at the portal last night." Danny explained. "I lost a lot of time trying to find our burglar cop, and, when returning home, my parents were already at the lab analyzing that bullet the doctors removed from the manager, and did it the whole night… actually, they hadn't stopped."
"The Police know already that Captain Phantasm is robbing ancient mirrors?" Sam asked before stopping at her locker to get a book.
"No; our fight at the museum damaged several artifacts, so they're yet to notice if anything is missed aside the mirrors, and with the shop's computer destroyed, there's no way to know what kind of information he got." Danny sighed.
"So, what's the plan?" Tucker asked as the trio headed to their classroom.
"Guess I'll need to go to The Ghost Zone today for a field research. Our friend gave me a clue last night; he said The Boxing Ghost used to be Walker's prisoner, and we know Captain Phantasm had been a burglar all his life and after-life, so maybe he was a guest at Walker's jail as well."
"You're not going to visit Walker, right?" Sam arched an eyebrow at Danny. Even if not having particularly spectacular powers, Walker had an army of guards and lots of weaponry at his disposition, and therefore was one of the most dangerous specters at The Ghost Zone.
"Only as a last option," Danny replied, "I might better try getting answers from other ghosts who had been his prisoners; maybe one of them knows a thing or two about Captain Phantasm, and why he is stealing mirrors."
The trio entered the classroom and sat at their places. Danny gave a last look at his backpack right before Lancer entered; as Tucker pointed, even if The Boxing Ghost lacked Captain's power to escape, Danny wasn't eager to fight another round against him if the Thermos got opened by accident.
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Much later that same day...
"Valerie, I'm going work."
"Okay, Dad; I'll be here doing my homework, and maybe later get out for some working out." Valerie told her father, sitting at her desk with a few notebooks over it.
"No ghost hunting, okay?" Damon pointed, half-joking, half-serious.
"Yes, Dad; no ghost hunting… unless by coincidence a ghost attacks the place I am." Valerie sighed and rolled her eyes while Damon sighed in relief; he still disapproved her daughter 'extra-curricular' activity, but, knowing Amity's well deserved fame as the most haunted place on Earth, the man eventually accepted it would be irresponsible and selfish from him to forbid the girl from using her skills and weaponry to protect herself and people around her in case of a spectral attack. As long as she wasn't sneaking out of home at night or willingly exposing to danger, Damon would accept Val's role as Amity's mysterious Red Huntress.
Damon kissed her daughter good-bye, and left; half hour later, Valerie's homework was done, and, since she had no work that day at Nasty Burger, decided to exercise that afternoon. Normally, when doing that, Val placed one of Danny Phantom's several pictures she had cut from the newspaper or downloaded from Internet; this fueled the girl's anger and made her work extra-hard; however, this time her hate had another target.
The ghost attack and robbery at the museum made the newspaper's front page, and, even if no picture of the spectral cop was available, there was a good sized photo of Danny, shot the moment he arrived at the hospital. Valerie felt both sad and raged every time she saw the picture, and used that motivation on her routine; after doing a few push-ups (in Valerie's case, three series of fifty push-ups is considered just 'a few') and some aerobics, the girl took a pair of boxing gloves from her closet, and a large black marker from her backpack. She then started drawing something at her punching bag; instead of a stylized 'D', her usual hitting bulls-eye (one that always got erased because of constant and hard impacts), she handled to draw a cop, but gave him a sinister face, that looked remotely as Captain Phantasm's.
"If I ever see you again, you're going down." Valerie's growled at her drawing, her gloves already on, and started hitting it.
The girl began with a simple raging series of punches that lasted about ten minutes; then, switched to a more complex routine, consisting on left-right combinations and various types of punch (jab, uppercut…) that lasted another ten minutes, and then finished with a series of alternative punching and kicking. When she was done, the drawing was almost totally erased; her attack had both a good aiming and power, therefore most of her hits fell directly on the ghost's image.
"Enough of this… now, a little running around the neighborhood and that's it." Valerie said to herself, panting and removing her gloves. The girl grabbed a towel to dry her face and neck, and, right before taking out her running shoes, a mischievous grin appeared on her face.
"Running, flying… there's no big difference."
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Danny finally handled to enter The Ghost Zone. He had to wait for a while because, when he got home, his parents were still working; Tucker and Sam gave him company, and even did their homework together, but eventually had to leave, so, the moment Jack and Maddie decided to call it a day and have some rest, Jazz was the only one who could monitor his journey from the lab. For some extra security, besides him and his sister wearing the Fenton Earphones, Danny decided to keep The Boxing Ghost inside the thermos until his return; releasing him at The Ghost Zone when Danny was in there as well was an invitation to disaster and blackened eyes.
"So, what ghost are you going to visit, Danny?" Jazz asked him through her earphone.
"I'm still thinking about it. Maybe The Box Ghost; he isn't exactly a friend, but the guy can't keep his mouth closed, so it's easy to interrogate."
"Yes, but, most of the time, the only thing he answers is 'Beware'."
"Good point." Danny chuckled slightly, and then stopped. "Hold it; I found another ghost… not exactly what I was looking for, but don't lose anything by asking."
At a distance, a nerdy black and white ghost, holding a bouquet, emerged from one of the zone's many doors, and slammed it in a hurry. He then leaned against the door, panting yet conserving a slight smile.
"Flowers, Sydney? There must be better places to get them than Undergrowth's lair."
Sydney Poindexter, Danny's nerdy enemy, glared at the halfa, hovering a few feet aside him.
"Yes, but he has the rarest and freshest ones. And it's not your business, you bully!"
"Oh, please!" Danny slapped his forehead in annoyance. "You still think I'm a bully?"
"Of course I do! First time I saw you, that poor guy Dash was your victim! I mean, you have so many powers, and use them to prank and torment a poor defenseless human?"
"Look, let's settle this, okay? Number one, Dash is not a defenseless victim; he is the school's main bully. And number two, yes, sometimes I prank him, but usually just in self-defense; he is the one who torments me!" Danny explained.
"Yeah, right; when I possessed your body, he was quite friendly with me."
"Because you used your ghostly powers to get him free sodas and made him other favors. Dash treats you nicely when you do things for him, but, the moment you stop doing it, or he gets bored, he drops you inside a locker."
"So… you don't bully him?" Sydney's glare softened, and got a doubtful expression.
"I'm almost totally powerless in my human form, Sydney. Do you think a guy like me would mess with someone as big as Dash by free will?"
"Guess no… sorry." Sydney sighed and gave Danny an ashamed look; the nerd used to be a bullies' magnet when alive, and as a ghost liked to protect other bullying victims, but it seemed he had made a major mistake with Phantom.
"No big deal; sometimes I need someone to remind me not using my powers for personal benefit." Danny shrugged.
"You're welcome… seems she was right about you."
"She?"
"Dora. She told me how you and your friends helped her with her brother some time ago, but I still refused to believe you could be a good guy." Sydney explained.
"Oh… those flowers are for her, uh?" Danny grinned as the ghostly nerd chuckled and got a pale blush. Danny remembered that, when Pariah Dark forced all ghosts out of their lairs, Sydney and Dora, the dragon-transforming damsel, were together most of the time, and, when Danny convinced the specters to help him battle the ghostly king, the nerd joined the battle riding and directing Dora in her huge fire-breathing form.
"Well, have to go; tell her I send my greetings." Danny said as waving good-bye, but, before doing it, remembered something about the nerd. "Sydney, can I do you a couple of questions?"
"Sure."
"Well, first time we met you used a mirror as a portal between The Ghost Zone and The Human Realm, so I guess you know a thing or two about mirrors."
"Well, yes, I do."
"Look, there's a ghost at Amity stealing ancient mirrors and attacking people when doing it; he almost killed me once, and got a huge bodyguard that nearly finished me yesterday. His name is Captain Phantasm…"
"He escaped again?" Poindexter wide opened his eyes, gasping. "God, that guy is amazing! This is the fifth time he escapes… at least, since I turned ghost."
"Yes, I already know about how hard is to keep him prisoner."
"What amazes me is that he escaped from 'X' block; it's almost impossible to get out from those cells, and it had been that way since first warden built it."
"The first warden?" Danny arched an eyebrow.
"Walker is just the most recent one; that prison, as I had been told, was built right after Pariah got defeated first time." Sydney explained. "Sure, Walker is a bully, and most of his rules are abusive and unfair ones, but nobody objects his authority because he does a favor to everyone here by keeping an eye on some specters so dangerous all the other ghosts avoid them. Long story short, the jail was originally built to contain ghosts trying to take Pariah's vacant position; most of them are de-powered by now, and are no longer dangerous, except one who is still at 'X', alongside some criminals from more recent times."
Danny rubbed his chin; Poindexter was a better informant that he could have imagined. Then, a thought popped in Danny's mind; maybe Captain Phantasm wasn't stealing those mirrors for himself, but by some other ghost's orders, probably a prisoner from 'X' block.
"I don't want to keep you busy, and I know you most be eager to go with Dora, but… can you give me some information about the other ghosts at the 'X' cells?"
"I'm not seeing her until tonight, so yes, I have some time left." Sydney shrugged as he and Danny started flying towards his lair. "I lived and died a nerd, so most of the time I entertain myself studying and gathering information; among a few other things, I have a good sized file of the most dangerous and famous Ghost Zone's criminals at my lair. There's some pretty interesting stuff, like a guy who designed a flying suit that looked as a prehistoric monster, and used it to commit crimes; he got captured, made a more simple version of the outfit to escape, and it failed at the worst time; now, he looks exactly as the animal he disguised as, and had to be jailed for being both a thief and a cannibal…"
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"Mrs. Manson, there's a cop at the door."
"A cop?" Pamela Manson wide opened her eyes and almost dropped her tea cup. "Oh my… what my daughter did this time?"
"He said nothing about Miss Samantha," the maiden said, "but told me he really needs to talk with you or Mister Manson."
"Fine… tell him to come in." The woman said her maid as regaining her composure and checking her make up. The maid left the main room and returned a minute later with a certain police captain.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Manson; Captain Goyri, at your service," The cop-thief leaned to gently kiss Pam's hand.
"Nice to meet you, Captain; it's my daughter in some kind of problem? If she did, it's because of those awful friends of her. I knew that Fenton kid is nothing but troubles… and that Foley one… oh, my, what got inside that girl's head when befriending them!"
"I didn't come because of your daughter, Mrs. Manson," the 'officer' chuckled slightly, "You see, we were notified about an international cat-burglar that might be hiding in this area, and I was sent here both to warn you and also make an inventory of your most ancient and prized values, since those are this criminal's main target."
"Oh, how awful!" Pamela took a deep breath as wide opening her eyes, "As if this city didn't have enough with those horrible ghosts! Of course I'll cooperate, Captain; it will be my pleasure to show you around the house and help you with the inventory."
"I appreciate your collaboration, madam," the woman didn't notice a slight ghostly glow at the man's eyes, "I would like to start with those objects that are easier to carry, like small-to-medium sized jars, figurines… and mirrors."
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"The Fenton Lipstick, Tucker?" Sam arched an eyebrow at her friend as they approached her house.
"Why not? I mean, it's easy to carry, effective, and has a nice smell." Tucker pointed as Sam rolled her eyes; Danny insisted that, until Captain Phantasm was properly dealt, everyone should carry some anti-ghost weaponry aside the usual Thermos. Tucker chose the Lipstick (that actually was a camouflaged ecto-gun) and Jazz, not surprisingly, carried her favorite weapon, The Ghost Peeler; Sam wanted to use the Jack-o-Nine Tails, but Jack had been updating the weapon lately and wasn't available, so the girl got The Specter Deflector instead.
"Want to catch a movie at home or something?" Sam asked her friend.
"Maybe some other day; Mom is cooking meat loaf today." Tucker smiled widely at the idea of his meat-feast while Sam simply shook her head. Of course, Tucker loved meat, but Sam knew he also wanted to avoid her parents, especially since last time he and Danny were at her home they overheard the couple talking about the boys, and weren't exactly pleased.
Sam waved bye to Tucker and entered her house. She was about to go upstairs when spotting her grandma on her modified scooter (the woman wasn't exactly the wheelchair granny-type) looking at the stairs with a thoughtful expression.
"What's up, Grandma?"
"Oh, hi, Sam," the woman smiled at her granddaughter, but returned to her previous look a moment later, "It's just that your mother is attending a visit, and… I don't know. I simply don't trust him at all."
"Well, you dislike most of my parents' acquaintances, and can't say I blame you." Sam grinned slightly, making her grandma to chuckle a little.
"True, but… I don't know, there's something about this guy I can't really place," Grandma Manson rubbed her chin, "Maybe it's just a bad déjà vu thing; when I was your age, I did some pretty crazy things, and it wasn't rare to have visits from a police captain at home."
Sam froze at the last part, and gave a fast worried look to the stairway.
"Grandma, get out of the house and take the maidens and everyone else with you." Sam said as opening her backpack and taking a techno belt out of it.
"Sam, what… oh, you mean that man…?" The woman gasped when remembering Sam and her friends got attacked by a ghostly cop at the museum.
"Yes; call 911, and The Fentons, quick; I have them in the contacts." Sam gave her cell phone to her grandma right before dashing upstairs, the belt already on her waist.
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"This is one of my favorite objects." Pamela, her and the visitor at the main bedroom, showed him an oval-shaped mirror whose frame was made of oak with silver ornaments. "It belonged to Queen Elizabeth I of England; my husband gave it to me as an anniversary present."
"God save the queen," the 'cop' got an evil grin when checking the mirror, "too bad he'll not save you."
"What did you say, Captain…" Pamela was cut by the man transforming into his real spectral self in front of her.
"EEEEEEKKKKK!"
"Have a nice dream, Mrs. Manson." Captain Phantasm took out his gun, and aimed at the woman right when Sam opened the room's door.
"GET AWAY FROM MY MOM, YOU CREEP!" Sam yelled in rage as charging against the ghost. He was about to shoot at her, but the girl surprised him with a tight hug… and the effect The Specter Deflector has on any ghost touching a human wearing it.
"YEEARGH!"
The ghost screamed in pain because of the electric-like shock, making him drop his weapon, while Sam jumped at his back without loosening her grip. Pamela, on the mean time, couldn't stand the impression of watching her daughter fighting a ghost, and vanished at the bedroom's floor.
Sam gritted her teeth as the ghost struggled to release himself. The girl wasn't exactly muscular, but she was among her class' best athletes (just behind Dash and Valerie), and this, added to the adrenaline's boost, gave her enough strength to resist for a minute or so, but eventually the specter's might prevailed, and threw her across the room. Sam rubbed the back of her head to clear her vision, and then touched her left side in pain; luckily, it seemed the impact didn't fracture anything, but it still hurt a lot.
"You didn't learn anything at the museum, girl?" Captain Phantasm glared at the girl as leaning to grab his gun. "Whatever you're wearing might protect you from my touch, but nothing will protect you from my weapon!"
"Well, I'm doing it, ghost!"
BLAST!
BLAST!
BLAST!
Sam never thought she would be grateful for Valerie appearing on her Red Huntress' identity, shooting at the ghost through the room's window. The huntress was about to return home from her little flight session, that luckily didn't get limited to her neighborhood, when her ghost alarm detected Captain Phantasm, who now was trying to avoid her blasts, and got forced to phase through the wall behind him to escape.
"Are you two okay?" Valerie asked Sam, noticing her pained expression and Mrs. Manson unconscious; the girl was actually so worried about the possibility of her being late to save the woman she didn't even try to disguise her voice, something she did as Huntress whenever had to talk with any of her classmates.
"Yes, my mom just fainted… we'll be fine, just get that guy!" Sam replied in a hurry as avoiding eye-contact with Val, so the huntress wouldn't feel uncomfortable about the possibility of her identity being discovered and focus on the ghost.
Valerie nodded, and flew over the house, spotting Captain when leaving the building. The girl was about to blast him when the specter spotted her, and started shooting at the huntress, as Sam's grandma and the house's workers, who were now at the street, looked for shelter. Luckily, Danny's warning about the bullets made Val extra-cautious about the ghost's gun, and reacted by supporting most of her weight on the sled's back, making the front to elevate a little, which served as an improvised shield, receiving the bullets. The impacts were strong enough to shake Valerie's vehicle, but she still conserved her balance, and handled to shoot a few times against Phantasm, still shielding her self with the sled, and actually hit him twice, impacting him against the ground.
"Any last words, ghost?" Valerie growled at the specter as dashing against him with her weapons ready to finish him. Despite the pain, Captain grinned at her.
"Yes… It's lunch time!"
SHRIEK!
Valerie had to do an emergency turn to avoid being hit by a huge green ghost that appeared out from nowhere. The specter flapped his (Val assumed it was a male creature) massive wings to gain height, allowing Val to get a good view of him; it was a large red-eyed flying creature, with a huge beak, large tail, and some sort of scaly spike protruding from the back of his head; its body was covered by reptilian scales, and the torso, arms, and legs were human-like, but his hands were clawed ones, and had sharp talons; his wings seemed to be leathered-like, surging from his armpits and the lower part of the forearms.
"A dinosaur ghost?" Valerie got a stunned expression.
"Actually, Pterodactyl Ghost… and is hungry," Phantasm chuckled as phasing through the sidewalk, leaving Val to face the bestial specter.
Valerie shot a few blasts against the pterodactyl, but the creature was incredibly fast and agile, avoiding all of them. Valerie had to make some evasive maneuvers to avoid his sharp talons that almost slashed her a couple times, as the girl restrained of shooting, waiting for the right chance. Finally, when the creature was close enough, Valerie made a fast shot against him, but Pterodactyl surprised her when moving his wings in front of his body, forming a shield that deflected the blast.
"Shielded wings? And now I get to know!" Valerie gulped before diving at high speed right before the creature could bite her head off.
On the meantime, Sam was checking her mother, and when realizing that, as she said to Val, the woman would be fine, the Goth ran to the window to see the battle. Sam gasped when spotting the prehistoric beast trying to turn Valerie into huntress-burgers, and then dashed out of the room to go her own, without noticing the hands phasing through the wall to grab her mother's mirror.
Pterodactyl landed at a nearby house, and then hit the rooftop's edge with his wings, sending the bricks against Valerie. The girl avoided most of them, but one brick hit the back of her right leg, messing with her balance. The beastly ghost saw his chance, and dashed against her, hitting the girl with one of his wings, taking her down from the sled. Pterodactyl then dived to catch-slash-eat the girl the moment she hit the ground, but the sled, as it was programmed, flew on her own to catch the girl before the ghost could get her. Valerie sighed in relief, realizing how close she was from dying this time; her relief was short-lived, of course, as the specter turned back to attack her.
"Well, obviously I can't face you in the air, so let's get some ground rules, Rodan." Valerie growled at the specter right before flying street-level, with Pterodactyl in hot pursuit. The huntress allowed the creature to get closer, and, right when feeling his talons at her back, Valerie jumped down her sled, rolling at the pavement to avoid hurting, while the creature, surprised, couldn't stop his flight and hit a parked car.
Valerie stood up and started shooting at Pterodactyl, who received a few good shots before shielding himself with his wings. The beastly specter, when stopped feeling the blasts, opened back his wings to fly, but got surprised by a powerful kick on his beak. Valerie, taking advantage of his enemy's stunned state, threw a series of punches against the creature chest and head; as she expected, the pterodactyl's wings, even if powerful defensive weapons, weren't so useful in a very close-ranged fight. The huntress finished her attack with a double kick that sent the beast over his back.
"Say hello to extinction, ghost!" Valerie aimed at her enemy with a blaster, but now he had enough space to maneuver. On a dashing move, the creature's tail whipped the blaster, smashing it and almost slashing Valerie's hand. The pterodactyl got a pouncing position, similar to a giant bat's, and then jumped over Val, who got saved by her sled, that returned right at that moment to pick her up.
"Hey, Huntress!"
Valerie, who now was gaining height again, turned at her right, spotting Sam.
"Bring that Jurassic Park's reject close to my window!"
"This is not a game, girl!"
"I know; just trust me, okay?" Sam said in a hurry, hoping to be convincing enough. Valerie saw the pterodactyl heading against her, and nodded at Sam right before moving the contrary direction to avoid another wing attack.
Valerie flew as fast and high as she could, with the creature right behind her. Then, in a sudden, made another diving move avoiding the pterodactyl, right when his beak was about to bite the back of the sled. The girl headed at the Mansons' home at top speed, with the pterodactyl just a few feet behind her, and calculated her trajectory to pass aside Sam's window, barely seven feet away from the building.
"Closer… closer…" Sam said to herself as Valerie and the ghost approached her house.
Valerie passed aside Sam, and, a second later, the pterodactyl was in front of her.
"Now!"
SHOOOOM!
Pterodactyl cried in anger when being caught by the sucking beam from Sam's Thermos. The creature struggled for a few seconds, and tried to escape by flying, but eventually ended inside the ghost trap, making the people at the street to start cheering at Sam and Valerie.
"How did you…" Val, who flew back at the window's level, directed to Sam.
"I'm good friends with The Fentons, and they design anti-ghost weapons; Danny, the family's boy, gave this to me for protection." Sam, smiling in triumph, explained her. Valerie then remembered Tucker once told her about this invention, and she actually tried using a similar one once, but obviously Sam was more skilled with this particular device.
A few moments later, both girls heard the characteristic sound of police cars and ambulances' sirens, as well as the noise caused by Jack Fenton driving his RV, trying to be there on time to catch the ghost even if it meant breaking a few traffic rules and perhaps one or two physical ones.
"That's my cue to leave; you can handle that ghost in there?" Valerie asked Sam, pointing at the Thermos.
"Sure; everything is under control. This lizard is going back to Bedrock." Sam said smugly, and then got a more humble tone, "and… thanks a lot for saving my neck and my mother's."
"Same here; take care." Valerie smirked playfully at Sam, and then flew away, leaving her with the thermos and her thoughts.
"It seems Danny is right; when not trying to catch him, having Val around isn't so bad."
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Several blocks away, Phantasm looked at the recently stolen mirror for a few minutes, and then dropped it in his sack.
"Now, one more mirror, one more favor, and one little visit… and my best job will be accomplished."