Chapter 8

"Where were you when the world stopped turning," sang out the radio as Craig and a technician, Danny thought he remembered her name was Sandra, reapplied sensors to his body. Before lunch they had recorded where his Fenton half stood physically, he still felt a bit winded from what they had pushed him through, but lunch and a bit of a break had helped him catch his breath. Now he stood as Phantom, his suit tied around his waist as they stuck wireless pads to his chest and arms, sure he had a green blush on his face.

"Is there another station?" Maddie asked, stepping over to the radio to twist the dial.

"That's the only station we get here," Sandra admitted, stepping back to the table to pick up another sensor pad. "Air control next door blocks the rest."

Maddie turned it back, letting the rest of the song about the twin towers play, and stepped back to Danny, Craig, and Sandra.

"Dr. Fenton, could you help me?" Sandra asked, stepping to Danny's right side. She put a hand through Danny's white hair, pushing it up to clear away his temple. "Hold his hair away, please."

Maddie's hand replaced hers as Danny took a deep breath, gripping his hands into fists at his sides. They had gone through all of this this morning and, even though he had asked if the sensors could stay on so he wouldn't have to go through all of this again, he had been denied on a few fronts. The biggest being in his own transformation. They had tested what his body goes through during mid-morph, only to learn the sensors disconnected from their computers as well as disappeared from sight. He let out the air as the two let go of his hair and left the sensor to start working on its pair for his other side.

The phone resting next to the main computer that received the sensor's data let out a ring, pulling Sandra away from preparing the last sensor. She picked up the phone and put it to her ear. "Hello, Sandra speaking."

Danny gave a look towards his mother as she picked up the last sensor and continued the technician's job.

"Hey, once we're done here today, would you two like to come with me for dinner?" Craig asked, keeping his eyes to the computer screen as the sensors already attached to Danny sent stationary data. "I know being stuck here's not the way you'd want to be spending your 4th of July. I thought we could go somewhere for burgers."

"I'll do you one better," Maddie said. "I got burgers this morning on a quick shopping trip."

"I'll let them know, thank you," Sandra said, stopping their conversation as she hung up the phone. She turned to the three and said, "Your brother just called, a ghost escaped them heading this way."

"Well, let's go," Danny said, untying the arms of his suit to pull the rest of it back on.

"Wait, you're not even supposed to be here," Craig reminded, stopping him as he had an arm through a sleeve and a hand in the glove.

"Kevin wouldn't be calling if they didn't need help," Maddie pointed out.

"Kevin definitely wouldn't be calling if he knew you were here," Craig said, eyeing Maddie.

Danny shook his head and finished pulling his suit back on, zipping it up to his neck. "It wouldn't be the first time I've been sighted outside of Amity Park. And none of us are supposed to be here, secret government project and all."

"If I may," Sandra said, getting the two scientists' attentions as Danny repositioned the gloves around his fingers. "Danny would bring the least amount of attention and we can get better data with him being in a real fight instead of one here in the lab."

Maddie turned to Danny, him noticing worry in her eyes, as she thought a moment. "You know, most likely their portal accesses a different part of the Ghost Zone than ours or Vlad's. It'll be a ghost you don't know."

"I've got it, Mom."

"Dr. Fenton, help me get this last sensor on him," Sandra said, stepping over to his left side to pull back his hair. As she held his hair away for Maddie to apply the sensor pad she turned so she could face him and said, "Remember, the signal for these aren't any good east of the airport. As long as you stay between here and the castle by Lake Erie, you should be fine."

Danny gave her a small nod, careful of their hands as his mother applied the square sensor.

Maddie dropped her hands so Sandra could check her work as she started digging through her side pouch. "I've got two Fenton Fones with me. There's a Fenton Thermos on my nightstand back at the house," she said, pulling out the two small communication devices.

Danny felt the cold from his core escape, sending out his ghost sense, as he looked up at the ceiling where he felt the other ghost. "No time, we've got company," Danny said, grabbing one of the Fenton Fones. Sandra took a step back as he put the device to his ear, getting him to notice a look of surprise on her face. He dismissed it as he jumped into the air, flying through the ceiling and the floor above them. He broke through the roof and gave a glance for the ghost that had escaped from his parents' rival's portal. He wished he were more prepared but admitted to himself the heads up had been more than the Norton's had to do.

"You have the car keys on you, don't you?" Maddie's voice asked through the earpiece.

"Yeah," Danny said as a rainbow of lights came from the river north of the Glenn Research Facility, it in the same direction as the cold in his ghostly core was pulling him. He flew towards the rainbow of light as he reminded himself there wasn't many people on campus today, it being a national holiday. He flew low as he got to the road behind the building they had been in today and flew into the trees, hoping to sneak up on the ghost.

Danny rounded a tree and stopped in surprise, watching a ghost shifting through every color as its tail dipped into the water. The rainbow of light was coming from the river as it was being polluted by the ghost's tail. "Hey!" Danny exclaimed, floating through the last of the tree line to stand above some underbrush. "Don't you know pollution's bad for everyone?" Danny called out as he got a good look at the strange ghost. Its head was reptilian, with an underbite that exposed its long teeth up and over its top lip. Bat-like wings connected its thin biceps to its ribs, giving it an unhealthy look as its forearms reminded Danny of Popeye's. Below its ribs was a tail that ended in a fin that dripped the rainbow liquid into the river. Two antennae flicked at Danny's voice, getting it to turn its head and stare at Danny with yellow eyes as its aura shifted mesmerizingly between red and blue.

"Why shouldn't I pollute?" he asked with a gravelly voice. Flicking his tail up, spaying undergrowth with the oily rainbow, he let out a laugh. "It made me better!"

"Dude, I don't think this is better," Danny pointed out. "What are you?"

"I am Spectrum and this world will be mine!" Spectrum exclaimed, raising his hands up as he let out a cackle. Before Danny could let out a quip, Spectrum lowered his hands and shot towards Danny.

Danny lost his legs as he quickly dodged the rainbow of colors, giving a glance back at where he had been floating only to see the plants now wilting under the sick rainbow of colors. "Hey!" Danny exclaimed as his fists started to glow green. He turned back to the ghost and called out, "Oil slick's not a color!" He shot out two blasts at the ghost as he dodged around the ghost's flicking tail.

"Who are you to stop me painting this world in every color imaginable?" Spectrum asked before he opened his mouth wide.

Danny floated back and raised up a shield only for the ghost to expel rainbow oil from his mouth. "Um, ew?" Danny retorted only to notice something wrong with his shield. Shifting where he looked, his eyes widened in horror as the rainbow throw up started deteriorating his shield.

"Danny, your mom and Dr. Norton are heading to your place for some of her tech," Sandra's voice said through the Fenton Fone.

"Good, because I don't know how long I can hold him back," Danny admitted. He quickly dropped the shield and let gravity take over, falling through the polluted plants and into the ground. He flew towards the bottom of the river, activating his ice powers as he broke through the ground and into the oily river. Escaping the water, hearing he froze it as he had traveled through it, he swung up an ice powered punch to make contact with Spectrum's large jaw. Danny reached forward with his other hand and let lose the cold power, only to be surprised at how slow he was freezing the ghost. He looked up at Spectrum's head, realizing his plan wasn't working, as the ghost turned its yellow eyes onto him.

Danny felt the pain in his chest before his mind registered the blast from the ghost's two hands. His back slammed into a tree, stopping him. He fell to the underbrush below him before looking at his chest to see the DP logo had gotten ripped and his ectoplasm mixed with the rainbow oil. He pressed the wound as he forced himself to his feet, floating above the painted undergrowth. He dropped his hand as his lungs screamed in pain. "You asked who I was," Danny said, popping his back as his body fought to heal him. He rolled his shoulder to get the last of his back straight as he said, "I am Danny Phantom."

"Ha, Danny Phantom's not real," Spectrum laughed, throwing rainbow bursts of oil at Danny.

Danny quickly deflected the blasts into the ground below them as he floated closer. "Not real?" Danny echoed. He continued deflecting the blasts shot at him, silently promising Sam and the patch of nature he would do what he could to clean it all up, as he said, "I defeated Paraha Dark. I led the truce between humans and ghosts." Danny stopped a foot away from the ghost, his eyesight green as his hands burned with an ecto fire. He put both hands together and created a massive ball of energy as he added, "Tell me again how I'm not real!" Connecting the energy to the ghost's chest, Danny closed his eyes against the bright light, and released it. He heard Spectrum let out a scream before he opened his eyes to take in the ghost before him.

Spectrum laid in a puddle of his own oily ectoplasm, his eyes closed and his head dropping below his chest. Danny took in the damage to the ghost's chest that he had caused, worryingly seeing the ghost's deformed ribs exposing under his skin.

"Danny!" Maddie's voice called out from behind Danny.

"Over here," Danny said, dropping to his feet as he stepped closer to the unconscious ghost.

He heard Maddie make her way through the underbrush to stand beside him. Not giving the ghost a second look, she activated the Fenton Thermos and sucked the ghost up in a blue net.

"Ew, what is all of this?" Craig asked.

Danny turned at the man's voice, surprised he had followed Maddie only to see him using a pen to poke at the oily ectoplasm.

"Ghost pollution," Danny said. He turned to his mother and held out his hand for the thermos.

"Danny, your chest," Maddie exclaimed.

Danny looked down at himself, noticing the wound was already healing itself and the fabric of his suit following closely behind. Taking the Fenton Thermos, Danny uncapped it and said, "Don't worry, it's almost healed."

"As your doctor, I'll be the judge of that," Craig pointed out, pocketing the pen as he stepped closer to take a look at Danny's chest.

"Can I finish up here before you go back to poking me?" Danny asked, motioning with the hand holding the open thermos to the plants and river.

Craig held up his hands and took a step back, silently freeing Danny.

Danny hopped back into the air and pointed the thermos to the ground, activating the blue net to suck up the ghost pollution. He kept an eye on the two watching him, feeling self-conscious as he finished his work.

Capping the thermos, he dropped to his feet in front of the two and asked, "Do you want me to deliver the ghost back?"

"You've healed!" Craig exclaimed, ignoring the question. "Even the suit!"

Danny looked back at his chest, the only sign there had been any damage being a discoloration on his logo. Looking back at the two he said, "Uhm, yeah?"

"Maybe the suit's absorbed some of his ectoplasm?" Maddie guessed aloud.

"You can go put it back but I wanna check you over and examine your suit when you get back," Craig said, giving Danny a look over.

"Do you know where you're going?" Maddie asked as Danny started to rise in the air.

Danny stopped, his feet about their head height, only to look down at them. "Right, yeah. Directions would be helpful."

AN: little tidbit, oil (especially crude oil, what Spectrum's made of) freezes at closer to 20F (-6C). I guessed Danny would be more used to freezing things made of mostly water, ectoplasm keeping a good quantity of water in its make-up as blood does. Gotta love it when you're making up sciences but trying to keep them as close to reality as possible.