Chapter Eighteen - The Unlikely Duo
His student, Ms. Gray looked like she was going to combust as Sidney floated Danny to Alicia's truck. Jazz had placed a hand on the shorter girl's shoulder, and Mr. Lancer was determined to find out why another of his mystery students had to stay to protect Amity. There were too many mysteries to unravel, and despite being abducted from his home, he was not regretting going along willingly."Is there a reason your backseat is already a bed?" Mr. Lancer asked as Sidney finished setting Danny on a blanket draped across the front seat backs to the back seat cushion.Alicia gave him a hard look, "So I can catch some Zzzs. Any more stupid questions?""Auntie Alicia!" Jazz switched from getting the ghosts and Wes into her back seat to looking at her aunt in exasperation. "Mr. Lancer, can I have your keys so I can take your car home later? And do you have anything I need to take care of? Pets, plants?"He gave the girl a look, "Have you done this before? Moved cars so you could hide the fact someone is missing?""I haven't," Jazz looked thoughtful, "Though Danny complained once about having to do it.""Mr. Fenton can't drive," Mr. Lancer frowned as he handed her his keys. "That's why he complained," Jazz gave her brother's missing hand a glance. "He had to lift and fly it."Valerie groaned, "Of course he did.""There is no living things to take care of Ms. Fenton, but if you can check on my neighbor, Mrs. Leonard, I'd appreciate it. Normally, I help her go grocery shopping on Tuesday evenings," he explained.Jazz smiled, "Of course. Aunt Alicia, please call with any updates?"The two hugged, and Mr. Lancer noticed Valerie walk closer to Danny and lean towards him. He barely caught the words she murmured, "You better come back, Danny. I have a lot I want to scream at you."Jazz laughed at something her aunt said, and she came closer and kissed Danny's temple, "We are here and waiting for you, Danny."There was some finality as the girls got into the compact car and drove away. Mr. Lancer jolted as he realized the woman was already in her truck. He got into the vehicle to see Alicia moving Danny's arm to lay over his chest. She had a stethoscope and forehead thermometer balled up in her hand, which she shoved into the center console as she muttered swear words and turned on the ignition. Then she reached over and handed him a bulky belt bearing the Fenton logo"That should stop the ghost effects from that flu," the woman explained casually. "Was what you told your niece just for comfort?" Mr. Lancer asked as he strapped it on his waist. "I don't lie," she did not look away from the road, but her tone was clipped. "He has improved since receiving the IV. But, his recovery is going to be solo. His temperature is 82.3 F, and his blood pressure, heart rate, and breaths per are just as low.""Holy Grail, that…" Mr. Lancer swallowed. "His grades dropped between middle and high school. Is that when he became… part ghost?""Ya' not totally stupid for a teacher," Alicia quipped as she got on the interstate."Vice-principal," Mr. Lancer corrected. "Shut ya' trap, I was just starting to warm up to ya'." Alicia sighed after a minute, "According to my niece, he has been a half ghost since the summer before coming to your school. He fried himself by turning on the ghost portal. Yet another reason ta' get him healed up before my sis finds out. Their stupid machine caused all of this… their own son."Mr. Lancer rolled over the information again and gave the boy a glance. He still looked terrible, but the gray tone to his skin had faded, somewhat giving him an unnaturally pale tone. The tourniquet made the bare flesh and bone look dry and unnatural looking. What was worse, the boy didn't smell just bad, but almost like a corpse."They should be held accountable," Mr. Lancer murmured quietly. "I'm not disagreeing with ya' there," Alicia murmured."What?!" Mr. Lancer gave the woman a shocked look. "Hobbit, I thought she was your sister!?""She is," Alicia nodded, "She also always gets so blinded by her projects that she loses sight of what's in front of her. I do, too, for that matter, but I don't have a family. I've helped Jazz and Danny some over the years. Taken time off to watch em' when Jazz would tell her parents were getting especially buried in their work. Danny used ta' be so easy to talk to, then he started avoiding me."Mr. Lancer stayed quiet as the woman ground her teeth together. "It was different this time when I got here. Danny seemed different… more worried, ya' know. He completely avoided the house. Then when he got hit by tha' dart and I saw his friend's ghost pictures. Saw Phantom and Danny side by side. I asked if Phantom could make clones. Danny had looked at me. He knew I had em'. He still was fighting the ghost flu, and not only that, but he looked like it was damn near killin' em'. Jazz seemed terrified. I wonder he he was goin' ta' do after I figured em' out."Her slang was getting worse, but he was finding himself engrossed in her tale, "You didn't get to talk to him about it. Is that when the ghosts took him?""He couldn't turn into a ghost. The flu had em' too weak. Valerie told us he couldn't, but that didn't stop em' from getting them away from us. He knew what he was doing and knew he couldn't win. Some light shined over his body, Jazz told me that was him trying to transform, but he couldn't. He started hammering out punches before making them chase after em'. Then Valerie put on her odd red suit and tried catching up to them. No one knew where they were. Jazz found Valerie knocked out cold using some tracker. But no one could find Danny, not even with the tracker."Alicia was not crying, but she was close to it, "I got Jazz to talk to me when her and that gal got back from looking for him. I was sure he was gone and was trying to decide what to tell sis. No matter what she was going to blame herself, I know it. And I can't exactly tell her it ain't her fault."They fell into silence, contemplating the conversation. Valerie Gray red suit he had seen on the news. She was the mysterious ghost hunter. Two of his students had been risking their lives daily, and he was none the wiser. Mr. Fowley and Ms. Mason are sure to have been helping Danny too, just like Mr. Poindexter and the pirate ghost had. "What's the look fer'?" Alicia asked. "The ghosts that helped," Mr. Lancer shook his head. "One of them was a missing student of mine. He told me a bully threw him in an empty dumpster. I guess it just…""Offed him?" Alicia tapped the steering wheel with a hand. "It's unlikely that thar being ripped in a dumpster killed em'. He may have been knocked unconscious and suffocated if things were thrown on em'.""That is terrible," Mr. Lancer murmured, "How do you know that?""Armed forces and then a PI," Alicia explained. "You're a private investigator?" Mr. Lancer asked in shock.Alicia laughed, "The best PI's are the ones who no one expects, and of course, the ones that can hold their liquor." She smiled as Mr. Lancer gave a confused look, "You get someone drunk enough they will spill every secret they ever heard.""That's an interesting profession," Mr. Lancer commented dryly."Gives me a lot of time to kill," Alicia gave a nod.There was a pause before Mr. Lancer asked, "Is there anything I can do to help the Poindexter family move on. They still think he is just missing.""You'd have ta' close his case. Which will be darn near impossible without a body. No cause of death will be found if he went how he said," Alicia tapped the steering wheel again. "The best thing would be a confession from the kid who threw him in there. But even that wouldn't be murder without a body.""There has to be a way," Mr. Lancer grimaced. "I know his family are extremely Christian. If they saw their son as a ghost, his poor mother might have a heart attack. I wonder if he could find his own body?""I know next to nothing about ghosts," Alicia said as she pulled off into an abandoned rest stop. "We can't get near people with you, and maybe Danny still, havin' that bug. Luckily, I have gas in the back."He stayed in the truck as the woman began unloading and using gas cans. A sound came from behind him, and he turned to see Danny holding his throat with his good hand. He had curled into a ball and with a start Mr. Lancer realized his throat was bleeding again. "Danny!" Mr. Lancer shouted the boys first name, hoping to get his attention as he leaned into the back seat. "Daniel Fenton! Stop! You're hurting yourself."Wild blue eyes snapped to him, and Danny froze. With a start, Mr. Lancer realized blood was going into the tube on Danny's throat. He was breathing in his blood. In fact, he was hyperventilating."Alicia!" He called, and Danny flinched at his voice. "Daniel… look that tube is helping you breath, you need to leave it alone."The boy did not move his hand as Alicia opened the back cab door. Danny jerked as he took in his Alicia's appearance."Dear Lord Danny!" Alicia grabbed his hand from his neck, she swore. Danny opened his mouth in shock, and his mouth moved soundlessly. "Danny ya' can't talk with that tube in. Ya' need to calm down. Teach, can you help me? He needs another IV, I think he is in shock from the blood loss."Danny tapped Alicia, and they stared as he lifted his left hand and clumsily signed 'VAL'."Ms. Gray is fine, I saw her this morning," Mr. Lancer answered. Danny lowered his hand, looking exhausted from the effort."Danny," Alicia called gently as she wiped and bandaged his neck. "I need you to focus. Can you use your ghost stuff to heal your blood loss?"Danny didn't answer, and Lancer jumped as Danny's eyes glowed green before the boy slumped forward. Alicia swore, "I take that as a 'no'. Teach, can you sit back here with em' make sure he doesn't wake up ripping his throat out again. I got to make some calls. I don't think he is going to get better until we get fluids in em'.""How are you going to get those if we can't get near anyone?" Mr. Lancer asked as he carefully lifted Danny's head into his lap. The neck moved unnaturally, clearly broken. How had he sat up earlier or clawed at the tubed?"I have my resources, Teach. we just need to get to my storage unit," Alicia answered as she closed her door."William, William Lancer," he corrected."Huh?" she looked at him in her rearview mirror."My name is William Lancer. We never were properly introduced," he said."Alicia Kessler," she gave a grin. "Finally got tired of being called 'Teach' eh?" She pulled out her phone and handed it to him, "Can you find Doc and hit call for me. Searching would be best."That was what he did because the woman had hundreds of contacts. He handed the phone back as carefully as he could with Danny's injured body on him."Hey, dolt!" Alicia laughed at something the caller had said. "And ya' deserved that slap. Look, I need a case of crystalloid fluids. Ya' won't have to pay up if ya' get them to my storage by three this afternoon … Yeah, blood loss… no transfusion."Alicia sighed, "Yes, an entire case. I'm not going to share any details, so stop asking. Just drop off the box and leave. I don't want ya' getting dragged into this one... Thanks."Mr. Lancer jolted as Danny shifted on him, and he looked down to see blue eyes looking intently at Alicia."Danny," Mr. Lancer called, and the eyes moved to his face. The shadows present and waxy appearance of his skin made Lancer flinch. "IVs should help, right?"Danny lifted his hand in a fist and made an up down motion for 'yes'."Will anything else help?" he asked his student.The boy moved his mouth and gave a weak cough before lifting his hand to his head and pulling it up and away from his body."You don't know," Mr. Lancer sighed. Danny put a hand over his chest and fanned it away. That was harder to understand because he didn't have two hands, "What's happening?"William explained where they were and why they left. The teacher didn't think Danny heard half of it as his eyes glazed over countless times. As his vision cleared, he signed 'parents know me' his hand shook. "Do your parents know your Phantom?" Mr. Lancer asked."Kiddo, they really should," Alicia answered for him. Bringing his fingers into an 'o' and tapping his chin. The boy's hand dropped, and he fell back to sleep. "What did he say?" Alicia asked. "Soon," Mr. Lancer replied. "I didn't know he could use sign language.""Since primary school," Alicia smiled.@gamma_radio
Danny needs some support, and Lancer is there to give it.