And now you find out what the button does!

The other three stayed silent, so she took that as an agreement and pushed the button. Nothing happened at first, but then they retreated and gasped as the walls made a rumbling noise and there was a slight tremor. Slowly, the floor beneath them lowered like an elevator. When it stopped, the area was in almost complete darkness.

"What…" Chris began, but stopped as lights flickered on.

All of their mouths hung open as they took in the room around them. It was incredibly high-tech (well, for its day) and was filled with odd devices. A huge computer monitor took up quite a large area in the back. The whole room was layered with thick metal, almost spotless even after all of these years. There were a few cabinets and shelves as well as a cylindrical containment unit with glass walls in the center.

"What…is this place?" Jake breathed, daring to step into the strange room.

"It looks like some sort of secret lab. I guess they didn't clean out as much as we thought," Matt replied, his voice wispy with wonder. He ran his fingers along the keyboard. "Man, this thing is awesome! Totally old school, but still awesome."

"They must have hidden it when they left. Probably didn't want any of this stuff getting out," Tori observed, rubbing her hand against a counter top. It was a little dusty, but not too bad considering its age.

Meanwhile, Chris walked over to a sliding metal door. Curiously, she pushed the button next to it. Her eyes instantly widened. "Um…guys? You definitely have to see this."

Danny was groaning as he sat on a building ledge with the still emotionless Abby beside him.

"I don't get it," he stated. "I thought for sure that ghost hunting would get her riled up."

The man's ghost sense was suddenly activated. His head jerked up just in time to spot the new Thrasher flashing past him toward the ground. She snuck up on a group of civilians and grabbed onto the shoulders of two. A green glow surrounded the whole group and their faces went blank. Smiling, she cast off from the group, only to come face to face with Danny.

"So, this is the new Thrasher," he growled. "What did you do to Abby?"

She began to smirk. "Not much. I just used her for a little energy boost. You'd be surprised how angry that girl can get, not that I'm complaining."

Danny grabbed the girl and pinned her against a building. "Fix her. Now."

"Why would I do that?" she sneered. "Besides, I couldn't even if I wanted to. But don't worry; she'll be back to normal in a few weeks, a month at the most." With that, the ghost girl secretly activated the blaster and caught Danny off guard by shooting him in the stomach with it. She used that moment to make her escape and all Danny could see was a glimpse of her speedily disappearing body.

"What do you think those things are?" Tori asked. "Not counting the obvious."

Chris was holding up a plain white jumpsuit with silver gloves, boots, and collar. She was standing in front of a locked away room. Two more of the jumpsuits were hung up behind her.

"I'm not sure, but they were locked up, so they might be dangerous," Jake assessed. "Hey, Matt, got anything yet?"

"Yeah, I think I found the file," the tech-wiz responded from the computer. "Looks like they're some kind of super-suits. Enhance natural abilities…adapt to user's preference…activated and deactivated by thought. Huh. This is some pretty high-tech stuff."

"It sounds sort of like my suit," Tori compared.

"Except," Jake butted in, grabbing the suit from Chris, "we don't know if they're defective or not. So I think we should just lock them back up and forget they even exist."

He placed the suit back in the hidden room to emphasize his point.

The goth girl sighed. "But what if they could actually help? If they did work, then Matt and I could use them and you wouldn't have to protect us all the time."

"Why are you dragging me into this?" Matt interrogated.

"You're not curious?" Chris questioned in response.

"Well…" Matt trailed.

"No," Jake snapped. "This isn't even a discussion. Let's go."

The half-ghost turned around to leave, but not even Tori was following him.

"Jake," the huntress piped up, "I think…you should let them try it."

"But…" Jake protested.

Tori cut him off. "The file doesn't say anything about a defect and Chris has a point. We can't watch over them 24/7 and, as our friends, they're bound to be targets. If there's a chance that we could keep 

them safer; I say we take it. And don't even think about telling us that it's too dangerous because, last time I checked, you were the one who jumped into the ghost portal to become half-ghost."

"Fine," Jake agreed grumpily. She'd left nothing for him to argue about. Majority ruled.

Tori turned to Chris and Matt.

"You go first," Matt insisted.

"How very gentleman-like of you," Chris drawled. She cautiously picked up one of the suits and slipped it on. After nothing happened, she sighed. "I guess they are faulty." The suit seemed to want to prove her wrong because, at that moment, she was surrounded by a light blue glow. It brightened until it became a flash before subsiding, leaving Chris in an altered suit.

The girl's suit had separated, showing her stomach. The bottom was a black skirt with blue leggings underneath and high black boots. The top was black with high blue gloves and a collar. Something else strange had happened as well. A hood had appeared over her head and a black-tinted visor covered her eyes. There was a hole in the hood, though, that let her now-ponytailed hair stick out.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" she exclaimed with a smirk.

At the Fenton Junior residence, the phone was ringing. Sam heard it as she walked through the front door. She plopped down the black bag she was holding and picked it up.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Hello, is this Mrs. Fenton?" a woman from the other side inquired. She had short blond hair and simple teal eyes. The woman was wearing a maroon tank-top.

"Yes, it is," Sam responded. "Who is this?"

The woman on the other line looked a little nervous. "This is Mrs. Matthews, Chris' mother. Is either she or Jacob there?"

Sam scowled a little. "No, I'm sorry, they're not. You forbid them to see each other, remember? Although, I wouldn't be surprised if they both snuck out," The twins' mother was a little irritable as she spoke.

"That's what I'm worried about," the other woman stated as she tried to refrain from snapping. "Mrs. Fenton, I personally do not hold any dislike for your boy, even though I have never actually met Jake, but as a mother, I can't help but be protective. I'm sure you understand that. However, I'm concerned because Chris lied to me today and told me she would be staying after school. I called, and she wasn't there. And, if Jake isn't there, I think that it is only fair that I can conclude…"

"Jake is a trustworthy boy," Sam snapped. "I'm not sure why you would believe otherwise, but even if they did disobey and saw each other anyways, I assure you that they're fine."

"Would you please calm down and be civil?" Mrs. Matthews pleaded. "I just want what is best for my daughter. Try to understand. How would you feel if one of your children made a new friend and then you hear about this new friend of theirs that you've never met running out of the school after an angry outburst?"

Sam's scowl softened just a tad and her tone went flat. "Jake is no troublemaker. Wherever they are, they're safe. Goodbye, Mrs. Matthews."

Sam hung up the phone and then flopped onto the couch with a heavy sigh.

I give you permission to yell at me now because I probably just screwed up the entire story.

Also, I have finally gotten around to fixing up some of the spelling and grammer mistakes in some of the earlier chapters. It'll probably go really slow, though, so don't be expecting me to finish by tomorrow.

And I am sorry that there are a few linebreaks missing. FFN isn't agreeing with me right now and keeps deleting them. I also apologize for the strange, random double-spaces that sometimes appear. Again, blame the document uploader. I can't always get all of them.