I'll comment at the end.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The rescue party hid behind a corner, peeking over to the entrance where a guard was standing.
"So how do we get in?" Chris asked, which is what everyone was thinking at that point.
Tori turned to their techno-geek friend. "Matt, think you can hack the security? We need to know where Jake is first before we go jumping in."
Matt began fiddling around with his suped-up PDA. After a moment of pushing buttons, he exclaimed, "I got it!"
"And what, may I ask, do you have?" a man's gruff voice questioned.
The three turned around wide-eyed to see a group of agents. They looked prepared to handle a small group of trespassing teens. Before any of them could move, they were grabbed and cuffed, not to mention secured by the other agents.
"Come on, you three. I think Commander Balk would be very interested in your reasons for being here."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
A scream tore through the air as Shadow was shocked violently in a small cell with a viewing window in front. After a few moments, he was forced to turn human. The shock ended and he breathed heavily, leaning forward against the restraints.
"Human morph frequency obtained," a lab worker declared in monotone.
"Good," Balk said satisfaction. "Now start the ectoplasmic pulse."
A green-tinted energy zapped Jake again, jolting his body into a tense resistance. In a matter of seconds, the black rings formed and slipped over his body with little struggle. The shock ended and Shadow slumped forward.
"Frequency obtained," the assistant declared.
A grin formed on the Commander's face as he walked up to the window. Shadow was barely able to open his eyes. "Thank you so much, J01. The information you just helped us gather will be very useful in the future."
"Sir?" another voice called. Balk turned around to see a small group of his agents holding on to three angered teens in battle suits. "We captured the intruders."
"Very good," stated the dark-skinned man.
Tori's eyes suddenly widened. "J-Shadow!" she called, bursting from the agent's grasp. The man seemed to allow it as she rushed to the containment chamber. She spun around in fury. "What did you do to him?!"
Balk laughed as Chris and Matt made their way over to the pod as well. "We just took a few tests. Although, I didn't expect he'd get an amateur rescue party, especially one that included the Blue Huntress. Last I heard, it was publicly known that you two weren't on good terms."
Tori glared. "Let him go!"
Balk smiled. "As you wish." He pressed a button on a remote and the glass door swung open while the manacles undid themselves. Shadow fell forward weakly into Tori's waiting arms. Matt approached to help hold him up as well.
"Hey guys," Shadow said feebly. "Glad you could make it."
"Well," Commander Balk said lightly, "I'll just leave you four to get reacquainted in a nice cozy cell."
The guards took that as their cue to grab the teens and go. The four couldn't even resist because they were so focused on staying with their friend. They were led down a long hall and shoved into an empty unit, the barred door slamming shut behind them. Shadow collapsed and changed back into Jake, causing the other three to crowd around him quickly. He struggled to sit up, using the wall for support.
"Jake, are you…" Chris began to ask before the boy cut her off.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired," he assured.
"What happened?" Matt questioned. "One minute you're flying off and the next you just disappear altogether. Then we find you here and now you changed back so those guards are going to know your secret identity!"
The goth boy took a deep breath. "They already knew."
"What?!" the group cried.
"After I left you guys, my ghost sense went off. I went down to check it out, but it was a trap. That commander guy said he figured I was half ghost and he took my fingerprints so he could identify me. He's going to make it look like Jake Fenton died so people wouldn't look for me." He looked his friends straight in the eyes. "We have to get out of here before he does that."
"How?" Chris inquired.
Jake smirked and stood up with the help of the wall. His friends copied.
"Everything in here is ghost-proof, but I can burn through the bars with my spirit energy," he announced.
"But that will drain you!" Tori protested.
"If I use too much," Jake corrected. "But I'll be careful. Now all we have to worry about is how to get out after."
"Got that covered," Matt declared, holding up his PDA with a smirk. "I hacked the system and got a map of the place."
The half-ghost smiled for a moment. "Great, but we still have a few problems. For one, this place microchips all of their experiments, so we need to take out whatever controls those. Then we just need to kill the computer, trash the files, and help the others."
"Others?" the three parroted.
"Yeah," he confirmed. "This place is used to create ghosts. There are three of them and we can't just leave them here."
"Alright," Tori agreed. "So what's our plan?"
Jake smirked.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"All set?" the boy whispered.
"Ready," the other three chimed.
Shadow approached the bars and gripped them tightly, closing his eyes so that he could focus. In moments, there was a hole big enough for them to slip through.
"Go!" he ordered under his breath.
All of them crowded out of the little cell and parted ways. Shadow ran down the hall toward the cell that held Nightmare, Sparky, and Becky.
"Told you we were getting out of here," he told the surprised ghosts. He burned through those bars as well and stepped back. The three crowded out.
"How…?" Nightmare questioned, but didn't finish.
"Let's just say some help came. Now try to find the exit. If everything goes according to plan, we'll be able to escape in no time."
"Be careful," the older girl warned before the three took off down the hall.
Shadow went the other way. He glanced quickly down at his hand. A small puddle of ectoplasm had formed. He clenched his fist around it and kept running. Within a second, he had invisibly entered the lab. On the computer were pictures of his DNA and something that looked like his school and medical records. Not to mention a picture of his family. He nearly growled at it. He was about to follow through with the plan, but came to an abrupt stop as he heard the conversation between Balk and a grey-suited blond woman.
"There are plenty of ways we can play out the boy's death. According to these, he's been a danger magnet as of late. We should go with something subtle, not extravagant enough to have everyone out looking for any gaps in the plan," she plotted.
"Sounds good to me, Dr. Greaves," Commander Balk considered. "Are you sure that his father won't be suspicious, though? The man's been known to be quite obstinate."
"If it comes down to that, we can make plenty of other plans."
"And the other children?"
"I suspect they must be friends," she admitted. "The public will believe their disappearances were related."
Finally, Shadow had enough. He threw an ecto-blast into the containment unit he had been stuck in earlier. The adults seemed alarmed and ran over to the machine. At the same time, smoke began to filter out from a small room on the side.
"The files!" Balk yelled. He ran over to the smoking room.
The still-invisible Shadow glanced toward a small space by the computer. Matt had his PDA hooked up to the system, attempting to hack it. The screen flickered a few times before powering down.
"Balk, what on Earth is going on?!" Dr. Greaves yelled in accusation.
"I don't know!" the man shouted back, holding a fire-extinguisher. "Check the experiments!"
The woman nodded and ran off. Shadow found Chris and Tori, who were now sabotaging as many of the devices and samples as they could. He flew down next to Matt and turned visible.
"Almost done?" he whispered.
Matt hit a button. "Yep. Nothing's left."
"They're gone!" Greaves screamed reentering the room.
"So, that's how they want to play it," Balk muttered. He took the little remote out of his suit and was about to press a button, but it was snatched out of his hand. He looked up in shock as Shadow appeared, holding the device.
The ghost boy's hand incinerated the remote. "Oops, looks like those microchips of yours won't be working anymore," he taunted triumphantly. Then, his expression darkened. He grabbed the man by the collar, forcing him against a wall. "Let this be a lesson. No one messes with my family," he growled. Balk appeared utterly shocked as he fell to the ground, freed of the half-ghost's hold. Dr. Greaves ran over to her fallen comrade.
Sparks started dancing from various pieces of machinery and one came down with a crash. A female scream pierced the air and Shadow whipped his head in its direction. A section of the room had collapsed and had landed on top of Tori.
"Tori!" Shadow and Matt screamed in horror. Both dashed to the pile of debris while Chris stood wide-eyes and frozen in place. The boys dug through the heap frantically. Finally, Shadow came across her arm.
"I found her!" he cried. He shoved a large piece of scrap metal away, revealing her unconscious body. "Tori! Tori, wake up!" She didn't move.
"Just pick up her up! We have to leave!" Matt ordered.
Shadow did as he was told, lifting his best friend into his arms carefully. He ran behind Matt.
"Chris, let's go!" the green-suited male shouted. The girl blinked in astonishment before running to catch up. Matt glanced at her curiously. "Why were you just standing there?"
"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I guess I was just…shell-shocked. I thought she died and it reminded me of…never mind. You're right. I should have been there."
The boy looked at her in curiosity and concern before turning back to look ahead. Under the exit, three ghosts stood, ready to join their escape.
"Woah, what happened to her?" Sparky questioned.
"What are you guys still doing here?" Shadow asked, ignoring Sparky's inquiry.
"You didn't think we were just going to leave you to take care of those jerks alone, did you?" Nightmare retorted. "Besides, we owe you. Becky and I…we sort of snuck back in after you finished and messed with the bozos;…played with their memories. It'll take a lot of therapy before they can remember your secret."
Shadow gave her a grateful look. "Thanks."
They all dashed down the hall and broke free into the open air, smiles lighting up their faces. The experiments turned to the group.
"Thank you, Shady. And…um…his friends," Nightmare said in relief.
"Just don't get caught by any more mad scientists," he warned.
"Whatever," Sparky mumbled. Then, he gave a cruel grin. "And don't worry, we'll visit sometime."
"Great," Shadow commented in fake enthusiasm.
The three laughed and lifted off the ground. "See ya, Shady!" Nightmare hollered. Then, they vanished into the sky.
The conscious member of the remaining group stared upward until a groan brought their gaze back down.
"Jake?" Tori mumbled.
"You're alright!" the half-ghost exclaimed happily.
"Just a little dizzy," she answered. "What happened?"
"The ceiling fell down on you," Shadow explained. quietly
"Oh," she mumbled. She paused for a second. "Um, Jake? Can you put me down now?"
Shadow's face turned bright red as he helped her onto her feet.
"Guys?" Matt spoke up. "Not that this isn't touching and all, but can we go home now?"
Shadow and Tori laughed.
"Yeah, that sounds pretty good to me," Shadow replied.
"You won't be saying that once our parents release their wrath on us for ditching school," Matt responded.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Danny, Sam, Tucker, Emma (Matt's Mom), Valerie, and even Mrs. Matthews all paced around Danny and Sam's living room.
"I don't get it," Danny admitted. "We've checked everywhere. Where could they have gone?"
Valerie suddenly tensed. "Do you think they might have been kidnapped?"
"Kidnapped?!" Mrs. Matthews parroted in horror.
Emma put a comforting hand on the stunned woman's shoulder and gave her a calming smile. "Katie, this stuff happens all the time. Don't worry. We'll find them."
"It was probably a ghost," Sam put in.
Tucker groaned. "Then they could be anywhere!"
Danny looked at all of them. "I'll go check the Ghost Zone. Maybe I can get some leads."
At that moment, there was a knock on the door. Sam rushed to get it. Outside, all four kids were standing unarmed. Jake looked tired and was swaying a bit. Tori was letting him lean on her.
"You're back!" the mother cried joyfully. In a second, all of the parents rushed over to their kids.
"Where on Earth were you kids?" Valerie demanded.
"Looking for Jake," Matt replied as if it was obvious.
"Found him!" Tori added.
"Are you alright?" Emma abruptly asked, looking at all of the teens.
"Yeah, although Jake's a little tired," Tori answered. "Speaking of which, why don't we go bring him upstairs before he passes out?"
Sam smiled. "Okay, but don't think this lets any of your off the hook," she warned.
The teens cringed as they disappeared up the stairs. Jake instantly collapsed onto the bed.
"Wow, I didn't think you'd be so worn out," Chris commented.
Jake chuckled. "This is what I get for using my spirit energy and then trying to fly from Nevada to here." He paused for a moment and his expression switched to one of puzzlement. "Hey Matt? Do you think you could look up GUARD?"
"What?" the geek asked.
"GUARD. It was the name of the place."
Matt took out his PDA and did as Jake said. A second later, he answered. "It stands for Ghost Utilities And Research Development. Why?"
Jake looked concerned. "I have a feeling we haven't heard the last of them."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Sorry if I just totally confused most of you. I really wish I could have written this episode better.
Okay, now for bigger announcements. I have to go on vacation for a few weeks, so I won't be able to post for a while. Sorry.
And, for the Twilight Saga fans...BREAKING DAWN COMES OUT TOMORROW AT MIDNIGHT! Yeah, okay, I just needed to get that out of my system.