Chapter 09

The Nasty Burger faded out of sight through the rear view mirror, and with it Danny. Sam frowned, pursing her mouth to one side as she tapped her finger on the steering wheel. It was clear her friend was hiding something, but she wasn't sure what. Danny looked distracted by something off in the distance, though she couldn't see anything unusual when she followed his gaze. When she thought more about it, she realized how tired Danny looked with bags under his eyes and wondered if it really was simply because he spent his nights up late with finishing off his homework. Heaving a sigh, she guessed that was a logical explanation since both her friends tended to be lazy about getting their homework done in a timely manner. Why was it so hard for them to work on their homework before the last minute?

"They really don't ease up on the homework for seniors," Tucker said as he scrolled through his PDA, presumably checking what assignments for class he needed to complete for tomorrow. "What happened to seniors getting to slack off?"

Sam rolled her violet eyes before she glanced briefly over at him. "Maybe you wouldn't feel like you had a lot of homework if you didn't put it off to play Doomed all the time."

Tucker stared at her, nearly gaping with his eyes just a touch wide behind the frames of his glasses. "Me? Playing Doomed all the time?" he asked incredulously. "You're the one that still holds the most hours played out of the three of us."

"But unlike you, I actually get my homework done on time," Sam returned with a hint of smugness in her voice. Talking about Doomed reminded her of something, and her expression fell, her brow creasing as her finger started drumming on the steering wheel yet again.

"Okay." Tucker sighed as he dragged his attention away from his PDA. "What's on your mind? And don't even try to say nothing because I know every time you start tapping the steer wheel, you're thinking really hard about something. So what is it this time?"

"Danny," Sam responded absently as her head tilted somewhat to one side. They hung out like usual, and nothing screamed of being out of the ordinary, but she still couldn't shake the idea that something was wrong after that last conversation with him when they left the Nasty Burger.

"Of course." Tucker nodded with a knowing smirk, and Sam reached over and punched him hard in the shoulder. "Hey!" With a frown, he rubbed at his arm, which would probably have a bruise now. "It's not my fault that Danny's always on your mind."

Sam snapped a glare in his direction. "I think of plenty of other things, thank you very much." She turned her gaze back to the street. "Like actually getting my homework done."

"Ugh," Tucker groaned. "Can we not talk about homework anymore? I'll be spending hours tonight getting everything done." An eyebrow lifted as he smirked. "So why were you thinking about Danny?"

Sam breathed out tiredly. "Well, you know, we used to play Doomed a lot together, but Danny hasn't played with us in months." She thought more on that and blinked. "Actually, it's been almost two years since he last signed onto Doomed."

"The fact that you know exactly how long it's been since he's played is a little scary." Tucker flinched when Sam raised a hand away from the steering wheel to slap him. He huddled close to the passenger side door, trying to keep out of reach of her hand. "So he hasn't played in two years." Tucker shrugged, hesitantly returning to an upright sitting position. "Maybe he just got bored of it. That happens sometimes, you know."

"Yeah, but I feel like there's more to it than that." Sam squinted her eyes like if she stared hard enough at the street ahead of her, then she would be able to unravel this mystery. "It's not just Doomed. I mean, we hang out with him, yeah, but there's a lot of times when he'll just disappear or make up some excuse for having to go home. Like this whole chore thing." She lifted a brow as she turned her gaze to Tucker. "He didn't always try to keep us away from his house. Remember how we'd always go down into his parents' lab and look at all their inventions."

"It's not like he was always that eager about letting us into the lab," Tucker reminded, lifting one shoulder in a shrug. "We were kind of pushy about it."

Violet eyes narrowed at him. Sam knew that he actually meant she. She was the one that was always pushing to see what weird new inventions Danny's parents were working on at the moment. It was a passing interest, in the beginning at least, when she first met Danny and Tucker in grade school. They were both a little weird, not very popular but not completely bending to the norm for the sake of fitting in. They had their quirks. Tucker loved technology to the point that it was almost a little disturbing. Danny loved space and had dreams of being an astronaut, though with his grades, he didn't have much hope of getting into the space program. They didn't make a big deal about her being rich when she finally told them, and they didn't suddenly become fake friends only seeking to use her for her money the way some of the In crowd probably would have done.

Then they hit freshmen year, and shortly after, Phantom started making appearances all over town to fight the viruses that attacked. Sam's passing interest grew, and she started questioning Danny multiple times a week about his parents' inventions and the work they did to stop the viruses from attacking the NetZone. Danny, as Tucker pointed out, always seemed reluctant when it came to talking about his parents' work. He showed them the laboratory from time to time, letting them poke around at the inventions, but there was always that wary look in his blue eyes, like he feared his parents would find out or they would hurt themselves looking over the weapons.

"I can't help that," Sam grumbled as she parked her car outside her house. "I mean, we have this very unique opportunity to help in the fight against viruses. Especially with these recent outbreaks, like yesterday, when the viruses manifest an actual form outside of the NetZone." Twisting around in her seat, she grabbed her book bag from the back seat before she climbed out of her car.

"So you plan on becoming a Net Protector like Danny's parents?" Tucker gawked at her like she suddenly grew a second head as he got out of the convertible. "I didn't think that would be your kind of thing." He followed her up to the front door of her house, which was more like a manor and probably bigger than any of the houses owned by those in the In crowd.

"It has nothing to do with wanting to become some government dog like a Net Protector or even the Guys in White," Sam argued as she unlocked the front door. "It's not like either of them have done anything that actually stops the viruses. So why not take matters into our own hands?"

"You seriously want to steal from Danny's parents and start running around town fighting the viruses?" Tucker continued gawking as Sam closed the front door.

"Danny's parents come up with some," Sam bit the inside of her cheek, "interesting inventions. But who's going to put them to better use: Danny's parents or Phantom?"

Tucker squinted his green eyes as he looked her over, leaning closer. "Is this really about fighting the viruses?"

"What else would it be about?" Sam demanded, placing her hands on her hips as she glared back at him.

"Gee, I don't know." Tucker leaned back, rolling his eyes toward the ceiling before dropping his gaze back to Sam. "It's all Phantom this and Phantom that. And I thought you liked Danny." He shook his head. "You do realize that Phantom is a program, right? Even if he can manifest a physical form outside the NetZone, he's not a real person."

It was Sam's turn to roll her eyes. "I know that." She scowled at him, though she could feel a flush attempting to creep onto her cheeks at her friend's suggestion. Even if she did have thoughts of the Phantom program from time to time, she wasn't the only one. Paulina had an obvious crush on Phantom, even posting pictures of him with little hearts drawn around his face in her locker. Sam often wanted to gag at the display. "But like you said. He's a program. And you," she grinned as she folded her arms, "are a techno geek. Surely you should be able to track down his location."

Tucker opened his mouth, prepared to throw an argument back her way, when he paused to consider her comment. "I suppose that could be possible," he agreed, placing a hand to his chin as he thought about it. "It might take me some time to track him down though. It would help if he was fighting with a virus right now. Then I could find him in an instant. And once I have a lock on his unique coding, I'd have better luck keeping tabs on his activity." He blinked as he glanced at Sam. "Why didn't I ever think about that before?"

Sam refrained from answering that particular question. She didn't exactly jump to the idea that quickly either. It only occurred to her now, three years after the first appearance of Phantom, that they might be able to track him. "No better time than the present to get started." Grabbing hold of his hand, Sam dragged Tucker up the stairs to her bedroom. She grinned at the thought of her parents' reaction when they found her alone with a boy in her bedroom. They always hated when she had Tucker and Danny over and they hung out in her bedroom, with the door closed. Nothing was ever going to happen among them, she doubted anyway, but that didn't stop her parents from having panic attacks at the thought that they would walk in on Sam making out with one of her two friends.

"What happened to me needing to get my homework done in a more timely manner?" Tucker questioned as Sam closed the door to her bedroom after they entered.

"I'll help you with it later. I'll even write out notes on all the important parts you need to know for that test in Brit Lit." Sam pushed him toward her computer. "Let's see if we can find Phantom first. Maybe if we find him," she forced him to sit in the chair at her desk, "we can set up and time and place to meet so we can give him the Data Deraser thing from Danny's parents."

Tucker started typing on the keyboard as Sam grabbed her book bag to pull out her books for Brit Lit to write out the notes for her friend. "You know," he said, pausing for a moment to look at her, "if Phantom is some kind of virus, wouldn't something that could actually wipe out a virus, completely, be potentially dangerous to him?"

Sam glanced up from her book and rolled her eyes. "Do you really think he'd be dumb enough to shoot himself with it?"

"No." Tucker glowered at her. "I meant, what if one of the other viruses got a hold of it and used it against him? Or what if he's fighting with a virus and it turns the Data Deraser around on him? Do we want to put something in Phantom's hands that could potentially wipe him out permanently?"

"That's not going to happen," Sam scoffed at him. Raising her hand, she pointed her index finger downward and made a twirling motion to direct him in turning around again in the seat. "Get a lock on his location first. Then we can figure things out from there."

"We still need to get Danny to sneak into his parents' lab to get the Data Deraser first." Tucker's fingers typed feverishly at the keyboard, probably the only thing he could accomplish speedily other than wolfing down vast amounts of meat.

Sam made a face at that thought, still not understanding her friend's love of meat, but that point was irrelevant at present. Tapping her pen on the notebook resting on her knee, she frowned at the back of Tucker's head. "Isn't it weird how Danny seems so reluctant to do anything to even remotely help Phantom? I thought he would be a lot more eager about Phantom and virus hunting because of his parents."

"That might actually be the exact reason he's not interested. His parents are obsessed with this whole virus thing, and their actions have always been a source of embarrassment for Jazz and Danny. He probably wants to avoid following in their footsteps and being seen as another crazy Fenton, so he tries to stay away from the whole topic of Phantom and viruses." Tucker turned back to Sam with a strange look in his green eyes. "It was really hard for him to hear that he had no hope of joining the space program, and you know how much he dreamed of being an astronaut."

Sam frowned as she lowered her gaze. "Yeah, he was pretty crushed." She could still recall when he walked out of the office at school after being told that his grades weren't good enough to get into the space program. Even if he managed to pick them up by graduation, it still probably wouldn't be enough for him to get accepted.

"What do you do when the dream you've had since you were little is taken away from you?" Tucker turned back to the computer.

"It's not like we all have the answer to what career we want in the future," Sam argued, but she wished there was a way that they could help Danny reach his dream. "I'm sure he'll find some new dream to follow. Just because one door closes that doesn't mean another won't open for him."

"I get that, Sam, but it doesn't make it hurt him any less. I don't think trying to push him toward fighting viruses is a good idea though." Tucker sighed as his hands fell away from the keyboard. "If he ever does decide to follow in his parents' footsteps, he'll have to come to that on his own." Getting up from the desk, he walked over to join Sam on the bed. "No luck. I can't find anything that indicates Phantom is in the NetZone or actively fighting a virus at the moment."

Sam picked up one of the textbooks on the bed and held it out to him, ignoring his groan. "Time for homework then."

Sohrem666: XD I guess I didn't hide that well.

DB-KT: Nope. =)

jeanette9a: XD;; Yeah.

Anon: A love triangle? Do tell! Omg! I read through the chapter before posting. I can't believe I missed that! *runs away in shame*

midnight: There needs to be more Cujo~ 8D I love that dog~

Sammi: Yes, Cujo~ 8D I want a puppy like Cujo~

Guest: XD Soon~ I promise! Thanks~ =)