Chapter 32
Tucker frowned as he watched Danny walk off with their teacher, wondering what Lancer wanted with his best friend. He almost felt a surge of panic that Lancer somehow figured it out, or overheard their conversation, and knew the truth about Danny being Phantom. A weak laugh escaped him as he selected what was available in the cafeteria for his lunch. There was no way for Lancer to know anything about Danny's secret. The teacher must have some other reason for wanting to speak with Danny, though he couldn't think of a reason at the moment.
With his lunch on tray in hand, Tucker crossed the cafeteria to the usual table and took his seat across from Sam and the newest addition to their group Valerie. He felt a little nervous about this arrangement. Since finding out the truth about Danny, which still blew his mind away because whoa! Tucker couldn't shake that feeling that he might slip up around Sam and reveal the truth to her. Honestly, he thought it would be best if they simply told Sam about what happened. It would, at the very least, get Sam to lay off the whole "hunt down Phantom" thing she was so bent on doing. But Danny insisted that he didn't want Sam to know anything about his being Phantom.
Now Tucker had to worry about being the one to spill the beans to Valerie, who now had the means to hunt down and potentially seriously hurt, if not kill, Danny. He was terrified for his friend, much more so than simply about Danny's own parents and the Guys in White wanting to capture him. Both Fentons and GIW weren't exactly the best at containing a virus. Valerie, on the other hand, seemed like she was very much capable in taking down her enemy, if his first encounter with her dressed that black and red suit was any indication. A cold sweat ran down the back of his neck as Tucker remembered just how close Valerie came to exacting her vengeance upon Danny if he wasn't there to distract her. He doubted that ploy would work a second time.
"Where's Danny?" Sam asked the moment Tucker sat down at their table.
Tucker's green eyes darted toward Valerie, who seemed as curious about the answer as Sam. "Lancer dragged him off to his office." He shrugged then shoveled a forkful of the mushy brown stuff into his mouth. "Didn't say why though. I don't think Danny's done anything bad, so he can't be in trouble." He swallowed his mouthful.
"Ugh! Does he always eat like that?" Valerie made a face of disgust.
"Yeah," Sam grumbled flatly. "Try looking at that practically every day since second grade."
"I so don't envy you." Valerie patted Sam on the back.
"I'm right here." Tucker frowned at the two women. He enjoyed hanging out even when it was only with Sam. They still had fun together whenever Danny was absent, which made a lot of sense now that he knew that Danny was secretly Phantom. Tucker wondered if this was how Sam constantly felt when hanging out with him and Danny. That sort of out of place feeling when the other two started talking and it almost felt like he was being cut out of the conversation, even when they were talking about him. "And there's nothing wrong with the way I eat," he added grumpily.
"Yeah," Valerie said, rolling her eyes. "Because talking with a disgusting mouthful of food is always the way to a woman's heart."
"I've been trying to tell him for years, but he never listens," Sam said before taking a bite of her sandwich.
"Hey! Any lady would be lucky to get with this," Tucker protested as he swept an arm up and down his body to indicate himself.
"Slumming it with the losers?" Ryan snickered as he passed their table with some of his other jock buddies. The man was a dusty haired jock with the usual broad shoulders and large muscles that often meant his brain was probably the size of a pebble. Tucker noted that Dash and Kwan weren't within the group, but neither was Calvin, which was a great relief.
"Cram it, Ryan!" Tucker got to his feet, trying to look as intimidating as possible when he was several inches shorter than the jock. He gulped as those brown eyes glared at him. When he saw the fist pulling back, he regretted his choice and winced in wait for the punch that was sure to come. He heard a slap of flesh against flesh, but when he didn't feel the fist connect with his face like he expected, Tucker tentatively opened his eyes that he clamped shut on instinct.
"You do remember I kicked your ass in that tournament, right?" Valerie questioned, her hand tightly gripping the fist that she caught just inches from Tucker's face. Ryan actually paled when she reminded him of that fact. "If you don't want me to do it again in front of your buddies, I suggest you just walk away." Her eyes narrowed dangerously at him.
"How nicely you fit right in with the losers," Ryan growled as he yanked his hand free from Valerie's hold. He walked off in a huff with his friend following after him.
"Wow," Tucker breathed, blinking in surprise at the woman across the lunch table from him.
"Here's a tip. If you're going to stand up to a jock, you should know how to defend yourself." Valerie returned to her seat on the bench.
Tucker wanted to say something back in return, argue that he could stick up for himself, even though that wasn't really true. He didn't have weird digital powers like Danny, and he wasn't an expert in karate like Valerie. If Valerie didn't jump in right then, he probably would have found himself on the ground sporting a terrible black eye or a broken nose for the attempt to stand up to the jock. He frowned to himself, thinking what a fool he must look like in Valerie's eyes.
The doors to the cafeteria burst open with a bang that drew everyone's attention to the pair of adults that appeared. Tucker groaned when he recognized Danny's parents in their jumpsuits with the hoods pulled up over their heads. Danny's mother held some strange device in her hands. When she pressed a switch on the top with her thumb, it almost seemed like nothing happened until all the lights shut off overhead.
"No need to be alarmed students of Casper High," Jack said in his loud booming voice as the murmurs of confusion started like a wave through the cafeteria. "We've classified the school as a level nine contamination. Until we've cleared the school of viruses, we've decided to shut down all electronics via an EMP. Now for those of you who don't know-"
"Jack," Maddie cut in, and Tucker could only guess that her eyes held a certain amount of irritation behind the goggles. "They don't need to know all the details."
Tucker tuned out what the Fentons were saying, as usual whenever they got started on their quest to capture viruses. His attention turned to Valerie, his eyes darting toward her. He didn't miss her trying to subtly check the watch upon her wrist that she wore all the time now, he noticed, when she never did previously. He guessed that was likely the source of her weird virus-like suit that she gained after randomly being drawn into the NetZone with Danny. From the scowl on the woman's face, Tucker assumed the EMP shorted out her suit.
"What's that?" Sam piped up when the two adults passed by their table. She pointed at something strapped to the waist of Jack's bright orange jumpsuit. Beside the large man, Maddie sighed because like always the question would open her husband up to his usual blathering about their inventions.
"Glad you asked, Samantha," Jack said happily.
"Sam."
"This," Jack continued, ignoring the correction as he held up his invention, "is the Fenton Thermos." He beamed with pride, though the three teenagers merely stared at him like he had gone nuts. A thermos didn't exactly sound like the greatest of inventions. Actually, it sounded pretty lame. "With this, we'll be able to capture and contain any viruses on the loose outside the NetZone. Just get it lined up in our sights," he pointed the end of the thermos at the table, "and the virus will be sucked in." He grinned at his ingenious idea. "We think anyway."
Tucker frowned at that vote of confidence. That hint of doubt didn't make it sound like the invention had a high chance of success. But he remembered Danny's explanation of how he ended up with digital powers, and Tucker felt unsettled by the invention. What if they managed to suck Danny into that thing? Tucker gulped at that thought, and a jolt raced through him. What would an EMP do to Danny?
"Where are you going?" Valerie questioned when she noticed Tucker moving away from their table.
"Uh, bathroom," Tucker answered, wincing internally as he hoped no one would hear that slight crack in his voice. He needed to get to Danny! His friend's parents might be distracted right now in the cafeteria, but that GIW agent that Danny mentioned earlier was still elsewhere. What if the agent came across Danny after the EMP did something to him? Tucker knew he had nothing to base his assumption on, but he couldn't risk not jumping to the worst case scenario. He would rather be wrong and find Danny safe than to ignore it and find out something horrible happened to his friend.
"That can wait," Jack said. "We have viruses to hunt!"
"No, I really don't think it can." Tucker pretended like he had to go to the bathroom really badly, even if it made him look like an idiot. "I think I ate something that went bad."
"Ew," Valerie groaned.
"Another reason to stay away from meat," Sam said with a sense of smugness.
Tucker only offered half a glower then he darted out of the cafeteria, like he was in a rush for the bathroom, before anyone could stop him. He was five steps out of the cafeteria, panic racing through him, when a hand grabbed his arm. The person jerked him back a step, and Tucker gulped as he stared up into the constantly angry glare of the gym teacher Tetslaff.
"You shouldn't be running in the hallways," Tetslaff said in that irritatingly stiff and commanding way teachers had when sneering down their noses at students for disobeying the rules. "Please head directly to the gym. Until we've figured out the cause of this little power outage, we're having students gather in the gym."
"Cause?" Tucker blinked at the woman. "It was the EMP that Danny's parents set off," he explained, not thinking much about it.
"That would be the Fentons?" Tetslaff frowned when Tucker nodded. "I should have known they caused this," she grumbled, knowing whenever trouble hit, it was usually caused by Danny's parents in some way. "Anyway, you're still to head directly to the gym." Releasing her hold on Tucker's arm, the gym teacher walked off, most likely to tell everyone else about gathering in the gym until everything was resolved.
Tucker snorted at the thought of following Tetslaff's instructions. He still needed to find Danny, and the first place he thought to look was Lancer's office. Rushing through the halls, he arrived there as Lancer was stepping out of his office ushering out a man with short fuzzy hair that looked very much like another teacher and quite a bit like Kwan.
But Danny wasn't with the two teachers as they walked off in the direction of the gym. Tucker waited until they were well enough away before he approached Lancer's office. After nudging the door open, he took a glance around inside but found the office empty. Maybe the talk with Lancer was short and Danny got out of the office before the EMP hit. But Tucker felt clueless where to look for his friend next. He didn't pass Danny on the way from the cafeteria.
Why wouldn't Danny head straight back to the cafeteria after the talk with Lancer? Tucker pondered that question as he searched the school for his friend. Teachers were still directing students toward the gym, probably still trying to decide how to handle things with the power out throughout the entire school. Tucker kept out of sight to avoid getting swept into the flow of students. He spied Sam and Valerie being led from the cafeteria at one point. Both women didn't look too happy with being carted off, especially Sam.
Tucker turned the corner and rammed into someone. Managing not to tumble to the ground after the encounter, he snapped his gaze toward the person the bumped into him. "Danny!" He pulled his friend in a hug, relief flooding through him when he found his friend alive and well. "Where were you? I tried Lancer's office the moment your parents used the EMP."
Danny glanced about the hall quickly, though it was quite empty at that point. Then he grabbed Tucker's hand and dragged his friend into the nearest boys bathroom. After a quick check to make sure no one else was in there, Danny locked the door to the bathroom then turned on his friend.
"Lancer knows," Danny stated in a quiet voice, but there was an intensity in his blue eyes as he stared at his friend.
"What?" Tucker shouted, gawking his friend. His minds raced at the implications of those two simple words. What did that mean for his friend? Danny hadn't even trusted his best friends with the secret about his powers. How could they trust their teacher to keep the secret? There was a GIW agent and Danny's parents in the school at that moment! What if Lancer let something slip around either of them? Tucker thought he was starting to hyperventilate with the panic rising in him.
"Tuck, breathe." Danny grabbed hold of his friend's shoulders and shook him.
Tucker wondered why Danny wasn't freaking out even more about this. "How did he even find out?"
With a sigh, Danny ran a hand through his raven locks with a tired look in his eyes. "I was just about to leave his office when that EMP hit, and I just," he shrugged, his hands moving awkwardly in his struggle to explain what exactly took place, "shut down." Terror was the only word to describe the look that came over Danny's face when he said those words.
"What do you mean shut down?" Tucker was almost too scared to know the answer.
"Like I collapsed. I couldn't move or feel or hear or even see." Danny paced around the bathroom. "But then something broke through it all. It was Lancer, and I couldn't really pick out everything that he was saying, but I think he was trying to encourage me. And then I just," he stopped pacing and threw up his arms, "I woke up! It was like stepping right back into my parents' Material Portal and being zapped with electricity again. I could feel it surging through me, charging up my system so that I could wake up and move again."
"So," Tucker said slowly as he tried to digest everything Danny said, "what exactly does that mean?"
"I think Lancer will keep my secret." Some relief washed through Danny's expression. "He told me to get out of his office so that I wouldn't get caught by the Guys in White. I think I can trust him with this."
"That's great." Tucker decided it was probably good to have a teacher that they could trust with this secret. If they were going to have to trust one, that was. "But," he frowned, "you're going to have to be really careful now. I mean, if your parents can just use an EMP and knock you out, your secret isn't going to be safe for very long."
The fear returned to Danny's eyes. "I know."
Danny's voice sounded small and distant, and Tucker realized for the first time since learning his friend's secret the type of fear he lived with every day. Danny's parents wanted to capture his other half. They wanted to experiment on it and discover the secrets behind the viruses and why they could act on their own, beyond what their programming dictated. They wanted to learn of how viruses came by humanoid appearances and the ability to escape the NetZone. If they actually got their hands on Phantom - Tucker felt a chill, shuddering at the thought of what would happen to his friend.
"Maybe I can whip up something that can counteract an EMP," Tucker suggested, though he had his doubts. How could he block something that shutdown tech by using tech? That didn't sound like something that would be possible, but he would try anything if it meant helping his best friend.
"Thanks, Tuck." Danny smiled. "I guess we should go sneak into the gym with everyone else. I don't want any suspicion turned on me because I was absent if they did a roll call."
"Who would ever think you could be Phantom?" Tucker joked as he followed Danny out of the bathroom. Because Danny being the famous rogue Phantom program still blew his mind whenever he thought about it.
Sammi: Haha, maybe. XD At least he has one teacher that will understand his constant disappearing.
midnight: I had been waiting for that scene ever since I started writing the story! XD;; I love when Lancer is in the know. =)
maltese: Hopefully Danny might take Vlad's warning to heart!? D: Don't die, Danny! Lancer was just pure awesome in the show. 8D I loved his character and I always wanted him to find out about Danny.
Just Will: Maybe someone will literally smack some sense into Jing? D8 I loved that scene with Lancer and Danny. =) It made me happy. It would be interesting to learn what happened to everyone after the show, but at the same time, I didn't like the ending of the series. =( And that kind of makes me worried for if they ever bring it back or do a movie (which better not be live action!). I was thinking it was more of a limited range EMP that basically only affected the school. But yeah, they didn't take into consideration things like pacemakers. I loved how caring a teacher Lancer was. =) I've heard that theory about Danny being stronger than Vlad because of the difference in the blasts from the accidents. I can see that making sense, especially with the way the show kept throwing Danny knew powers, especially there at the end with the ice powers which always seemed like "what?" to me.