41. Teamwork

O sat in the back of the white van, watching the monitors intently. His back was aching from the hunched position he was in, had been sitting in for the past four hours, but he paid no attention to it. His coffee had gone cold, his sandwich stale, but that too was ignored. He only had eyes for what was happening on the three screens in front of him, and the small spectral reader next to them.

One showed the school, Casper High, and the ghost fight that was taking place there. It wasn't much of a fight, and in fact most students, save for some fan girls, paid no attention to it at all. The burly blue ghost was throwing boxes at the black and white clad one, who floated in front of him, his arms crossed, an annoyed expression on his face. Every time the boxes approached him, he went intangible, allowing them to pass through him.

The second monitor was pointed at the rear of the van, surveying the road. O glanced at it a couple of times, waiting for the obvious to happen, but they were taking their time. Instead, he checked the spectral energy reader, adjusting it a few times to filter out the Box Ghost's signature. He looked at the numbers, muttered something and then wrote it down on the notepad lying on his lap. Then, leaning backwards to stretch his back – groaning in the process – he activated his com link to his partner.

"Agent K, this is agent O, please respond."

The answer was almost immediate. "K here, go ahead O."

"Latest reading. I'm detecting an energy level of eight point one on the subject," he said, "An increase of oh point three since the last reading a month ago."

Silence. Then, "Thank you, O. We're a go."

O closed the com link and turned his head to survey the interior of the van. It was crammed in there with all the equipment, listening devices that were capable of filtering out spectral noise, special surveillance cameras equipped with ecto filters to detect invisible ghosts and a range of ghost weapons, from small ecto guns to huge ecto cannons. All lethal. In a manner of speaking. Agent M was sitting close to the door, holding one of the smaller guns. He raised his eyebrows, and O nodded. Then, he turned his attention back to the monitors.

The third monitor was showing the entrance to an alley across the street. It seemed empty, but they had traced the Phantom's signature there a number of times, just before it vanished. They had stationed agent T there, a new recruit, expendable. The man himself knew it too, because he had gone stark white when they gave him that assignment. Phantom was dangerous, even more so now with his increase in power. If he showed up there, and T was on his own... They had reassured him, saying they had a camera on him – not that that was entirely true, they could only see the entrance of the alley – and they would come to his assistance if needed. But his task was to observe and observe only. They needed to know how the ghost managed to duck under their radar.

Impatiently, O watched Phantom banter with the obnoxious blue box obsessed ghost. Why the kid wasted his time like that O would never understand. It must be part of his act, his particular obsession. First, taunt the ghost, then fight it, cause as much damage as he could and finally... O smiled as the kid retrieved the cylindrical device from behind his back, opened it and sucked the ghost inside. He hovered for a bit, looking smug as some teenage girls started cheering for him. One girl, however, O saw with a frown, wasn't cheering at all, although she was standing quite near. She was dressed in a black tank top that showed a lot of skin, a black and green checkered skirt and heavy combat boots. She was scowling. Phantom mock saluted the pretty girls, turned around and caught sight of her. To O's surprise, he cringed a little.

A loud crash brought O's attention back to the screen that showed what was happening behind their van. A strange vehicle had arrived, looking a little like an RV with lots of antennae and a satellite dish attached to it. On top, there was something that looked suspiciously like a cannon, and O knew for a fact that it was a foaming gun. Nobody could think up something like that but Jack Fenton. And nobody could make it work as admirably as it did like his wife Maddie. They were right on time.

Phantom saw them to, but didn't take off straight away, as O had expected. He hovered patiently, watching the two hazemat clad persons get out of the vehicle, bearing huge cannons and pointing them at him. But they didn't fire. Instead, they approached him warily. O turned up the volume of the directional listening device attached to the top of the van.

"Phantom," the woman said cautiously.

The sound of her voice sounded strangely metallic in O's ears, and he knew it was because of the many filters that processed the sound coming from the microphone. The ghost bowed his head, looking like he might take off at any moment.

"Maddie," he said coolly.

His voice was clear, without the usual echo in it. The spectral filters did an admiral job, and O made a mental note to himself to compliment the programmer who had worked the filters. He clenched his fist as the two well known ghost hunters approached Phantom without attacking him. This was not going according to plan. Maybe it was time to step in. He half turned to his colleague at the door while continuing to listen to the conversation taking place outside.

"Have you caught a ghost for us?" Mrs Fenton asked.

Phantom nodded and held up the cylindrical thermos in his hand. Mrs Fenton lowered the gun somewhat and extended her hand, clearly instructing Phantom to give it to her. He floated closer until he was in reach, but held back the containment device.

"No experimenting," he warned, "No tearing apart molecule by molecule. You study him, then dispose of him in the ghost zone. Like we agreed."

O could feel Mrs Fenton's frown even though she had her back on him. He smiled a little. Crafty woman, she was. She had tricked Phantom into handing over a ghost to them, probably offering a truce of some sort, although why Phantom would want to go along with that was beyond him. It didn't matter though. He had counted on the Fentons to chase Phantom away, but now they didn't. Time to call in their backup.

"Agents L and Z, proceed," he said after re-activating his com link, "K, are you listening?"

"Of course."

O knew that a block away, two GIW agents were now firing up their jet packs and would be approaching quickly. He turned his attention back to the screen and watched as Phantom handed the thermos to Mrs Fenton. He started to say something, but what he had wanted to say was lost in the sudden roar of the engines of the quickly approaching GIW's jet packs. Phantom swirled, hung motionless for a second and then disappeared. Or so he thought.

O hit the green button next to the screens and a greenish haze came over the image on the screens. The spectral filter. Phantom thought he was invisible, but in fact O could see him quite well. He took his time taking off, not leaving high speed, but simply drifting away.

"Cocky much?" O thought to himself, allowing himself a slight feeling of superiority.

He didn't say anything, but leaned back again, watching the events unfold. L and Z both had visors that would allow them to see Phantom as clearly as if he hadn't turned himself invisible, and O wondered briefly why the ghost seemed to have forgotten that they had that ability. On the other hand, it had been a while since they had actively hunted the ghost, it was very possible he had grown complacent. It would be his undoing.

L fired first, and hit Phantom square in the chest. He was blown backwards some, but L's weapon wasn't on full blast. They didn't want to destroy him. They wanted to capture him. Phantom turned visible instantly, and for a brief moment O had a great view of his shocked face.

"That's right, kiddo," he muttered to himself, "Try and get away now, boy. We're right on your tail."

Phantom shot up into the air, both L and Z right behind him. He twisted and turned, evading their blasts. They quickly went out of range of his camera's. O didn't mind. He pressed another button, and one of the screens – the one that had been showing what was happening behind his van – now showed an adapted radar screen. On it, six white dots – agents K, T, L, Z, M and himself – and one green one, Phantom's ecto signature. He frowned. They were getting too far away.

M, who had been watching the radar from the back of the van, didn't need to be told what to do. He opened the door, got out and grabbed one of the larger cannons in passing. He was going to try and drive the kid back to where they wanted him. O quickly murmured a 'back off a little, guys' in his com link and saw the now four – K had joined them too – white dots encircling the elusive ghost.

"T, be ready," O said.

T knew not to answer. The ghost headed back now, and they were giving him more and more room to get away, allowing him to go into one of his favorite hiding places. O felt his anticipation increase as he saw the ghost near the alley. Would he, or wouldn't he go in there and disappear again? If he went somewhere else, the entire operation would have been pointless, their staking out the school for weeks, their training, practicing their teamwork until each of them could do this in their dreams.

Phantom was close now, unaware of O in the van and T in the alley. He stopped, looked back at his pursuers, now very far away... and let himself down in the alley! O almost shouted with joy, feeling the adrenaline rush through his veins. He stared at the screen that was trained on the entrance of the alley. Two kids were walking there, a black boy with a red beret on his head and that same gothic girl that had scowled at Phantom earlier. O watched them look around carefully, and then lean against the wall near the entrance of the alley. Then, suddenly, they pushed themselves off the wall and walked past the entrance... only now there were three of them. A black haired boy with a white t-shirt and faded blue jeans had joined them somehow. The black boy laughed at something and slapped the other boy on the shoulders, and O saw him wince as if in pain. They walked off. O's com link cracked.

"You're not gonna believe this."

O frowned in annoyance. "Agent T," he said, and there was an edge to his voice that should signify the junior agent he had better shape up his reports, "Please report."

He heard the rookie agent fumble with his ear piece for a moment. "Um, right, sorry. Agent T reporting from the.. dumpster." O imagined T wiping a banana peel from his head. "Did you observe a black haired boy leaving the alley?"

"Yes, I did," O said impatiently.

"Better catch him," T said flippantly, "He's our guy. He's Phantom. He transformed. That's why we couldn't catch him. He's hiding as a human."

O stared after the tree teenagers walking down the street. They were coming straight at him, oblivious. They were laughing at something, and the black haired boy was gesturing wildly. Mocking them.

A ghost. And a boy.

The implication of it hit O like a ton of bricks. A hybrid. A unique creature. Something that would advance their knowledge of ghost-human interaction a thousand fold... a thing to explore, experiment with. A must have for their collection.

O jumped up and grabbed one of the guns, at the same time alerting his team members. Quietly, he opened the front door of the van and casually got out. He knew he stood out in his white suit, but they had their backs on him now, and it would only be a moment before the others arrived. He could hear them coming, the whine of their jet packs coming closer.

The teenagers looked up, slightly alarmed, but otherwise unsuspecting that they were on to them. K arrived first, landing gracefully, or as gracefully as possible with the rather clumsy jet packs. He was on the other side of the threesome. They stopped.

L and M landed next to K, while Z put himself down next to O. They were now surrounded. The black haired teenager started rubbing his neck. He didn't look frightened, just curious and a little nervous. The girl did look frightened though, and she grabbed his arm as if trying to protect him. The black boy just looked confused. O stepped forward, and as one man all agents raised their guns and pointed them at the hybrid.

"Phantom," O said formally, "I hereby apprehend you in the name of the anti-ecto law section 2 subparagraph b, all ghost entities should be captured for further examination to determine their threat to society."

"What!"

The black haired boy stepped back, his eyes wide. The girl stepped in front of him in a rather useless attempt to put herself between him and the GIW. They had them surrounded.

"What are you talking about," she said sharply, "There's no ghost here."

From the corner of his eyes, O saw the approach of two familiar hazemat clad figures, and he knew he had to act quickly. They would interfere, he was sure of that.

"Danny!" Mr Fenton bellowed, "What's going on here? Why are these GIW fellows standing all around you... surrounding you... completely blocking your escape in any direction but up?"

O looked up and saw agent T hovering there in stealth mode, which was not as fast as the normal mode, but every now and then incredibly useful. His white suit was stained, and O saw that there was indeed a banana peel perched on his shoulder. He'd have to wash up later. O looked down at the incredulous face of the black haired teenager again and smirked at him.

"Well, well, wel," he said, "Danny Fenton is Danny Phantom. And your parents don't know."

He turned to the stunned ghost hunters. "You are aware that you have been violating the anti-ecto law section three subparagraph c, harboring an ectoplasmic fugitive?"

A crowd was now gathering, students from the school, teachers, people passing by. Some were shouting, laughing, pushing each other as if it was some sort of circus, a freak show, others, like a few girls O recognized as being Phantom's fan girls, looked worried. He realized things would get out of hand if he didn't regain control quickly. He watched Fenton/Phantom as realization struck the kid's face, the glances he threw around at the crowd, the way his eyes rested on his parents for a moment. He was going to make a break for it, O realized, and there was only one way he could do that now.

Down.

O smiled.

"Now," he said.

Flashes of green, an explosion, an unearthly howl...

When the smoke cleared, everybody was still standing like they had before, stunned, mouths agape. Everybody but Fenton/Phantom. He was on the ground, writhing as if in agony, his hair flashing, alternating between white and back, his eyes glowing a bright green. If there was any doubt of who he was before , there wasn't now. Four glowing green ropes held him in place, coming from the cable guns of agents M, K, L and Z. Two were around his wrists, digging painfully into his skin, one was around his waist and one around his neck. O let him writhe for a while, and then signaled to his agents to ease up a little. The boy stopped writhing and laid quietly, panting, his brow sweaty and his eyes unfocused.

"No!" The girl cried.

She fell down on her knees and tried to undo Phantom's bonds, but the ropes were too tight. The black boy shook himself out of his stupor and made to help her. O and T had no trouble wrestling them away from the ghost. They handed them over to the police, who had finally arrived at the scene and were trying to disperse the crowd, who were quite willing except for two.

"Danny," they cried, trying to push their way past the police officers, who were having a hard time with them. Mrs Fenton already had floored three of them, and Mr Fenton was using his bulk to simply push past them. O turned, watched for a while and then barked, "Arrest them."

That brought about even more police officers, and the Fentons ceased their resistance, obviously thinking they'd fight this, that they would get out of it, get their son out too, sue... What they didn't know was that the anti-ecto law enabled the GIW to hold them indefinitely, without trial or hearing. Just the suspicion was enough.

With them sufficiently dealt with, O turned back to the beaten figure on the ground. He approached him and squatted down beside his head. Fenton/Phantom looked up at him, his eyes watering, still breathing in short, painful gasps.

"How," he wheezed, "How did you find me?"

O tilted his head and examined his catch clinically. It was better than he could have hoped for. The catch of the century. He would surely get a promotion for this.

"Teamwork," he said.


Oh my, did I have fun with this one :)