Chapter Sixty Seven

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"Andy- C'mon, Andy, for fuck's sake- Wake up!" A sharp shake through his entire body had Andrew startling awake, eyes wide as he stared at where Randy was looking at him with thinly veiled panic. "You were screaming-"

"Danny." Had Andrew been screaming? Hm, it seemed so. Unimportant, though. No- Important. Something was wrong. "Randy, where's-"

"Whoa, whoa, hey, Danny is sleeping over at Fenton Works tonight, remember?" Randy swallowed, expression pinched and hands gripping Andrew's arms just a touch too tightly. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"I- No- Yes?" Andrew shook his head and he just- He felt like something very, very bad had just happened. "Where's your phone?"

"You felt it, too." Oh, yes, something was very, very wrong. Randy tossed over the phone and Andrew was going through the contacts at once, raising an eyebrow at seeing the name. "Oh, shut up, I know you saved his name as mon cher."

"No, no, I think it's cute." Andrew pressed call, putting the phone to his ear. "Every wolf needs a little puppy, after all." The punch to his arm was worth it, truly. "Ringing." Phone wasn't dead, then, or destroyed. That was good. Except it kept ringing.

"Hi, this is Danny Fenton, I'm not here right now, but feel free to leave a message after the whole beep thing. Why is it even a beep? That's stupid. Shouldn't it be something different. We should be able to customize-" The typical beeping sound cut off the ramblings, Andrew's smile weak as he shook his head and hung up.

"No answer and straight to voicemail." Which was… Danny always picked up his phone, even in the middle of the night. Years of ghost hunting had made him a very light sleeper. "Randy."

"I know, I know." Randy took the phone, dialing up new numbers. "Here, let's see if this can't help- Ah, yo, Sam, Tucker, you two still awake?"

"If Danny didn't love you so much then I would kill you." Oh, that was Tucker and not Sam. Interesting. Scooting a bit closer, Andrew smiled when Randy tilted the phone so they could both hear. "Whaddya want?"

"Can either of you get a hold of Danny? Andy and I both got a bad feeling and Danny didn't pick up his phone just now." It was a moment of silence, Andrew hearing rustling around from what sounded like both ends.

"He's not answering the emergency numbers or my regular number," Sam mumbled, yawning halfway through her words.

"No response on IM or messaging," Tucker threw in, sounding just as tired. "I'll go on over and check on him, I only live a few blocks out. Besides, now I'm not gonna sleep until I make sure he's okay."

"Thanks, Tucker. Take a weapon or two with you, too." The 'just in case' went unsaid, but Andrew knew that they all heard it.

"You say that like I'm not always carrying a weapon. Alright, I'll check in soon." The call ended after a few more pleasantries and goodbyes, Andrew still full of nervous energy. The fact Liz was playing a soft melody in his head to try and soothe him told him just how quickly his worries were running away from him.

"He's fine." It was Danny, after all, and what trouble could he get into this late? "His phone is probably on silent and he's asleep with a book on his face."

Randy shifted the blankets so they were heaped up around them like a circling wall, Andrew hating how safe that made him feel and oh… Right. "I used to do this for you when you had a nightmare."

"I remember." Those days were so far away, now, but he still remembered a few of them. "You did everything for me."

"I loved you. Maybe not like I do now, of course, but I've always loved you." Hiding a smile, Andrew shifted to crawl into Randy's lap, sighing softly when arms wrapped around him tightly. "He'll be okay, Andy."

"I know, but…" Andrew looked up and Randy's look said it all. Something felt wrong and neither of them were going to be reassured until they knew for certain that Danny was safely asleep in bed with a silent phone.

Andrew wasn't sure how long it was until Randy's phone started to ring. It felt like an eternity, but it seemed to be not even a second before the phone was in their hands and Randy was pressing speaker, Tucker's voice coming through loud and frantic, "I can't find him and there's no sign of him. His parents said he went upstairs after dinner and his bed looks like it's been slept in but he's not there and his phone is still on his bed. Did he go to you guys? Vidya?"

"We'll check. Call Sam and wake everyone you can." It could still be nothing. It could still be nothing, but they had learned the price of pretending it was when it wasn't. "C'mon." Randy's hand wrapped around his and power swirled around them, Andrew shuddering as they landed on Vidya's front steps with bare feet and thin clothes.

Pushing the doors open, Andrew was scanning the area at once, hope rising as he saw a flash of white before he realized it was a Phantom, just not their Phantom. "-please! Andrew and Randy have to be here!" The doors closed and Elle's head snapped over to them, the girl covered in pillows and blankets and looking to have been sobbing.

"Elle?" Randy barely got to ask before the girl was flying for his arms and latching onto him, Randy looking as surprised as Andrew felt. "Hey, hey, what's wrong? What happened?"

"It- They- I was sleeping and I kept hearing noises- He kept screaming at me to run and I didn't know where else to go-" Fuck. Andrew had never been fond of children, but even he couldn't stop himself from flying to the kitchen to grab a warm rag and flying back to immediately scrub at Elle's face.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, Elle, you're okay, we've got you." Randy kept his voice soft and soothing, tucking Elle close and jerking his head towards the couch, Andrew nodding and following after him. "Can you tell us what happened?"

"Section 13 happened!" Oh… Oh, no. "Danny, Dad, the ghosts, everyone. They were all taken." Trying to think of something to say, Andrew startled as Elle was set into his lap, Randy teleporting away without a word. "I couldn't do anything!"

"I'm sure you did everything you could." Tucking the girl under his chin, Andrew stood up carefully and walked towards the kitchen, grabbing a blanket as a second thought. Wrapping Elle up in it and setting her on the counter, Andrew stayed close as he slipped her cookies and went about making a cup of hot chocolate to try and calm her down.

It took a few minutes, but Elle finally bit into one of the cookies, tears starting to dry up. Andrew wasn't too surprised by that. She always had been a strong girl. Finishing off the cup, Andrew passed it to her, making sure both her hands were cupping it to try and get some warmth in her.

"Better?" A small nod. It would have to do. "Okay. I need you to tell me everything you can, Elle, right from the start. Can you do that?"

"I… I was sleeping and Section 13 broke in. I- I'm used to being a light sleeper, you know? I mean, never know when I need to get out of a situation. I thought it was just some stupid burglar that Dad was going to beat up, but then- Then I heard him screaming." Oh, this poor thing. She had only just accepted Vlad again and then to hear something like that…

"It was bad, Andrew. It was really, really… They used those black vine things on him, and when I tried to go down and help he just kept telling me to run. I- I couldn't just leave him! I wanted to fight back, but… But I realized I couldn't do it on my own, either."

"Good girl." Andrew ruffled her hair, smiling sadly when she pressed into the touch as much as she could. "I'm glad. That means you're safe, right?" It was the same bitten lip look Danny used when he was guilty. "Elle…"

"I didn't escape. Val- Valerie found me. I was cornered and they were about to put me in one of those red thermos things and then Valerie said she'd take care of it." No… Not even she- "She let me go."

"Thank god." Because Andrew really didn't want to have to be petty enough to kill his boyfriend's ex, but if he had to he wouldn't really argue, he supposed. "Wait, she let you go?"

"She told me to stay out of Amity Park and never come back or I'd end up just like Danny." Just like… That meant they had Danny. That meant Section 13 and Walker had his mate.

"Gone." Elle jumped, Andrew just barely helping her save the hot chocolate as he shakily looked over at Randy, the man looking exhausted. How many places had he teleported to. "All of them- Everyone. The lairs are empty, some of the nearby clans are missing, but their things aren't and the nomads never leave their stuff behind. Every ghost in the damn Zone is gone and Citadel is, too."

"Clockwork wouldn't abandon us to something like this." They all knew how dangerous Section 13 was and Andrew knew for a fact that Clockwork would do the impossible to help those he saw as his. "The Observants?"

"Clockwork's under an oath, too, and he can only interfere so much where Danny's concerned." Randy shoved a hand through his hair, tapping out a beat on his guns. He must have grabbed them the second he left. "Clockwork can't help us now."

"If… If everyone's gone, then why weren't we captured?" Blinking as they both looked at him, Andrew cleared his throat. "Well, we're only up because we felt something was wrong, but no agents came to Liz, right?"

"No… No, she would have woken us up if that was the case." Randy frowned, speaking slowly, "Maybe… I think maybe it's because Walker didn't know where my lair was, and that's where we were staying."

"Looks like it just saved your life," Elle said softly, Andrew giving her a weak smile and rubbing at her back.

"If we do this right, then it just saved everyone's lives. Come on, drink your hot chocolate, okay?" Smiling as the girl did as told, Andrew startled at Randy's intense look. "What?"

"It-" Randy shook his head, giving a smile. "Nothing. It can wait." With that, he was pulling out his phone and going through it, eyes narrowing. "Section 13 wants a fight, huh. Well, I'd hate to disappoint."

"Randy? What are you doing?" At this point everyone probably knew something was wrong.

"I'm calling in our own hunters."

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"You know, I'm getting really sick of waking up in chains with no idea where I am. The fact I even have to say that should tell you how sick I am of it." Fuck, this was so much worse than that time Nocturne had kidnapped him. At least he hadn't felt like it took all of his effort to even remember his name, let alone what he had last been doing.

Okay, focus, Fenton. There didn't seem to be anybody around and it was dark. Great. Great first start. Okay, no people was good. That meant he wasn't being tortured. Yet- Argh! Positive thoughts, Fenton! "Okay, okay, chained in a cage and- And drugged?" Considering how everything was blurry and bleary and fuzzy, he was probably drugged. Drugged seem liked a safe bet.

Okay, focus, focus, focus. It was quiet and empty and dark and what had he been doing? There… Okay, think back to last major event- Ah, right. Phantom. School. Right. Okay, after that he had been to Clockwork, he and Randy went on an adventure, Danny had almost died from some fucked up Ghost Zone beast, they had met one of the shifter clans, there- Jeez, one day with Randy was like twenty real days.

Right, he had gone back to Vidya and had lunch the next day, cuddled up with Andrew for a while, and then gone home and had dinner with a visiting Vlad and Elle. Danny and Elle had teamed up, Vlad and Jack got into a debate on ghost biology, and Maddie had been chatting on the phone to Jazz. Pretty normal family dinner.

Bedroom, calling to say goodnight to his mates, and then sleep. That was it. He had gone to sleep, and now here he was confused and lost in chains and what was probably a cage. It was always a cage, these days. Right, who could do this to him? Section 13? No, even Walker was more cautious than that, right? Maybe it was some new ghost wanting to challenge him. Jeez, if so then Kitty and Ember were going to make fun of him for the rest of his life for getting captured so easily.

God, jesus, fuck, everything fucking hurt. It also felt like there was something in the air. It was the same feeling before a big storm hit. Ugh, maybe he'd get lucky and this would turn out to be one big test from the Observants. Yeah. That'd be great. Except Clockwork usually warned him when shit like this was about to happen and he hadn't been acting strangely when he last saw him. Ooh, maybe the Observants had kidnapped him because he was a 'danger.' Jeez, if that was the case then Andrew and Randy would be there soon and he'd be home in a few hours.

That still didn't feel quite right, though. He felt too… The Observants wouldn't resort to something as human as drugging him. So what- A flash of white had Danny perking up, gaze still a bit too unfocused even with his glasses still on his face. White was good, though. White meant Randy. Except Randy would have said something by now, right?

A quiet, low chuckle bounced off what sounded like metal walls, Danny's eyes wide as the chuckle turned into a southern drawl, "Well, well, well, if isn't my favorite criminal."

"You know, seeing as I'm seventeen still, it'd be delinquent." Fuck- Fuck, what did he- What could he do? Chains. Chains and a cage and feeling weak and fucking Walker-

"Brave old Phantom. Always ready with a quick one-liner and a clever quip." Walker crouched down in front of the cage, Danny swallowing harshly at just how small he felt. "Oh, don't worry, boy, I've got something special planned for you. I'm gonna make sure you serve your sentence plenty."

"Oh yeah? Feel up to telling me what the crime even is this time?" Danny aimed for a smirk, but it fell flat when he saw Walker's eyes shine like Spectra's with wild, unhinged glee. Walker had never been just another ghost, but now…

"Your crime, ghost boy, is costing me everything." His grin was utterly toxic and oh… That's why Walker had always been so dangerous. It was why Walker and Spectra both had been dangerous. While a typical ghost's obsession didn't cause harm or pain, Walker and Spectra were people that thrived off causing the most amount of pain they could. Spectra fed off of it and Walker thrived in it.

People like Skulker who hunted were just in it for the thrill of the hunt and chase, but people like Walker? Walker's obsession had never been locking away criminals. It had always been about hunting ghosts.

"You know what the good thing about the shadow was that you killed?" Feeling like this really wasn't the time for clever comments and sarcastic whips, Danny slowly shook his head. "She had a lot of good information."

The harsh cackling of electricity snapped around them, Danny clenching his left hand tightly as the sound near drowned out everything. "Don't you worry, boy, it's not just you we're gonna be punishing! Got quite a collection of inmates here, now!"

Oh- Oh. It hadn't just been Danny to be taken. Well, then. That changed everything, now didn't it? Looking into Walker's eyes, Danny smirked, "Yeah? I remember what happened to your last collection."

Danny no longer had the luxury of being afraid of what was about to happen to him. If there were others in this mess besides just him, then, well. He was going to stop it. He was going to shut Walker down and stop him. Really, it was the only thing he could do.

He was the hero, after all.