Chapter Twelve: Two-faced

"Guuuuuah!" Phantom screamed in agony as he was cut into, the man who he couldn't believe was his father leaning over him with a magnifying glass, intrigued by what he saw. Phantom was very human, even had a beating heart, even though he was a ghost. And Danny had enough ectoplasm in him to be close to a ghost. The fact that they were separated hadn't detached them entirely, and they still had so many traits of each other. He stood back and took notes, leaving Phantom on the table bleeding.

"Hey, dad!" Phantom rasped. "You need to close the damn door!"

"Don't swear, Phantom." Jack said, getting out his sewing kit again to stitch him up. "What will the stitches do for your regeneration?"

"Gee, I don't know! No one's ever cut me open before!" Phantom spat. "You're one twisted monster, you know that?! How can do this to your own kid?!"

Jack sighed. "I told you, the Danny I fathered died when you came to be. All that's left is a husk of him harboring the monster you two are."

"He's still the Danny you knew!" Phantom yelled.

"No, he's NOT." Jack paused in his sewing, glaring at him. "The Danny I fathered had NO ectoplasm in him; he wasn't even REMOTELY a ghost! That THING in the other room is NOT my son!" He continued to sew.

"Hey, you didn't use any antiseptic or anything." Phantom frowned.

"No, I did not." Jack replied, tying it off and standing back to look at his handiwork. "We'll find out in a few hours what your regeneration does with the stitches."

"Did you use antiseptic on Danny?" Phantom asked.

"No." Jack walked over to wash his hands and the sewing needle.

"No?! What if he gets sick?!" Phantom cried. "No matter what you may think, that's your son in there!"

"Shut up, ghost." Jack said through grit teeth. "Before I throw you back in that box."

Phantom glanced at his silent confinement and looked away. "…Danny…"

Jack ignored what the ghost had to say from then on, focusing on his work. Danny was stronger physically, but he wasn't sure how much stronger. He'd have to test that, maybe against a large animal. He picked up his cell-phone and dialed a number, talking quietly into it. "Yes, I'd like to have a wild animal brought in. It doesn't matter what, I just want to test the human half's strength."

Phantom turned his gaze towards him, his keen ghost ears picking up what Jack was saying. 'A wild animal?' He thought. 'Danny can't fight without me, if he crazy?' No, that was definitely a definite. Jack Fenton was crazy, there was no question.

Jack hung up then and turned to Phantom, walking over to him. "I want to test your durability to different temperatures." He used the Wraith Wrangler on him and undid his binds, forcing him along as he went to another room.

There were rooms with large windows in this room, each with a thermometer beside them. They were both at room temperature, but he could see from the gauges that one room only went cooler and the other hotter. "Take your pick." Jack said in a cheery tone that completely went against this situation.

"…Fine, cold." Phantom looked towards it. Jack took him to the room and closed the door before deactivating the Wraith Wrangler. Jack then went to the gauge with his notepad and started to take notes as he gradually lowered the temperature.

At first, Phantom didn't have any reaction. After a bit, though, he felt his ectoplasm quicken in pace and he started to run about the room to use all the extra energy, alternating between flying and running just to shake things up. The colder it got, the faster he could go. He was soon just a blur beyond the window, until Jack suddenly turned the heat back up to room temperature again.

"Whoa…" Phantom stopped and held his head, looking woozy. "What a rush…"

"Ready to turn up the heat?" Jack asked, turning on the Wraith Wrangler as he opened the door and latching it onto him.

"Fine." Phantom sighed, and then he was shoved into the heat room and the door locked.

This room had the opposite effect, Jack noticed. As he gradually turned up the heat, he saw Phantom growing more and more exhausted, until he was on his hands and knees on the floor. Unlike other ghosts, he was holding up very well against the highest temperature he had. Then he turned it down and Phantom lay on the floor in relief, panting heavily.

He didn't need to breathe, but he was clearly breathing heavily. He had a beating heart, but he didn't need one. He had mixture of human blood and ectoplasm and he was just so ghost-but-not-ghost it would baffle the minds of experts. Jack opened the door and used the Wraith Wrangler, but he didn't have bothered. Phantom was so exhausted by the ordeal he was in his half-sleep state and didn't even protest when he was carried back to the box and placed inside.

Jack locked him in and looked at him thoughtfully. 'Ghosts don't need to sleep, but here you are defenseless and asleep in front of me. Such an anomaly…' He glanced at the clock. He may as well get some sleep, since both his specimens were asleep. He glanced at Danny's pack, which was ringing, and walked over to look at who was calling. 'Jazmine.' He thought, answering it. "Heey, Jazzy-pants!"

"Dad! Is Danny there?" Jazmine asked.

"Sorry, Danny's asleep." Jack said, shaking his head.

"Oh. But, it's only the afternoon!"

"Yeah, he took some of my gummies because he kept dozing in the early morning and had a really bad crash." He laughed. "We're about to go again, and we'll be in an area without reception. I'll call when we have reception back, okay?"

"You have GOT to fix those gummies, that crash is killer." Jazz insisted.

"I'll work on that. I really gotta hang up now." Jack said, nodding.

"Well, tell Danny that I love and I'll miss him this summer. I'm sorry I missed your departure." Jazz said.

"I'll do that." Jack smiled. "Love you, Jazzy-pants."

"Love you, daddy." Jazz replied.

Jack hung up and then turned Danny's phone off. They couldn't have anyone interrupting their work by trying to contact Danny, after all.

After making sure Phantom was still asleep with a tap on his box, he walked out of the room and closed it, heading for his own room next to Danny's. He paused next to Danny's door and unlocked it, looking in. "Danny? Are you awake?" He asked calmly.

Danny slept on, too exhausted to wake up like usual. Smiling, he closed the door and locked it, walking to his own room. At a soft knocking, though, he paused and looked back.