The device sparked and died in Danny's hands. It was just another failed prototype, another thing he couldn't use.
His parents didn't understand the reason for the increase in ghostly activity, but once the ghosts had begun causing trouble, they'd turned from the intent to study to the intent to defend. For every capture and containment device they invented, they created two more offensive weapons with the intent of protecting of Amity Park.
But they didn't know enough about the ghosts for everything to be effective, and their miscalculations—
"You haven't learned yet, have you?" the ghost before Danny taunted. It had changed again and was back to wearing his face, using his voice. It knew how much that unsettled him. "You thought you could fight. That's cute. But you can't. You don't know how this works. You don't understand anything. You don't even understand yourself." It smiled at him and tilted its head. "I do."
Danny tried to swallow down the fear that was crawling back up his throat. The ghost was right; he didn't know everything. He was still trying to figure it out. And he was failing. And because of that, this ghost was….
Danny didn't know for sure, but there had been…incidents. Too many for him to believe it a coincidence when he knew what this ghost could do. He'd started keeping a sharper eye out, searching for any sort of clue, and that's when he'd seen Valerie walk past the Nasty Burger.
Even though he could see her inside, talking to Star.
He'd cut and run without giving Sam and Tucker an explanation, but they had most likely assumed that it was happening again, that something was coming. They couldn't help him stop it, and he didn't want everyone to know, so in the end it had become routine for them to distract anyone who tried to follow him while he found somewhere private. It was the only way they knew how to help, the only way he wanted them to help. Everything else was too dangerous.
But he'd thought the weapon he'd stolen from the lab last week would work.
He hadn't thought he'd be facing down a ghost unprepared.
The ecto-gun prototype had passed its preliminary tests, but it hadn't been able to stand up in a real fight. One good blast had sent it flying across the warehouse floor, and even after he'd managed to retrieve it…. Maybe it was frozen, maybe it was fried, but the ghost had disrupted it somehow. He'd had a moment of hope when he'd first tried using it again, but now it wouldn't even power up.
The ghost lunged forward, and Danny wasn't fast enough to get out of the way. It tackled him and held him down in a grip stronger than Danny's own, and its grin grew. The disturbed dust motes had Danny coughing, but somehow, the slight grey coating on the ghost's hair only made it seem more sinister. "You've been very good about keeping our secret," it said, not seeming to exert any effort in keeping Danny pinned no matter how hard he struggled, "but in light of your little plan, failure though it was, I'm not sure that's enough."
Shock stilled him for a moment. "What do you mean?" His voice climbed, betraying his panic if his face hadn't already done so.
"You're powerful, but you're not very useful as you are," the ghost said frankly. "I should keep you somewhere till I can bring more of my friends out to play. I wouldn't have to do much more than leave a trail of clues in the wrong direction and make a big show of running away, and then we could have more time together."
Danny tried to choke out some kind of protest, but it came out as a wordless whine. He wished he thought someone would hear him if he screamed, but he realized now the ghost had led him here on purpose. Towards the old industrial part of town. Through a hole in a loose chain-link fence, in through the side door with the broken lock, and out into the thick dust and cobwebs of some old manufacturing plant.
"Oh, I wouldn't hurt you more than I need to," the ghost assured him. "We're friends, aren't we?"
Danny didn't answer, and the ghost laughed.
"You'll like my friends, too. We have such fun together, and it won't take much for you to bring them through."
Unfortunately, that was true enough. It really wouldn't. Not when Danny could barely control this.
He'd gotten a bit better at actually emptying his mind instead of picking something to focus on, but he could still count on both hands the number of times he'd actually been successful in closing the passageway inside of him. And the moment he wasn't alone, the moment he couldn't focus, the moment this ghost decided to torture him—
It needed him alive, but that was about it. It didn't need him healthy, or mobile, or really anything beyond conscious enough to allow the portal inside him to open. And considering he'd woken from dreams with ghostly fire searing in his throat or spitting up leaves, he wasn't wholly sure about the conscious part, either.
The ghost had called him powerful, but it was only the thing inside him that was powerful.
"My parents will know you're not me," Danny whispered. "My sister, my friends—"
"—have never noticed before." The ghost was dismissive, but the words took away Danny's breath. He didn't need to think too hard to understand the implications. The ghost had masqueraded as him before and gotten away with it. It had been planning this. It might have even planned all of this.
Instead of catching it off its guard, Danny had followed it into a trap.
And now he was going to pay for that mistake.
The ghost abruptly released him and climbed to its feet. "I'll come get you when I'm ready," it said.
Danny stared at it from his position on the cold concrete floor, still trembling and not trusting that the ghost was really letting him go. Maybe it was just another trick. Maybe it was messing with him, wanting him to think he was free before it—
"But just know that if you tell anyone," it continued blithely, "I'll possess your sister first. She should be able to remind me how much blood human bodies hold."
Danny blanched and abruptly found himself fighting the urge to be sick—actually sick, not ghost-sick. He spun onto his hands and knees and gagged, coughing and hacking and heaving. Phlegm splattered onto the floor, and he tried to calm his breathing before something worse decided to follow.
When he finally sat back, he wasn't surprised to find that he was alone.
Just like last time.
Like he would be next time, unless he could find a way to stop the ghost first.
Danny closed his eyes on his tears and balled his hands into fists, trying to battle his emotions back into submission. He couldn't afford to lose control. That's what it wanted. The more chaos there was, the more distracted his parents would be.
It wanted him to panic. It wanted him focused on its threats, too terrified to turn to anyone for help. It wanted his parents focused on all the other ghosts so that they never realized it was there. It wanted his friends to stay ignorant of how deep this went so that he'd be easier to replace when the time came. If he did all that, it would win.
But if he kicked up a fuss, it wouldn't hesitate when it came to following through on its threat.
It didn't care about his family or his friends.
It just wanted to control him.
How was he supposed to fight back against a ghost when the only weapons he had didn't even work?
"There has to be a way," Danny murmured. "There just has to be."
But he didn't know who he could turn to for help without the ghost finding out. He didn't even know what his next move should be. Unless his parents invented something that worked consistently….
He'd figure something out.
He had to.