Chapter 6

Danny let out a yawn as he found himself once again behind the wheel of his mother's red '83 Corolla. He reached for the blue travel mug he had claimed before they left Fenton Works and took a sip of the coffee as he waited for the light to turn green. Giving a glance to his mother sitting in the passenger seat he noticed her leaning over one of his old book bags on the floorboard at her feet. She had packed it with some of Vlad's stuff, hoping if she had some free time she could work on the large mountain of an estate.

Danny put the old travel mug back in its hanging cupholder as the light turned to green. Silently he let her get her papers together as he reviewed what he had seen when praying for a bathroom yesterday. He knew the next light was the one he was going to need, already working his way through morning traffic to the right lane as they drove over a bridge.

"How are you feeling?" Maddie asked as she sat back in her seat.

"Nervous, excited," Danny offered with a force laugh. "I mean, I've always wanted to work with NASA."

The light came into view before the NASA sign and rock garden could be read. "For the benefit of all," Danny read aloud as he turned on the right turn blinker. "Hope that means ecto-Americans as well."

"Where'd that come from?" Maddie asked as they pulled onto NASA Parkway.

"Uh, blame some overgrown turkeys," Danny said with a laugh as he thought of the three vultures. "Which building was it?"

"Visiting center, first on the left."

Danny followed her finger to see a small building right before what looked like a guard house at the side of the road. He pulled them into a parking spot and killed the engine. Pulling the keys out, he took the last swig of his coffee before getting out of the car.

"You got everything?" Maddie asked, swinging the purple bookbag over one shoulder. "Passport, wallet?"

"Still in my pocket," Danny said, patting his back pocket to double check. He closed the car door, pocketing the car keys, as he noticed her looking at the building with distrust. "Are you okay?" Danny asked.

Maddie grabbed tight to the bag strap as she took a deep breath. She forced a smile on her face as she turned to look at Danny across the car. "I'm fine, sweetie. Come on."

Danny followed his mother into the small building, the summer air already hot enough this early into the morning to make the AC feel refreshing. They stepped up to a receptionist's desk, Danny noticing a gift shop just off to their left, as the man behind the desk looked up at them.

"Maddie and Danny Fenton," Maddie said. "We're here to meet Dr. Hansley."

"Give me one moment to let him know you've arrived," the receptionist said a moment before picking up his desk phone.

"Dr. Maddie Fenton, I thought I heard a voice I recognized," a male voice said, turning the two towards the gift shop.

A man dressed in a blue button up and brown slacks with a bow tie walked out of the gift shop as Maddie said, "Dr. Craig Norton, this is a surprise. Are you in town visiting family?"

Danny gave his mother a glance, surprised to hear the man's last name was Norton, but his voice didn't sound like the Mr. Norton he had heard over the phone.

"No, I'm afraid my brother and sister-in-law are on their own while I'm here," Craig admitted. "What are you doing so far from your beloved Amity Park?"

"Finally got Danny into a program with NASA like he always wanted," Maddie lied smoothly. "How did that ghost hunt in Ireland go? I read in your published article you thought you had found where fairies had come from?" A hint of a laugh was in her voice as Craig pulled a face.

"It was a theory and if you wish to debunk me, I'm all for hearing it," Craig said, quickly recovering.

"Dr. Fenton, Dr. Norton, good. It seems you two already know each other," a familiar male voice said.

Danny turned to see a slightly over weight man walking beside a woman he thought looked a bit like Paulina might by her forties. He smiled as he recognized the balding man and said, "Hey Mr. Hansley."

Stephen Hansley took Danny's hand to shake as he smiled at the teen. "Glad to see you again, Danny," he said, freeing his hand. He gave a handshake to both Maddie and Craig as he said, "I'm glad you already know each other. I just have to introduce you to Marla Pérez, she'll be the one directly in charge of your stay with us." At this he stepped aside to motion to the Latina as she gave the three a polite smile.

"Glad to meet you," she offered.

"Let's step into an office so we can talk," Stephen offered.

"With him?" Maddie asked, throwing a thumb at Craig as he said something similar.

"I'm sorry about all of the secrecy, but yes," Marla tried.

Danny gave a glance at his mother, seeing distrust aimed at Craig, as the three filed behind the two NASA employees. He followed them into a small conference room and took a seat closest to the door by where Stephen was logging into a laptop. Maddie took the seat beside Danny, leaving Marla and Craig to take the seats on the other side of the short table.

"Danny, I'd like to start by thanking you for agreeing to this," Stephen started with. "Hopefully together we can learn more about you while helping us with a few projects."

"I always wanted to work at NASA," Danny admitted, his nerves making him unsure what to say.

"Wait, he's the kid I'm here for?" Craig asked with surprise, looking at Stephen and then Marla. He turned to Danny and asked, "You're the human behind Danny Phantom?"

"We were hoping you could be a little more subtle when you learned of his identity," Marla retorted, eyeing the man.

"We couldn't risk telling you before now," Stephen informed, looking harshly at Craig. "Is there going to be a problem?"

"No, no, of course not," Craig quickly said, recovering himself. He looked back at the two Fenton's a moment before asking, "I just don't understand it. How did the woman all for ecto-safety procedures end up with Danny Phantom for a son?"

"Hey, it was an accident, alright," Danny retorted, starting to be annoyed with this Norton as much as he already was with the other members of the man's family.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it to be accusatory," Craig tried, holding up his hands in defense. "I'll just shut up now. I've already shoved both feet in my mouth."

Stephen Hansley gave him a look before turning to Danny and Maddie. "Craig Norton was called in due to his skill with both ecto science as well as medical science," the balding man informed, pulling out a stapled pile of papers from beside his laptop to hand to Danny. Danny gave it a glance, seeing it looked like the man's resumé, before handing it to his mother. "If, for any reason, you don't feel he's doing his duty here, let me know. I want you to be as comfortable here as you can be."

"When did you start at Wisconsin for your ecto science doctorate?" Maddie asked, flipping to the second page.

"'83, I believe I started right before you and your husband left," Craig informed as Maddie nodded her head. "Xu wouldn't let us forget about Vlad's accident."

"Professor Xu was very protective of his class after that," Maddie said with a nod. "It's what started me looking into safety measures we could take."

"Are we good to continue than?" Stephen asked, his eyes traveling between the two doctors in ecto science.

"I believe so," Maddie said, flipping the papers back to the first sheet before sitting it on the table before her.

"We took the liberty to make you three ID badges," Marla informed, passing out thick cards. Danny took his to find they had dug up last year's school picture to use as his photo with his name and guest status printed below it. "Keep them with you. Most of our doors are locked so you'll need these to get around. After this, you'll need to use these to get pass the guard station and drive to Ames Road where there's a parking lot. Across from that is our medical building where you'll spend most of this week."

"I don't know how much of my proposed schedule got to you, but I would like to start with a CAT scan," Craig said. "I would like to know what your base line normal for both your human and ghost halfs."

Danny gave a glance towards his mother, feeling like he was back to being a little kid at his first doctor's appointment. Looking back at Dr. Norton he nodded his head, "Okay."

-.-.-.-

Danny stretched his arms over his head as he was free of the large scanner and back in his normal clothes. He stood in Craig Norton's office with the doctor and his mother looking at a computer screen, having just come back from changing out of the hospital gown.

"Danny, has your blood always been so mixed?" Maddie asked, looking up with worry on her face.

Danny froze at the question before lowering his arms to shove his hands in his pockets. "No, first noticed that a month ago," Danny admitted. "Meant to tell you, sorry."

"Maddie, I don't believe it's much to worry about," Craig said, keeping his eyes to the computer screen as he scrolled through the green and black window. He stopped scrolling and pointed to the screen as Maddie turned back to look. "His white and red cells are fine, the numbers are healthy. His plasma has been almost completely replaced with a thin type of ectoplasm and his platelets have been replaced with an ecto-substitute but they seem to be acting like they should."

"It would account for his fast healing while he was human," Maddie thought aloud. She turned to Craig and asked, "How long until we get the CAT report?"

"Probably only half an hour," Craig said, giving a glance at his watch. He turned to face Danny and asked, "You ready for lunch?"

Danny rubbed his arm where the IV of contrast had been feeding into his body, knowing the prick was healed, and said, "Sure."

Craig rolled himself away from the computer and stopped next to a small fridge under the desk holding up beakers and models of internal organs. "The cafeteria's a bit of a drive from here so I picked up some subs," Craig informed. He sat up with three wrapped sandwiches and said, "I've got turkey, ham, and chicken, who wants what?"

"I'll take the ham," Danny said, pulling his hand from his pocket as he walked over to the man. "You don't have a Boyal, do you?"

Craig handed him the sub with a confused look on his face. "Why would you want it boiled?"

"Boyal Cola," Maddie offered, stepping over to grab the chicken one from his hands. "It's a local drink."

"Sorry, just got water and Sprite," Craig admitted, reaching in the mini fridge once more to pull out a water bottle and a bag of chips. He rolled himself away and said, "Maybe tomorrow we can plan ahead."

Danny bent down and grabbed a Sprite, giving the fridged chips a glance only to see lime and vinegar. He added it to his hand and stepped away so his mother could grab the rest of her lunch. Hooking his shoe around the leg of a stool on wheels, he kicked it over to a small free bit of counter beside where Craig was moving the keyboard to eat in front of the computer.

"Lime and vinegar, I didn't realize I grabbed that," Craig said, eyeing Danny's lunch as he sat it on Craig's right. Maddie stepped over to reclaim her chair on the other side of the doctor as Craig asked, "You actually like those?"

"Blame Mom," Danny said, unwrapping his sub before taking a bite. He sat the sub back on the wrapper to open the bag of chips, a part of him tired of people calling his taste in chips weird.

"I ate them a lot while I was pregnant with him and the taste grew on me," Maddie admitted. "He tried them when he was small and still likes them." She opened her water and took a sip before asking, "I'm curious, how did a ghost hunting family as big as yours produce a medical doctor?"

"You said it right there," Craig admitted. "My mother was accident prone. The last straw was when she died because of a portal malfunction."

"I'm sorry, I remember hearing about that," Maddie offered.

Danny gave a sidelong look at the doctor beside him, a part of him surprised there was another portal as well as another involving an accident. "Are you sure she died?" Danny asked.

"Danny," Maddie rebuked.

"A portal accident's how Vlad and me got our powers," Danny pointed out in defense.

"Her body's been cremated, if that answers your question," Craig said, eyeing Danny.

"Has your family finished their portal?" Maddie asked.

Craig gave Danny one last look before turning back to his lunch. He grabbed a Dorito and said, "Yeah, right before I left for here they called saying it worked."

"Do you know which method they used to activate it?" Maddie asked.

Craig shook his head, saying, "Sorry, you'd have to ask my brother."

"No, thank you," Maddie retorted, taking a bite of her sub.

The three ate in silence for a moment before Craig turned to Danny. "Hey Danny," he started.

Danny let out a sound around the last bite of sub he had just crammed into his mouth, looking up at the man in the bow tie.

"When they first pulled me into all of this, I started doing some research on Vlad, since they neglected to tell me who you were," Craig admitted. "I wanted to see what I could between his human and ghost self to come up with ideas for you. Other than the fact that the earliest pictures of Plasmius I could find showed a very similar man to his human self, as he aged, his ghost self became more bulky. By the Disasteroid, his two forms were so different the UN had no trouble convincing people the real Vlad Masters had been possessed. I was wondering how different your muscle mass was between your two forms."

Danny reached for his Sprite, washing down his sandwich, before trying to explain, "I know there's a difference. In a way, when I'm fighting ghosts, it feels like I'm using a different body than the one that deals with gym class."

"Your grades show that," Maddie retorted.

"In my defense, Mrs. Tetslaff should not be teaching family life," Danny mumbled, pulling out a chip to pop into his mouth. Swallowing he looked back at Craig and added, "Even when I've seen pictures or my reflection, it sometimes takes me a moment to register it's me."

"You mind showing me yourself as Phantom?" Craig asked, turning his chair so he faced Danny.

Danny held his lips tight, giving a glance at Maddie, before pushing his stool back to stand up. "Going ghost," he said, self-conscious of his battle cry as he gripped his hands in fists at his side. The circle of light extended from his waist and split itself, changing him into the world's superhero. He closed his eyes as the light reached his face, letting it finish changing his hair from black to white, before opening his eyes. He looked down at the doctor, seeing a mix of curiosity and scientific wonder, waiting for his response.

"Your ring is white," Craig stated.

"Well, yeah," Danny said, unsure how to respond to that.

"Sorry, I've only seen the video of Vlad's transformation," Craig admitted, holding a hand up palm out. Dropping the hand he added, "Guess I assumed you were like him."

"Their powers both came from portal accidents, sure," Maddie said, getting Craig to turn to look at the woman in a blue jumpsuit, "but the accidents were completely different. Vlad was shot in the face with a mix of primed ectoplasm and diet cola, giving him ecto-acne. Danny was, instead, standing inside the portal when it started up and never went through ecto-acne."

"Add to it, Vlad's a fruit loop and evil," Danny commented, crossing his arms over his chest.

"While you're good?" Craig asked, turning back to Danny.

Danny dropped his arms, stunned a moment at his bluntness, before he said, "I try to be."

"Ghosts still prove that their mind controls more about their physical appearances than humans can," Maddie said. "Vlad saw himself as being beat down by life so he fought back." She paused as Craig turned to look at her, getting her to coolly add, "I've been named executor of his will. Everything he wrote paints himself that way. My point still stands however, he saw himself as Vlad the Impaler, Vlad Dracula, hence the hair style, the fangs, even the blue skin, black ring, and his costume." She stopped as if an idea just appeared in her mind before she turned to Danny and asked, "Your costume is just that, right? I know it's your old hazmat jumpsuit you pulled your father's head off of, inverted like your hair, but you should've outgrown it by now."

"Mom, yes, it's a costume," Danny whined, his face heating up as he remembered the exposés that had that had come out during his fall in popularity. To prove his point he grabbed hold of the fabric at his shoulder and tugged it tight, letting go so it snapped back in place. "We've been ordering replacements from PK Safety; the coverall 12 pack, with feet?" Danny said, sure she'd recognize what he was talking about since that was the company they ordered all of their hazmat suits from. "Sam makes the logo and Tucker's been sewing them on."

"Remind me when we get home to add those to my next order, they give us a discount," Maddie said. She looked back at Craig and continued, "Back to my point, Danny sees himself more akin to the superheroes from comics or cartoons."

"Hey," Danny interjected, a part of him embarrassed for being called out.

Maddie gave him a smile and continued, "My daughter put it best, it boils down to a hero-complex."

Craig turned back to Danny and looked him over. "I can see it," he said, nodding his head. "Your human self is almost stereotypic mid-teenager, could be called scrawny, while your ghost self is more muscular. Helps in the life you've created for yourself. No one would expect you to be one in the same with people thinking the change is more like Superman, but you might want to try finding a closer muscle mass balance between the two. I could easily see you in ten to twenty years with a fully powerful ghost half and an unbalanced human half, and just off the top of my head that doesn't sound healthy. We'll learn more while you're here, but even if I'm wrong and your two sides don't need to be in balance, I mean Vlad obviously wasn't, it still would be good if your human self could hold his own against a foe. I'm thinking worst case scenarios, but-"

"No, I think I get what you're saying," Danny said, stopping the man from his rambling. "Not like I wanna get hit by the Plasmius Maximus again."

"Plasmius Maximus?" Maddie echoed. She reached down into the book bag, scrounging for a single paper in all she had brought. She pulled out one with a smile on her face and said, "Thought I recognized it. It's on his list of ghost research related items." She looked back up at Danny and asked, "What is it?"

Danny floated over to look at the paper, seeing a long list of device names. His eyes fell on something labeled DPCl #11, worried he might have an idea as to who that might be referring to, as he said, "It's a weapon that'll short out our powers. The only time I could wear a Spector Deflector and it not hurt me."

"When was this?" Maddie asked, looking up at him.

Danny dropped to his feet as he offered, "When Vlad tricked us with the Dlav science trip." He let the lights wash over him, changing him back to Fenton, as he looked back at Craig. "You're right, I need to do something for my Fenton side."

A ping came from the computer, getting Craig to reach for the keyboard resting on top of the monitor to log back in. A smile pulled on his face as he said, "Good, the CAT scans just got sent over."

Danny sat back down on his stool and grabbed his Sprite, not sure how much of the scientific mumbo-jumbo he would understand. He watched with amusement as his mother and Craig debated on ecto-science as he watched them skim through images of his insides. From the best he could understand, his Fenton self was still fairly normal, abet the ectoplasm in the blood part. When they started flipping through his Phantom self he learned his ghost half did its best to mimic human organs but where his heart was as Fenton, his ghost core took its place.

That got them speculating if instead of two bodies trying to take up the same space it was that his body was actually being teleported back and forth, keeping his consciousness. Danny pushed himself to his feet and mumbled, "I'm going to the bathroom," before leaving the two in the doctor's room.

He pushed the door closed and headed down the hall as he let out a sigh. Here he was, in a NASA facility, and he feared this week would be just the two of them theorizing about his body.