The rain outside had intensified.
- Are we sure we want to do this? - Tucker asked.
They were out of the room, just him, Sam, and Jazz. Vlad, Danny and Danielle had stayed inside the room resting and sharing all the necessary information for the next time they faced Dan.
- Of course not. - Jazz replied. - But we don't have a choice.
- That's becoming a constant. - Sam whispered.
Tucker took off his cap to scratch his head. Again, Jazz was right. Paulina was behind them, her head down. Her curiosity demanded that she ask questions, but she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answers…and with everything she'd been going through, she might not even want to ask.
- Good. But I will need something more powerful than my Tablet.
The Latina girl looked up and saw all three of her looking at her.
- What? – That was the only thing she could say.
- Do you have a computer that you can lend me?
- Why? – She asked cautiously.
- I need to contact Valerie, but I need to establish a secure and encrypted connection if I want no one to trace us back to…
- Do you have it or not? - Sam interrupted.
- Valerie? – She ignored the goth woman's question. - What do you need Valerie for?
- She can help us… I think. - Tucker scratched his chin.
- How?
- Are you going to ask more questions? – Jazz asked starting to get irritated.
- Are you sure this is the best option? - Sam asked Tucker. - What if they're spying on her too?
- I guess it's a risk we have to take... What other option do we have?
- What if you hack her phone... or some personal account of hers to leave a message?
- If they're watching her, they'll still find out.
- But I don't think they will. – Now Jazz spoke. - If they knew her identity, they would have done something long ago.
Finding herself ignored again, Paulina took her phone out of her pocket and unlocked it. She touched the screen a few times and brought it to one ear.
- Besides, we're talking about the G… What are you doing? – Jazz asked when she saw her making a phone call.
- You wanted to talk to Valerie, don't you? Well, I'm calling her...
- You can't do that! - Tucker yelled in alarm.
He tried to get closer to her to take the phone from her, but Paulina extended her hand to push him away. She hung up before her voicemail came through, and Sam snatched the phone from her in that instant.
- Give me that back, Manson!
- Can't you see that they are following us?! - She said hysterically. - Making phone calls could cause…!
- Correction! – Pauline interrupted her. – They are looking for you. So, I can do whatever I want with my phone.
With a slap of her hand, she snatched it from Sam's hands and quickly began to write. The girl's words silenced them. Sam crossed her arms as she observed that Paulina kept typing on her phone.
- What are you doing? – She asked him.
- She's not picking up the calls... but you can see messages without having to answer. – She replied without looking up. - Anything specific you want to tell her?
- Yeah. Tell her that… - Tucker began.
- Give me that. - Sam took the phone from her again.
She turned her back so she wouldn't try to take the phone from her while she texted and began to type something that would make sure the girl would come.
- Ask her to bring all her weapons. – Jazz said.
- And the suit. Don't forget the suit. - Tucker added.
Paulina's mind was blocked. Had they said weapons? As in…firearms? Sam turned around and handed the phone back. Paulina quickly searched for the message sent.
- So now we just have to wait and… - Tucker was interrupted again.
- "If you want revenge, come to my house and be discreet. The one responsible for ruining your life is here." – Paulina read the message aloud and then looked at Sam curiously. - What the hell does that mean?
- It means that Valerie will definitely come. - Tucker replied.
- And that we need a contingency plan. – Jazz added.
Maddie and Jack were still watching the news broadcast on the small TV in the kitchen. Regardless of the channel they tuned in, they all showed the official story that their son was not just a criminal, but a murderer. They had spent hours in silence, watching agents enter and leave their home without being able to do anything, accusing their son of many things without the possibility of defending him. What hurt the most was that Danny had hidden that part of his life from them. And not only that, since now Jazz was also in the eye of the hurricane just for helping her little brother.
The sound of the rain accompanied the words that came out of the television and that came from other parts of the house. Reluctantly, Jack took control and turned off the television. His wife gave him a weak smile and he squeezed her hand gently. The brief moment was interrupted when a noise was heard on the outskirts of the house. They observed many agents moving outside the home, and they followed them cautiously.
When they looked out the front door, they saw their family vehicle collided with vehicles that were part of the barricade around their house. There were officers pointing at the vehicle from all directions, while some officers were moving toward the driver's door and back doors.
- … for traveling with the Fentons.
They heard the automatic Jack say as the figure began to deflate. They opened all the doors and with signs made it clear that the car was empty.
- Is there any way to know where the vehicle went? – L asked them walking in front of them with an umbrella covering him from the rain.
- Yeah. - Jack replied.
- But our children also know it, so I don't think you will find anything useful. - Maddie explained.
- We will be the ones to judge that.
L got lost inside the house, leaving them at the door with a downcast look. Jack looked up a little at the surrounding buildings, and noticed that some, if not all, of his neighbors were watching them from their windows. He had little trouble perceiving the hostility in some of the looks they were giving them.
- Come in, Maddie… Let's find something to eat.
L went down to the lab, where O and K were trying to establish a videoconference connection with some members of his headquarters. The screen was still showing static and the audio was choppy. O saw him coming and approached him, while K was moving some wires behind the screen.
- There's no connection?
- The rain interrupted all comms with the headquarters. – O explained.
L just nodded and cleared his throat a bit.
- The getaway vehicle was found empty. According to the Fentons, the truck's trip log won't be of any use to us.
- We will be the ones who judge that. – O replied.
L smiled at the answer and K managed to recover the connection. Their attention was redirected to the screen, while K joined them with the remote in hand, turning up the volume on the device.
- Can you hear us? - K asked.
- Loud and clear. – The operative on the other side of the screen replied. – I will redirect you to prisoner 0.
The operative pressed a few buttons and the image changed. Now there was a white padded room, where a man was held captive. He wore a straitjacket, had pale skin, and showed some signs of aging. As soon as he had a picture of them, the man started laughing.
- Officers… to what do I owe the pleasure of your digital visit?
- We are operatives, not officers. – K said.
- Tomato, tomatoe... it's the same.
- We need to consult you on something.
- And why should I help you? – He smiled.
- Because the monster we are looking for is a threat to everyone, including you.
- Monster? I don't see how I could help you in that case… I specialize in…
- Do you recognize this ghost? - O interrupted him.
Freakshow brought his face closer to the screen to take a closer look at the image. A magnified and enhanced shot of Dan appeared on the screen, taken during the live broadcast during the fight with Danny. It was the best frontal shot they had gotten of all the broadcast footage and, although the features couldn't be appreciated very well, it did show some of the details of his suit.
- Mmmm… No. I had never seen him.
The operatives looked at each other without any apparent emotion.
- But… could you zoom in on his head? – O did what he told him to. - Interesting.
- What's interesting?
- That seems to be the crown of fire. – He stepped away from the screen. – The story says that the holder of the crown of fire will gain unlimited power, as long as it is used in conjunction with the ring of power.
- Wait. – K said looking through the photos in the gallery, until he found one where the left hand was visible. - Are you talking about this ring?
Freakshow looked at the ring in the picture and frowned. Even he knew that this was bad news.
- Unfortunately, yes. But I do not understand…
- What? - O asked.
- Both items can only be used by the king of all ghosts.
- Are you telling us that this is the king of ghosts? – L said.
- Quite the opposite. That's not the king.
- How can you be sure?
- During the ghost crisis in Amity Park, the king's face was visible in the large green dome. But they are not the same ghost.
The connection began to fail again, as the rain increased in force. The three men looked at each other without saying anything, but understanding each other. One of the main reasons for his constant surveillance of Amity Park had been that incident, when an entire city had been transported into the ghost zone. That made things even more complicated. They really needed to catch the ghost boy to get answers.
Valerie arrived at her apartment drenched, walking with her eyes lost at any particular point on the floor. She left the keys on the small table near the door and walked to the small dining room, where she pulled up a chair and sat down. She knew that she should change her clothes if she didn't want to get sick, but she didn't care about that at the moment. Her mind had been spinning around the same point since the morning. First Vlad's lab, then the explosion, the apparition in the sky, the fight, the revelation, the chase...
It was too much to process. She was mentally exhausted and it was not past noon yet. She placed her elbows on the table and rested her head on her hands. She inhaled deeply and exhaled all the frustration that was building up in her. She remembered that she had promised her dad to let her know when she got home, so she took her cell phone out of the pocket of the sweater she was wearing. She smiled when she saw the cell phone completely wet, because she remembered how much her father had insisted on buying one that was waterproof.
She opened the speed dial on her phone and made a very brief call with her dad. She exchanged a few words with him and hung up in less than a minute. She stared at the time on her phone for a moment, until it got blocked for inactivity. She turned it back on to look at her notifications bar and she realized that the one who had called her while she was walking down the street had been Paulina.
She was greatly surprised, because she didn't know that she still had her number. Sure, they had been friends in the past, but that had changed since her fall from grace. Most of the popular kids had stopped talking to her since then, except for Kwan and, on occasion, Star. But she assumed that Paulina had deleted her number minutes after she had found out that she was no longer rich.
When she noticed the multitude of messages she had from her, including the ones coming from the Latina, a part of her thought of ignoring them. She wasn't in the mood to deal with Paulina, no matter how much she had changed in the last few years because of…well, no one really knew why she had changed so much. But the insistence shown by the 15 messages she had piqued her curiosity.
She read the first messages with total regret. It was just the classic Paulina demanding attention from everything that moved. She swiped her finger across the screen to skip all the "ANSWER!" that she had sent her, until she stumbled across the last message. Her features instantly hardened. Her attempts to keep a cool head, be rational and think things over went out of the window when she read the message.
She put the phone down on the table and ran to her room. She took a bag out of her closet and left it open on her bed. Little by little, she was filling it with all the weapons that she had hidden in her room. She put on her suit and began to hang those weapons that did not fit in her bag. She looked out the window and saw that the rain had worsened, giving her a brief moment of clarity to consider what she was about to do.
She removed her helmet and looked at the street outside her apartment. Her hands had a slight tremor, which happened when she felt a little anxious. She had to go. But then there was the other side of the coin: why would the ghost boy… Danny be at her house?
But there was also the fact that she always made public her contempt for the ghost boy. She reminded him that he had destroyed her life every chance she got, and perhaps, Paulina was offering her a unique opportunity to finally have peace of mind.
Although if she thought about it, why would Paulina give Danny Phantom to her if she was in love with him? Perhaps she had the worst disappointment of her life when she found out that it was only Fenton and wanted to destroy him along with her. But Paulina had started spending a lot of time with Danny at the end of their time together at Casper High.
In addition, there was her situation with Danielle, who always advocated for the innocence and goodness of her "cousin". And what the hell were the two of them after all? They both turned out to be half ghosts… Did Jazz also have powers?
She had too many questions and only one way to get answers.
- How is your throat?
Danny's question caught Sam off guard. After agreeing with the others, they spread throughout Paulina's house and Sam ended up watching Danny. She was sitting in a chair next to his bed, looking at some point on the dresser in front of her while unconsciously caressing her neck with the fingers of her right hand. She stopped moving and turned to look at Danny.
- It's… better.
- Does it hurt?
-No, just… - She lowered her gaze to the floor. - It's like I have something stuck.
- I know how it feels. - He smiled slightly.
Sam smiled, but didn't look at him.
- What are you thinking about?
She kept silent before answering him.
- Everything. Nothing. - She shook her head. - And at the same time.
Danny hated when she got all cryptic. Why was it so hard for her to open up? And to him! You're supposed to trust your boyfriend, right? His mental soliloquy was interrupted as Sam explained herself.
- I was thinking about my parents… - She said, throwing her hair back. – They must be furious.
- I'm sorry. – He said stretching out his hand to take hers.
- Why? – Sam looked at him without understanding the reason for his apology.
- Well… I guess they won't like the fact that you're dating a murderer on the run from justice.
- First of all… they don't know we're dating. - She moved in the chair to see him face to face. - Besides you're not a murderer, Danny. Dan killed those people, not you.
- That's not what they're saying.
- The truth always comes out, Danny. Don't worry.
- That's the whole reason why I'm worried… because the truth came to light. – He joked.
Sam chuckled and squeezed his hand. Danny stared at their hands.
- It is ironic. - She said. – Yesterday we went to your house talking about the future… and now we don't even know if we will have one.
- Hey... we'll get out of this. – He assured her as he caressed her hand with his thumb.
It was hard to believe his own words at times like this. But someone had to be the optimist at a time when no one saw any way out. Usually that job was Sam's, so now it was his turn. "At least someone will get out of this." They spent a few more seconds in comfortable silence, until Danny spoke again.
- Aren't you angry anymore?
Sam turned to look at him and met Danny's puppy dog eyes. She couldn't help but smile and shook her head.
- Of course I am. But not with you.
- Really? – Now he was confused.
Sam released Danny's hand and crossed her arms. She leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling.
- I was upset with myself.
- Why?
- Because... I let my emotional part take control over my rational part. - She said closing her eyes. If she pretended to be alone, it would be easier to express herself. – Any hiding place was good. If you had sent us to a dump, I wouldn't hesitate to go in. - She smiled.
Danny smiled too, letting himself be carried away by Sam's narration.
– But when I saw her… everything came back to me in an instant: the insults, the criticism, the looks, the slap…
- Wait, what?
- And when she pointed out the obvious… she just infuriated me. - She opened her eyes and turned to see him. – I mean, you know shit is bad when Paulina is the mature and rational one in the story, not me.
- Yeah, but… can we go back to that part of…?
- It was more a matter of pride... but I'm working on it. I mean, I still despise her, but at least I don't have the desire to skin myself for coming into contact with her things... nor does it bother me that she is the one who helps us.
- She slapped you? When?
Sam fell silent when she realized she had talked too much. She closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them, Danny was looking at her expectantly. He had an expression somewhere between anger, surprise, and concern.
- It was years ago.
- Sam…
- And I took care of that in its time. You do not have…
- Why didn't you tell me…?
- Danny, stop. - Sam raised her hand in the air just as he was about to interrupt her. – I can take care of her.
- But…
- No. – She stopped him again. - Now I'll go get some water. Vlad drank it all.
She took 2 glasses from the dresser and then left the room. Danny stared at the ceiling, wondering when that had happened and where was he when that had happened.
When Sam got downstairs, she saw Jazz and Vlad watching the TV. The news kept talking shit about Danny and tarnishing everyone's reputation. She watched Tucker in the dining room, sitting at the table inside the kitchen and engrossed in the computer across from him. She entered the kitchen and walked over to the faucet and filled both glasses.
- What are you doing? – She said drinking some water.
- Someone is trying to reactivate the security cameras in the streets.
- And that's not good?
- Not when you're a fugitive.
- But we're not out. I think for everybody's safety it would be better if you let them activate them…
- There's no need. – Vlad commented from the living room. – The city board gave control of the situation to the Guys in White. All the security forces are deployed on the streets… in case it was petty crimes you were worried about.
- But…
- Hey, it wasn't my idea. – Tucker justified himself pointing to the two in the room.
Sam was silent and took another sip of water. She watched Paulina come out of the guest room downstairs, probably leaving Danielle. She was talking on the phone in a hush voice with someone, and she went upstairs with a glass of water.
- Who is she talking to? – She said pointing to the Latina.
- With someone from her family. – Tucker said, looking back at her. – Judging by the voice, I think it was her father.
Paulina hung up the phone and put it in her pocket. Her dad could sometimes be overprotective, but in this case, she could understand why. After much convincing, she managed to prevent them from returning home that same day and canceling their anniversary celebration.
She stopped in the hallway, a few steps from her parents' room. She looked back to make sure no one was there watching her. She sighed and walked into the room, where Danny turned to look at her. She gave him a slight smile and he just frowned slightly. She broke eye contact and hurried to set the glass of water for him by the bed. She subsequently decided to leave the room.
Danny wanted to say a lot of things to him, starting with: "Did you slap Sam?" And many more derived from that question, but he knew that this was not the time to demand answers, but…
- Thanks. – He paused. – For helping us.
Paulina turned around to see him. She leaned against the door frame, crossed her arms, and smiled at him.
- It's the least I could do. – She shrugged. – You… you always saved and protected us before. Especially me.
Paulina didn't know why, but she began to feel a little shy in Danny's presence. Perhaps the revelation that he was a hero made her feel a little small around him. Coupled with the fact that she had long secret crush on… now, both halves of him.
- So, you don't believe everything they're saying?
- I think... - Paulina looked down, choosing her words carefully. – … That someone who never used his powers to take revenge on those who tormented him at high school, wouldn't be capable of those things.
She looked up and Danny saw the sincerity in her eyes. He gave the girl a weak smile that Paulina returned, this time with a slight blush.
- Thank you. - He looked away from her to the ceiling, somewhat uncomfortable by Paulina's gaze. – Although saying "never" would be somewhat... inaccurate. - He joked.
Paulina laughed softly and let the moment pass. They were both silent for a few seconds.
- Danny. – When she had the attention of the blue-eyed boy, she asked. - Why did you come here?
- We needed to think of the last place on earth where they would look for us. – He admitted.
- Oh. – She replied with a smile and looked down at the floor. - I really was mean to you, wasn't I? – She joked.
- No… I don't… well, yes, but… Yes. – He concluded when he knew that he couldn't smooth things over.
- It's ok. - She confessed somewhat embarrassed. - It's true.
- Especially with Sam… - Danny began to guide the conversation.
- Yeah, well… - She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. – She's not that good either. – She whispered while lightly caressing her nose.
Danny watched Paulina's reaction and was somewhat surprised. Without saying another word, she straightened up and disappeared into the hallway. She walked into her room and went to her closet to look for something. When she found it, she took the piece of cloth and left her room. Closing the door, she noticed Sam leaning against the wall across from her, her arms crossed and a serious expression.
- Having a good time?
Paulina just rolled her eyes.
- How could I? You're here.
Without giving her time to respond, Paulina threw the black cloth she was holding into her face and crossed her arms. Confused, Sam pulled the cloth off of her and spread it out in front of her. They were black leggings. She raised an eyebrow and looked at the girl, who just snorted.
- Your friend said you had a situation with your skirt.
Sam clutched the cloth in her hand and looked away. "I'm going to kill you, Tuck." Right at that moment, a loud noise was heard throughout the house. Paulina and Sam shared a strange look before walking down the stairs together. Meanwhile, on the ground floor, Jazz was hiding Vlad behind her and, together with Tucker, she was trying to calm down a very upset Valerie who had broken into the house with violence.
Paulina let out a scream when she saw her standing in front of the door completely drenched, pointing a huge gun at everything that moved, visibly upset and wearing a red suit.
- WHERE IS HE?! - She demanded everyone.