Dash was ready for the school day to be over. He couldn't remember most of it anyways so he might as well have been at home all day. Why didn't he stay home? That probably would've been smart.

He was trying to walk out the front doors of the school without Kwan seeing him but being a big guy and wearing a letterman jacket pretty much singled him out.

"Dash!"

He tried ignoring him but Kwan eventually caught up.

"Dude, didn't you hear me?"

"What? Haha, no sorry." Dash stuttered out. "What's up?"

"I wanted to ask you again if everything was okay." Kwan frowned at him. "Obviously something happened that freaked you out. Do you want to talk about it?"

Dash choked out a laugh. "What? Nothing happened. Everything is fine."

"Dash-"

Dash stopped listening to Kwan when he saw who was headed straight for him.

Sam and Tucker.

There was nowhere for him to go. Sam already had her eyes locked on him and there was no deterring her, not when she could run faster than him. He already knew what she was going to ask him about.

"Hey, Dash, have you seen Danny at all today? He wasn't in any of our classes."

"What? Danny?" Dash's voice raised an octave and he could feel Kwan staring at him. "No, I haven't seen Danny at all! Not since we left the Nasty Burger yesterday."

"Yeah, that was the last time we saw him too." Tucker said. "He hasn't answered any of our calls or texts."

"Maybe he decided to skip school today." Dash laughed nervously again. "He skips classes all the time. Maybe he wanted the whole day off today?"

Sam stared up at him, studying him. He didn't think he said anything incriminating. He didn't know what she was looking for.

"Danny wouldn't-"

She got cut off by someone cackling in the air above them. Dash looked up and saw Technus again.

"That was fast." He took a step back.

"It is, I, Technus, and I am here to spread fake propaganda about world war three! I will send the world into war and despair and enslave every technological item and create an army!"

Gasps and screams sounded around them as students watched and started running away.

"I think Phantom's new rule about not saying anything around Technus was a good one." Kwan said. "He's really running with your suggestion."

"He won't actually do it." Dash said. "Phantom will stop him."

"Shit." Sam whispered.

Dash looked at Sam. Her and Tucker had moved into defensive stances, almost like they were putting themselves in between Dash and Kwan and Technus.

"What?" Dash asked. "It's just Technus. Phantom can stop him no problem."

Sam pulled a wrist blaster out of her bag and Tucker pulled out… A tube of lipstick?

"He's not here yet though. I don't think he's coming this time." Sam said.

Phantom's… Not coming?

"Phantom always shows up for ghost fights though." Kwan said.

"He's probably busy or in some other part of town." Tucker looked at Sam as he pulled a Fenton thermos out of his backpack. "Distract him so I can soup him up?"

Sam nodded and they separated.

"Hey, Technus!" She shouted up at him and waved her hands in the air. Dash stared at her horrified. Why would she announce herself if she's gonna start shooting at him?

"Ah! Chaos! Where's your boyfriend? Perhaps getting skinned by mine?"

"Not my boyfriend!" Sam yelled at him. "He's around. He's just busy." She pointed her blaster at him.

"Why'd he call her Chaos?" Dash whispered to Kwan. Kwan only shrugged.

Technus cackled. "What do you think you're going to do with that, girl? I control everything technological! I can fry it in less than a second!"

"Yeah?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes!"

"Then try it."

"I will! Then you will forever know the name Nicolai Technus! I will-"

Tucker jumped out from behind a tree that was across the school yard.

"Get souped!" He shouted.

A beam shot out from the thermos Tucker was holding and caught Technus in it.

"No! I, Technus, will come back again! I will enact my plans! I-"

Technus was cut off as he entered the thermos and Tucker capped it.

"Guy needs a timeout this time." Tucker said, shaking his head.

"How often do you guys do that?" Kwan asked, gaping at them.

"Ah, not super often." Sam said. "We're really close with Danny's parents so we've had the unfortunate opportunity to learn a lot about their weapons and everything, haha."

"Damn. Remind me not to get on your bad side. You're a lot more terrifying now."

Sam looked at him. "Do you have a reason to be on my bad side?"

"What?" Dash nervously scoffed at her. "Why would I be on your bad side? I haven't done anything."

Sam kept staring at him, neither of them breaking eye contact. Tucker cleared his throat.

"Okay… Sam, maybe we should head to Danny's house and see if he's home sick, or if he got stuck helping his parents down in the lab."

Sam kept staring at Dash as she nodded. "Yeah. Let's start there."

They walked away from Dash and Kwan. Kwan looked at him with another concerned expression on his face.

"What was that about?"

Dash shrugged. "How would I know? I haven't even seen Danny since yesterday."

"Aren't you concerned though? They're never concerned when Danny misses class normally. What if somethings wrong this-"

"Danny will be fine." Dash ground out. "He's always fine. Now come on. Let's go on our run right away. You missed out on it yesterday so you've gotta make it up today."

Kwan smiled. "Sure! I'll head home to change and meet you at our usual place?"

"Sure!" Dash waved at him and walked away. "I'll see you in a little bit!"

Dash gripped the straps on his backpack tightly. Why was Sam already grilling him so hard? Danny's only been missing for a day. What could she be worried about?

Dash took a deep breath. He knew exactly what she could be worried about. It's not like she would ever think that the GIW took Danny. She could never find out either.

Dash hoped she didn't try too hard to find out the truth.