Zak was ecstatic that his parents were trusting him with this. Sure, it was mostly because his powers were useful, but they were still bringing him on an official Secret Scientist mission. He just wished it didn't involve Agent Epsilon and Francis.
He did, of course, also feel bad about the whole thing, because an official mission meant that they had failed in some way, and Epsilon saying his people had found a group experimenting on sentient creatures, either aliens or cryptids, was a massive failure. The raid to correct that failure was planned quickly. Epsilon didn't need manpower, only the scientists knowledge in their fields, so Zak's parents were assuming, hoping, that they could stay to the back where Epsilon and Francis were coordinating the group and avoid most of the fighting.
That plan fell apart when they cut the power.
It was planned and deliberate, but the effects weren't.
The first warning that something was wrong was the bound captives in white cursing them when the lights went out. The second was the flood of escapees. They glowed purple, green, and blue. They flew in straight lines, ignoring people, walls, fences, everything as they fled as fast as they could.
"Well, given the resemblance to Earth life," Dr. Beeman said, watching a green wolf run through a fence like it wasn't even there, "I think we can safely say these are cryptids."
Drew hummed. "Given the numerous unrelated morphologies, we're either dealing with several different species, or they possess some form of shapeshifting."
Doc tightened the bonds on a wriggling human captive as he sputtered. "That kind of shapeshifting has never been observed. It's just a myth!"
Zak rolled his eyes. "Dad, we deal in myths. Kur is a myth!"
"Precisely," Drew nodded. "And when you can give me a better explanation for the glowing green Necrosyrtes monachus in a fez and cursing in Yiddish, I'd love to hear it."
"I'll make sure to let you know."
The third and final warning was the noise. The ground shook and their hair stood on end as a tortured cry that was felt in their bones as much as heard rumbled from the building. It was the roar of something very big and very angry.
And then the building collapsed, and from the rubble rose a mass of shadow and green lightning so big Zak didn't even think he could look at all of it.
"We warned you!" one of the bad guys said. "Just run and leave the monster to us. It's going to kill you!"
Komodo hissed at the man and smacked him with his tail.
"I think we'll take out chances," Doc said, staring at the creature as it pulled more of itself from the rubble.
Zak turned and ran to Zon. "Get me up there!" he yelled.
"Zak, wait!"
"I can't wait, Mom! This is what I'm here for! And if I don't go now, someone's going to get hurt!"
"He's right, Drew," Dr. Beeman interrupted. "Epsilon's people are already moving. Didn't you say it's harder when the target is mad?"
Zak put on his helmet with built in radio. "I'll be fine, but the sooner I can get a connection, the faster we can calm it down."
Drew sighed and let it go.
Doc nodded at Zak. "Go. Just be careful."
Zak nodded back and climbed into the sling. Zon took off soaring above the roiling mass of shadows just as something that looked like a tail lashed out and pushed the agents back.
Watching from above, Zak could almost make out bits of form in the black void. The long tail the wound up, down, and around, almost like the body of an eastern dragon. The long arms with sharp claws that tore at the ground and threw people and bits of rubble. The jagged gash of a mouth that yowled and screamed. The eyes, glowing acid green, the same color as the lighting that would briefly flash across like it was made of thunder clouds.
The creature used those claws to launch a piece of rubble in Zon's direction before turning its attention back to the agents attacking on the ground. The throw was so wide Zon barely needed to move to clear its path.
Static burst in Zak's ear with a garbled noise something like his name.
"Working on it!" he called back, shaking off the awe and readying the Claw.
The Hand of Tsul'Kalu opened and Zak pulled on the part of himself that held his powers, stretching in the direction of the creature.
Nothing.
There was nothing.
How could there be nothing? It was right there in front of him!
He stretched his hold, his powers a light ghosting touch running over Zon, then reaching down and brushing against Fisk as he ran around pulling agents out of the rubble.
He turned back to the shadow creature and reached for it again.
Nothing.
It didn't make any sense! Even if they threw him off and Zak couldn't connect, he always felt them.
Oh.
"That's not a cryptid!"
No response.
"Dad! Dad, That's not a cryptid!"
The static burst again, even more garbled than before.
"Zon, take me down!" he yelled, pointing to his parents on the ground.
Zon screeched and dove, landing quickly where directed.
"Zak!?" Doc called out. "What's wrong!? Why are you down here!?"
"That's not a cryptid!"
Doc punched away a flying piece of rubble with his power glove. "What!?"
"Well, it's certainly not any alien species I know of!" Beeman shot back.
"Congratulations, Arthur," said Drew, "you get to make first contact!"
"Yeah, it's my lucky day," Beeman drawled. "Except I have no idea what star system it's from and we let these idiots make first contact!"
A piece of rubble too big to break and deflect flew towards them and they scattered, Fisk grabbing Zak as they ran.
"Regardless, we need to calm this thing down!" Drew yelled, struggling to be heard over the constant noise and increased distance.
Fisk yelled back, and Zak quickly translated in his head. "And how are we supposed to do that!?"
The creature's head snapped to Fisk, eyes locking onto him and everything stopped for a moment.
"Why me," Fisk whined, defeated.
At the same moment the creature lunged, Fisk threw Zak to the side back towards Doc and Drew.
"Fisk, no!" Zak screamed at his brother, but it didn't matter. The creature grabbed Fisk and pulled him into its space, thrashing its tail to stop them from following.
"Epsilon, tell your people t back off!" Drew yelled.
"Your son has been taken by a violent unknown and you want us to stop?" Francis scoffed. "Most people would want us to take it out as fast as possible."
"Have you not been paying attention?" Zak spat. "All you've done is make it mad. You haven't hurt it at all!"
"The young Saturday is correct, Francis," Epsilon agreed ("Ha!") "We have been ineffective. We might as well protect our people and wait until we can have more powerful weaponry brought in. Or perhaps recreate some of the tools our targets were using."
"No. No!" Drew interrupted. "No, you will not be bringing in bigger guns. That's my boy in there!"
"Is it just me, or is it getting smaller?" Beeman asked, pointing to the creature.
"It… is."
And it was. Some of the haze and dust surrounding it had settled. The lighting didn't crackle as harsh as before. The screams and cries had stopped, replaced by a gentle rumble and… speech?
"That sounds like Lemurian," Zak muttered mostly to himself.
"Lemurian?" Doc asked. "As in, the language of Lemuria? Where Fisk is descended from?"
Zak nodded. "They must be talking."
"Well, that's that problem solved," Francis huffed. "Now, we just need have to trust him to fix everything."
No one really had a response to that. They could only watch and wait.
The changes were gradual and hard to pin point, but as the creature shrank down there were other things. Its arms had the right number of joints. Its body changed from an impenetrable void of wispy shadows to a more solid, matte black. Its fingers rounded, and its mouth looked like a mouth instead of a crevice. The eyes softened and rounded, less harsh than before. Areas of its body lightened until they were softly glowing white.
Change after change until in front of Fisk floated a teenage boy. He still had a black tail where his legs should have been wisping off into nothing, but everything else was human. Other than the colors, at least. The tan skin was normal, but the glowing white hair was not and neither was the shade of green in his eyes.
As they approached, the boy following hesitantly behind Fisk, Zak could see his ears were slightly pointed. And when he bared his teeth at an agent that got a bit too close, fangs were easily visible along side the flaring glow in his eyes.
He stayed floating a little ways away even as Fisk closed the gap. Komodo ambled closer, but the teen ignored him, his eyes focused on the humans of the group, his tail twisting nervously as the slowly put their weapons away.
"What's wrong?" Fisk asked, glancing back at him. "Don't worry, they don't bite."
Komodo, always the contrarian, bit Fisk's leg. Fisk yelped, jumping and flailing as Komodo held on, dangling from the limb.
Zak chuckled nervously, "Don't mind Komodo," he said. "he just likes to mess with Fisk."
Fisk absent mindedly translated the statement while he pried Komodo's jaw open before continuing. "This is my family. Komodo introduced himself, and that is Zon in the back," Fisk pointed as he spoke. "Drew is Mom, Doc is Dad, and Zak is my little brother."
Doc stepped forward, offering his hand to shake. "Dr. Solomon Saturday," he said, "but you can just call me Doc."
The teen glanced at the hand for a moment before turning back to Fisk. "Who are the others?" he asked.
"Family friends," Fisk answered. "Epsilon," he pointed again. "and his son Francis work for the group that found you. They organized the attack tonight."
The teen's eyes narrowed "The ones that shot at me."
"That was a misunderstanding," Drew cut in. "Um… bad understand." She tried in Lemurian. "Mistake."
That caught the boy's attention. "You speak Lemurian?"
"We understand well," she said. "Speak little. Wrong voice."
The boy sent a confused look to Fisk. "They can't speak it very well because they can't make the sounds."
The boy nodded.
"Let's get back on track," Beeman said with Fisk continuing to translate for the boy. "Everyone here understand Lemurian thanks to Fiskerton. So, introductions. I am Dr. Beeman. I specialize in all things space travel. Epsilon and his people called me to help you."
The teen frowned. "What do you mean 'help me'?"
"You know," Fisk said. "Figure out where you're from so we can get you home."
The boy got a sad look in his eyes as he shook his head. "There is no home to go back to."
The statement hung over the group. "I… we'll figure something out. Right, Mom?"
"Of course."
"In the mean time," Epsilon coughed. "The boy can stay with us until a more permanent-"
"I will stay with the Saturdays," the teen interrupted. "I will stay with Fiskerton."
Dr. Beeman sputtered. "I'm not sure-"
"I do not trust you. I trust Epsilon less. I will stay with Fiskerton or I will leave."
"We would be happy to have you," Doc said after a quick shared look with Drew. "We have plenty of space."
"So… new brother?" Zak asked.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Zak," Doc cautioned. "We don't know how this'll work out."
Danny didn't know how to feel. He'd thought his emotions would resolve themselves as he spent more time with the Saturdays, but they hadn't. Talking with Fisk didn't help either. Everything was just a big tangled mess.
He didn't trust them or any other humans after what had happened (maybe excepting Tucker, Sam, and Jazz), so he had watched them closely and searched for any sign of betrayal. He found none, only quiet acceptance and gentle care.
They asked about his needs and did everything they could to accommodate him. They asked questions but never pushed for answers if he didn't give them. They set a spot for him at the table and removed the chair when they realized he preferred to float.
They reminded him so much of his parents. The orange suits, the strange and secretive subject of study. The brilliant, cutting edge engineering. The government funding and connections. The combat skills.
But the longer he watched, the more he realized the comparison was only surface level. Unlike his parents, the Saturdays cared. Deeply. Even with most of the objects of their study being non-sapient, they always treated them with respect. They protected cryptids where his parents hunted ghosts.
Where Maddie taught them to fight at her pace because she expected them to follow them into the field, Drew and Doc sparred with Zak, carefully teaching him, because there was no keeping him out.
Where Jack and Maddie had forgotten Danny and Jazz in favor of their work, Drew and Doc kept a close eye on every member of their growing family.
Where Jack and Maddie could not have a civil conversation on the subject of Santa. Doc and Drew had rational (and contained) debates about the existence of magic.
In short, they were good people and parents in all the ways Jack and Maddie had failed.
It made Danny feel guilty about snooping through their rooms and doubting them for so long. Almost two months and he still barely spoke to them. He hadn't even told them his name.
Jazz would tell him his distrust was reasonable, even if it wasn't rational. That the answer wasn't guilt and shame, but improvement.
So Danny was going to try.
He walked into the airship's kitchen one morning and took a seat for breakfast.
Fisk noticed first, staring at Danny as he tried to figure out what was going on.
Drew noticed second, pausing to blink at him before pushing eggs onto his plate. She did a quick head count, seeing everyone except the ghostly figure she was used to, before speaking. "That's a very good human disguise, though the ears are still a bit pointed."
Only then did Doc and Zak notice.
"Cool!" Zak beamed, waking up in an instant while Doc sputtered behind him. "Does this mean you're staying?"
"That's an interesting application of your shapeshifting," Doc said as he finally gathered his wits. "How long did it take you to figure out the pigments?"
"It's not a disguise…" Danny muttered, one hand coming up to brush the new point on his human ear. He had hoped that change would be limited to his Phantom form… but he was never so lucky.
"Have you been teaching him English?" Doc asked Fisk as Komodo approached Danny to inspect him
"I haven't been teaching him anything!"
"Of course it's not disguise," Drew interrupted. "You're still you no matter what you look like."
Danny choked for a moment at those words, but pushed on. "N-no, I… I meant this came first. This is me. The other form is me too, obviously. But this is me me. The original. The default."
"You've known English this whole time!?" asked Fisk.
Danny nodded. "I know some Spanish, too."
"English is your first language, isn't it?" Doc asked.
Danny looked down at his plate. "Yeah."
Drew put down the pan she was still holding. "You're not an alien, are you?"
"As much as I love the stars," Danny said, "no. My name is Danny."
"So… if you're not an alien, and you're not a cryptid, and definitely not human, what are you?"
"Zak!" both parents scolded at once.
Danny just laughed. It felt good. Even with Danny sharing, Doc and Drew were being so careful not to over step. "I'm still human, sorta."
The Saturdays looked uncomfortable for a moment. "Danny…" Drew started.
"I know I'm not totally human anymore," he waved her off. "But I was born to two human parents and have retained most of my humanity. Human just isn't all I am anymore."
"And the rest of you?" Doc asked gently.
"I know you don't really believe in ghosts, even after the thing with the GIW," Danny said as he shoved a forkful of egg in his mouth. "But I suggest you start."
"This is going to take some getting used to…" Doc muttered.
Danny shrugged, unrepentant. "How else does an ordinary kid from Illinois learn a dead language of a culture most people haven't even heard of?"
Fisk nodded. "He's got a point."
"So how, exactly, are you both a living human boy, assuming that's what you meant about 'retaining your humanity,' and a ghost?" Drew asked. "Pretty sure ghost means dead."
"I don't really know the mechanics of it," Danny admitted. "There's not really a large population to study. But I still have my human form and human needs. I eat, drink, and sleep. My heart still beats and my lungs still breathe. But I also have a ghost form with a core and everything. I died, but I didn't. I'm Schrodinger's Boy."
"This is so cool!" Zak cried. "This is massive! The discovery of a lifetime!"
Danny winced. "Too bad someone else got there first," he reminded them. "And I would really prefer this not be the latest gossip. The 'human disguise' story will work for everyone else."
"Of course," Doc said. "You come first."
Danny smiled, the last of his nerves disappearing as the Saturday family settled back into their routine. Maybe he would have a little luck after all.
