Based of a Tumblr post by ectoblood. What if one of Jack's inventions backfired and cloned Danny? What if Jack did not realize what he did at first? What if he found out his son was Phantom?
ectoblood on Tumblr made this post( post/188458998120/imagine-how-fucking-pissed-vlad-would-be-that-jack) about what if Jack accidentally cloned Danny. This didn't really go the direction I was expecting and veered away from the original post but I still really like it.
Jack stands in front of a box shaped metal contraption in the Fentonworks laboratory. He had been working on a contraption to extrapolate a ghost's core and ectosignature from an ectoplasm sample. And he finally managed to get a sample of Phantom's ectoplasm. Grinning at his achievement, he puts the sample in the machine. The screen flashes green as the box lights up. Then there's a huge electrical surge In the lab. The lab lights flash and a high pitched beeping noise comes from the machine. Jack stares in awe as the tubing linking the box and their ghost containment unit lifts up green. Then ectoplasm flowing from the portal and through their collection system meets the green electricity coming from the box. In the unit, the ectoplasm swirls and suddenly a very surprised and confused Danny Phantom materializes into the unit. He blinks at Jack, titling his head in confusion. Then there's a flash of light and the now naked figure drops like a sack of potatoes.
Jack studies the seemingly passed out figure, noticing the pale skin and black hair. Face skewed in confusion, the scientist walks around the unit until he can see the figures face. Jack's blood then runs cold as he notices- the "ghost" is the splitting image of his son.
Now his blood boils. He's pissed. That ectoplasmic scum Phantom shapeshifted into the image of his son. The ghost obviously plans to trick Jack or gain his sympathy. Does he really think Jack is the stupid? With ectogun raised, he enters the unit and approaches the figure. Up close the resemblance is even more striking, perfectly identical even down to the freckles on his face. Something about the image makes Jack's heart clinch. As angry as he is, as much as he wants to shot the ghost, to tie him up and torture him for answers, he can't not when the figure's copying his son's form so perfectly.
He exits the unit and grabs a blanket from the closet to cover the figure's naked body. As he approaches again, Jack notices something surprising. The "ghost" is breathing steadily as if asleep. He takes off his gloves and puts his hand in from of the figure's nose. Jack's eyes widen when he feels air blowing across his fingers. The ghost is actually breathing but ghosts don't breathe. But maybe it's an act to appear more human. Biting his lip, Jack decides to test something else. He gently feels the figure's neck, searching for a pulse. His jaw drops when he finds it. He...has a heartbeat. Phantom the ghost who Jack somehow summoned and is now masquerading as his son, has a pulse and a heartbeat. But a ghost can't fake a heartbeat, maybe they could fake breathing but never a heartbeat.
A potentially crazy idea forms in his mind. Jack exits the unit again, grabbing a syringe and test tube. He returns, and now feeling very nervous, he gently sticks the ghost with the needle. The figure's face screws up in discomfort but he stays sleeping. Jack sighs in relief and draws up some…..blood, bright red blood. Jack's heart stutters as he shakes his head. It's not blood, no it can't be. This has to be a trick. He'll check with the microscope and it'll be fine.
Jack's never been as good as Maddie with the more biological aspects of studying ghost but he does now the basics. Jack carefully sets up the slide, trying to keep his hands from shaking with nerves. Taking a deep breath, he looks into the oculars. And his heart stops. On the slide are clearly visible red and white blood cells, something that is completely impossible if the sample came from a ghost. No ghost can copy the biology of a living person, not even to the cellular level. So the person in his ghost containment unit is a human…..and not just any human, one identical to his son.
Is...is that actually his Danny in the unit? It's the only thing that actually makes sense. But he had seen Phantom appear in the unit. And then the ghost had turned into his son. But...maybe that was some weird teleportation. Jack laughs humorlessly. Yeah that must be it. Phantom teleported out and teleported him son inside the unit. There was no way Danny actually was Phantom, right? His boy couldn't be a ghost, couldn't be dead.
Trying to do anything up avoid processing what just happened, Jack turns back to the microscope. His eyes brows rise. There are large globs of ectoplasm inside the cells. That's...that's not possible. Then Jack turns away from the microscope, eyes focusing on the ectosignature scanner. Hands still shaking, he grabs the scanner and pointed it at the boy. It beeps after a few seconds and Jack drops it in shock after seeing the read out: a clear ectosignature though suppressed, level 7 and identical to Phantom's.
His boy, his son, his Danny….he is Phantom. He is a ghost, his boy is dead. Tears start to prickle in his eyes at the thought. How did this even happen?! And how did he not notice?! His thoughts swirl with dread and sorrow. And then he looks up, seeing his boy still sleeping soundly. It had been an hour at least and he still hasn't woken up. Oh god what if he hurt him with that summoning? Was that even what that had been though? He and Maddie had summoned ghosts before and it never looked like that. That had been...powerful, very powerful, like nothing he'd even seen before. And the device wasn't supposed to summon ghosts either so what…
Jack is startled out of his thoughts by the sound of footsteps pounding down the stairs. He looks up and his jaw drops at the figure. It is the black haired, blue eyed form of Danny Fenton? His chaotically swirling mind stutters. What...how? He just stares
"Hey Dad I wanted to see what you were up to…." The figure trails off, as his eyes flicker in between the boy in the unit and the man in front of him. His jaw drops. "What the hell?!"
Jack finally shakes out of his stupor by the exclamation. He looks in between the two identical figures; he doesn't know which is his real son but he knows one of them is at least partially human. Fear and confusion spike in his chest. He pulls out an ectogun and points at the boy who just came down the stairs. "Who the hell are you?"
The black haired figure stammers. "I'm your son."
The inflection and facial expression are a perfect copy of his son. Doubt blooms in his mind. "Tell me something only the really Danny would know."
The figure stares at him wide eyed. "Uhhhh when I was four, I accidently broke Mom's vase that she got from Grandma and I cried before I thought she was going to be supper angry. But you talked to me and feed me fudge and said it was an accident and I didn't need to be scared about you being angry that I made a mistake. And you helped me tell Mom and we went thrift shopping to find her another vase."
The boy stumbles to a stop out of breath, eyeing the ectogun warily. Jack's heart unclinches after the boy's story. That's Danny. He just knows it. He drops the gun and steps forward, crushing the boy in a hug. Jack starts rambling in relief. "Oh Danny-boy. It's you." Danny relaxed a little at that. "I...I thought you were dead, a ghost. I summoned Phantom with the Fenton Ectosignature Copier and he turned into you and I checked and he was breathing and bleeding red and his heartbeating." Danny stiffened again. "And I thought he was you, that you were dead..or some kind of half ghost, half human hybrid."
At the end, Danny pushed away, stumbling backwards. "You...you thought I was Phantom. That's ridiculous." His laugh is humorless. "And half ghost? That's...that's impossible...nnno… one could be half...half ghost."
Jack's heart dropped as Danny spoke. He sounded very scared, too scared for Jack to have been wrong. Jack looks down, speaking very quietly compared to his normal voice. "You….are Phantom, aren't you?"
"What?! No." Danny looks terrified.
Jack puts up his arms placatingly. "You are. That explains you being skittish around our inventions, your grades, missing curfew, skipping class."
Danny steps back, face still fearful. "I...I don't know what you're talking about."
Jack's heart clinches at seeing his son so fearful of his reaction. He puts his arms out more, trying to make himself as non-threatening as possible. He speaks quietly. "Danno, you're my son. I love you, Phantom or not. Please, nothing will change that." He sighs. "You don't need to be afraid to tell me."
Danny still looks at him skeptically. "You...you promise, you won't be mad."
Jack frowns at that, as himself. "Yes Danny, I promise. I'm sorry I made you think you couldn't tell me."
Danny relaxes and nods. He swallows, still nervous. "It's true. I am.. I am Phantom. I'm half ghost, because of the portal. I..I wanted to tell you and Mom but..but I was scared."
He's starting to cry now, struggling for words. Jack puts his arms out. "Come here."
Danny looks at him skeptically but then walks forward. Jack envelops him in hug. The two stay like that for a few moments as Danny continues crying and Jack's eye water. A thousand questions fill the father's mind and soon they come pouring out his mouth. "How did this happen? Why didn't you tell your mother and I? We could've helped you. And do your friends know? Do they hunt ghosts with you?"
"Dad!" Danny exclaims trying to stop the ramble.
"Have any of our inventions hurt you before? I am so sorry Danny. We'll figure out how to keep you safe. And you're a ghost hunter, like your old man! How did that happen?"
"Dad!" Danny exclaims again, then pointing towards the containment unit. "We can talk about that later but have more pressing issues. Who is that?"
Jack turns back towards the boy in the unit. Somehow he'd completely forgotten about him. Jack frowns surveying him. Whoever he is, his heart is telling him that he's Jack's son. He looks to Danny again. Somehow, both boys are.
Danny's still waiting for a response as Jack's brow furrows. The father responds. "I don't know. I turned the Fenton Ectosignature Copier and it summoned Phantom." He pointed to the other boy. "And he showed up. But….you're Phantom so…."
Jack turns towards the boy in the unit again, a perfect copy of his son. Wait a copy. "Maybe...he's duplicate. Ghosts can make duplicates and Phantom definitely can." He turns back towards Danny, eyes widening. "You can duplicate yourself! That's amazing. I guess the machine forced you to make a duplicate. That's... less cool."
Danny holds out his hand, stopping him. "That...that's not it. If he was my duplicate, I'd be able to feel him." Jack tilts his head questioningly so Danny continues. "A duplicate is like having another limb. I can move it and feel with it, see with its eyes, hear with its ears. But I'm getting nothing from him. So THAT is not me."
Jack and Danny both turn back towards the unit. The boy is still asleep. Jack's mind still races with questions but nothing makes sense. It's not like Danny has a twin brother and people don't just suddenly appear out of nowhere. But he's right in front of them. This kid is real and he's half ghost like Danny is so where did he come from?!
"That bastard." Jack's head snaps to the side at Danny's exclamation. He raises his eyebrow as Danny continues. "That fruitloop cloned me, again!"
Wait, again? Before Jack can ask, Danny turns to him. "You said you were trying to summon Phantom, right? Our signature must be close enough you got him instead of me."
Danny looks pissed but Jack's mind is still sputtering with questions. "But it looked nothing like a normal summoning."
Danny ignores him and walks into the unit. "I'm going to wake him up. See if we can get some answers." He pauses over the figure. "He's naked? Seriously?" He kneels down. "He….might be new, just out of the cloning chamber. Would explain why I haven't meet him yet."
Danny puts his arm on the other boy's shoulder, shaking him. "Hey, wake up." The boy doesn't budge. "Come on!"
Then Danny's face goes blank, his eyes far away. It lasts for a few seconds and then he rips his hands away like he was burned. He then looks up at his father. His eyes are full of shock and sorrow, his voice haunted. "You...you did this."
Jack steps back. "What?"
Danny's eyes are watering now. "You...you did this." He pointed accusingly at the machine Jack had put his ectoplasm into, spitting out the words. "That machine, it made him. I saw it, in his mind. He's….he's less than an hour old." The hurt on Danny's face magnifies, as he glares at his father. "You created him! You….you just clone me, here in the lab! How could you do that?"
The clone on the floor makes a whimpering noise and Danny springs up backing away. He marches out the door, still glaring at his father. Jack's mouth opens and shuts. His mind completely unable to process.
Jack's speechlessness just angers Danny more. The boy's eyes start glowing green and Jack steps back, feeling slightly afraid.
Danny's words come out cold and biting. "You don't get it. This already happened once and it was the most disturbing and violating thing that ever happened to me." He points back at the other boy, whose face wrinkled up in discomfort as he whimpers again. "That is not just my DNA, my ectoplasm." Danny laughs humorlessly. "Did you know that ghosts that have really similar cores can share thoughts and emotions, even memories? I saw it when I touched him. That's why he's asleep, his mind's trying to deal with all those memories, my memories." The clone squirms, garbled sounds emerging from his throat. Danny's nose wrinkles. "There's probably a fifty percent chance when he wakes up, he'll think he's me."
The clone makes more garbled noises and Danny turns towards him and though his face softens somewhat, his face is still filled with anger. His head snaps back to his father. "When he wakes up, you can explain it to him."
Turning his back, Danny marches up the stairs. Jack calls after him. "Danny! Wait! I'm Sorry!" but Danny ignores him.
Jack stares off, towards where Danny left.
"Oh my God!" Jack flinches when he hears a voice behind him, Danny's voice. "Why I am in the lab?! And why am I naked?!"
Jack turns around, finding the perfect image of Danny Fenton sitting up and staring at the blanket in his lap
"Dad! What….how...how did I get here? What's going on?" The ice blue eyes stare at him.
Jack's mind stutters. What has he done?