5/12/24-A new addition, as I have to replace and not simply delete chapter 10 so I don't have to renumber all 24 chapters after this. That would be super annoying. But that also gives me the opportunity to do some cool plot stuff I never did in 2018 when the original 2-parter chapters 9 and 10 were written! It really is needed, high school me should've just done this in the first place.

As I mentioned in chapter 1, there is a timeline thing. The show's timeline isn't really stated. The graphic novel says (in the first few pages, don't worry) that it's been years between the portal incident and post-Phantom Planet. I'm considering each season of the show to be one school year, and Phantom Planet and the GN to be somewhere around 2007. The specifics will be left a bit vague so none of us have to stress too hard with the canon. There's a second graphic novel announced btw... if that comes in and ends up incredibly incompatible with this story... then this can be a darkest timeline AU to that.

Chapter 10: Threats

Sam opened the remaining laptop in the lab. Pressing the power button didn't work. Not surprising, the swollen battery that cracked the case definitely cracked the motherboard too. She tried the desktop. It started up, but didn't even get to the OS, stating a hard drive error. She crossed her arms and glanced between the two computers. "Well, I find it ridiculous that both of the remaining computers are dead. The good news is that the chances of the stolen laptop working are slim to none."

Danny shook his head. "I'll call Tucker, the tracking program was on that desktop and he might be able to fix it. I don't even wanna touch that time bomb of a laptop."

"Why don't you help me defuse that bomb?" Sam asked. "While we wait for Tucker I can take the battery to disposal."

"Good deal, I don't want to be handling that thing if I don't have to," Danny said. He picked up the laptop in one hand, and intangibly yanked out the battery with the other, moving very gently with it. He slowly set it down on the counter, and set the broken laptop next to it. "There we go. Now, I'll call Tuck to do some data recovery."

Ghost Zone

Each one of the boss's footsteps burned the floor some more. The floor was covered with over a decade of his fiery footsteps' consequences. Each and every hallway was coated with them at this point. The blackened floor's original purple could be seen under desks and tables. None of the workers judged his preference of walking around, as it was rude to judge a fellow ghost's innate preferences, and they stopped caring about something as arbitrary as a floor color. He was the boss, very hotheaded and forceful, but everyone knew if you did your job and avoided him when he was in one of his fiery moods (indicated by his footsteps burning the floor) you would be just fine. But sometimes, he was in a very bad mood, and those were incredibly clear.

Nobody spoke to the boss today. They kept very quiet. The veins of lava cracking through his obsidian-rock skin glowed a hot, blazing yellow. His horns, usually the same cracked-stone look, were fully glowing red, tips burning with tiny fires. The workers did not know the reason, but they expected it was due to his visitors from yesterday. In fact, one of the visitors had just arrived today, and two scientists nervously led the ghost to the boss and quickly dashed off before there was any fallout. Thankfully, they saw him and the visitor go down the hall without a word.

Quickly, the boss rushed the visitor to his office and shut the doors. "So, what does the Queen want now?"

The visitor, an ant ghost, hissed. "Tyzax. Two workers of ours have made it into the Human World. I'm sure you realize natural portals are opening again."

"Of course, ant. We're here to monitor them. The connection is starting to reform, we can pass radio signals between worlds again. As for the portals, they are localizing their exists. Calculations say they're pinpointed on Amity Park, which isn't unusual. It is the weakest point between worlds, after all."

"I'm not here about the portals. I'm here about your portal." The ant spit out her words with venom in her voice. "The Queen lost those two workers. We need you to scout for us, see what kind of defenses the humans have."

Tyzax snorted in amusement. "That portal doesn't work, has never worked. We weren't able to break through the portal blockers."

The ant crossed both sets of arms and straightened her posture imposingly. "The Queen demands a portal. Nothing can get done without solid, reliable access to the Human World."

"Why is the Queen so insistent on a portal? Research takes time, and even with a weakened barrier, I can't be certain it can be done."

"The Queen has so graciously funded your facility for this long," the ant growled out. "It should not matter her purposes. You get your money, so you don't have to raid anyone for materials with your weak, pitiful scientists. We get to see your results. That's all that you need." Her tail flicked indignantly.

"Why should I be surprised? You ants never tell me anything." He sat down in his chair and slammed a fist on the desk surface. "Fine, you want a portal, I'll make you a portal. But tell your Queen that if the portal doesn't work, she shouldn't blame me. The technology the humans have just doesn't exist here."

The ant's face was very inexpressive by nature, but something in her large green eyes seemed to indicate satisfaction. "Good, we've settled it. I'll inform the Queen to expect progress."

Tyzax was trapped now. The way the ant emphasized progress proved it. "Get out. Go send your message and get out of my office."

"Thank you for your cooperation," the ant sneered cleverly. She floated to the doors and shoved them open. "Remember Tyzax, progress." As the doors shut, she seemed to taunt Tyzax with one last glare.

A growl turned into a roar, complete with fire breath. Tyzax contained his temper for far too long. He stood up and swept one hand into the side of the desk, sending it flying to the wall. He walked into a deadly expectation. The ant ghosts have never been so demanding. But in his desperation of funding many years ago, the boss ignored the warnings about the Colony and trusted them anyways. He'd become complacent, and now the ants were in charge.

He came to a realization. These ants had a reason for wanting a portal so bad, they had to. And Tyzax had an idea what it could be. He couldn't just let them win. If it was games they wanted to play, then games there will be.

Earth

Tucker exhausted all his tools. "Yep, this hard drive is dead. I can take it to my shop where I have my full toolset, but I do have customers with expectations. I won't have time to do any data recovery for a couple days. Rewriting the tracker program will take just as long, since I deleted the files years ago. I'd be starting from scratch. Either way, there won't be any instant results."

Sam shook her head in disappointment. "Then I guess we'll have to wait. I hope that laptop doesn't get far."

Meanwhile, Danny hung up the phone and walked back over from the other side of the room. "So, every anti-portal facility is reporting zero issues. But when the Amity Park facility accessed the readings from the portal sensors, they sensed a ton of natural portals. More than before we turned on the facilities. What Yoltrun told us was right. This can't be good."

Tucker groaned. "Come on, what did I tell you about downsizing? I told you to beg the board not to lower the funding. And look where that gets us."

"In my defense, nothing changed for a straight decade. Monitoring staff wasn't needed."

"Yeah, wasn't needed... until it was."

"Chill, Tuck! The fluctuations started yesterday. It's not like we could've constructed more facilities in a day." He paused to think. "Maybe this is a good thing."

Sam glared at him. "A good thing? Seriously?"

Danny had a mischievous smile. "Yeah. If portals are forming, and the facilities are perfectly functional, then that's proof of my argument I made a long time ago about the bond between our worlds. Maybe I can use this to convince the board to shut the facilities down."

"Or they'll demand more facilities to shut the connection even harder." Sam didn't want to admit her support just yet. She didn't want to encourage Danny to go making futile arguments and disappoint himself again. The first time, when the facilities were first approved, was a nightmare.

"Not if I'm convincing. But you know, priorities. The more important thing now is that laptop. If it takes days, then it takes days. We'll find it." Danny walked out of the lab, transformed, and flew up and out of the basement.

Tucker turned to Sam. "I support the removal of the facilities as much as him, but what about Amity Park? How can we just go back to ghost attacks?"

"It's not like we haven't had a sudden jump from no ghosts to lots of ghosts before," Sam said, referring to when Danny first activated his parents' ghost portal (and first got his powers). "This time, our city is prepared. Everywhere is prepared. Not too prepared, as it will be wildly unexpected, but we're still better off."

"Why are these portals popping up at all, though? There's got to be something we're missing."

"I don't know. But I wouldn't do anything without Danny's say. I trust him in his cause. I just hope he knows what he's doing."

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