Author's note: I finally have an idea of when I'll be done writing this fic! I estimate there will be 27 chapters, three of which will be different versions of the ending.
It's all coming together. :) I hope you all enjoy the rest of the ride!
Disillusioned
I don't want to betray you again
…
Alone. Without him.
Him. Who was she talking about?
Her husband? Her son?
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She lay on her back on the unmade motel bed and stared up at the ceiling. Wearing the jumpsuit Vlad's assistant had brought to her, the only jumpsuit she had here, because it was familiar and comforting in this strange place, this tiny room.
The past week had been exhausting. Draining. Heartbreaking. Isolated from all she cared about, unable to seek comfort from loved ones, aching and longing for some kind of touch from another human being.
Even Vlad had been too busy investigating activity from the Guys in White to visit her.
She never thought she'd actually want to see Vlad again. But he was the only person right now who seemed to still care about her.
She looked down at the small ghost detector wrapped around her wrist, the one she had keyed in directly to Vlad's ecto-signature. All green, all clear. Vlad was definitely not here.
She picked up her phone from the bedside table and tapped the screen to life. New messages from her mother, her sister, journalists. But nothing from the people she actually cared about. Not Jack. Not Jazz.
Not Danny.
She opened her text string with Danny and typed a message: Hey, sweetheart. The police questioned me yesterday at the station. Do you think you can stop by so we can talk about it?
She waited. A minute. Another.
No response.
She scrolled up. Dozens of messages sent to him all in a row. No replies.
She sighed and let the phone fall out of her hand. It thumped on the mattress next to her head.
The police interrogation replayed in her head. The cramped room with four chairs separated by a table. The humming air conditioner that ran the entire time, setting all the hair on her arms upright. The small camera with its steady red light in the corner near the ceiling. Vlad had assured her that he would personally see to it that the footage contained nothing damning, but Maddie still felt unnerved by the way it seemed to be pointed directly at her.
Detective Calhoun sat on one side of the table, both hands up and visible over the surface as he stared at her with hard eyes, rarely blinking. Maddie and Elsie sat across from him. The chair next to Calhoun was empty.
"So you claim you were having an affair," said Calhoun. "All those nights you went out when your son was missing, you assert that you were going out to see another man."
Maddie swallowed. "Yes."
"So you were lying before," said Calhoun, "when you gave us your statement that you were going out to look for your son those nights."
Maddie glanced at Elsie, who gave her a small nod.
"Yes," said Maddie.
"But you expect us to believe you're not lying now," said Calhoun.
Maddie opened her mouth but Elsie placed a hand on her upper arm to stop her. Elsie's fingers felt icy through the thin material of Maddie's blouse.
"Maddie has explained herself already," said Elsie.
"And the man you were having an affair with." Calhoun did not look at Elsie. "It was Danny Phantom?"
She opened the lab door each night and there he was, strapped down with his legs spread on the table. Waiting for her. Only her.
Maddie rubbed her fingertips against her stubby fingernails. She had ripped off the tops of all of them that morning.
"Yes," she replied.
Calhoun raised his bottom lip slightly and shrugged. "He's a little young for you, isn't he?"
He was taller than her. Bigger than her. Heavier than her. His jumpsuit clung to his skin and his body and when she tore it off of him there was no baby fat, only ropy corded muscles that stayed firm even against her wandering hands.
Maddie pressed her fingertips together, the exposed nail beds aching and throbbing.
"Ghosts don't possess age the way we do," she whispered.
"Indeed, Phantom's age has no bearing on anything here," said Elsie. "He is not human; he is not protected by or subject to any of our laws or ethical modes of conduct." She laughed. "Christ, we have ghost hunters actively trying to shoot him down and subject him to horrific experimentation, and no one has any qualms about that. Why would an adult woman having an affair with him suddenly tread on anyone's sensibilities?"
Calhoun glared at Elsie. Maddie chewed the inside of her bottom lip and knew she was getting lipstick all over her teeth but God damn it she didn't care right now.
She only looked up when she sensed that Calhoun's eyes were once again focused on her.
"So what did this affair between you and Phantom entail?" asked Calhoun, tenting his fingers.
Slicing his eye, breaking his leg, cutting him open and fondling everything inside of him—
Maddie breathed. "What any affair entails," she said calmly, hiding her shaking hands under the table.
"Did you two have sex?" asked Calhoun bluntly.
Maddie's heart raced. No, no, she would never—she was not a monster—
She breathed again, but her voice was not as steady this time. "Yes."
Calhoun's eyebrows rose. "Tell me. What is sex with a ghost like?"
"That's irrelevant, detective," Elsie cut in before Maddie could even open her mouth. "My client has told you that she was going out to have relations with Danny Phantom each night her son was missing. That is all you need to know."
"Why did you stop seeing him?" asked Calhoun, not looking at Elsie.
Maddie pressed and rolled her lips together. She remembered undoing each belted restraint strapping Phantom down to the table. She remembered him sitting up, free to leave, but he stayed in place.
"You stopped going out at night exactly when your son reappeared," said Calhoun. "Have you seen Phantom at all since your son's return?"
He was still sitting on the table, his back to her. Maddie came up behind him, embraced him, one hand holding his shoulder, the other hand holding a needled syringe filled with the canceling agent that would restore his powers.
She tugged at his suit zipper, exposed his neck.
Her lips moved close to his ear.
She whispered.
"I won't let anyone else have you."
She stabbed the needle through his skin, violated him a final time, pushed all of his powers back into his tense body.
And then he took flight. And he left her all alone.
And she missed him.
"No," said Maddie. "I stopped the affair. I told him we had to stop." She blew out a breath. "And that was the end of it."
"Can he confirm that?" asked Calhoun.
Maddie gave him a quizzical look.
"This affair," said Calhoun. "Would Phantom be able to confirm that it really did happen?"
Maddie nodded. "Yes. He would."
"But we can't exactly question him, can we?"
Maddie stared at Calhoun.
"He hasn't been seen for a couple months now," said Calhoun. "And even if he were around, I doubt we could find a way to bring him in for questioning. We're not ghost hunters ourselves, and even all the best ghost hunters have been unable to capture him." Calhoun paused. "Unless you count seducing him. Then I suppose you're the only ghost hunter who's ever succeeded at capturing him."
Maddie wrung her palm around one finger under the table.
"No way for us to contact him," Calhoun went on. "No way to do a background check on him. No way to verify this sudden new alibi of yours." Calhoun gave her a pointed look. "Seems awfully convenient, doesn't it?"
"That's not for my client to say," said Elsie, waving a hand to dismiss the accusation.
"I thought you said you would fully cooperate with our investigation," said Calhoun, looking at Maddie and ignoring Elsie.
"She is fully cooperating," Elsie asserted.
Calhoun fell silent. A very long pause. His eyes glowed red as the ghost detector on Maddie's wrist beeped.
"Yes," said Calhoun, low and flat. "That's correct. You are fully cooperating."
Calhoun's glowing eyes turned on Maddie. She stared back, forced air into her lungs.
Even with the ghostly intervention, with Vlad and Elsie pulling all the strings, the interrogation had been an overwhelming and stressful experience. As Maddie lay alone on the motel bed, she realized just how exhausting lying was.
She wondered when this would all be over. When she could stop all the lying.
When she could hug her boy and maybe just maybe he would hug her back.
Her ringtone started playing. Maddie eagerly picked up her phone and checked the screen, hoping to see Danny's name. She sighed when she saw Vlad's name instead, but she was not surprised. It was about time for him to send someone to bring her lunch, so he probably wanted to see if she had any requests.
Maddie tapped to answer and pressed the speaker button. "Hello?" she said in greeting.
"Maddie." Vlad's voice was tense. "You need to leave. Right now."
Maddie sat up, clutching the phone in one hand. "Leave? Why? What's wrong?"
"There's not much time. They could be there any minute."
"'They'? What are you talking about?"
"One of my assistants did not show up for work today. Her name is Aletheia; you've met her before."
Maddie furrowed her brow. "I have?"
"Yes," said Vlad. "She's unable to maintain a human appearance on her own, so she usually overshadows one of my staff members when she goes out. She's the one who brought you personal items on Sunday."
Maddie thought back to the woman who knocked at the motel door and handed her a bag filled with toiletries and clothes. She remembered the ghostly glow in the woman's eyes, silver and shiny.
"I'm sorry, why is she important?" asked Maddie.
"She's missing," said Vlad urgently. "And I have reason to believe that she's been apprehended by the Guys in White."
Maddie's heart skipped. "The Guys in White? Why would you think that?"
"A white van was spotted outside City Hall yesterday afternoon," said Vlad. "Aletheia was still working at the office after I went home yesterday. I looked over the security camera footage, and the white van can be seen following a woman I believe she was overshadowing as she walked down the street."
"But why does she matter?" asked Maddie.
"Because she knows everything."
The blood drained from Maddie's face, the hair on her neck stood on end.
"She knows about you," Vlad went on. "About Daniel. About what you did to him." Vlad groaned. "Fuck, she even knows about me."
Maddie swung her legs off the bed and hopped to her feet. "But she's loyal to you, isn't she? Would she tell them anything?"
"We both know that the Guys in White are not above inhuman torture to get the information they want," said Vlad. "And it wouldn't even be illegal because ghosts are not human."
Maddie paced the floor, threading her fingers through her hair. "Danny. Is he safe? Do you know where he is right now? He hasn't been answering my calls or texts."
"He's fine. For now. I've been watching your house. I don't think they'll try to go after him just yet. I'm pretty sure it's you they'll try to talk to first."
"Me? Why me?"
"Aletheia's word alone won't be good enough to obtain a warrant for Daniel's seizure. You're the only human they know of who could give them the proof they need."
Maddie stopped pacing, stopped breathing. Her hand wrapped around her throat.
"You need to get out of there," Vlad went on. "Aletheia knows where you are, so the Guys in White could show up at any moment."
"But I don't have my car." Maddie's stubby nails scraped under her chin. "Remember? It's parked on your property so that no one would recognize it here."
"I'll send someone to pick you up," said Vlad. "No, better, I will come get you myself. You just need to leave and hide somewhere nearby. I'll find you."
Maddie clutched at her jumpsuit collar. "But—"
"Go, Maddie."
The call disconnected. Maddie stared at the silent phone in her hand for just a moment before darting and rushing around the room, packing up all of her items in a hurry. Her heart pounded, her stomach flipped, her head raced. Danny, Danny—if only she had time to tell him, warn him. But even if she tried to call him, he probably wouldn't answer. And there was just no time, no time—
She slung her bag over her shoulder and threw open the door but froze at the sight of two muscled men standing in front of her, blocking her way out. Two strikingly well-groomed men wearing opaque sunglasses and white suits, spotless and dazzling. Everything about them seemed to have a shine, from their cleanly shaven pates to their polished onyx boots. Even their complexions were completely clear and free of blemishes. The only noticeable difference between the two men was their skin tone, one dark and one fair.
Maddie didn't move. Couldn't move. Her chest heaved and she gulped in air. She hadn't even realized she had been holding her breath.
"Mrs. Fenton," said the dark-skinned man. "I am Operative K, and this"—he used one gloved hand to gesture to the light-skinned man next to him—"is my partner, Operative O."
"Yes. We've met before," said Maddie curtly. "You've barged into my house a couple times."
"That's correct," said Operative K, not apologetically.
No one said anything for a few beats.
"What do you want?" asked Maddie, clutching at the bag strap hanging over her shoulder.
"I'm sure you know already," said K.
Maddie's heart lurched but she kept her expression stony. "Sorry, I'm actually checking out. I have somewhere to be."
"Our conversation doesn't have to be long," said K. "If you choose to cooperate."
Maddie sized the two men up. She was confident in her martial arts skills and knew she could take on one of them. Both of them at once, though, she could not be so sure of that.
She took a step back and allowed the operatives to enter the room. K stepped inside first and O came in right behind him, shutting and locking the door. Maddie swallowed and took a couple more steps back, still holding her bag strap.
The operatives quickly moved around the room, pulling small devices out of their suit pockets and sticking them to the door and on all of the walls a few feet apart from each other.
"What are those?" asked Maddie.
"Anti-ghost field generators, ma'am," said O as he stuck another device into place. He pressed on it with one finger and a small green light on the device began to glow.
"You mean a ghost shield?" asked Maddie.
"Similar," said K. "You refused to sell us your spectral-shielding technology, so we designed our own."
Maddie watched them stick more devices to the walls, activating each with one press. She discreetly glanced at the ghost detector on her wrist. Clear. Vlad was not here, and if these shielding devices really did work, he would not be able to phase into the room to help her.
"All secure," said O, reading from a small monitoring device. "Strong signal."
Maddie pursed her lips as she looked at the new device in O's hands. Just how many other gadgets were these men hiding in their suits?
"Why did you need to set up an anti-ghost field?" asked Maddie, looking around at the steady green lights dotting the walls.
"We've been experiencing an increased amount of spectral interference lately," said K. "Some of our operatives have even been overshadowed."
K and O stood before her now, silent as they stared at her. Maddie stared back, glancing at the door only once.
There was no way out of this.
But fine. She could play this game. They were just men. She knew how to handle men.
She dropped her bag on the floor and held out an arm in the direction of the table and chairs past the bed. "Well. Why don't we all have a seat, then?"
O began to walk toward the table, but K put a hand out to stop him.
"We prefer to stand," said K.
"Come now, I am going to sit," said Maddie, patting the top of the armchair. "I'd feel very uncomfortable if I were the only one."
The operatives hesitated, then walked to the table and sat in the only two chairs. Maddie dragged the armchair across the room and pushed it up to the table.
"You two sit tight," said Maddie, smiling. "I'm going to make some coffee."
She turned on her heel, swaying her hips as she sauntered over to the coffee maker on the counter. She filled the reservoir using one of the sealed water bottles next to the coffee maker and picked out a coffee pod from the basket of complimentary breakfast supplies.
"Would you boys like any coffee?" asked Maddie, wondering if she had missed any of the pills Danny had thrown around the room earlier that week. She was pretty sure she had found all of them when she flushed them down the toilet, but perhaps there were a couple scattered about?
She imagined tossing them into a couple of steaming coffee mugs. If the pills contained hydrocodone combined with acetaminophen, how many would it take to trigger an overdose in a couple of full-grown men?
"No, ma'am," said K.
Maddie placed the coffee pod in the filter basket and switched on the coffee maker. She looked over at the operatives as the water began to heat up.
"Are you sure?" she asked, pushing a slight purr into her voice. "It's no trouble, really."
Maddie could see O's lips twitch. He opened his mouth but then closed it when K scowled at him.
Maddie shrugged and turned back to the coffee maker. "Okay, then. Let me know if you change your mind."
The coffee maker started gurgling. Maddie pulled in a deep breath, rooting and steadying herself in this small moment as dark brown liquid dripped into the coffee pot. She leaned over with her elbows propped on the counter, pushing out her hips, very much aware of Operative O watching her.
She could do this. She had to do this. For Danny.
She would do anything to protect Danny. Even if he didn't believe her.
She poured the brewed coffee into a mug and sweetened it with a creamer pod and sugar packet. She stirred it all up and took a tiny sip to taste, feeling the steam moisten her nose and cheeks.
It tasted like shit.
She returned to the table with the mug in her hand and lowered herself into the armchair. She flashed a smile at O, grateful that she had been bored enough to put on some makeup that morning.
"You can take those off, you know." She tapped her brow in an indication of the operatives' sunglasses. "No sun in here."
"We never take them off, ma'am," said K.
"Oh?" Maddie pouted. "That's a shame. I'm sure you have lovely eyes."
She sipped her coffee loudly, then licked her lips as she set the mug on the table.
"So. Boys." Maddie propped her elbows on the table and clasped her hands, resting her chin on her threaded fingers. "What can I do for you?"
K sat up straight in his chair with his arms folded in front of him. "As you know, we've been in pursuit of Danny Phantom for the past year. And we believe that you can tell us where he is right now."
"Ah, yes." Maddie lowered her hands. "Because I had an affair with him. I am sorry to say that I have not seen Phantom for several weeks now. I have no idea where he is."
The operatives' foreheads creased above their sunglasses, their mouths angled into frowns.
Maddie cupped her mug and lifted it. "So if that is all—"
"Let's drop the charade here." K leaned forward in his seat. "We all know that your son is Danny Phantom."
Maddie's hands started shaking. She lowered the mug back onto the table but kept her grip on it in an attempt to keep her hands still.
"What?" She forced a chuckle. "Where did you get that crazy idea? Because they have the same first name?"
"We certainly don't think it's a coincidence," said O.
"Oh, please, 'Daniel' has been one of the most popular names for boys for over a century." Maddie rolled her eyes and took a sip of her coffee. "There are probably dozens of other ghosts going by the name 'Danny,' too."
"It has nothing to do with his name," said K gruffly. "We have in our custody a ghost who knows Phantom on a personal level. We have been able to extract very useful information from her."
Maddie's chest thudded as she remembered the ghost outside the motel door, the one with glowing silver eyes. She imagined the ghost strapped to a table, screaming and crying as the Guys in White "extracted" what they wanted from her.
"So a ghost told you my son is Phantom?" Maddie scoffed. "You can't trust anything a ghost says. They're delusional, they're driven by obsession, they do not have a grasp on reality." She took a drink of her coffee and smacked her lips. "You really should know that by now if you've been conducting proper ghost research."
"We've been doing a lot of research, Mrs. Fenton," said K coolly. "In particular, we've been observing your son very, very closely."
"What does that mean?" Maddie glared at him. "Have you been spying on him? Spying on a teenage boy, is that what the government sanctions now?"
"He's a ghost, not a boy," said O.
Maddie turned her glare on O, not liking the disdain in his tone. "What the hell makes you think that?"
"Often seen in close proximity right before Phantom appears and yet the two never appear in any photos or video footage together," said K. "Reports from classmates and teachers that his eyes sometimes glow or that his arm appears to reach through his closed locker."
"One student even reported that he is very skilled at fighting ghosts," said O.
Maddie shrugged. "He takes after his parents."
"Glowing eyes run in the family?" O quirked a brow above his sunglasses.
"Glowing eyes—do you even hear yourselves?" Maddie forced herself to chortle even as her mouth muscles twitched and her breath flared through her nose. "This is ridiculous."
Sweat ran down her neck, beaded on her collarbone. Maddie tugged at her jumpsuit zipper and lowered it, panting as cool air hit her skin. She caught O watching her, his jaw tight. She lowered her zipper even farther to reveal a peek of her cleavage. O's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard.
"It's a little warm in here, isn't it?" Maddie used a hand to fan herself. "Would you boys like me to turn down the AC? Those suits look stifling."
"We're—we're all right," stammered O. A stripe of color spread across his face beneath his sunglasses.
"But I would hate to see sweat stains ruin those nice white suits of yours," said Maddie with a pout.
"We have expert dry cleaners for that," said K, his muted expression never changing.
Maddie simpered and looked at O. "Would you like me to take your jacket for you, at least? You're looking a little hot under the collar there."
O's face turned even redder as his lips pressed into a thin line.
"Our jackets always stay on, ma'am," said K, sounding impatient this time.
"Oh, come on, I promise I won't tell," said Maddie, almost singing as she winked at O.
K leaned forward and pressed two fingers against the table. "Back to your son, Mrs. Fenton."
Maddie turned her attention to K, sensing the steel in his eyes even behind his sunglasses. Her smile dropped as she realized that even her best siren charms were not going to work on this man.
She pulled her zipper back up and pushed her coffee mug to the side. The coffee sloshed up toward the top but did not spill over. "My son is not Danny Phantom," she said firmly. "That's impossible."
"What makes you say that?" challenged K.
"Well, first of all, I was there when my son was born," said Maddie, "and I assure you, what I grew inside me and what I pushed out of me was one hundred percent human. I'm a human, his father's a human—there's no way I could have possibly given birth to a ghost."
"We do not believe he was born a ghost," said K. "We believe he became one later."
"Really? You think my son became a ghost later?" asked Maddie derisively. "You do know how people become ghosts, right? They die. My son is very much alive."
"We do not understand how your son became a ghost without dying either," said K. "That is something we intend to figure out."
Maddie's throat tightened. She swallowed to reopen it. "My husband and I have built very sophisticated ghost detectors, operative. If our son were a ghost, we would know."
"We are unsure how your son has been able to evade your ghost-detection technology," said K.
"He's even been able to evade our ghost detectors," said O. "State-of-the-art government technology."
"Ours is better," asserted Maddie irritably.
"Which makes his evasion all the more extraordinary," said K.
O placed his gloved hand on the table. "And we are very interested in learning more about his unusual abilities once we have him detained in our facility."
O's mouth twisted into a smirk, and Maddie could practically see all the predatory thoughts in his head, all of the vile things he wanted to do to her son.
"You are not taking my son anywhere," snarled Maddie, low and threatening. "You can't detain a human for experimentation."
"Your son is not human," said K.
"My son is not Phantom," spat Maddie. "Why would I have an affair with my own son?"
"We do not believe you knew your son was Phantom until fairly recently," said K.
"Oh, so you think Phantom would have an affair with me knowing I'm his mother, is that it?" Maddie huffed. "I seriously can't even believe we're having this conversation right now."
"It's not unusual for teenage boys to have Oedipal feelings for their mothers," said K.
O laughed. "Yeah, I mean, who hasn't thought about what sex with his mom would be like?"
K scowled at O. "I haven't."
O's mouth hung open for a short moment before he clamped it shut and ducked his head.
Maddie looked back and forth between the operatives, hot blood thumping at her temples and swirling in her ears. These men—these stupid ghost-hunting amateurs—just couldn't possibly be smart enough to figure out the truth, they just couldn't be—
"Look, I don't know what perversions you two have about your own mothers, and frankly, I don't care," said Maddie, attempting to keep her voice calm even as her fury rippled through her veins. "My son is not like that. My son was—angry. And troubled. He ran away." Her voice rose as tears sprang to her eyes. "He was gone for three and a half weeks. It broke me."
She choked up, remembering the way he looked at her in the kitchen right before he took off into the night. So much hurt, so much suffering.
"I coped with it by throwing myself into another man's arms," Maddie continued. "I'm not proud of it. I'm not proud that I cheated on my husband because I couldn't handle the pain of my son's absence." She drew in a deep breath that rattled her lungs and stared right into Operative K's dark sunglasses. "But that is the truth."
She forced herself to keep breathing even as her throat cinched up. The two operatives stared at her, unflinching.
"We believe you," said O.
Maddie looked at O curiously.
"What my partner means," said K, "is that we do believe that you really did go out to see Phantom every night for those three and a half weeks your son was missing. We just don't believe that you were seeing him for the reason you're trying to claim."
Maddie swallowed but said nothing.
"Admittedly, your confession to an affair with Phantom did create problems for our investigation," said K. "It caused delays, befuddled our team, forced us to rethink some conclusions."
"Sorry to hear that," said Maddie, folding her arms.
K leaned forward. "But the evidence we had already was too compelling to just drop. So my partner and I started watching you more closely than ever. We knew from the start you were staying in this motel. You tried to hide by not parking your car here, getting rides with help from your friend, Mayor Masters." K's lips flickered a smile. "Did you pay him back with a nice glimpse of your tits?"
Heat rushed to Maddie's face as she pursed her lips and wrapped two of her fingers around her jumpsuit zipper.
"We saw your son visit you here on Sunday," continued K. "And your lawyer picked you up yesterday for questioning at the police station. But we also noticed you had another visitor this week, a visitor with glowing eyes."
Maddie recalled the woman who came to the door to deliver a bag of personal items. Her eyes shimmered with silver ghostly brilliance.
"And then we started watching her," said K. "And once we were certain that she was a human being overshadowed by a ghost, we took her to our facility and were able to tear the ghost out of that poor woman."
"Don't worry, we returned the woman safely to her home," said O. "But we kept the ghost and…persuaded her to tell us everything she knew about you and your son."
Maddie's gut knotted and flipped. K and O both sneered at her.
"That's right," said O, gloating. "She told us all about how you kidnapped your own son and held him hostage for weeks while you conducted all sorts of torturous experiments on him. So torturous that he continues to suffer from nightmares and breakdowns even now, long after you allowed him to return home."
"That's a lie," yelled Maddie, slamming both palms on the table. "I would never hurt my son."
"But you would hurt Phantom," said O. "You just didn't know that your son was the specimen you were ripping open every night."
"No!" Maddie shook her head, shutting her eyes to keep the tears in. "That's not what happened. I wouldn't—I would never—"
She sobbed and clamped a hand over her mouth, biting one finger to hold herself together. Her body shook and her chair quaked with the strain as she shifted the position of her legs over and over but she couldn't quell the hysteria storming through her blood.
"You don't have to be so defensive about this, Mrs. Fenton," said K, his voice gentle now. "You've done nothing wrong."
Maddie sniffed and lowered her hand, unnerved by this sudden shift in tone.
"Your son is not human," K continued. "He's not even an animal. He's a ghost, something beyond our current understanding of taxonomy. There are no laws protecting ghosts from inhumane treatment or abuse."
Dread and suspicion gripped Maddie's stomach. She straightened her back and sucked in a breath to keep herself upright.
"We know the police have been investigating your involvement in your son's disappearance," said O. "But all you were doing was conducting scientific research on a ghost, and they can't legally prosecute you for that." O smiled, a hint of laughter in his voice, as if the notion were simply ridiculous. "What you did was not illegal."
Maddie blinked at him, her eyes wide, her mouth tugging downward.
"And we don't believe it was immoral either," said K. "We believe your ghost research has always been a great service, and your work on Phantom may very well be your greatest contribution to the supernatural field of study."
Maddie crossed her legs and folded her arms, attempting to squeeze the creeping horror out of her gut.
"You never had to pretend you were having an affair to get the police off your back," said K. "All you ever had to do was tell the truth. You can tell the truth now, Mrs. Fenton, and you will be safe."
K leaned toward her. Maddie leaned away, tilting her head back as she eyed him warily.
"We are not here to threaten you," K went on. "We want to protect you because we do not believe a brilliant mind like yours should be locked up behind bars."
K reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a small stack of papers. He placed them on the table and slid them over to Maddie, right next to her forgotten coffee.
Maddie stared at the papers, the blocks of text printed on the top sheet. "What is this?"
"It's a statement we've prepared for you," explained K. "All you have to do is sign it, and you will be granted an official pardon for what you did to your son. You will have full immunity; the Amity Park Police Department will be unable to touch you."
Maddie looked up at K, then at O. Their faces were serious.
She scanned the first page, speed-reading the paragraphs, parsing out the meaning from the technical jargon, the tedious legalese. It began with her full name, Madeline Christine Fenton, as she hereby declared the subject of interest, Daniel Alexander Fenton, her son, to be known to her to possess extraordinary supernatural abilities. She declared that he was in fact not human at all but a ghost and not just any ghost but the ghost widely known as Danny Phantom. She acknowledged the government's interest in this ghostly entity and their need to apprehend him in order to study his biology and abilities in addition to assessing and containing any potential threat he may pose to national security.
She flipped through the pages—three of them, full of more text outlining what she knew about her son to be true in regard to his ghostly identity, a confession of the experiments she herself had conducted on him already. The final page stated that she was making this statement freely and voluntarily, without coercion or undue influence. She agreed to cooperate fully with the Guys in White and provide any additional information required during their investigation. In exchange for her truthful testimony, she would be granted full immunity for any harm she caused her son during her independent scientific research. At the bottom of the page was a blank line, a space for her to leave her signature.
Operative K handed her a white pen. Maddie took the pen, her mouth open as she stared at it, at the letters GIW stamped in black on the barrel.
"You want me to sign away my son's life in exchange for my exoneration," said Maddie, almost not believing the words coming out of her mouth. "You sick bastards."
"Oh, really? We're the sick ones here?" O arched an eyebrow over his sunglasses. "Weren't you the one who took a sledgehammer to your son's leg?"
Maddie shifted her gaze to him, a high-pitched whine blaring in her head as her blood bubbled, her body jolting and trembling.
This was not a bluff. The Guys in White really did know everything.
Everything.
She slammed the pen on the table and jumped to her feet. She snatched up the statement and ripped it to shreds, hurling the pieces at the two operatives.
"You can't have my son," she snarled. "I will not let you take him."
"It's just a matter of time before we get the proof we need, Mrs. Fenton," said K, unfazed by her outburst. "We will be taking your son. But you don't have to go to prison, too."
"My son is not a ghost. He's human," spat Maddie. "And if you take him—if you touch him, I will kill you."
She pressed her hands against the table, the surface vibrating and the legs wobbling with the force.
"Wherever you go, wherever you try to hide him"—Maddie panted, barely suppressing a growl—"I will find you and I will kill all of you."
K and O exchanged amused glances before turning back to Maddie.
"Well, until that day, we shall treat him with the same kindness and respect you did," said O. "In fact, I'll make sure of it. Personally."
O's sunglasses caught a glint of the light as his mouth stretched into a vulturous smirk. Maddie's vision blurred as she considered killing him right then and there, smashing her coffee mug between his eyes until his face caved in, ramming her elbow into his neck and crushing his throat against the wall.
What was a murder charge on top of child abuse at this point?
But she restrained herself. Because there were other operatives that would just replace these two, and she would not be able to protect Danny if she went to prison.
So instead, she snatched her mug and threw the cold coffee at O, drenching the front of his pristine suit. O yelped and jumped out of his chair as he desperately brushed at the coffee stains with his gloved hands. Maddie swiftly turned and stomped toward the door, picking up her bag along the way. She then unlocked the door and threw it open, stepped outside and slammed it shut behind her.
The weather was oddly pleasant. Warm sunshine, cool breeze. A jarring juxtaposition that caused Maddie to stagger, her bleary vision blinking back into focus.
It took her a moment to realize Vlad was standing nearby, watching her, his silver Rolls-Royce parked right behind him. His face looked pale and stricken.
Maddie walked toward him, almost in a trance. He opened the back door of his car as she approached, and she slid into the back seat.
Vlad hopped into the driver's seat. She could hear him speaking to her, but his words were muffled, unintelligible.
The car started moving. Maddie clapped her hands around her head and screamed.