Chapter 1: Prologue
Chapter Text
Danny stepped up to his parents. The visiting specialist’s eyes flickered down to Danny before staring back up at his mother. The fluorescent hospital lights buzzed overhead.
“So, my dear, how have you,” a flicker to Jack, “both been? It’s been ages since we last saw one another.”
Danny huffed and looked away from the smile directed at his mother.
Maddie politely laughed, “oh, it has been a while, hasn’t it?” Danny felt a hand on his shoulder pulling him forward and in front of her. “I have a son now, Danny, in addition to our daughter Jazz.”
A boisterous laugh, “As smart as her mother. Here,” Jack rummaged around in his hazmat suit pockets. “I’ve got photos if you want to see!”
A thin smile, “Yes, maybe some time later.” Two eyes settled on Danny, “We are here to see to young Daniel’s health.” Danny squirmed in his mother’s hold.
Jack stilled, “Absolutely right, as always.” At a stern glance from more than one nurse, Jack lowered his voice, “I suppose we should take this somewhere more private.”
Vlad, focus back on Maddie, nodded. “Yes, that would be preferred. There are laws we have to adhere to about such things after all.” He spun on his heel and walked off. Danny lurched forward with his mother’s momentum and followed.
Vlad took them through a few offshoot hallways before opening a door, revealing an office. “Well, here we are.”
“Oh, is this your office Vladdie?”
“Doctor Masters, if you will Jack.”
Danny scowled. “I thought this was a check up? Don’t you need to do that in a – ya know – hospital room or whatever?”
Vlad smiled down at Danny, gesturing to the seats in front of the rather large desk, an unspoken command for everyone to sit. “Well, normally, yes. Since you have such a special case, I thought it’d be prudent to discuss areas of concern, look over the tests you’ve already done, and create a targeted plan for future inquiry instead of stumbling around trying to find something wrong that may or may not exist.” Vlad grinned at Danny. Danny shifted his weight in the chair.
“I guess?” Danny looked away from Vlad.
“Well, we did a number of tests at home,” Jack started. Maddie moved to the bag slung over her shoulder, pulling out a tabbed folder filled with papers.
“Ah, organized as always Maddie,” Vlad said, grabbing the stack.
“Oh! That was me Vladdie! Color coded to separate each spectrum of tests. We’ve got red for regular check ups – of course pre-accident baselines as well as post–accident results, and green is for -”
Danny tuned out his dad’s enthusiastic ramblings and started looking around the room instead.
“-niel?” A snap. “Daniel?”
“Sweetie?”
Danny looked back down from where he was counting the ceiling tiles. “Huh?”
“Dr. Masters wanted you to walk him through the accident. If you’re okay with that?”
“Oh, uh, sure. I mean, I went down to the lab, it’s in our basement – uuh not that I was supposed to be down there, by the way, Jazz and me have been told to stay out but I got curious, and I went down anyway.”
Danny glanced over to his mom, who nodded. “Dr. Masters used to be your father and I’s research partner.”
“Oh, ok.” He sat up a little straighter. “So, the ghost portal my parents had finished wasn’t turning on, and they’d been doing tests trying out different things, and nothing worked! So I thought it was safe.” Danny looked down at the front edge of the desk. “And I went into the portal and I tripped on something, or slid? I lost my balance and it felt like my hand hit something and all of a sudden -” Danny stopped. Spots danced in front of his eyes, and he was acutely aware of the electricity buzzing throughout the room. The smell of fried wiring, burning skin, taunt, shrinking, convulsions, a twisting burning sensation throughout his body. He took a shaky breath in. It echoed in his ears.
“- right.” A voice close to him. Cottony muffled sounds. “Yes, he’s been learning to work through these.”
The sensation of a large hand rubbing across his back came back into focus, dragging Danny’s focus out of his memories. Danny was hunched over, hands curled, breathing, sitting in a chair – not stumbling to his knees – no screaming – no screaming – no screaming - breaths evening out. He slowly lifted his head, the white spots fading out of his vision. His father’s hand was a warm, firm presence on his back. He straightened up. Gave a thin smile to the doctor.
“Uhm. Well, I was electrocuted and managed to stumble out of the portal and when I came to, the lab was green – the light from the portal - it had turned on or booted up or something when I was inside I guess, and – and,” Danny blinked hard. “I thought I was okay, so I went upstairs and took a nap. I woke up to my parents rushing into the room. They had checked the lab security, and, well, you have the results of all the checks they did after that.” Danny left out the part about the hazmat suit melding into his skin, his two best friends watching in horror, the eerie green light spilling out of his eyes, the ethereal hair floating around his head, the bright rings flowing over his body, giving warmth back to his skin and the clothes he had on under the hazmat suit untouched, hands pulling him in for crushing hugs. Tucker corrupting as much of the security footage as he could, while Sam monitored his breathing and checked his reflexes. It wasn’t enough to stop his parents from finding out, but he kept the worst of it from them all the same, keeping his friends out of trouble with his omissions. Danny brought his knees up onto the chair, ignoring Vlad’s pinched expression as he did so. If his friends weren’t there – if the lie about being alone was true – if he - if they – if - . Danny felt the warm pulse of air onto his arms, from where his head rested. He blinked as tears welled up, “the ifs don’t matter,” Danny thought. “I’m here, I’m alive, I have my friends. That’s enough. That has to be enough.” By the time he got himself under a semblance of control and looked up, Vlad was leaning in, sharp eyes categorizing Danny’s every movement.
“Any physical changes? However temporary – eye color? Hair? Anything like that?”
Danny swallowed. Thought back to his reflection in the mirror. “Uh, no, nothing?”
“Are you sure?”
Danny narrowed his eyes. “I don’t know! I had just been electrocuted, I wasn’t exactly checking myself out in a mirror after!” He huffed and flopped back in the chair.
“Hmm,” Vlad hummed, jotting down some notes.
The appointment soon delved into discussing the rest of the folder, a lot of terminology that Danny was only vaguely familiar with. Steps for continued testing were solidified and another appointment was scheduled for the following week.
Vlad stood up to escort the family out, “since I was back in town, I was thinking about hosting an old college – bachelor’s college that is – reunion. See everyone again, would that be something you’d be interested in?”
“Hmmm.” Maddie glanced over at her husband’s hopeful face as she collected the bag together. “Perhaps. But Dr. Masters, -”
“- Oh it’s always Vlad with you dear -”
“How did you end up here? Our local hospital doesn’t see many specialists come through, so it was quite a surprise to find out that not only was there an ecto radiation specialist, but one so conveniently close as well.”
They walked out of the office, making their way through the hospital.
“Well, there’s only so much ectoradiation research you can do in ectoplasm deficient environments.” Vlad chuckled. “Part of my research grant was the link between self-professed paranormal hotspots of activity and readings of ectoradiation with high levels. With this hospital so close to one of the most abundant records of said paranormal activity I -” Vlad cut himself off. “To keep it short, I thought that a hospital so close to one of those hotspots would provide opportunities to test and research the ecto radiation spread, if not here directly, then with day trips to Amity Park and the surrounding areas as well as creating a record of ecto radiation half life.” He tilted his head toward Danny, “Among other reasons.”
Danny shuffled a little further from Vlad.
“Well,” Vlad clapped his hands once, “it was lovely to see you again, terrible circumstances, but lovely all the same. I’ll see you next time?”
Jack grinned, “Of course! We were worried about our Danny boy, so we’ll be coming to every appointment! Both of us! And of course, if there’s any way we can help out with your research, just say the word Vladdie!”
“It’s doctor you imbecile.”
Danny blinked, not sure that he really heard that last part.
A bland smile. “Yes, I’ll be sure to let you know.” Dr. Masters ushered them out the final set of doors.
As the GAV pulled out of the parking lot, Danny saw the doctor back up at the fourth floor window, watching the vehicle pull away.
Chapter 2: Getting Started . . .
Summary:
The pieces start moving into place
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Invisobang Art: Danny Fenton looks into a mirror. He has red, blistery skin, glowing green eyes, and an uneasy expression. Dr. Vlad Masters stands behind him with a gloved hand on his shoulder. His face is not visible in the mirror.
Artwork by RuneTallem
“Danny?” a sculpted eyebrow lifted up. “You’re here rather early. And without your mother I see.” A mask covered the doctor's face.
Danny’s shoulders crept up to his ears, “Yeah, my parents are just parking the GAV. Sent me in ahead of time to check in or whatever.”
Vlad’s eyes crinkled, “Well, no need for that my boy, I can do that for you.” Vlad walked behind the welcome desk and after a few clicks, turned back to Danny. “We can start heading up. I was just coming back from lunch and yours is the first appointment of the afternoon.”
Danny glanced back.
“Oh, you can text them easily enough to let them know. Can’t you?”
Danny scowled and pulled out his phone to text his parents, absentmindedly following Vlad to the elevator and up to his office.
Settling down, Vlad once again gestured to the chair immediately opposite his desk chair and steepled his fingers, resting his chin upon them.
Danny felt eyes boring into his forehead as he resolutely kept his focus on his phone. He shivered and let out a little gasp as a cold breath left his mouth. Danny glared over at the wall where the thermostat sat. “It’s freezing in here, Dr. Masters. Can we turn up the temp or something?”
A small tilt of Vlad’s head. “It’s a hospital my dear boy, the temperature isn’t set for comfort, but safety. If it’s so intolerable, you can bring a jacket with you next time.”
Eyes flashing over to Vlad, Danny huffed and dropped his gaze back down to his phone again. A full bodied shiver coursed through him before piercing pain went through his head. Danny doubled over and clutched at his head, breathing through clenched teeth, pain already subsiding. Relaxing his body, Danny’s head came back up to look at Vlad, hands trembling in his lap. Light glinted in Dr. Master’s eyes as he watched Danny.
Silence coated the room, disturbed only by the sounds worming their way in from the hallway.
After a few minutes, footsteps echoed, heavy and quick. The door flung open.
“Vladdie!” Jack cried. Maddie pushed him forward, out of the doorway, so she could squeeze in behind him.
“Doctor Masters,” a short nod in greeting, before she took the seat next to Danny and the wall.
Jack shuffled around just far enough to get his arm around to close the door, then dropped into the seat on Danny’s other side. “So, Vlad,” Jack’s voice sobered up. “What’s the plan?”
Danny slipped his phone into his pocket and looked up curiously as Vlad shuffled papers around.
“Well, I suppose that depends on what updates you have brought me and what Danny has to say about what just happened.”
Maddie turned towards Danny, hands coming up to check him. “Oh sweetie, did something happen while we were gone?”
“Son?”
Danny winced and waited for Maddie to stop patting his head and arms. “Um, yeah, it’s nothing. Really,” he tried to assure them. “I just had a headache while waiting for you guys. It was really sudden, but it’s gone now.”
A tsk, “Danny, that’s not nothing. Is this the first one or -?” Maddie trailed off.
Danny looked over to Dr. Masters, who tilted his head, hand posed to write notes.
He sighed, “it’s happened a few times this week. But it’s fine! Really! I must not be sleeping enough or something.”
Jack hummed next to him, “could be.”
Dr. Masters scoffed quietly. “And what were you doing during these…. Attacks? Sitting, like you are now?”
Danny shrugged, “I don’t know. Yeah? A couple of them happened while I was laying down, but it’s whatever?”
Maddie’s eyebrows pinched, “you haven’t told us about this, Danny, how often have they been occuring?”
Danny shrugged.
“Your mother’s right - if you could try to remember how many of these you’ve had, general times of day, or any other details, it could prove to be useful.”
Danny sighed. It was going to be a long visit.
After getting as much information out of Danny as they could, Vlad had Danny sit on the examination table that he had moved into the office prior to that day’s appointment. After a short look over Danny’s skin, Vlad said “it seems that young Daniel’s healing has been remarkably fast in this regard. The blistering should be cleared up by our next appointment.” If Danny didn’t know better, he would’ve guessed the doctor was angry about it.
A hand slapped Danny’s back, “that’s us Fentons - good at everything we do!” One of Jack’s beaming smiles was directed Danny’s way.
“Yes. Good. Well, enough about that.” Danny’s right arm was turned back and forth before his left one was picked up and the same examination repeated. “It looks like there is some inflammation in his right arm. If the rate of healing remains steady, then in the next couple of weeks it should be back to normal as well.”
“Oh, that’s lovely news!” Maddie exclaimed.
“Quite. With this progress in mind, I think it’s time we start adding in additional monitoring to young Daniel’s -”
“Danny,” Danny corrected.
“Medical examinations,” Dr. Masters finished. Vlad sat back down and picked up his notes. “As you are aware, there are other complications that can come from the high levels of electricity and ecto-radiation that your son was exposed to. I know there are some preliminary tests to monitor his heart, and I’ll be using those as a starting point, but I think it would behoove us to perform an EKG, perhaps an EEG as well, of course, in addition to other monitoring, some of which young Daniel here will have to comply with in order to get the most accurate results. We can set up a time to bring him in for those outside of our normal appointments and it should give us a clearer idea of his overall health and make us aware of any problems as they surface.”
“Of course, we’ll do whatever we can to make sure our baby boy is healthy.”
Danny squirmed in his seat and frowned at his mom’s endearment.
“Based on his help at the beginning of this visit, I’d recommend that Daniel keeps a journal of his symptoms as they come, detailing where he is and what he’s doing.”
“What?” burst out of Danny. “Like a diary?!?” He looked between his parents, eyes pleading. “I can’t do that!”
A sharp glare from Maddie. “You will, young man. You won’t tell us when something happens, so you need to start keeping better track of symptoms yourself. You don’t seem to remember enough details when asked, so if that means using a journal, then that means a journal.”
Danny slid down in his seat.
“No worries bucko! We’ll get one in red! Or blue! It won’t look like a diary at all!” Jack cheerfully added on.
Vlad’s brow pinched together, “yes, well, here’s the rest of the -” Danny tuned out the rest of the appointment in self-righteous teenage petulance. If Dash caught him scribbling in a diary during school, he could kiss goodbye any hope of popularity. He slid down further into his seat.
- - -
Danny stared in the mirror. Poked at the red, blistery skin near his face. Looked down at his arms, swollen along the underside and looking gross. The electricity that surged through his body had left its mark behind and Danny grimaced. Pulling down his long sleeved shirt, he took one last glance at his face – the spots looking more like bad acne than anything life threatening – and pulled his backpack up onto his shoulders before loping down the stairs.
The clatter of dishes and utensils greeted him as he rounded the corner. “Morning,” he said, brushing past his mother rinsing a cereal bowl in the sink, swiping a piece of toast, and walking back out.
“Danny, dear,” Maddie sighed. Catching sight of the piece of dry toast in his mouth, “is that all you’re going to eat? You’re still recovering, you should have something more than -”
“Mom. Moooom, it’s fine,” Danny said around a mouthful of toast. “I’ve gotta go. Can’t be late, see you later, byeee.”
Opening the door with a quiet “love you” following after him, Danny stepped out into the morning air. He hurried down the street, hoping his mom wouldn’t realize he didn’t take any lunch, and breathed a sigh of relief as he rounded the corner, out of sight of Fentonworks.
Danny walked the few streets over to Tucker’s house. Reaching down to pick up the newspaper, he climbed up the few steps to the front door, hand raised. The door swung open and a startled gasp sounded.
“Oh, Danny, I didn’t realize you’d be here.”
“Good morning Mrs. Foley,” Danny smiled and handed over the newspaper.
“Have a good day son!” bounced out from inside the house.
An arm snaked around Mrs. Foley’s waist, “bye mom, have a good day,” Tucker pecked a kiss onto his mom’s cheek before turning to Danny. “Oh, hey man. Didn’t realize you were walking with me to school today.”
Danny rubbed the back of his neck, “Aaah yeah, a last minute decision,” Danny lied. The extra time it took to get to Tucker’s instead of waiting for the bus meant less time his mom had to slip him lunch.
“Alright, well you boys better get going.” A smile. “Have a good day at school you two.”
“Bye Mrs. Foley,” Danny waved as he stepped back down to the sidewalk.
A closed door, and a short walk to the end of the street was all Danny was allowed before, “soooo, did you finish the math homework? I got most of it, but -” Tucker trailed off.
Danny laughed, “Yeah, let’s compare once we get to school.” He shivered slightly in the chilly early morning air. The walk sign flipped and they were on their way.
- - -
“Ok, don’t forget to drop off your homework in the basket on your way out. Have a good day everyone, see you tomorrow!” the teacher called out.
Danny entered the flow of students rushing to lunch, tugging his backpack onto his shoulder. Getting to the right corridor, he stepped out of the flow and a hard knock into his body smashed him into his locker.
A heavy pressure squished him further, “What’s up little plague boy”. Pressure removed, a laugh disappearing into the rush of students, and Danny pushed himself off the door. Unlocking it and shoving his morning textbooks into the locker, he slammed it shut with a scowl.
“Woah, what happened to you?” Sam asked on the other side, eyebrow raised.
“Dash,” Danny grumbled.
Sam’s eyes narrowed as she pushed herself off the lockers.
“Don’t,” Danny sighed, “it’s not worth it. ‘Sides, he’s not wrong. I look like a freak.”
“Danny,” Sam chastised as they stepped back into the flow of students heading to the cafeteria. “You do not look like a freak - you happened to have a really bad accident and are still healing from it. Everyone knows you don’t look like this normally -”
“Do they really, Sam? Are you sure? I’m just another nameless freshman to most of them, for all they know I’m just the pimple faced clumsy freak. It’s fine -” Danny continued when Sam opened her mouth, “look”. He pushed up his long sleeve. “It’s healing and in a few weeks it should be completely gone. I just have to hold out until then and ignore the plague rumors.”
Sam hummed. “Yeah, it is looking a lot better. I guess,” she acquiesced.
They walked into the cafeteria, stepping out of the pushy students and walking over to a table in the corner.
Danny sat down, chin in hand, as he breathed in and out. His stomach turning over at the sounds and competing smells of the room.
Sam finished pulling her lunch container out of her paper lunch bag and raised an eyebrow at Danny. “Where’s your lunch Danny? Are you not eating again?”
“Eating?” A cafeteria tray clattered onto the table. “Are we talking about Sam’s garbage? Sorry - pet food? Sorry - lawn mower byproduct?”
Sam scowled, “You know it’s recyclable organic matter Tucker. And no, today it’s a salad. What about you? Eating murdered animal corpses again?”
Tucker grinned opposite her, “If they didn’t want to be eaten, they wouldn’t be so delicious.”
Sam launched into a counterattack as Danny rested his head on the cool tabletop. He closed his eyes, willing his stomach to settle. By the time he was successful, the bell rang again.
“- and that’s why I think there won’t be a pop quiz in Lancer’s today,” Tucker said as they stood. “What do you think Danny?”
“Uuuuh,” Danny said. “We’ve had one every other time?” he tried.
“Yes, but we already learned about the background of the Industrial Revolution - do we really have to have another test on it?”
“Sure, but our English teacher isn’t going to know what we learned in history,” Sam interjected.
Tucker jogged over to toss his trash and put his tray on top of the lid before making it back to them. “Uuuugh, I hope we don’t have a pop quiz, I can’t take it today.”
“Ditto,” Danny added. “Besides, a pop quiz isn’t a surprise if it happens every time.”
Tucker snapped his fingers, pointing to Danny. “Exactly! Danny gets it Sam, why can’t you?”
Sam rolled her eyes as they headed off to class.
- - -
Danny laid down on his bed. The ceiling swam in front of his eyes and he closed them. He briefly considered the pros and cons of squeezing his pounding head before remembering that moving would make his stomach lurch. He laid there, breathing slowly, trying to will the pain to subside. As the afternoon light turned orange, and the room cooled, Danny shivered. He slowly opened his eyes and let his head roll to the side. His window was cracked open, cool air starting to spill in with the waning light.
He debated the merits of closing the window. On one hand, it felt heavenly on his pulsing head. On the other, the temperature differential made his stomach squirm unpleasantly. Before he could come to a conclusion, a call came from downstairs.
“Danny! Jazz! Dinnertime!”
Danny let out a long breath through barely parted teeth. He blinked once. Twice. Closed his eyes briefly before rolling his weight over and pushing himself up to sit. He opened his eyes, staring at the floor. Thought about his untouched homework. Heard Jazz’s door open and footsteps down the stairs. Let out another breath. Contracted his muscles, bent his knees, creaked his way to standing. He stood there, letting his body equalize in the new position, blinking away the fuzziness, and headed to the stairs.
The clatter of dishes and slap of pot holders on the table greeted him as he moved downstairs, hand resting on the banister.
Rounding the corner, Jazz had already finished setting the silverware next to the plates and his dad was grabbing a serving utensil. His mom was closing the fridge door.
Grabbing his usual seat, Danny slumped down. Stomach mostly settled, he waited for everyone else to sit down.
As Maddie doled out portions to everyone, she asked, “So, how was school dear?”
“Oh! Pretty good,” Jazz responded. “I had an AP chem test today, but I think it went well - it was focused on neuroreceptor chemicals and the different effects and interactions that various drugs have on the brain.”
“Sounds like you really know your stuff Jazzypants!”
Danny frowned down at his food before picking up his fork and started to eat.
“And you Danny?” Maddie turned to Danny.
He swallowed, “Uuuh? Fine? Lancer had another pop quiz, but otherwise just -” Danny shrugged - “more of the same? It’s school.”
Maddie frowned. “Nothing of note?”
“Yeah, Danny boy, nothing else?” Jack glanced over to Maddie who was staring at Danny. “We got another call -”
“Jack!” Maddie hissed.
Danny flinched. “I guess I fell asleep in class again,” he mumbled into his plate. He scooped another bite into his mouth.
A sigh from someone. Some shuffling, and a cool hand placed on his forehead. “Sweetie, if you don’t feel well, you need to tell us. You aren’t in trouble, but if you’re getting sick again we need to know. All of these symptoms -”
Danny jerked away, vision swimming, before hunching his shoulders up, “Yep, got it. But I’m fine,” he grit out. “Must have stayed up too late yesterday.”
“Danny that’s-” Jack started before suddenly stopping.
Danny scooped another bite in. Silence settled, occasional scraps of utensils on plates before Jazz spoke up. “So, how did your day go, Mom? Dad?” The conversation started back up, sans Danny.
- - -
Danny walked into the cafeteria, darting between students to Sam and Tucker who were already sitting.
“Hey man, where were you?”
Danny slid onto the seat bench. “Old Ramirez wanted to talk about my behavior or whatever.”
“Did you fall asleep in class again?” Sam raised an eyebrow at him.
A blush crawled up Danny’s neck. “Nooooo. I was just, uuuh resting my eyes. And my head. On my arms. On top of my textbook.”
“Oh you were totally sleeping dude!” Tucker crowed. “I don’t blame you though, he’s so dull. Like seriously, who talks like that?”
“Tucker! That’s not nice!” Sam kicked him under the table.
“Ouch! It’s not my fault you’re able to get a coffee or whatever to stay awake Sam. The rest of us have to suffer through it.”
Danny snickered. “Tuck’s right, why don’t you share Sam, don’t you love us? As your friends?”
“As your only friends!” Tucker added.
Sam snorted, “I have other friends.”
“Sure, but not at school! Someone has to be a buffer to keep you from killing the A Listers!”
Tucker nodded. “Exactly. So, the friend tax. Where is it? You’re ten years overdue you know. With interest, you’ve got a lot of backpay.”
Sam rolled her eyes and took a bite of her lunch.
A melodramatic swoon into Danny’s space, “can you believe this cold cruel girl across from us? Treating her friends so callously? Danny, my man, my true friend, my best dude, what are we going to do? Tsk tsk tsk,” Tucker sat up. “I guess we have to make it alone from here on out.” He sniffed, took a bite of his meatloaf. “A betrayal of the highest order, my partner in arms.”
Danny laughed, “I don’t know, I think I’ll side with Sam on this one. Ten years of backpay? Yikes Tuck.” Danny turned to his backpack to pull out homework.
“So Danny, how are you doing?” Sam closed up her empty lunch container. “You had another appointment right? The doctor’s some sort of specialist?”
Danny tapped his pencil against the homework sheet. “Yeah, some ecto-radiation specialist that mom and dad went to school with back in the day. He ended up becoming a doctor after he stopped working with mom and dad on their bachelors thesis. Doctor Vladimir Masters. Dad says I’m lucky that he happened to be working nearby already because he’s ‘one of a kind’ but I think Dad’s just saying that? Dr. Masters seems to hate my dad, and the way he acts towards my mom is so weird. It’s like he’s completely focused on my mom and forgets my dad’s there? And when he pays attention to me, it’s so unsettling, like he knows something. Which is impossible right? I mean,” Danny looked at Tucker and Sam. “There’s no way, right?”
Tucker shook his head, “no way dude. I corrupted those records - there’s no way to get that back.”
Sam nodded, “and there was no one else around. Danny, are you sure you’re feeling better? Falling asleep in class, skipping lunch, this suspicion -”
“Sam!” Danny looked around before leaning in. “Yes, I”m sure.” He rubbed his temples. “I’m telling you there is something wrong with this guy. Like he’s perfectly polite when he meets us in the halls, but we get to his office and there’s just - I mean, it’s like he’s not normal.”
“If you say so dude. I think all doctors are like that though.” Tucker looked over, “Oh shit, I forgot Lancer gave that out.” Tucker flipped open his backpack and pulled out a folder before turning to rummage for a pencil. “Crap crap crap, my mom’s gonna kill me if I don’t get my English grade up, does anyone have -” Tucker raised his head to see Sam offer a pencil to him. “Thanks.” He turned to Danny, “Ok, we can get this done, right?”
Danny and Tucker worked furiously on the worksheet in the last few minutes of lunch, trying to get enough of it finished to turn in.
- - -
Moving through the halls, Danny felt a shiver move down his spine before he was slammed into a locker from behind. His head burst with pain and as he turned around to catch who did it, a group of theater kids passed in front of him, obscuring his view. Shrugging it off, he started walking again. The end of school was here and all Danny wanted to do was go home and sleep. A headache had been building all day and with his interrupted nap in class, he was more than ready to get out of the crowd.
As he pushed his way out of the school, a flash of shimmering orange, and then, “Danny!” A hand was waving above the crowd, “Danny! Over here!”
Danny sighed and moved over to Jazz. “Yeah?”
“Mom and Dad called me. Something about taking you for some tests?” Jazz flipped her hair over her shoulder. “They’re in the middle of an unstable experiment, so they asked me to take you. Come on.” She started walking away.
Danny stood there, blinking for a moment. “Wait wait wait!” Danny ran to catch up, “What do you - Jaaaazz,” Danny whined. Jazz slowed down. “I thought that was on Wednesday, today’s Monday? Or whatever?”
Jazz snorted. “Actually it’s Tuesday, and Mom and Dad told you that the appointment got switched during Sunday dinner.” A sharp look out of the corner of her eye, “weren’t you paying attention?”
“Oh, uh, I must’ve forgotten?”
Jazz stuck her key in the lock, “go ahead and write that down.”
Danny stuck a tongue out at her and slid into the unlocked car.
“I saw that,” she said as she flung her backpack behind her seat. “It’s still something you need to write down.”
“But Jaaaazz, no teenager would remember something that boring. It’s not a “symptom” of anything.” He shivered in the seat.
Jazz turned over the engine and started checking mirrors. “That’s not for you to decide. Get out your notebook and write it down. Doctor Masters will figure out if it’s medically important or not.” Pulling out of her spot, she added, “besides, you won’t remember to tell him if you don’t write it down. Isn’t that why you have the notebook in the first place?”
Danny scowled out the window, “yeah whatever, the whole thing is stupid.”
“Daniel James Fenton, your health is not stupid. Now I’m taking time out of my very busy day to drive you to the hospital, so the very least you can do is write down anything unusual in that notebook.”
Danny looked over at his sister. Her thinned mouth and darting eyes made Danny feel…. Guilty. He took out the blue notebook and a pencil and started making notes.
By the time they pulled up to the hospital, Danny had finished most of his homework.
“Well, we’re here,” Jazz stated.
“Uh huh.”
“Danny.”
“......”
“Get going,” Jazz hissed, snaking an arm back to swipe her backpack before getting out of the car.
Danny sighed and shuffled his feet out of the car. He waited a moment before standing, slamming the door closed behind him. He started walking towards the doors, Jazz falling in step behind him after locking the car.
“Hey,” Danny said at the reception counter. “I’m here for a, uuuh, test.” Danny looked around the intake desk. “Doctor Vlad Masters ordered it? I’m Danny Fenton.”
“Ooh, here for that EKG? I’ll get you checked off, it’s on the fourth floor. Make your way up, elevators at the end of the hall after your first left at the end here, you’ll have to check in again at the desk up there. Any questions?”
“No, ma’am, thank you.” Danny moved away from the desk, Jazz now taking the lead down the corridor.
Danny shivered, a lance of pain going through his head. He shook a little, momentarily stopping in the middle of the hall. He sped up to reach Jazz.
It took a minute for the elevator doors to ding and then he and Jazz were stepping inside. Danny punched the 3 button and waited for the elevator to take them up.
Another ding and the doors slid open, a bright 3 above their heads announcing they made it.
“Aaah young Daniel, on time. And? Jasmine I presume?” A hand stuck out, Doctor Vlad Masters standing outside the elevators. Jazz and Danny stepped out, Jazz shaking his hand.
“Yes, that’s me.”
“You look like a younger version of your mother, my dear. It seems one of you inherited her good looks.” Vlad Masters smiled.
“Oh, um, thank you?”
“No thanks necessary.” He turned to Danny. “Now, Daniel, I was alerted as you came in, you’re all checked in.” He directed Danny to one of the hallways, bypassing the desk. “Jasmine, you can follow us or wait out here. Daniel, we’re down this way.”
“Oh, then I’ll follow Dr. Masters. I’ve always had an interest in medicine, I would love to observe, if it’s not a problem.”
“No problem at all,” Vlad said over his shoulder. “Now Daniel, I do hope you’ve been keeping up with that journal. I do assume your father remembered to get you one?”
“Yes, Danny has one,” Jazz jumped in.
At the raised eyebrow, Danny nodded. “Yeah, I’ve got one.”
“Good, good. And you’ve been writing in it?”
Danny looked away.
“We keep reminding him,” Danny could swear he could hear Jazz roll her eyes. “He keeps forgetting though.”
Vlad opened a door, “It’s to be expected. New habits are difficult to start. Now today we will be -” Dr. Masters began his explanation of the EKG test.
- - -
“So, Danny, your mother and I were sad we had to miss your testing today, but how’d it go?”
“Fine,” Danny poked at his dinner. He winced at the shriek of someone’s fork on their plate. His near constant headache had gone away, but returned once he got back home.
“Oh sweetheart, do you have a headache?” A cool hand rested on his forehead. Danny leaned into it, closing his eyes. “Oooh, hurry up and eat so you can get to bed, okay?” The hand left. Danny opened his eyes.
“Okay Mom,” Danny responded, slowly getting a bite together to eat. He’d been subtly shaking since he came downstairs for dinner.
The conversation bounced around after that, until Jazz asked after their parents’ afternoon experiment.
“Oh Jazzy-pants, it was fascinating! You wouldn’t believe it, we got our hands on some ectoplasm and you know how we had just got a shipment of ecto-safe glassware in the other day? Well, we put a larger quantity than normal into one of them and it ended up congealing together. Usually it stays as globs floating together - kind of like oil and water, it just doesn’t mix together - but not this time. It ended up merging together. And your mother and me, well, it was odd, but nothing we couldn’t put on hold for a while. But then! ‘Bout an hour before we were supposed to go pick up Danno, we realized it had started glowing brighter than normal, and -”
“What your father is trying to say, sweetheart, is that a little ghost ended up forming. It struggles to hold its form together, but it did form all the same. Your father and I weren’t prepared for that, so we had to make a containment device before we could leave it down there. Luckily, we got done in time to make dinner for you kids - thank you by the way, for taking Danny down there on such short notice, we really appreciate it, Jazz - and we’ll probably end up down there for the rest of the night.”
Danny set his fork down on his empty plate and pushed his chair back. “Ok, super interesting, I’m gonna go to bed. Night everyone.”
“Night Danny!”
“Goodnight Danny, if you need pain meds you know where they are. Sleep well.”
Danny trudged his way upstairs, opening and closing his door and falling onto his bed. He shivered at the cold comforter and curled up.
Danny woke up to cramps through his body. He shifted his arms away from their curled position, protesting tendons fighting him. He wiggled his toes, then moved his shins, then the entirety of his legs before pushing them out straight. He breathed in and out, soft silver moonlight drifting through his room. The dull throb behind his eye made him close his eyes for a minute, before he huffed and sat up. Shuffling to the bathroom, he used it before deciding to grab his toothbrush. Sitting down on the toilet lid, head propped against the sink, he methodically brushed his teeth. Throb Throb Throb in time with his brush strokes. He rinsed his mouth and put away his toothbrush before shuffling to his window. He looked out over the street before pulling his blinds down and moving back to the bed. Shucking off his shoes and squirming out of his day clothes and into pajamas, he wiggled under his sheets. The cool pillow quickly warmed up and Danny sighed.
It looked like another night of sleepless pain.
- - -
Students flowed into the school for the start of the day. “Hey Danny!” A hand shot up from the railing. Danny moved over to the side of the entrance staircase to find Tucker and Sam sitting on top of it.
“Oh hey guys.”
“Woah,” Tucker said, leaning forward into Danny’s face. “You look terrible.”
“Thanks,” Danny deadpanned.
“No, he’s right. Did you sleep at all Danny?”
Danny’s mouth twitched down. “Yes. I just also spent half the night up with a migraine.”
“Didn’t you take any pain medicine?” Tucker asked.
Danny grimaced. “No.” Cutting off the protests, “They don’t really work on them anyway.”
Sam squinted at him. “If you say so. Did you get your homework done?”
Danny sighed. “Yeah, on the way to the hospital yesterday.”
“Hospital?” Tucker’s voice cracked. He cleared his throat. “Hospital? Did something happen?”
Danny slowly shook his head, “Nope, my appointment got switched around and I forgot about it. They did a test? E B something. Stuck these pads over me and it churned out a whole long sheet of paper. Something about monitoring my heart to make sure it was working properly or whatever. I’ll find out more at the end of the week.”
“Oh, cool.” Tucker looked faintly sick.
“That’s good, right? If the specialist doesn’t help with anything else, at least you’ll know that much.” Sam paused for a moment, looking at Danny’s weary face. “You up to hang out after school today? Nasty Burger on me,” Sam offered.
Danny rubbed the back of his still faintly aching head. “I don’t know, we’ll see.” He jerked a thumb to the doors, “In?”
Sam hopped off, “yeah, the bell’s going to ring soon anyway.”
“If we must endure another day of slogging through the rabble then so be it,” Tucker intoned.
Sam snorted, “yeah, alright your highness, get off the wall and let’s go.”
Tucker made a show of jumping down the foot to the ground and followed them inside.
Notes:
Art in this chapter by: RuneTallem
Hey hey hey go give them a like and reblog on tumblr!!! (😭 obssessed. The atmosphere of the piece is soooo well done and fits so so well 😭 - the way Vlad's head is cut off in the mirror, Danny's glowing eyes, the scarring and skin irritation, the LIGHTING????? Gives off that spooky hospital lighting and then the clipboard and notebook below? Plus the blue red details with the lineart adds to the distortion and offputting feeling. Uuuuugh and Vlad! I can't get over how well he's portrayed here, like Runetaur really nailed it, so go give the piece some love 🥺)
Chapter 3: Complications
Summary:
hehehee Danny gets a taste of all of the.... side effects of the accident
Chapter Text
Vlad turned Danny’s face left and right under the examination light. “It looks like your skin has some residual redness left, barely noticeable.”
Danny watched a vein in Vlad’s jaw pop up briefly.
“Honestly, Daniel is very lucky to have healed so quickly and nicely from this incident. Other cases of intense ecto-radiation usually have a longer lasting effect on the person. It can take years for symptoms to subside and even then, it’s not always for good. Let’s hope you don’t have a resurgence, hmm young Daniel?”
Danny blinked as his face was released. “Yeah. That would suck.”
“Oh, that’s lovely to hear. Isn’t it Jack?” Maddie asked.
“Absolutely Maddie! Just in time for puberty to hit full force -”
“Dad!” Danny hissed, cutting him off.
Vlad pulled off his gloves, tossing them in the trash before turning back to his notes. Jotting something down quickly, he lowered his clipboard. “Now, as I mentioned, there was nothing abnormal with his EKG results, everything aligned with what we expected, so that’s a relief. It doesn’t mean there’s nothing wrong with his heart, but there’s nothing for immediate concern.” He crossed his legs. “I got the pages from Daniel’s -”
“It’s Danny.”
“- notebook and I’ll take a closer look at them. In the meantime, I did notice some things and would like to schedule him for a different test next week before we meet up again.”
“Of course, anything for our boy!” Jack agreed.
“Good. Otherwise, Daniel needs to keep documenting anything of note and you should be on the lookout for a variety of more concerning symptoms. Vomiting, diarrhea, unexplained fatigue, seizures, I’m sure you know what else to look out for - but if there’s anything more… unusual, please don’t hesitate to reach out.” Vlad wrote something down on a pad, ripped it out, and handed it to Maddie. “My number, if you need to reach me, my dear.”
Maddie gave him a thin smile. “I appreciate it, Doctor Masters. Is there anything we can do at home in the meantime? I know our equipment isn’t as sophisticated as what you have access to here, but if there’s anything more specialized that we can use or make?”
Vlad smiled, “attentive as always Madeline. If you have a way to measure the amount of ecto-radium something produces, you could begin by monitoring that. Any fluctuations could be the precursor to more concerning developments. I know you could figure something out.” A sickly sweet smile.
“Aaah, Mads, I think I still have a book about making rudimentary geiger counters - if we use that as our base, we can modify it to work with zete particles instead.”
Maddie nodded, “yes, that could work Jack.”
Vlad cleared his throat, “now that we have that finished.” He stood up with his clipboard and gestured to the door, “we best get next week’s appointments scheduled.”
“Of course. Danny, are you ready to go?” Maddie turned to her son.
Danny nodded and they walked out of the room to the nurse’s desk, Danny shivering as he passed the doctor.
- - -
Danny stepped out into the hallway. A dull pressure had been bugging him all day. Nothing intense enough to call a headache, but persistent and threatening all the same. It kept him distracted and unsteady, dropping a beaker, tripping over a chair and desk, and generally making a fool of himself. He squinted his eyes at the onslaught of students and made his way to his locker, then home. Sam and Tucker were busy that afternoon, which left Danny free to flop on his bed for a few hours and maybe, hopefully, take a nap.
He knocked on his front door briefly before stepping inside. A dull series of beeps came up from the lab before quieting down. Danny grabbed onto the rail before moving his way up the stairs and entering his bedroom.
A faint beep beep beep beep floated up to him and he groaned before closing his door. Snagging a pair of headphones to mute the noise, he slumped bonelessly onto his bed.
An itchy feeling settled under his skin, pinpricks of sensation and Danny laid there, waiting for it to subside. He heard Jazz’s car come to a halt, the doors closing, a greeting, and he pressed his body into his mattress. The hum buzz of the air inside made the not-a-headache pulse in his head. He heard the pipes of the bathroom as someone turned on water. Felt the light dim in the room. Cars coming home. The periodic beeping throughout it all. He mushed his face further into the softness, before giving up and moving his head to the side, opening them to catch the twilight descent.
“Danny! Dinner!” He breathed out, and rolled over. Blinked. Took a few breaths. Pushed himself up to sit. Closed his eyes for a moment, gathering resolve to get downstairs. Throwing the headphones to his bed, he stumbled to the door and out his room right as Jazz’s head peaked around the corner of the stairs.
“Oh, you are here. Good. Hurry up, I have a project to work on after dinner.” Jazz turned back around and went down. “Mom, Dad, he’s coming,” she called to them.
Danny’s brow furrowed. Another squeezing pulse through his skull. Mentally cursed Jazz and the entire day as he stood at the top of the stairs. One foot sneaking out and down to the top step. The other foot doing the same. A careful watch as Danny made his way, slowly, carefully, down the stairs. He wobbled slightly as both feet regained balance on the same plane. Turning his head, he saw his mom and dad huddled around a device, place settings half finished. Jazz worked around them to set the forks down.
His head gave another pulse, more insistent to be acknowledged. His face crumbled up before smoothing out. The action causing the skin on his skull to feel like a drum skin tightened just a little too far. He walked over as Jazz ushered their parents to take their seats.
Dinner proceeded normally until the beep beep beep started up halfway through and Jack dropped his utensil to hunch over a new device.
“Jack dear, it’s dinner,” Maddie said disapprovingly as she also eyed the device curiously.
“But Madds, that’s the strongest reading we’ve gotten!”
“Yes dear, but is this really the appropriate time?”
Jack looked up at Maddie, followed her pointed gaze to her children, and back to Maddie. “Aaah. Well, I suppose.” He pouted as he moved back to his dinner.
Jazz piped up, “what is this device anyway?”
Jack brightened, “Aah, well it’s supposed to measure the amount of zete particles in the immediate surroundings and help us pinpoint where the Z-radiation is occuring.”
A fond smile, “Are you kids familiar with Gieger-Muller counters?”
“Like the watch in James Bond?” Danny asked.
“Well,” Maddie glanced over at Jack, “I suppose. This device runs on the same basic principle of detecting energy and alerting the user to its presence via a series of beeps.”
“Yes, but in this case, we’ve modified the basic reading to react to the zete particles that ectoplasmic entities consist of so that we can locate sites of ectoplasmic radiation. Lucky that we have the portal down there running, so we can test against a known source of ectoplasm.” Jack’s brow furrowed. “Although, we can’t be sure that it’s reacting to the particles that we want it to.”
Maddie placed a hand on Jack’s arm. “It is in the testing phase after all. But the results are promising.” Maddie beamed at the children. “We’ll figure it out and hopefully be able to supplement Danny’s medical results with the zete particle readings.”
Jazz nodded as she chewed. Danny dropped his head back down to his food, trying to remember exactly what homework had been assigned that day.
The next morning, Danny woke up with the dull pressure from before turning into a low level headache. Making his way down for breakfast, he heard the same beep beep beep echo around the kitchen.
His parents were sitting around the table fiddling with the boxy device, looking like they hadn’t gone to bed at all.
“Morning.”
“Oh!” Maddie glanced at the stove clock. “Good morning sweetie!”
A small elbow jab, “Huh? Oh, Danny! Is it time for you to be up already?”
Danny stared at his dad, opening up a cupboard. “..... yes?”
“Alright then.” He looked down at the device. “Your mother and I have been working on the Fenton Finder, and I think we’ve got it working properly now.”
Danny stuck a Jack shaped bread slice into the toaster. “Uh huh.”
“Before you leave, would you mind letting us test it on you real quick?”
Danny squinted. “I guess?”
The toaster dinged.
Danny stood there with a small cup of milk and his dry toast, munching away as he stared at nothing in particular.
Beep beep beep bEEP
A click then, “Energy located. Move forward.”
Danny’s head sharply turned to the new voice.
“Oh! Dear!” Maddie shook Jack’s arm as though he hadn’t heard.
“Yes, yes, yep,” Jack clumsily stood up, knocking his chair down in the process, moving the device forward towards Danny.
“Move forward,” commanded the device again.
Jack hastily stumbled forward a few steps, Maddie right by his side, peering at the screen. Danny shivered.
“High Z radiation readings detected. Quarantine object in front of you. Test over. Start again for a new reading.”
Jack frowned down at the device, then up at Danny. “That’s strange, I could’ve sworn there wasn’t anything to interfere with results up here.”
Maddie looked at the output on the small screen, “That is odd, see this sudden spike? Danny dear, it doesn’t look like the Fenton Finder is fully functional at the moment. Hopefully we can get this figured out by the time you get home from school today.” She smiled up at him, “Have a good day at school, sweetie.”
Danny swallowed his last bite of toast, quickly followed by the remainder of his milk, and placed the cup in the sink. “Yeah, ok. Bye.” Danny grabbed his backpack from his room, shoving papers and his pencil into it, before fleeing out the door.
The threat of a chill in the air had Danny periodically shivering on his walk to the bus stop. Climbing on, he headed to an empty seat. As the bus meandered its way from stop to stop, Danny basked in the soft warmth filtering through the windows. By the time the bus pulled up to the school, Danny had warmed up and the shivers had stopped.
“Maybe I should start wearing a jacket?” Danny thought, as he waited for the other students to get off the bus. He saw Sam walk up the street and Danny took that as his cue to make his way off the bus and meet up with her. A pulse of pain went through his head as the full noise of the school entrance hit him.
“Hey, Sam.”
“Danny!” Sam beamed. “I have a feeling today’s going to be a great day!”
“S’up Danny, Sam.” Tucker paused. “Uuuh, is she alright?”
Danny halfheartedly shrugged.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I mean aren’t goths supposed to be all dark and gloomy?”
Sam aggressively grinned at him.
“Sheesh, ok, forget I asked,” Tucker threw his hands up in surrender. “Danny, you doing ok? No offense, but you look like you’ve sucked on a lemon or something.”
Danny slowly turned his head to Tucker. “Aaah, no, I’m alright. Just a headache that won’t stop. It’s fine. Let’s just get to class.”
Tucker frowned, but followed Danny’s pace as they went inside, “if you say so.”
“Should you stop by the nurse before class?” Sam asked.
Tucker shivered next to Danny.
Danny shook his head. “Nah. Apparently the nurse can’t give me anything because of ‘unknown side effects’. Until I get the all clear from a doctor, the school refuses to do anything. My parents tried arguing, saying they’d sign a release or permission slip or something waiving responsibility from the school, but they got denied.”
“Bummer. I’ll see you guys in class, I wanna catch up to my cute locker neighbor before school starts.” Tucker walked off with a wink to Danny.
Sam slid up into Tucker’s space. “Well, let me know if it gets worse. I’m sure we can figure something out.”
“Yeah, alright, Sam.” Danny stopped at his locker. “See you in homeroom?”
“See you in homeroom.” Sam waved as she left to her locker.
- - -
Danny squinted against the glare of the lights.
“Hey Fen-turdian. Are you glaring at me?” Dash postured in front of Danny’s desk.
He blinked and looked up, “no?” The squint morphing into confusion. “I didn’t even see you walk in?”
“You didn’t - me, the star quarterback, you didn’t -” Dash sputtered as the warning bell rang out. “Watch it nerd, I don’t care if you’re some walking health concern, I’ll make sure you can’t ignore me.”
Dash walked off with a scowl to his seat a few rows down. Danny rested his head on his arms, eyes sliding shut. The low level headache was slowly morphing into something more. He hoped he could make it through the rest of the school day. A shiver went through his body as incoming students moved chilled air around his desk.
A groan.
- - -
“What? What is this?” Tucker stared in horror, stalling in the cafeteria line. An angry huff next to him had Tucker’s feet moving to the end of the procession. He scanned the room in disbelief before his eyes alighted on Sam’s bagged lunch. Eyes narrowed as he connected the dots and he stormed over.
“Sam!” His lunch tray clattered down. “Sam! What did YOU DO?!?”
“I don’t think Sam did anything Tucker,” Danny said.
“I did.” Sam looked satisfied. “I told you today was going to be a good day.”
“Good -” Tucker’s strangled voice mangled whatever else he was going to say.
Danny, head barely held up by his hand, glanced over. “Dude, what is that? Grass on a bun?”
“Grass. GRASS, Danny! Who do we know who eats grass,” Tucker seethed.
“Calm down, Tucker. A little variety in your diet won’t hurt you,” Sam said.
“Sam,” Tucker wailed, “my all meat streak is FOURTEEN years long. And you want me to break it? Like this?”
“It’s good for you Tucker. An all meat diet is not healthy.”
“I’m perfectly healthy, Sam, and you want me to eat garbage?”
“It’s not garbage! It’s organic recyclable matter.”
Danny stared at Tucker.
“It’s garbage,” they said in unison.
Danny had a violent shudder, headache intensifying into a sharp pain through his skull.
“Exactly. It’s disgusting, Sam, we’re human. Not rabbits. There’s no way I’m -”
The sounds of the cafeteria died down as spots encroached on Danny’s vision. Vision blurred, balance unsettled, Danny teetered as his body felt stuffed full of cotton, shivers melting into one big tremble.
His arms gave out and he crashed to the floor, shaking uncontrollably. Danny felt his body heave out a breath, but felt nothing more as his senses died away.
“-ANNY! DANNY!”
A hand on his arm. He blinked his eyes open, green lighting up the floor. The table was overturned. “Wha - ?” He shivered one last time. “What happened?”
A cry. A sob.
“Shit man! You scared us so bad.”
“Can you hear us?” Sam’s hair fell into view.
“Eee.”
“A ghost appeared in the kitchen and -” dirt flew past Sam to smack the bottom of the table.
“You - Danny, you look freaky right now, what?!? But it’s true! You did… Whatever this is, about the time the ghost was spotted, so I don’t think anyone noticed. Can you -”
A cool sensation passed through Danny’s ribcage.
“What the fu-”
“I take back what I said, that is freaky. Danny, can you sit up?” Sam asked.
Danny blinked away the last of the spots in his vision and sat up. “Yeah. What do you guys mean freaky?” He looked around at the scene around them. “I’m actually feeling pretty good?” He went to push his hair off his forehead. He paused. “What - WHAT,” his voice dropped to a whisper, “the hell?” Hand moved left. Right. Waved up and down. The gloved, glowing hand followed his commands. “What the hell?” he repeated. A crashing sound in the school kitchen. His head whipped around as cool breath passed his lips. “Right. Ok. Freakiness aside, what’s happening?”
“A ghost appeared -”
“Looked like the old lunch lady -”
“Right. Started talking about the menu and everyone’s lunch started floating and then she went back into the kitchen.”
“Oooook? Well let’s go take a look.”
“Danny! No! We don’t know what happened, but you’ve been in pain all day, we’re -”
Danny walked away from Sam’s grabbing hand. “First things first, we’ve got to deal with the ghost.” He felt a tugging somewhere in his stomach, urging him in the ghost’s direction.
Tucker tripped up to walk next to Danny. “I mean - sure, but.” Tucker’s eyes darted around. “Are you sure we have to deal with this?”
Danny nodded. “Yes. I’m sure.”
Sam ran up next to him. “I still don’t think you should be moving around, but we’ll help you.”
Tucker pushed open the swinging kitchen door and Danny walked through.
The kitchen looked half destroyed, dishes and pans strewn about the counters and floor. An older lady with an apron had her back turned to the door.
“Huh, this shouldn’t be so bad, she looks like my grandmother,” Tucker quipped.
“Shouldn’t she be haunting a bingo hall?”
The lady turned her head around as the door squeaked.
“Oh, hello children, can you help me?”
Danny blinked. “Um. Maybe?”
A smile, “can you tell me who changed the menu?”
Sam spoke up, “Why?”
Smile dropped. “Well, today is supposed to be meatloaf, but I don’t see the meatloaf. That means someone changed my highly nutritious menu.”
Tucker scowled at the mention of what his lunch was supposed to be, “Yeah, she did.” Tucker pointed to Sam.
“You changed the menu?” The lunch lady started glowing a faint red. “The menu has been the same for FIFTY YEARS!”
“Shit!” Danny said as plates started floating. He looked around, “uuuh, get behind me?”
Tucker and Sam jumped behind Danny.
A piece of topsoil flew through Danny’s leg.
“Wow, I feel safe.” Sam deadpanned.
Danny straightened up. “Uh. Crap.” he whispered. “I! Command. You! To - uh, go! Away?”
The lunch lady grinned as she floated forward. Flinging plates around, a ripping sound was heard, and one of the ranges started shaking. As it hurled towards them, Danny flinched back and grabbed his friends, the range phasing through them not a second later. When he opened his eyes, the lunch lady was gone.
“Well, that could’ve gone better.” Tucker said.
Sam glared over Danny’s head. “And whose fault is that?”
“Hey, why are you blaming me?”
Danny hugged his friends closer. “Ok, ok, this is fine. You guys are fine?”
“Yeah, we’re fine dude.”
“Thanks to you.”
They clung to each other.
After a moment, “so, what do we do next?” Tucker asked.
“I’m… not sure?”
“We check out the basement?” Sam suggested.
“Uuuugh.”
“Sam, really?”
“That ghost almost killed us!” Tucker protested.
“Exactly! And you want to follow it?” Danny asked.
Sam let go of Danny and Tucker. “Yes, I do. If we don’t, then what about the rest of the students? I don’t want to see anyone get hurt when we could do something about this!”
“Feeling guilty? Since it’s your fault in the first place our meat was taken?”
Danny sighed and stepped back. “I’ll go check it out and you two can stay up here.”
“Uuh.”
“Danny?”
“What,” he snapped.
Tucker pointed down.
Danny was slowly sinking through the floor. “Oh, what the hell?!?”
“Well, that’s different.”
“Don’t just stare, pull me up!” Danny reached up with his hands and Sam and Tucker grabbed on. Pulling up, they flung Danny and themselves backwards through the floor instead.
Cursing as they dropped through, they landed on a stack of boxes in the basement.
“Guess we don’t have a choice now,” Tucker muttered.
“That’s one way to get to the basement. Very speedy,” Sam approved.
Danny looked around, his soft green glow lighting up the immediate area, eyes like flashlight beams in the darkness.
Sam started climbing down the cardboard tower and hopped to the ground. “Come on boys, we’ve got a ghost to find.”
“Found one,” Tucker pointed to Danny.
“Har har. Get your butt down here, Tucker Foley.”
“That’s my name, don’t wear it out!” Tucker shifted around on top of the boxes, trying to figure out a way down.
“Guys, do you see that red light?” Danny pointed down a hallway.
Tucker leaned forward, “probably the exit -” he tumbled down, landing on top of Sam.
“Ooph.”
“I don’t think so.” Danny hopped, floating down to land next to the Sam Tucker pile. He hauled Tucker up so Sam could collect herself.
The tugging sensation was back in his stomach.
He started walking down the hall.
“... Do you guys smell that?” Tucker asked.
“Smell what? Your pits?”
“No, Danny. You know I have my trademark pending TF too fine body spray I’ve been testing. It smells like-” sniff sniff. Tucker started leading with his nose. “Meat.”
“Great, now he’s acting like a freak.”
“At least I’m not the local freak,” Tucker snarked back.
“Both of you, quiet,” Danny hissed.
In the sudden silence, creaking could be heard. A distant thump or two.
“Well, here’s where all the meat went. Now, I wonder how to get the youngin to eat.”
The trio exchanged looks and they crept forward, heads peeking out around the corner.
The lunch lady was examining stacks of meat boxes in a large walk in freezer.
“He looks like skin and bones, poor dear. If he’s going to get strong enough -”
A pipe hissed above the trio causing them to jump.
“Oh?” The lunch lady turned around. “Guests.” Her eyes narrowed. “Prepare to learn why meat is the most powerful of the 5 food groups! Cookie?”
Sam shook her head. The ghost turned to the boys.
“Pass,” Danny said.
“Then perish!”
Danny stepped forward, eyes narrowed, “Forget it! The only thing that has an expiration date here is you!” Danny’s fist started glowing, collecting energy to itself.
“Oh cool,” Tucker whispered.
Danny raised his fist as he felt an overpowering urge well up. The energy released in a beam, missing the lunch lady, but breaking apart the meat piles that were collecting around her.
The lunch lady floated up, “Prepare to face the five food groups!” Two little meat monsters darted out from behind the deconstructed meat piles and lunged for Tucker and Sam. The ghost flew forward, grabbing Danny and phasing them through the walls.
Danny squirmed in her hold. “Let!” Danny pushed. “Me!” he kicked out. “Go!” he tried to pry her unexpectedly solid arm off.
They ended up circling the basement back to the meat room where Danny was promptly plunked into a pile of meat that constricted around him. “What the hell lady!” He looked around. “Where did you take my friends!” He felt his eyes burn.
The ghost cackled, “they’re learning about the importance of a balanced diet. Cake?”
Danny glared, little beams solidifying to scorch her apron.
“Fine. Naughty children do not get dessert.”
Danny wiggled around.
And detransformed. His eyes stung and he would’ve collapsed had it not been for the meat around him.
Danny looked up, vision bleary. The ghost’s expression smoothed out. “You need discipline, manners, respect! You know where that comes from? MEAT. Chicken or fish?” She smiled sweetly down at Danny.
He felt his stomach lurch at the smells around him. “Are you trying to poison me?”
“Dearie, you’re skin and bones. You need meat!” A chicken drumstick floated toward Danny’s mouth.
“I’d sooner eat my shoe. At least I know where that thing’s been.” Danny wasn’t sure exactly how ectoplasmic radiation or exposure or contamination or whatever worked, but being surrounded by it couldn’t be good.
The lunch lady’s expression fell. “Then I’ll have to crush some manners into you!” Meat floated up into the shape of a giant shoe and started to fall onto Danny. He squeezed his eyes tight as a shudder wracked through his body, the dull cottony feeling washing over him before he felt his body lighten. The meat shoe crashed apart around him.
He floated out of the meat pile and aimed a punch at the ghost. His arm was grabbed and the next moment he was flying up through the walls and floor to the wrecked cafeteria. Back hitting the kitchen door, he flew through only to slam into the little meat monsters holding Tucker and Sam. The puppets lost appendages and Tucker and Sam struck out to finish breaking them apart.
“Oooh, so gross,” Sam grabbed a towel after and wiped off her hands. “Are you ok, Danny?”
Danny groaned from the floor. A shaky thumbs up was given.
“Great. Did you get that lunch lady?”
Danny shook his head.
“So, that didn’t work,” Sam said.
“You think?” Tucker snapped back.
“I don’t know about you two, but I’m exhausted.” Danny closed his eyes, body shaking itself and transforming back.
Tucker and Sam looked at each other.
Danny’s front door flung open. A quick scan of the surroundings and “Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton. What a school day, poor Danny nodded off!” Tucker called out.
“Oh, well give us a minute and we’ll be up.”
Tucker looked back at Sam, “We figured we’d just carry him all the way home and tuck him into bed without any parental interaction whatsoever.”
“Don’t get up! We know where to go. Bye!” Sam tacked on.
They maneuvered up the stairs, Danny swinging between them like a hammock. Shouldering Danny’s door open, they gently laid him on his bed.
“It’s a good thing Danny turned back.”
“Yeah, I don’t know what we would’ve done if we had to bring home a ghost version of the Fentons’ son. What do we do now?”
Sam shrugged. “Wait for him to wake up?”
Tucker shook his head. “I guess I’ll let my parents know.” He sent off a quick text before pulling up Danny’s desk chair.
Sam watched a small bug crawl up Danny’s wall.
Tucker spun around.
Jazz drove into the garage. The sounds of tools echoed up from the lab.
“Sooo are we gonna talk about it?” Tucker asked.
“What’s there to talk about? Besides, we should wait for Danny to wake up.”
“Ok.” A text came through on Tucker’s phone. His face scrunched up.
Sam laughed, “what, did they tell you to do your homework or something?”
“Yes, actually.”
Sam pulled her backpack up, “it’s not a bad idea. We don’t know how long we’ll be waiting.”
The two worked in silence. As the sun started to begin its descent, Danny stirred. Sam and Tucker put down their homework and got closer.
Blinking his eyes open, “huh? Wha- what happened?” Sam and Tucker came into focus.
“You passed out, we took you home. You’ve been asleep for four days!”
Danny jerked up, “four DAYS?”
“Hahahaaa, nah, it’s only been a couple hours.” Tucker chuckled.
“Knock it off, Tucker. Your carelessness almost got him killed!”
“Me? I almost got him killed? The only reason this happened is because you had to be unique. You had to take the meat away! And I’m going to fix it.”
“You wanna change that menu back?” Sam narrowed her eyes.
“As a matter of fact, I do.”
“Absolutely not!”
Tucker’s phone rang. He looked down briefly before answering and picked up his backpack. Mouthing at Sam, “this isn’t over,” he left.
Sam crossed her arms, then looked down at Danny. “How are you feeling?”
“Uuuh,” Danny clutched his head, “fine. I think. You and Tucker?”
Sam shook her head, “we’re good. You took the brunt of it.” She glanced over at his alarm clock. “Are you sure you’re ok?”
“Yeah, Sam, I’m good. Better than I was this morning.” He looked over at the time. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow, ok?” He smiled.
“Ok, Danny. But call if there’s anything I can do.” Sam stood up and got her backpack put together. Standing at the doorway, “seriously. Anything at all.”
Danny waved her off, “Got it. I’ll see ya tomorrow.”
- - -
Danny sighed, arms stretching above his head. “I told you - I’m fine. Just a little tired. Besides, history class is boring.”
“Who did you say your teacher was?” Jazz asked, setting a plate of food down in front of Danny.
Danny scowled, “Mr. Lancer’s best friend.”
“Oh, Mr. Nowak?” Danny furrowed his brow more. “I loved his class, he had such a fascinating way to teach us about the perils of -”
“- and we bring to you news of what some bystanders are calling a ghost attack. More -”
“GHOST?? Kids, did you hear that? A ghost attack? And your mother and me missed it?” Jack slammed into a counter in his haste to enter the room.
“Oh!” Jazz stopped her recount of her freshman history class. “Yes, a food fight broke out and the fire alarm got pulled and the kid,” Jazz sniffed, “blamed it on a ghost in the kitchen. Preposterous if you ask me.”
“Is ‘preposterous’ your word of the day,” Danny sniped.
Jazz huffed as she dished up plates for her parents. “As a matter of fact, no. If you paid attention in your English class, you could also widen your vocabulary.”
Maddie placed a hand on Jazz’s shoulder, “That’s enough. Were either of you in the cafeteria?”
“OH! Yes, did either of you see the ghost?”
“There is NO ghost! Ghosts don’t exist.” Jazz sat down in her chair. “I was in the library during lunch. I only saw the aftermath when I was heading to class.”
“And you?” Both of his parent’s curious eyes turned towards Danny.
He shrugged. “I was eating lunch. Or going to.” His eyes darted to the three sets of suspicious eyes around him. “I mean, Tuck had only just gotten his food when the food fight began. And I, um, had dropped…. A pencil? So I was under the table when everything started. We ran away right after. So… Um, I didn’t see anything?” Danny ended weakly.
“Well, that’s alright. Ghosts can be sneaky after all! The ghost probably hid itself as it compiled its paltry tricks.”
Maddie tugged on Jack’s elbow to get him to sit. “Yes, we’ll have to keep an eye out on the emergency line so we don’t miss the next one.” Maddie picked up her fork, “Thank you, Jazz.” The family started eating dinner.
- - -
Since Danny woke up that morning, he felt a low buzz somewhere in his head. Or mouth. Or behind the roof of his mouth? Somewhere just out of reach and untouchable and obnoxious. Stepping out into the cool morning air, Danny shrugged on a jacket, then his backpack, and closed the FentonWorks door. Seeing a glimmer of light, Danny glanced up to see the streetlights were off. Perched atop of one was a large, solitary bird.
“Hmmm” Danny thought. “That’s new.” A slow blink and he swayed his body to move down the steps. He started walking down the street to Tucker’s, the air cooling off the last of the muggy sleepy warmth that clung to his skin. A dull ache had settled in his bones to add to the buzz in his mouth. Danny sighed, waiting for the walk light to turn. The warm condensed air waved in front of Danny for a moment before disappearing. He continued on.
He knocked on the door. Waited a few moments. Rocked back and forth on his feet. Knocked again. The door swung open.
“Oh! Hello Danny!” Mrs. Foley’s eyebrows furrowed.
“Hi Mrs. Foley! Is Tucker ready?” Danny smiled at her.
“Oh dear. It seems he didn’t tell you - he had to get to school early today. Something about a school project?”
“Oh. Ok, thanks Mrs. Foley. Have a good day,” Danny turned around and waved goodbye.
“Bye, have a good day at school,” and the door shut behind him.
Danny trudged the rest of the way to Casper High. A dull roar started building in his ears. Danny plugged his nose and did his best to pop his ears as he rounded the last corner. The sight of two distinct gatherings on the lawn stopped him. Colorful plant posters and hippie wanna be’s stretched along the grass. On the other side, a platform with a large banner proclaiming “The National Meat Society Presents: The Weenies” and multiple impromptu barbeques were set up. Danny narrowed his eyes and walked forward. There were only two people he knew who were this dead set on their diets. And one of them ditched him this morning.
“Veggies now! Veggies Forever!” There was Sam.
“What do we want?”
The response of “MEAT” threatened to drown out the veggie cry. And there was Tucker.
Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. He pushed and darted his way through the two crowds. This was ridiculous.
Two sets of shoes stopped in front of him. “You guys put together two protests in one night?”
“Meat eaters, Danny, we’re always ready to fight and our high protein diets give us the energy we need to do it quickly.”
“Ultra Recyclo Vegetarians are always ready to protest and since we don’t have to spend time cooking our food, we can move even faster.”
Danny’s stomach lurched. “Don’t you guys think this is a little extreme?”
“No choice buddy, you’re either with me,” Tucker started.
“Or you’re against him!” Sam butted in.
They leaned in closer to Danny, “So whose side are you on?!”
The buzz in Danny’s head expanded across his nerves and he shivered violently. “I-” he doubled over as pain exploded out from his heart.
He felt the ghost of hands on his arms and around his back.
Shiver, shake, the world blotted out, softening the clamor. Pain, on his knees. A fuzzy tickle at his forehead. The shaking shudder spread throughout his body and he registered numbness before he closed his eyes.
He blinked open, staring at brown and green swirls. Danny rubbed across his eyes and sat up. “Oh.” Blinked once, twice. “Is the world colored funny for you too?” he asked aloud.
“Yeah,” Tucker sounded like he was going to faint as Sam rested her forehead against Danny’s shoulder. Swirling wind buffeted Danny’s back.
Looking up, he saw the veggies and meat being pulled together.
“Let me guess, that Lunch Lady is back.”
“Looks that way.” Sam lifted her head. “Are you -?”
A shaky hand settled on Danny’s elbow, pushing him up, “Yep. Screamed something about meals or lunch or something before the floating food.”
Danny stood up, Tucker’s hand on his elbow a grounding presence to the floating feeling in his body. “Alright. I guess I’ll -”
“IT’S LUNCHTIME!!!” Rang out, the vortex of meat solidifying into a vague humanoid shape.
Tucker croaked out, “meat?” A beat later, “WHY HAVE YOU BETRAYED ME?!?”
As though it was a cue, Danny shot forward in a blur. Coming face to face with the meat face, he slowed. It was more gruesome up close, the dripping juices and half cooked meat creating a mix of unappetizing textures. And smells. And -
Danny dodged a fist flung his way and darted between hands and fingers. Circling, he aimed a kick to the back of its head. The hulking meat monster swayed before losing its balance and falling face first.
Danny shot a smile to his friends before being knocked across the campus. Skidding into a bush he lay there for a moment, processing what happened. A knock to the head and a thermos fell next to him. Danny squinted. Definitely had the FentonWorks colors. Something about his parents’ talking about a containment device last night during dinner popped up in his memory. He grabbed it, and pushed himself up into the air. Racing back to the now standing monster, he flew through the meat, arm snagging on something not quite there, and emerged on the other side with the Lunch Lady.
The Lunch Lady stared at the collapsing meat pile, “oh dear, what a mess,” then over at Danny’s ripped suit, “are you ok?”
Danny settled on the ground, “Uh,” he looked down. “Yeah, I think so.”
“Tough!” spit flew onto Danny’s face and he reared back. “Because you being ok is not part of my,” a group of meat creatures started forming, “balanced diet of doom!” The meat creatures surrounded Danny.
He glared, and punched forward, fist glowing green. The momentum carried him through two meat creatures who lay in piles, completely still. “Alright,” Danny said to himself. He aimed a kick behind him, dismantling another one. He farted, green gas puffing into another’s face and causing it to shake apart. “And one more!” The last meat creature jumped on Danny’s arm holding the thermos. He shook his arm and flung meat minion forward into the Lunch Lady. He fumbled with the thermos and uncapping it, shook it.
“Nooo! Soup’s not on today’s menu!”
Finding the button on the side, Danny pressed it, “I’m changing the menu! Permanently!” A thrum of warmth passed through his body and he squeezed his eyes shut. “Please work.” A hum pressed itself into his hands, “I hope I’m right.” A sudden kickback landed Danny on his butt and his eyes flew open. A stream of pale blue light encompassed the ghost lady and her meat creature, distorting the outline of her shape and dissolving it apart.
“NOO!” yelled the Lunch Lady.
Her form dissipated into motes of light as the beam condensed and contracted back to the thermos top. The humming died down and Danny slammed the cap on. His buzzing fingers turned to shaking which spread throughout his body. A bright pain spiked and he blinked his eyes open, laying on his side in the grass.
Footsteps sounded behind him, “What happened? Are you ok?” Sam called out.
Danny lifted a shaky thumb into the air.
“Where’s the ghost?” Tucker called out.
Danny sat up, “gone. I hope.” He shook his head, “my parents came through.” He gave the thermos a little shake.
A beeping had Danny looking around, thermos moved behind his back.
“Energy Spike Ahead. Proceed.” The Fenton parents walked up to Danny. ““High Z radiation readings detected. Quarantine object in front of you. Test over. Start again for a new reading.”
Jack looked up, “hi, Danny boy!” He tapped the side of the Fenton Finder. Frowned over at Maddie who was looking at the screen.
“Hmmm. Looks like the Z radiation counter is not quite ready for field work,” she said.
Jack smiled apologetically. “Sorry, son. See you at home! We’ve got a Fenton Finder to fix.” He waved cheerily as he walked off to the GAV half parked on the sidewalk.
“Bye sweetie,” Maddie bent down to kiss Danny’s forehead. “See you after school.” She fiddled with the buttons and dials as she walked after her husband.
Chapter 4: Regard
Summary:
More doctors are brought in and Danny finds out something about Sam....
Notes:
If there’s any medical inaccuracies, we’re blaming Vlad for medical malpractice.
(For reference, this starts on the same day as the lunch lady morning attack of the previous chapter)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Danny stepped out of the van into the midafternoon sun. He squinted against the bright light.
“Are we sure I have to do this?” He slid the door closed.
“Yes, Danny,” Maddie said. “I know it sounds scary, but it’s really a quick procedure. It’ll tell us a lot more about what may be happening in your body. Don’t worry, we’ll be back on our way home before you know it.”
The driver’s door slammed. “Your mother’s right, Danny! In and out in no time.” Danny could hear the grin in his father’s voice.
“It’s still not too late to turn around,” Danny grumbled.
“What was that son?”
Danny hunched in on himself as he walked to the hospital doors.
- - -
“Just lay down here, yes, exactly. You can curl your legs up. Perfect. We’ll wipe down the area and inject a numbing agent into the spot, then we’ll perform the spinal tap once it kicks in.” The nurse talked Danny through the steps before standing up to get Dr. Masters for the actual procedure.
“Ah Daniel, Maddie, lovely to see you both.” Dr. Masters walked in.
Jack waved from the corner, “Hiya Vladdie!”
Masters’ eyes flickered to Jack before settling on Danny who was dressed in a hospital gown. “They started numbing your back?”
Danny nodded.
“Good. I’ll walk you through the procedure one more time before we start. Once we start, you will have to remain perfectly still.”
“Ok.”
A raised eyebrow, “are you sure you can do that?”
Danny scowled, “yeah, I can sit still.”
Vlad nodded before moving out of view. Danny could hear things behind him shuffled around and the clacking of metal against itself before the stretching of gloves.
Maddie moved around to sit in front of Danny. “Alright, Dr. Masters has everything ready.”
“Just so. I know we discussed this at our last appointment, but I know how teenagers are. We’re doing a spinal tap on you. I’ll be placing a needle in between your lower vertebrae. Cerebrospinal fluid will drip out into a container for testing. It’ll take a few days to run the tests and then we’ll go over your results later at our weekly appointment. Remember, this is a needle in your spine, once I insert it, I do not want you moving around at all. Do you understand?”
Danny nodded his head.
“Words, dear boy.”
“Yea, I get it.”
Maddie placed a hand on Danny’s shoulder and nodded. Danny felt a brief sensation of something giving way and a thin pressure in his lower back. The urge to shudder welled up in him and he fought back the sensation.
Maddie bent down, “breathe with me, Danny, in - out - in, good, just focus on me, sweetie.”
Danny focused on his mother’s breaths as time passed. Every so often a shiver would threaten to wrack his body. In. Out. Don’t move. Focus. In. Out. Danny couldn’t see the wall clock without turning his head. Tick. Tick. Tick. Danny heard the breathing of Vlad and his father behind him. Focused on his mother. In. Out.
A shuffling sound. “Hmmm. I believe this will be enough. I’ll go ahead and get the needle out and you can get changed after.”
A tap on his shoulder let Danny know he could move. Grabbing his pile of clothes, he headed into the bathroom. When he got out Vlad was speaking with his parents.
“Oh, but we were hoping to have Danny heading back home. There was a rather… extensive incident at school today and I’m sure he wants to be home sooner than not.”
“Well Maddie, as someone as observant as yourself, perhaps… I trust that you’ll take the necessary precautions?”
“Yes. Jack’s been driving and I can set up the back seats of the GAV, there won’t - oh, Danny! How are you feeling sweetie?”
Maddie stepped forward, reaching for Danny’s face. He stepped back and scowled at Dr. Masters.
“Just fine.”
Maddie dropped her hands, “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, Mom. I feel just like I did before - perfectly fine.”
Maddie searched his face for a moment before letting it drop. “If you’re sure sweetheart. We’ve come to an agreement with Dr. Masters here. He’s letting us take you home soon, so long as you lay down on the way back and tell us immediately if you start feeling off.”
Danny glanced over at the placid doctor. “I thought I had to stay here for a while?”
“As your mother said - we’ve worked out the details,” a smug grin stretched the doctor’s face. “Now if you don’t mind, I’ll send a nurse in with the last of the paperwork and then you all can be on your way.” Vlad left the room before anyone could get another word in.
“See Danny-boy! Told ya it’d be quick today!”
“But at what cost,” Danny muttered.
Maddie converted the back of the GAV to one long seat and had Danny lay down. His hair brushed the inside of the van door and he had to kick his feet up onto the other door once it closed. Tilting his head, “and I have to stay like this the entire time?”
“Yes dear,” Maddie turned around in the front seat. “We had to promise Dr. Masters that you would stay laying down for the ride home and when we got home, that we’d update him on your condition.”
“What condition!? I’m fine!” Danny protested.
Jack slid into the front seat, “We ready to roll out?”
Maddie turned her attention back to the front, “yes, dear. Ready when you are. Just remember to slow down and stay off the curbs.”
Jack grinned over at her, “Will do sweet cheeks!” He turned the engine over and the GAV started on its way back home.
- - -
“And how have you been doing, Daniel?”
Danny sighed, “It’s Danny and fine, I guess.” He bent over to grab his backpack. “I’ve got the journal pages or whatever.” Making a noise of success, he threw the notebook onto Dr. Master’s desk, sliding on top of papers already there.
Dr. Masters frowned as he picked up the notebook and put the papers back in place. Opening up the notebook, he tutted over the new pages.
Maddie raised an eyebrow and looked at her son. Danny stared at the desk.
After a moment, “I see.” Jotting down a few notes, he finally looked at Danny. A prickling feeling erupted on his back. Dr. Masters folded his hands. “The frequent headaches are concerning.” Dr. Masters picked up a paper from one of his piles. “I had some time to look over your spinal tap results. Unfortunately there was nothing there to indicate why you are having headaches.” He peered over the top of the paper. “Heartening, I suppose, to know that there are no signs of abnormal protein or glucose levels. Number of cells were as expected as well and I did some preliminary tests for zete particles, but found nothing definitive so far. There’s a test I’ve been developing to check for them, but I’d rather not destroy this sample with an incomplete test or put young Daniel through another spinal tap.”
Jack frowned. “We’ve been working on measuring ecto radiation levels, made good progress this week, but -”
“I’m afraid this is a bit more complex than a scanning device,” Dr. Masters shut him down.
Maddie looked over at Jack’s crestfallen face. “I’m sure if you could identify what we’re searching for, that Jack and I can figure out a way to test inorganic samples. Perhaps that could help you figure out how to test biological samples?” Maddie looked at Dr. Masters. A smile stretched his lips.
“Aah Maddie, as insightful as ever. I’ll make sure to send Z radiation marker notes your way, if I could have your number?” Vlad held out a pad of paper.
Maddie inclined her head and took the offered supplies. “We have a fax machine in our basement so you can send any information there.” Maddie scribbled a number down and, smiling, held the notepad back out to Vlad.
“Of course, dear.” A strange light reflected in Vlad’s eyes for a moment as he placed the pad down. “And you -” Dr. Masters fixed his gaze on Danny, “your notes mentioned pain, sleep problems, but nothing about your diet. Have you been eating well?”
Danny squirmed in his seat, “I eat breakfast, dinner, Mom and Dad probably remember what I’ve been eating more than I do.”
Jack looked over at his son. “And lunch? You’ve been eating lunch, right?”
Danny slouched in his seat, “Aah, well, that is to say -”
“You’ve been skipping meals.” Vlad stated.
“It’s been getting better!” Danny objected.
“Danny, what’s been getting better?” Maddie asked.
Danny stared at the ground.
“Is there something you’re not telling us?” Masters asked.
Frowning, “sometimes I skip lunch.”
“Why, Danny? You could always ask me to put together something for you before you leave! I know we’ve been busy, but we’ll always help you.”
Danny’s shoulders hunched in. “I’ve been nauseous during the day. It used to be bad enough that I had problems just smelling food, but I swear it’s been getting better!” Danny raised his head to plead with his mother. “It hasn’t been as bad lately and I’ve been eating lunch more, so it’s going away! I promise it isn’t a big deal.”
Maddie frowned.
“Danny,” Jack started. He shook his head, “you should have told us. We’re doing all this to make sure you’re healthy.”
“But if we don’t know a problem exists, we can’t help you,” Maddie chimed in.
Danny sighed, “yeah, I know. But I didn’t want to worry you guys. And as I said - it’s getting better, so no harm no foul?”
Maddie leveled a look at him.
Danny looked away.
Vlad clapped his hands once, “What an interesting development. Make sure you start keeping track of that Danny. There’s nothing we can do about your prior transgressions, but let’s start being more forthcoming in the future, hmmm?”
Danny did his best not to glare at the specialist. “Sure.”
“Well then, let’s check your arms and face.”
Danny walked over to the examination table, shrugging off his jacket, and hopped up. He pushed up his shirt sleeves. Dr. Masters examined Danny’s arms, now almost free of redness and unswollen. Twisting and flipping them, he checked the range of movement. He moved on to Danny’s neck and face, prodding at lymph nodes and pressing on almost clear skin. Finally leaning back, “I expect by next week you’ll be free of any lingering redness and your face should be back to normal as well.” Another strange light reflected in Vlad’s eyes. Danny blinked before looking away from the glare.
“So I won’t look like a plague victim anymore?”
“Danny!”
“Well, we would hope so, dear boy.”
“Oh that’s delightful to hear, isn’t it, Danny? He won’t say it, but I know he’s felt self conscious about things like that.” Maddie swept Danny into a hug. “Such a relief.”
Dr. Masters walked back around to his seat. “Yes, well, I can only imagine what a freshman in high school would be struggling with.” Picking up and organizing papers back into neat stacks, he pulled out his file on Danny. Opening up his notes from the week before, Vlad went down the list before coming to the last point, tapping the pen. “Looks like it’s time to do another blood draw, and then you can be on your way.”
Danny was released from his mother’s hold, “Finally.”
- - -
Bzzz. Bzzzt. Bzzzzzzzzzzz.
A gentle energy flowed through the floor under Danny. A constant, quiet humming that should have been soothing, but only served to remind Danny of the buzzing steeped in his bones. Tonight it echoed up through his head, a sharp many needled pain shifting between his eyes and brain. Dark and quiet and calm. Tonight his parents were in bed asleep instead of down in the lab. His sister had followed her schedule immaculately (homework done by 9 at the latest, in bed by 10). Danny was the only one awake and he couldn’t decide whether keeping his eyes open or shutting them was the better option. Fluttering his tired eyes closed, a warm glow of green had them flying open. Dark.
It was dark.
No sickly yellow green of the ghost zone seeping into his room.
Dark.
Danny breathed in. The pain sitting in his head still sprawled through his nerves. The air exhaled out of his chest in a slow journey. The not quite chill air of a still house was hardly comforting. Danny blinked. Decided he wasn’t going to fall asleep with the incessant pain. Swung his feet out of bed and into his slippers. Shuffled into the hallway, hand on the wall for balance.
Shuff shuff scuff
Danny’s foot bumped into the cold metal of the roof access ladder. He raised a heavy arm to cling to a rung before stepping up.
One. Two. Lift. Three.
Crawled up onto the roof’s surface.
Reached a hand out, firmly grasped the handle, and eked the hatch closed, setting it gently into its rubber seal.
Danny didn’t have the confidence to stand, so he scooted over to the roof edge. Arms on the cooled brick, head on arms, he gazed up at the sky.
Danny remembered the sky having more stars as a child, but then, he also remembered fewer people. Amity Park wasn’t a large city, but enough people had moved in that they expanded the city borders. More people meant more electricity, more electricity meant more lights, more lights meant more pollution, more pollution meant more cloudy skies, which meant less than stellar star-gazing results.
He could still make out Orion easily enough. If the clouds moved just right, then he could see Canis Major as well. Searching the sky and parsing through satellites and planes, Danny watched the night pass.
A cool breeze made him shiver and realize that he didn’t bring a jacket with him. He started to sit up, hands slipping through the brick.
Danny startled, body shivering in the night air and pain sharpening. A glance down showed his legs halfway through the roof. A spasm up his leg and arm had him looking around for something to grab. A green glow out of the corner of his eye had his head snapping to look across the street - something glowing and moving about the rooftops. The pain crescendoed, whiting out Danny’s vision and making him squeeze his eyes shut.
Invisobang Art: Danny on the Fenton Works rooftop at night, staring at a green glow in the distance. His right leg is phasing through the floor.
Artwork by lucathepanman
The soft sun peeked a lone ray out of the clouds.
Danny blinked once, twice. He couldn’t remember how he got out of the roof, or what happened to that green light, or when it became morning.
A gathering buzz of electricity had Danny swinging his arm over to silence his alarm clock as soon as it began.
He sighed.
- - -
“Today’s the day.”
“You’ve got this bro.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I’ve got this.”
“Breath check.”
“Good thinking.”
Hah haaah sniff
“Ready?”
“Think so.”
“What’s happening?”
“Danny’s going to go talk to Paulina.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“I know! Dude’s got guts.”
“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing dude. You’ve got this.”
“I don’t see the allure. Girls like her are a dime a dozen.”
Tucker stuck his tongue out, “You’re just jealous cause no one’s asked you out yet.”
Sam rolled her eyes, “Just remember, you can’t judge a book by its cover.”
“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” Tucker winked, “go check out that book.”
“Ok,” Danny said.
“Here I am.”
“Going.”
“......”
“Are you sure my breath is good?”
“Positive." Tucker gave Danny a little push, enough to get his feet moving. "Now go!" Danny walked up to the tree Paulina was sitting under.
“Hey, I’m -” his foot caught on an unearthed tree root and he fell.
“Oh please, don’t say you’ve fallen for - who are you?”
“Uuuh, I’m Dan - Danny…. Fenton?”
“The plague boy? I thought you had a hideously scarred face." She wiggled her fingers in the direction of his face. "All red and blistery.”
Danny rubbed the back of his neck, “Aaah, it was from an accident. It’s all cleared up.”
“Well, either way,” Paulina stood up, “your parents are those creepy ghost hunters, right?”
“I wouldn’t call them creepy -”
“I would. Look. Ditch your loser friends, fix your parents, and then I might talk to you.” Paulina walked off.
“Uuugh, you could stand in a pool of her and not get your feet wet,” Sam seethed.
“You lost me.”
“Shallow. I’m calling her shallow, Tucker.”
- - -
“Yo, freak!” Danny looked up.
“Is he talking to you?” Tucker asked.
“I… don’t know actually.”
“Fenturdian!”
“Oh, shit. I guess so. See ya.” Danny turned and walked in the opposite direction of Dash.
“FENTURD, COME BACK HERE.” Hearing the slap of feet on the hallway tile, Danny felt a chill down his back and he started running. Whipping around the corner, he skidded before gaining traction and weaving between students.
“You can run, but I’m taking this D I got on my last test out of your hide!”
Rounding another corner, Danny darted into a janitor’s closet and crouched down. He shuddered in the cool air as Dash thundered past.
“FEEENTOOOON!”
Waiting for his breathing to get back under control and the sounds of Dash to fully fade away, Danny sat against the door.
Feeling a sudden absence of support, Danny tumbled back. “Oooph.” Looking up, “Oh, hey Tuck. Sam. How’d you know I was here?”
“Because it was the quickest place to hide. Now get up, Dash got stopped by the vice principal, so you’re safe.”
Danny grinned before sitting up. “Thanks. I would’ve stayed in there for longer.”
Tucker nodded, “Sounds like a good excuse to skip class to me.”
“Anything sounds like a good excuse to you, Tuck.”
“That’s because there’s no good reason to go to class, Sam.”
Danny stood up as they bickered. It continued as he collected his backpack.
“By the way, we still good for Wednesday?”
“Yeah, at, like, 5?”
Sam nodded.
“Man, I can’t believe this is the first time we’re heading to your house, Sam. You’ve kept us away all these years. Have you finally hidden all the skeletons you’ve been storing in your closet?”
“Har har Tucker. I just felt like it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a class to get to.”
The warning bell rang and the trio split ways.
- - -
Danny breathed in the hospital air. “Right. What am I doing here again?”
“Well, after that last call with the school, Dr. Masters decided we should test your nerves. Make sure they aren’t damaged or dying,” his mother explained.
“Dying?” Danny choked. “What?”
“I guess there is a more technical term, but basically, yes.”
Danny looked over at his mother, “and we had to come down here separately for it?”
Maddie glanced at her son before entering the elevator, “Yes, Dr. Masters had to get a neurologist for this specific test.”
Danny nodded, still lost.
The elevator moved, dinged to announce their arrival, and the doors slid open. Maddie walked over to the desk on the floor and started checking in as Danny looked at the wall paintings.
“Hmm, mm, yes.”
“Take a seat and they’ll be right with you.”
“Alright, thank you. Danny? Let’s go take a seat.”
Walking to the seats on the wall opposite the nurses station, Maddie and Danny waited.
Danny jumped at the “Hello,” that interrupted his ceiling tile investigation. Dropping his head, he looked at Dr. Masters standing next to another doctor in a white coat.
“Oh, hello.” Maddie stood up and held out a hand, “I’m Maddie Fenton, Danny’s mother.”
“Nice to meet you Maddie, I’m Dr. John Fletcher, I’ll be the neurologist conducting the tests on Danny today.”
“Maddie, lovely to see you as always.”
“Dr. Masters.”
Danny stood up quickly, “I’m Danny.”
“I’ll explain a little more about the procedures as we walk.” Dr. Fletcher held out a hand, “please.”
As the group started walking, Dr. Fletcher started explaining. “Today, Danny will be going through two different tests of his peripheral nervous system - the nerve conduction velocity test or NCV, and the electromyogram or EMG test.”
Danny started tuning out the explanation of how the tests worked after “needles”, “electrode patches”, and “current”. Happy to follow along and let the adults talk, he kept quiet.
“- and here we are,” the doctor pushed open a door and ushered the Fentons and Dr. Masters in. “Now, typically, there isn’t another doctor here, but due to Dr. Masters special standing in the hospital, and the unique circumstances that brought young Danny to us, I’ve allowed him to observe. Is that alright with you?”
Maddie glanced down to judge Danny’s sour expression. “That’s alright with us. Anything that could help lend insight into Danny’s health.” She smiled at Dr. Fletcher.
“Alright then, if there are no questions?” At the lack of a response, “then we can proceed. Danny, if you have anything metal on, please remove it.”
Dr. Masters turned to Maddie, “have there been any more incidents, my dear?”
“Incidents?”
“Dropping glass or plates, any sudden weakness or tingling?”
“Oh, nothing that we’ve heard. Danny?” Maddie waited for Danny to roll up his belt. “Anything since we last saw Dr. Masters?”
Danny looked at his mom, “I don’t think so?” He flexed his hands.
“Aaah teenagers, as forthcoming as they are reliable.”
Danny glared at Dr. Masters.
“Now, now, I’m sure Danny is doing his best,” Dr. Fletcher gave a placating smile to Danny.
Danny shifted on top of the paper covering the bed. “I’m ready now.”
“Good, good, so the first thing we’ll do is the NCV test. That’s the one with the electrodes. Now we’re testing -”
- - -
As the testing started, Danny felt fine.
Tick tick tick.
Danny shivered a little.
Tick tick tick.
Danny felt a pressure mounting in his head.
Tick tick tick.
His fingers shaked slightly.
Tick tick tick.
Vision blurred.
Tick tick tick.
Danny violently sneezed.
“Are you alright? Do we need to stop the testing?” Dr. Fletcher asked.
Danny rubbed his nose. “I’m ok, I think.”
“If you need a moment, it’s no problem to wait.”
“I’m good. Please, continue?”
The test resumed and the rest of the NCV passed without incident. As the test wound down, the pressure subsided and the shaking stopped.
“We have the EMG next - the one with the needle. Do you need a break? A drink, or the bathroom?” Dr. Fletcher checked in.
Danny shook his head. “Nope.”
“Alright, then we’ll jump right in with the EMG.”
Dr. Fletcher set up the second test, inserting the needle in Danny’s muscles.
Much like the first test, Danny was fine until shakes and shivers started about halfway through before dying down.
The needle was removed and the doctors were taking a look over the results. As Danny was putting on his belt and shoes -
“Hmm, interesting.”
“Yes, did you see here,” Dr. Fletcher pointed at a line on the screen.
“Aah, but here,” Dr. Masters pointed at a different area.
“Oh. That is interesting.”
Maddie, looking over the screen as well, frowned.
“All done,” Danny hopped off the examination table.
The adults turned around to look at Danny.
“So you are. Well, there’s nothing you two need to stay around for - it’ll take Dr. Masters and I a few days to review the results.”
“Yes, I should have something concrete to tell you at our appointment later this week.” Dr. Masters looked back and forth between Maddie and Danny. “I’ll walk you out?”
Maddie smiled weakly. “Alright, and maybe you can explain a little bit more about the average results, and possibly have a copy ready for Jack and I to look over as well?”
The small group of three stepped out into the hall, walking down to the elevators.
“I suppose there’s no harm in that. I’ll fax it to you along with a summary of what we would expect to see.”
“That sounds wonderful, Dr. Masters. I’ll keep an eye out for the fax.” The elevator dinged as people stepped out. “We’ll see you at the next appointment. I know Jack’s been excited to talk to you.” Maddie hurried Danny into the closing elevator. “Bye.”
- - -
“How many years have we known you? How are we only JUST learning you’re RICH?!?” Tucker’s mouth gaped open.
“It’s not that big of a deal, Tucker.”
“Wrong, it’s a huge deal! Like mansion huge! Seriously Sam, HOW did you hide this?”
Sam rolled her eyes. “You can stand here and gawk, but I’m watching movies downstairs.”
Danny’s jaw snapped shut right before the doorbell rang. Tucker and Danny watched her hand over a $10 to the delivery teen as she took the pizzas.
She raised an eyebrow and walked past them.
The boys wordlessly followed, slack jawed and holding onto each other’s arms in shock.
That is, until they reached downstairs.
“A moVIE theATER?” Danny's voice cracked in awe. “Sam - SAM you’re kidding right? Tell me this is an elaborate joke or set or something. Is this really a movie theater in your basement?”
Sam’s cheeks colored, “I don’t know why you’re so shocked, your parents have a whole lab built under your house.”
“Not the same thing,” Tucker breathed out. “How did this even happen?”
“Uh, well,” Sam set the pizzas down. “My great grandad, Izzy, was an inventor. He invented that machine that twirls cellophane around deli toothpicks.”
Tucker flopped into a chair, “You’re the deli toothpick cellophane twirling heiress? No way!”
“Look, if this is too much for you guys, we can do something else?”
"Nope, you can’t take it back.”
“Tucker’s right, you’re stuck with us!” Danny took the plates from Sam and started dishing up Tucker and his all meat pizza.
“So, what movie are we watching?” Danny handed a plate of pizza over to Tucker, before taking the seat next to him.
“Yeah, Sam, whatchya got?”
“Or you boys could get off your lazy butts and come take a look.” Sam pressed a button and a wall rolled away to reveal a wall of movies.
After bickering back and forth, they decided on an old martial arts film.
“Aah,” Tucker said, sitting back into his chair, “this is the life.”
“You’re telling me,” Danny said, munching on another slice of pizza.
“You know, with all this money, you could flash a little bling bling and be Miss Popularity.”
“I don’t need popularity, Tucker. Especially if I have to buy it.”
Tucker shrugged, “suit yourself,” and he sipped his soda.
“Are we ready to start the movie?” Sam asked.
“Yep.”
“Ready when you are, Sam.”
The lights dimmed down and the screen lit up.
Partway through the movie, Danny felt a pressure behind his eyes. By the end of the movie, he was squinting at the screen. The screen dimmed down as Sam ejected the movie. “Alright,” she stretched before going to grab the dvd. “It’s, like, 8pm. We wanna do something else, or is it time to call it a night?”
Tucker raised his eyebrows, “like what?”
“Well, we have a bowling alley.”
“A WHAT?”
Danny winced.
A wall started receding to reveal lanes.
“Oh sick, Sam!”
“You know what,” Danny smoothed out his expression, “I think I’m gonna head home. But thanks for the offer, Sam.”
“Oh, alright Danny. If you wanna stay, Tucker, you can.”
Tucker’s phone chimed. Flipping it open and reading the message he said, “shit. Nah, I gotta get home too. Another time though, Sam.”
“For sure. I gotta wipe the floor with you at least once.”
“Oh, it’s on Sam. I’ll have you know, I’m a champion bowler.”
“Pfft, Tucker the only championship you’ve won is at your 8th birthday party and your parents let you win,” Danny added.
“Danny! I’ll have you know I’ve gotten much better since then.”
Danny turned away from the bowling alley lights. “Sure, Tuck.”
Sam laughed, putting the dvd away, “Let’s head up then. Don’t want you getting in trouble with your parents.”
The boys followed Sam up and out to the front door. “You guys need a ride or anything?”
“We’ve got our scooters. See ya later Sam,” Tucker said.
“Thanks for the pizza Sam. See ya at school.”
“Yeah, thanks for the pizza... Can’t believe you didn’t tell us you were rich.”
“Sure, sure,” Sam pushed the boys out of the mansion. “See you later.”
“How cruel! Pushing us out of your house Sam?” Tucker wailed.
With a roll of her eyes, “bye,” and the door shut behind them.
“That was certainly interesting, huh Danny?”
Danny rubbed one of his eyes, pushing down on the impending migraine. “Yeah. Had no clue that Sam was rich.”
“Filthy rich, I think you mean.”
Danny snorted. “Yeah. Let’s head home.” The boys grabbed their scooters and went home, only parting ways at the end.
Danny rolled his scooter into the garage and clicked it shut. His shoulders sagged as he let out a breath and relaxed in the cool air. Pushing open the door, he walked into his house, noises rising from the lab below.
“Danny, is that you?” Jazz called from the living room.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
A pause. “You doing alright little brother?”
Danny walked into the kitchen, the bright lights causing him to squint. “Yeah. Good enough.”
“Another headache?”
Danny sighed. “Yes, Jazz, another ‘headache’”.
“Ooh, I’m sorry to hear that. We’ve got left over mac n cheese in the fridge if you want some.”
“Thanks.” Danny walked past his sister and up the stairs. Slowly raising his hand to rest on the doorknob, he paused, letting the weight of his hand turn the handle. Pushing the door open, he dropped his backpack inside the door, and flung himself onto the bed. Cool sheets pressed against his head and he sighed again. In a few minutes, he fell asleep.
- - -
“Maddie, lovely to see you again. And Jack.” Dr. Masters greeted.
“Dr. Masters,” Maddie responded.
“V-Man! Great to see you!”
Danny scowled as he took his seat. The AC turned on and he pulled his jacket around him tighter.
Unperturbed, Maddie sat down next to Danny as Jack took Vlad’s hand in an enthusiastic shake.
“So, Dr. Masters, what can you tell us about the nerve tests?”
“Ah, right down to business.” Vlad smiled, “did you have a chance to look over the results?”
As Maddie opened her mouth, Jack piped up, “Maddie was busy, but I had a moment to look over it last night! I had some questions, but I can wait for you to give a run down to Danny here,” and Jack gave Danny’s back a strong pat.
“Oooph.” Danny lurched forward.
A tight lipped smile, “mmm yes. I suppose Danny should be made aware of the results.” Vlad placed some papers in front of Danny. “There’s a number of things we’re looking at from the tests, but for now I’ll just go over the conduction velocity here. Now, typically we want to see a range between 50 and 70 here. What’s interesting with your results,” Dr. Masters started pointing at places to highlight, “is that it seems you have a lower average at the beginning of the tests, and here,” a switch to a different paper, “it seems to have a higher average. Now, if we just looked at the overall numbers, you’re well within expectations. The concern comes with these outliers here and here. Dr. Fletcher dismissed these as interesting, but unremarkable results, but I noticed that when you take a look at the range both within your lower average of results and your higher average of results, it’s the same.” Dr. Masters looked up to see Danny looking confused. “The distance between your highest and lowest numbers are the same, regardless of where they fall. Simply put, your motor nerves are falling both below average - which is a concern, and above average - which is less of a concern, but still abnormal. The true mystery here is why this is happening in the first place. Now, more nerve tests aren’t going to tell us much more than what we’ve already gathered. Personally, I’d suggest doing a biopsy to see if there’s something molecular happening - an odd distribution of cells or ecto-corruption on a cellular level. If that’s something you're interested in.”
Maddie frowned. “Does he need the biopsy?”
A glint in Dr. Master’s eyes. “Medically speaking, no, it’s not necessary. But the results we have are a cause for concern considering the circumstances of Danny’s accident - the combination of electricity and high levels of ecto-exposure could be causing problems that we are not fully aware of yet and the biopsy would hopefully give us a chance to pinpoint why Danny is going through these periods of muscle weakness.”
“Hmm, makes sense to me Vladdie. What do you think, Danny?” Jack asked.
“Uuuh? I don’t know. I guess I’d like to know why I keep dropping chemistry beakers and fix it if I can, but… What does a biopsy really mean?”
“Aah, I’ll simply go in and take a small piece of your muscle. It’s a simple enough procedure and after you heal you’ll be left with a small divot on your bicep - truly nothing noticeable. You won’t be hideously scarred or anything like that.” A subtle grimace passed across Vlad’s face. “Maddie, your thoughts?”
“I don’t know Dr. Masters.” Maddie looked to her husband.
“If it’ll help Danny, I’m good with it.”
Maddie sighed. “I suppose, if Danny agrees to it.”
“Well, dear boy?”
Danny found himself under the stare of three adults. “Will it hurt?”
“You will have your choice of local or general anesthesia and it will take some time to heal at the incision site, but overall it shouldn’t hurt too much.”
Danny chewed his lower lip. “Can I have some time to think about it?”
“Of course.”
“You know, Vlad, there was something we wanted to talk to you about,” Jack reached into one of his pockets and pulled out the Fenton Finder. “We could step out into the hall and talk about it while Danny thinks it over?”
Vlad stared at Jack and the Fenton Finder for a minute. “I suppose we can do that.”
“Danny, is that ok with you?” Maddie asked.
Danny nodded.
The adults got up and left the room. Danny shuddered at the last puff of the AC before it turned off. The sounds of conversation drifted through the door. Danny sighed at the building pressure behind his eyes and rested his head on the back of his chair.
Thrum thrum.
The sound of electricity buzzing through the lights.
Crrck clank
Mechanical workings of pipes and switches turning on and off.
-Of course, and then -
Words floated past as people walked by outside.
Snrrk eeeck - Danny started coughing on his own spit. Fighting against his throat’s betrayal, short spurts of air sucked in, the pressure in Danny’s head mounted. Shuddering, tears dripping down from the pain, he could feel his fingers go cold. A hasty inhale and the coughing renewed its vigor with chilling breath fighting its way out.
Shit shit shit
Danny could feel the shuddering of his body, the hum deep in his muscles and bones providing backup to the thumping in his head. A force pushing out from his atoms, Danny knew - he knew - what was going to happen. Cold seeping up his forearms, white and black spots dancing their way to the center of his vision. A shiver wracked his body, seizing, the coughing as it stuttered stopped started. He curled in on himself. As the cold seeped into his torso, the coughing subsided as his throat relaxed. Danny gripped the arm of his chair. He couldn’t - could - his parents - that doctor. Without blinding pain, Danny was able to take more notice of the pinpricks seeping through his skin, into his muscles, down, down to his bones. The trembles down to his very core - aware enough to realize he was about to transform - change - distort into - into - into - other. He gripped the armrest tighter. Toes curled up in his shoes as Danny doubled down, pressing chest into legs. Refusing, fighting against the spots dancing in his vision, breathing - in, out - deliberate. Blink. Blink. Shiver shake. Breathe. Suppressing the shivers, shuffling his feet back and forth, Danny fought the change, the switch, trying to keep himself from splitting apart into something new. Gradually - the pain slinked away, the pressure dissipated, the shivering humming buzzing calmed. Danny blinked away the wetness in his eyes and stayed hunched over until he felt confident that he wouldn’t get lightheaded from sitting up. Sounds from outside drifted in again, acknowledged by his ears.
Shaky breaths broke the air. He sat up. Relaxed his fingers and released his hand from the chair. Hands in lap, legs extended, and feet wiggling back and forth. He felt warmth start to travel through his body again. Danny focused on breathing, distracted himself with examining the tiles above. Each crack, divot, colored speckle.
The click of the handle turning out of the lock.
“- and that’s where we’re at.”
“Yes, I can see promise in this,” sneer, “Fenton Finder.” A pause as Danny’s parents settled on either side of him, Vlad sliding into his seat behind the desk. “So, Danny. Have you come to a conclusion about how you’d like to proceed?”
Danny blinked and tried to plug back into the world around him. “Mmmm.” He dropped his head from his examination of the tiles. “You really think it’ll help?”
Vlad gave one nod, eyes trained on Danny.
“Then,” Danny rolled the word around before, “I guess I’ll do it.”
“Alright, Danny!” A shake of his shoulder. “Nothing to worry about with Vladdie here at the helm.”
Maddie gave a smile to Danny.
Vlad continued to stare, cataloging every movement of Danny’s. Suspicion coated Danny’s dulled thoughts.
Notes:
Danny “I’m fine” Fenton really shows up this chapter
Art in this chapter by: PanLuca
Heeeeey go give them a like and reblog on tumblr!! 🥺 Love the strong lighting and the green against the purple sky – and the visual textures of the sky and light source but then its smooth on the metal (and the metal details!) and Danny’s so cute and fuzzy, and he hasn’t noticed yet that he’s phasing through asdfghj 😭 and the stars! You really get the sense of the stars being visible, but not as easy to see as they once were - it’s so good, go give PanLuca’s piece some lovethis will be fully updated by the end of September! (mostly posting mon/wed/sat)
DP_Marvel94 on Chapter 2 Thu 04 Sep 2025 01:41AM UTC
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J_Bee on Chapter 2 Sat 06 Sep 2025 10:35AM UTC
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The_Lone_Passanger on Chapter 3 Sun 07 Sep 2025 01:07PM UTC
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J_Bee on Chapter 3 Tue 09 Sep 2025 05:11AM UTC
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