Chapter Text
If Danny had to absorb one more piece of new information, his brain might explode.
“Hey Danny! Guess what I just found out!” Tucker called excitedly from down the hall. Danny sighed, resting his forehead against the cool metal of his locker, waiting for his best friend to reach him.
“What is it?” He groaned as he heard the tech head stop his chipper pace beside him.
“Damn, Danny. I’m super happy to see you too.” Tucker said with a dry sarcasm. Danny finally looked up at his friend to see him trying to hold a serious face, but couldn’t keep a smirk from forming.
“Sorry Tuck. It’s been a long day… and week of dodging my parents and the GIW.”
“Speaking of; I was intercepting the GIW radio signal earlier and –” Suddenly Tucker’s words were cut off when a pale hand decorated with skull rings and chipped black nail polish clamped over his mouth. It was familiar enough a sight that even before turning to see who the hand belonged to, he already knew.
“You want to say that any louder? I think only half the school heard you.” Sam admonished sarcastically, before dropping her hand. Tucker rolled his eyes in response, but gestured for his friends to lean in for a more subtle conversation.
“As I was saying, I got onto the GIW radio signal and it sounds like I’m not the only one hacking their systems.” The tech-head informed in a hushed town.
“What? Do they know anything about the hacker? Do we know anything?” Danny questioned, interest and concern piqued. Many possibilities came to mind of who the hacker could be, and he liked each option less than the last. It could be teens messing with the GIW for laughs. It could be Technus getting out again, or another ghost up to mischief. It could be his parents trying to see if the GIW were hiding research details from them. It could be Vlad up to no good again because when is he not up to something devious? The most concerning option would be a completely unknown person.
“Dude, they are completely unknown. By the GIW or by us. I tried finding them but the IP kept bouncing between states. Apparently they’ve found evidence of the hacks being there for days but they only discovered it all today!” Tucker chattered away excitedly, unaware of the headache that was snowballing in Danny’s mind.
“We’ll have to keep an eye out for if anyone new shows up in town fishing for information. Knowing Danny’s luck it’ll probably be another group of ghost hunters looking for trouble.” Sam discussed, causing Danny to groan in agreeance with her.
“Speaking of, better get home to make sure my parents haven’t done anything irreversibly chaotic while I was in class.”
With sympathetic waves from his best friends, Danny set off out of the school grounds, heading towards Fentonworks. He spent the entire walk fretting over who would possibly have interest in hacking into the GIW who wasn’t a ghost hunter. Maybe a social justice group found out about how ghosts are being treated and was gathering evidence? Maybe the GIW’s parent branch of the government was secretly checking in on them after hearing about them sucking at their jobs? He was hesitant to try to be too optimistic about his odds. Finally reaching home, he was surprised to find a stranger waiting at the door, eyes glancing between a wristwatch and the window next to the door.
They seemed normal enough, aside from never having seen them before. The most unusual part was that he couldn’t really gauge whether it was a man or a woman. They had short, curly auburn hair with pale skin and plenty of freckles scattering their face like little constellations. The outfit was a little disjointed; a baggy tropical pattern button up shirt and jeans with a sage green suit jacket over the top, almost like they’d decided last minute to attempt to be more formal.
“Can I help you?” Danny asked, watching the stranger startle and spin to face him. Even looking at their face he still couldn’t figure out what they were. Mild panic bubbled in his gut, worried he might be needing to say sir or ma’am any minute. The surprise leaves their face and is replaced with a kind smile.
“Oh! Hello there, I’m Dr. Ronnie. I have a meeting with the Doctors Fenton, but they’re not answering the door or the phone number I was given.” They revealed, lips quirking with concern. Danny sighed with resignation. It was no surprise that his parents lost track of time with their work; it’s something they do basically every day. He can see how stressed Jazz gets from making sure they stop to eat.
“They’re home, they probably just can’t hear the doorbell from the lab. I’ll go get them.” Danny informed, tensing as he opened the front door, ready for the security system to go off. Luckily it seemed to have stayed off from this morning and he was safe for now. Turning to face this Ronnie person, he’s not sure what to do. They have an appointment, so would it be rude not to invite them inside to wait? But he knows he’s not meant to let random people he doesn’t know into the house; that’s stranger danger 101. As if reading his dilemma on his face, Dr Ronnie’s expression softens, offering an empathetic smile.
“It’s okay, I’m fine waiting out here.” Before Danny can even shut the door, he can hear the rumbling footsteps coming up the stairs from behind the basement door.
“It’s okay, we’re here!” Maddie chimed as the basement door slid open.
“Danno! Why didn’t you invite our guest in?” Boomed Jack’s voice as the pair made their way to the front of the house.
“He’s a child and I am an adult he doesn’t know?” Dr Ronnie answered with an incredulous expression. It took a moment for the words to register before Jack’s eyes lit up.
“Oh, right! Good ol’ Danno! Always so vigilant!” The large man cheered, wrapping an arm around Danny’s shoulders and ruffling his hair with the other hand. The teen ducked his face down with an embarrassed but fond smile. Being in an embarrassing position was well worth it for the moment of affection.
“Well come on in! We’ll be doing our presentation in the living room, so make yourself at home!” Maddie welcomed, gesturing for Dr Ronnie to enter the house. With a polite smile they walked their way in, allowing the Fentons to lead them towards the family couch. Danny tentatively follows the group, worried about what his parents will say to make this relatively sane and nice person hate ghosts before he even has a chance to give a good first impression.
“Ghosts, or ectoplasmic entities, are beings that originate in a dimension we have called The Ghost Zone. Basically, a collection of ectoplasm soaks in the electromagnetic signals that leave the newly dead, creating an imprint or echo of the person or creature’s conscience.” Maddie begins her explanation. Danny bites his tongue to avoid interrupting with a correction. Ghosts were the souls of the deceased who had absorbed ectoplasm as a new energy source, they weren’t just echoes of themselves. Not to mention this was just the ghosts that originated from living beings on Earth; there were also ecto-beings that were native to the realms and the ones that were born from concepts or beliefs. He shifted his glance over to Dr Ronnie on the couch to gauge their reaction, only to find them looking at him curiously. In what Danny assumed was an act of mercy for his awkwardness, Dr Ronnie turned back to face Maddie.
“Okay, would that mean they are incapable of generating new thoughts? They can only echo things that the living being had already said and done?” Danny’s heart sank in anticipation, as it sounded like yet another adult was about to believe everything his parents said about ghosts. Dr Ronnie seems to be some sort of scientist, so will they want to cut him open too? Run experiments on him and other ghosts?
“Precisely.” Maddie answered with a smile. Dr Ronnie frowned, looking down at their notes, flicking a page or two before looking back up.
“From the footage that I’ve seen, it looks like there is a wide discrepancy between the animalist ghosts and the humanoid ones. I mean, they are clearly holding conversations and have emotional reactions to stimuli. Surely you’re not classifying them all under the same level of consciousness.” They pointed out in a neutral, yet curious tone. Danny couldn’t help but perk up in reaction. Eyes darting back to his mother, he saw her smile drop for a moment and her eye twitch.
“Actually, we do!” Jack chimed in, seemingly immune to whatever had insulted his wife.
“What’s your reasoning for that?” Danny’s not sure how, but he was somehow able to tell that Dr Ronnie was actively forcing themself to maintain a neutral air. It made him nervous.
“We’ve managed to capture and run tests on some of the ectopuses and blob ghosts. None of them had nervous systems and yet they all mimicked experiencing pain.” Maddie replied tensely, not doing as good a job as keeping a neutral, professional tone. Danny swayed, feeling like he was going to be sick thinking about the poor ghosts that his parents had experimented on. He’s no expert on how it worked, but he knows ghosts feel the same level of pain that their original form would be capable of feeling, so he knows the screams he heard from the ectopuses were very much not faked. A scoff from the scientist brought Danny out of his spiral.
“If they’re from another dimension, why would their bodies need to have the same structures as life here to have the same results? Plus, making a blanket rule based on the findings from a couple of smaller, simpler specimens is insane. That would be like if an alien made a portal to the deep ocean and saw a jellyfish and an anglerfish come through and assumed that as the basis for all life on Earth!” They critiqued, displeasure leaking through as they became more frustrated with what they had heard.
“You just don’t get it. You want to give ghosts a chance because they look human, but you have to trust us. Ghosts are mindless, evil creatures that will turn on you the second they’ve tricked you.” Jack bellowed, finally feeling the insult to their work that his wife had already picked up on. Danny couldn’t help but wince, even though he wasn’t surprised, as this wasn’t new information.
“How are they mindless and evil at the same time?” Dr Ronnie retorted, rolling their eyes as if they can’t believe the Fentons’ nonsense.
“They just are. It’s hard to explain to someone who isn’t an ectobiologist.” Maddie snapped back, struggling to find the words.
“Okay, so what evidence do you have that they are mindless? Have you run sentience tests on any of them?” The scientist further prompted. Both Jack and Maddie pursed their lips and sunk back a little.
“Most tests don’t yield accurate results because ghosts are so good at mimicking emotions.” Maddie replied, attempting to return to a professional tone. Dr Ronnie’s eyes widened with shock before narrowing with anger.
“Sounds like the tests didn’t confirm what you already believed so you ignored the results. How can you even call yourselves scientists? You just sound like maniacs who are looking for excuses to hurt creatures they don’t understand.” They accused, voice raising louder with frustration and passion. Both Jack and Maddie’s faces grew red with anger.
“I won’t be insulted by someone who hasn’t even met a ghost before!” Maddie yelled furiously, standing over Dr Ronnie and getting in their face menacingly. The scientist shot to their feet, Maddie only ducking out of the way in time to not get headbutted.
“Fine, sounds like a real scientist needs to meet one of these ghosts and find out the truth about them!” They declared, before storming out of the house, slamming the door shut behind them. After hearing several expletives from his parents before they stormed off down to the basement, Danny collapsed into the couch.
“Well that went well.” He commented to the empty room.
