#phicphight2020

It took almost four hours, but they eventually tracked the ectosignature down, right beneath the train bridge. It was emanating from a few small red shards that looked like they were from some sort of crystal. 

"That's strange. I know objects can be infused with ectoplasm, but this seems to be creating its own." Maddie's voice was full of curiosity. 

"That's impossible. That would mean that this thing was created by ghosts," Jack argued, picking up a shard. 

"I know, it's fascinating." Maddie carefully picked up the rest of the shards and put them into a small collection jar, along with the one Jack was holding. "Let's head back to the lab. I want to analyze these as soon as possible."

By the time they got back, Jazz and Danny were home from school. Jazz was sitting on the couch, reading, and hardly looked up when they came in the door. Danny on the other hand, was grabbing something to eat in the kitchen. 

"Hey, Danny!" Jack said to greet his son. Danny just smiled back, then noticed that the two of them had their ectoguns with them. 

"Where did you guys go?" Danny asked cautiously, worried that they might have been out ghost hunting. 

"We detected a strange ectosignature and when to check it out," Maddie answered, she pulled the shards from her pocket, holding them up to eye level. Danny went pale when he saw them, but neither Jack nor Maddie seemed to notice, because she just kept talking. "The signature was coming from these strange crystals. We think they might have been a part of something larger, and that it may have been created by ghosts. I've never seen anything like it."

Danny gulped done the lump that had formed in his throat and forced himself to answer. "That's great. Hey, is it alright if I go over to Tuck's? He said he needed some help with... a thing. Anyway, can I go?"

Maddie had hardly heard him, she and Jack were already heading towards the lab stairs. "Go ahead honey, just be back by dark." 

Danny didn't hesitate to dart from the kitchen up to his room to grab a few things and call Tucker. He rushed back downstairs and through the living room, saying goodbye to Jazz as he left. Jazz told him to be careful and to call her if anything happened before going back to her book. 

When Danny got to Tucker's house, they went straight up to his room and dived right into the new video game that Tuck had bought that night. While they were playing, Sam showed up. Tuck asked her if she wanted to play, but she said no. She would rather watch Danny and Tucker beat the crap out of each other's avatars than play herself. Sam was more into the online rpgs. She watched them play for awhile, but started to think something was up after Danny lost three matches in a row. That hardly ever happened when the boys played each other. 

"What's up Danny? You seem kinda distracted," she said.

Danny sighed and put down the controller before flopping backwards to lay on the beanbag he was on. "My parents. They came back after school today with pieces of Freakshow's crystal ball."

Sam and Tucker suddenly looked very worried. 

"What? How'd they even find it?" Sam wondered.

"Yeah, we looked all over after it got smashed and we couldn't find it," Tucker added. 

"They said it was giving off an ectosignature and that's how they tracked it."

"So what are they going to do with the pieces?" 

Danny shrugged. "No idea. Probably experiments or something."

"Maybe you should avoid the lab for awhile, Danny. Who knows what could happen if those things can still control ghosts." Sam's concern clearly showed in her tone of voice.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on getting anywhere near those things."

When Danny got home that night, his parents were still in the lab and Jazz had gone upstairs to bed. He also went upstairs and tried to sleep, but he couldn't stop thinking about the shards in his basement and what they were capable of. He eventually gave up on sleep and went for a short flight instead. 

The cool night air rushed past him and calmed his nerves just a little. As he flew back towards Fentonworks, he decided to just take a look in the lab and see if his parents had made a ny progress. He phased through the roof, clear down into the basement, staying invisible in case his parents were still working. They were. Danny hovered near the roof and watched. 

Maddie was making some notes in her lab book and Jack was sitting nearby performing their most recent experiment. He was holding a shard near a small containment unit containing a blob-like ghost. Its eyes were glowing red. Danny tensed, remembering what it felt like to be under the influence of that crystal. 

Maddie looked up and spoke. "Alright Jack. Tell it to do something."

Jack thought for a moment, then said, "Turn around." The ghost inside the container instantly faced away from him. Danny felt a sudden slight urge to do the same, but it wasn’t strong. Maybe it was because the crystal was in pieces, or because his dad wasn’t aware that Danny was there at all. That feeling wasn't a good sign. His parents already seemed to know that the crystal could control ghosts. 

"It's just as I thought. This crystal seems to be able to influence ghosts' behavior." Maddie said thoughtfully. Jack placed the shard on the table and Danny saw the small ghost's eyes clear. His mother continued her observations. "It wasn't created by ghosts, though. It's definitely manmade, but whoever made it had to know an awful lot about ghosts. Enough to know how to control them."

Jack nodded in agreement. 

"This could prove very useful in our research. We wouldn't have to catch ghosts, they would just do whatever we told them."

"What's the fun in that?" Jack grumbled. 

Maddie ignored him. "We could even capture more powerful ghosts, like Phantom."

Danny inhaled sharply. His parents were already planning on using those things on him? He suddenly didn't feel so good. He phased up to his room and transformed back. He'd hated the way Freakshow had used him, trapped him inside himself and made him do all those terrible things. He'd nearly killed his best friends. His parents though, they would rather use him-Phantom-for research, dissection. He felt his breath becoming short and knew he was on the verge of a panic attack. He took several deep breaths to calm himself. 

Okay. He thought to himself. This is bad, but, if they don't have the shards, they can't control anyone. I'll just get the shards back after they go to bed. 

Sam gasped when Danny appeared not far in front of her, facing her. Why had he done that? Why had he dropped his invisibility? Then she saw his eyes. They were blood red, instead of toxic green like they should have been. Once she got over the shock, she realized that the Fentons had to have brought a shard with them. Her eyes went straight to Maddie, and she saw the shard hanging around her neck like an amulet. 

Tucker's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Why'd he do that?" He asked Sam quietly. The Fentons still hadn't noticed the two of them watching the fight, and he didn't want to attract their attention. Sam locked eyes with Tucker. "They have a shard with them. We have to do something. Now." Tucker's eyes widened in shock. "What do we do?" Sam thought for a moment before answering. While she was thinking, the Fentons caught sight of Danny, who was just kind of hovering. "There you are, ghost boy," Maddie said menacingly as she took aim. Jack stood just behind her, fumbling with his own ectogun. He was facing away from them, so Sam was pretty sure they hadn't realized what had happened. They hadn't realized that Maddie could make Danny do whatever she wanted. They had to hurry. "Tucker, stay here. I'm going to try to get the necklace." Sam took off running before Tucker could respond. She ran straight for Maddie, putting herself between Danny and the gun. "Sam! What are you doing? Move!" Maddie shouted at her, but she didn't lower the gun. Sam ignored her and kept running. When she reached Maddie, she pushed the ectogun to the side. "What are you doing? He's going to get away!" Maddie protested, trying to wrestle the gun out of Sam's hands. "You can't shoot him, he's the good guy!" Sam said. She shoved the gun hard. While Maddie was knocked off balance, she reached out and grabbed the necklace. A hard yank, and it was in her hand. Maddie recovered and, now that Sam wasn't right in front of her, took a shot. The beam shot towards Danny. "Phantom, look out!" Sam yelled. Danny turned around and moved just in time to avoid the beam. His eyes were still red. He had moved though, and she had hold of the shard now. Before she could really think about it, she yelled, "Get out of here!" Danny instantly took off skyward and vanished. Sam sighed with relief. Maddie turned on her though, and she looked upset. Sam pocketed the shard before Maddie could see it. "Sam! What were you thinking? That ghost is dangerous." "No he's not! He's a hero, he helps people." Maddie sighed. "He's a ghost." She stalked off towards the RV. Sam rolled her eyes at the statement and walked back towards Tucker. She gestured for him to follow her. "Come on. We'd better go find Danny."

After school ended, Danny, Tucker, and Sam went to the nasty burger to hang out and grab some milkshakes. They didn't talk about much, and definitely avoided talking about the crystal shards. It wasn't long until their shakes were gone, so they reluctantly headed over to Tucker's to get started on some homework. Lancer had, as usual, assigned a mountain of reading due before monday's class. Luckily, it was Friday, so they did have a couple days to get it done. None of them were looking forward to it, though. As they were leaving, a wisp of almost invisible mist escaped Danny's lips. His ghost sense. He tensed, glancing around to see if he could find the ghost. Sam and Tucker noticed, and started doing the same. "Over there." Sam was pointing down the street a little ways, where a huge serpent like ghost was slithering towards them, destroying everything in its path. Danny jumped behind a nearby delivery truck and transformed. He left Sam and Tucker where they were, and flew straight for the snake. As he got closer, he realized the thing had two heads. It saw him coming and flared out its necks like a cobra and hissed. Danny stopped just out of striking distance. He charged an ectoblast and threw it at the left head. It connected and the creature fell backwards into the pavement. The asphalt cracked and chunks went flying in several directions. Danny reached around to pull the thermos from his new utility belt. Sam had come up with the idea for that, and Danny was glad. It had been hard to figure out how to get it to stay only on his ghost form, but they had eventually figured it out. All it needed was to be charged with a little of Danny's ectoenergy, and it traveled with his ghost form. Easy. Before he could pull the cap off the thermos and suck the dazed two headed serpent into it, a blaring horn caught his attention. His parents were careening towards the two ghosts at full speed. His father was driving, which was scary all by itself. What was scarier though, was that his mother was crouching on top of the RV, aiming an ectocannon at him. "Surrender, ghost scum!" she shouted before firing the gun. Danny had to dive out of the way, dropping the thermos in the process. He flew higher, trying to avoid the subsequent shots. He'd forgotten about the snake, and evidently so had his parents. The snake rammed into the side of the RV, causing it to tip sideways onto two wheels. Maddie backflipped off the roof and landed with the ectocannon pointed at the snake. A red glint as she flipped caught Danny's eye. He looked closer, and saw that she was wearing a necklace. That was strange. His mother never wore jewelry, especially with her hazmat suit. She fired the gun at the snake, who couldn't avoid it fast enough. The ray blasted the snake into the nearby wall and it did not get up again. Danny used the distraction to turn invisible and float back towards Sam and Tucker, who had moved toward the fight, but had stayed far enough back to be out of the way.   "Jack! Get the thermos out! Hurry!" Maddie yelled at her husband. He stumbled from the RV, nearly falling flat on his face as he rushed forward. A thermos was in his hand and he sucked up the snake when he got close enough. Maddie was still on guard, looking around for Phantom. "Did you see where the ghost boy went, Jack?" She asked, so quiet that Danny had to strain to hear. Crap, he thought. He'd better change back before they found him. He turned to find a place to transform, but a shout made him stop in his tracks. "Show yourself, Ghost!"