Chapter 13: 12-1 Of Fallout and Filler
Thursday, September 13th
1:45 pm
A beady-eyed gaze surveyed UA's principal's office from atop Ectoplasm's shoulder. It meandered away from a small nameplate perched on a dark, wooden desk to the green filing cabinets flanking the room. Trailing along a line of faculty portraits heading the back wall as if it couldn't quite bring itself to settle, it slid down, crossing the periwinkle linoleum to finally fixate on four students.
Kirishima hunched in on himself (a common posture for the boy these past forty minutes) while minute trembles shook a pale Ashido at his side. The currently light-pink teen shifted in place, stealing repeat, furtive glances at their math teacher.
In stark contrast, Bakugo didn't seem particularly apologetic, eyebrows drawn together and gaze fastened to a pair of lightly charred hands. One of them flexed open and closed while the other stayed tightly clenched around a water bottle, eliciting slight crackle-pops.
Then there was Ojiro. Mild mannered, thoughtful Ojiro. Who's glare was nearly as scathing as it was defiant.
Nezu's furry shoulders sagged, the mouse seeming almost…resigned, before a deep inhale cut the fragile silence. "Your behavior today was unbefitting a UA student. It was reckless, dangerous, and if I must say, idiotic. I hope you understand that I have no choice but to take disciplinary action."
Kirishima flinched, but no one argued, the crinkling of squeezed plastic the only thing to disturb the air.
"Assaulting a teacher is no laughing matter," Ectoplasm spoke, his gravel-in-a-cement-mixer-meets-autotune voice particularly jarring in the silence. Pupil-less eyes somehow made it obvious they were focused on Ojiro; then the duplicator's stance shifted and Ashido and Kirishima were included in the scrutiny. "Even if you think you are only attacking a clone."
"There will be real consequences to your actions," Nezu chimed back in, tone serious. "Outright ignoring a pro hero, not to mention your teacher, could get you killed." The rodent's lips started to draw back, but he caught himself before his teeth could fully manifest. Nose wrinkles smoothing and face going carefully blank, he added, "In light of current circumstances, and despite my better judgment, you will not be expelled."
Bakugo tensed, wide eyes shooting up to meet Nezu's as the three other students showcased various states of disbelief.
"If we sent you home now, you would become easy pickings for any villain that might want to take a swing at UA. But that does not mean you are off the hook," Ectoplasm added. "You four have great potential. But this insubordination cannot continue. Therefore, we have determined appropriate punishments for each of you."
"Kirishima; Ashido." The blue man nodded stiffly at the two, appropriately chastised kids. "While your intentions to help your friends were noble"—surprise splashed over the pair like cold water—"Ashido-san will be in charge of cleaning 1A's dormitory every day for a month and Kirishima-kun will be working two weeks of construction duty with Ishiyama-sensei."
Kirishima licked his mouth a few times as if adding moisture, then asked, "Construction duty, Sensei?"
"As you are aware, Ishiyama-san regularly repairs Ground Beta, Gamma, and Gym Gamma for our hero course. Much of what he works on is not made of cement. You will aid him in whatever manual labor he choses."
"But that's like fixing a miniature city!" Kirishima exclaimed, eyes saucer-wide. "Every day!"
"It is." This time, a hint of amusement threaded the words. "Maybe you will come to respect the work your teachers do for you outside of the classroom."
Kirishima's gaze dropped and the indignant surprise left him.
"Ojiro." The teen went rigid as Nezu spoke up, inflection harsh. "It is my understanding that you attacked Ectoplasm with the full knowledge that you were, in fact, attacking the original. Even if you were mostly on the defensive, and have taken Hagakure-san's kidnapping particularly hard, this is inexcusable."
"Bakugo." Nezu's gaze snapped over to the hothead. "Without a Provisional Hero License what you did was highly illegal and an act of vigilantism." Katsuki's default sneer dropped and his face went slack with a sudden, horrified clarity.
"I have spoken with Tsukauchi-san. While I have managed to prevent legal action, both you and Ojiro will be dropped from UA's hero course. Notify me on whether you want to be transferred to general education or support by the end of the day."
There was a sharp pop and water exploded out from near Bakugo's hip. Mangled plastic dropped from the space a second later while the soot-stained fingers of his right hand shot up to clutch at his chest. Next to him, Ojiro nearly snarled, tail flicking back and forth behind the boy like an irate cat.
"This decision is final," Ectoplasm cemented, voice as deceptively calm and collected as always.
"Bakugo." Nezu softened, the full force of the man's empathy and exhaustion leaking through his words, "I understand that in your mind, this is the worst possible outcome. For what it's worth, I'm sorry."
Thursday, September 13th
2:30 pm
On that day I chose I would protect you
That promise it still resides in my heart
Mitsuki Bakugo frantically whipped sideways in her chair, the swivel mechanism groaning in protest as she grabbed a purse from the floor of her office cubicle.
Even though I'm losing everything, I know
If now, there is any life that I can save
I would be happy to—
Shuffling through the bag anxiously, she snatched at her phone. After the attack on UA yesterday, she'd been trying to keep the sound on. Which, of course, made her accidentally leave it on FULL VOLUME at work.
It fumbled in her hands a second before she managed to slide the screen open. Not even bothering to look at the caller ID, she chirped a frazzled, "Moshi-moshi!"
Hello, Bakugo-san? This is Ectoplasm from UA. There has been another attack on the school. Mitsuki couldn't help it, her breath hitched. The teacher must have heard it, because a split second later he finished with, The students are safe and no one needed more than a quick trip to Recovery Girl.
I am calling because I need to talk about Bakugo-kun. He escaped the safety of his mathematics class to pursue and engage the villain across campus, despite explicit orders to stand down. As you know, this an act of vigilantism and could have gotten him seriously injured.
It was as if a great weight pressed down on Mitsuki's shoulders, folding her forward and slouching her elbows down to rest on her knees. Brushing blonde bangs back as they dropped over her face, she breathed, "I understand," normal fire totally absent.
We have managed to get all charges from the prefecture dropped—
A bubble of hope that very nearly felt like indigestion pressed hard against the woman's ribs, and she dared interrupt, voice cracking, "So he'll be okay?"
I think the answer to that may depend on you.
Well didn't that just sound ominous?
"What do you mean?" The words came out sharper than Mitsuki intended and she flinched, swiftly adding, "Ectoplasm-sensei."
I mean that Katsuki-kun has forced our hand. He is being removed from the hero course.
A dichotomy of emotions hit the youthful woman with the weight of a sledgehammer. Extreme concern battled with rage for her son's headstrong actions. It was a good thing her quirk was Glycerin, or she'd have a thousand wrinkles by now.
After a short pause, Ectoplasm continued, We are transferring him to another course, and keeping him at UA. But his mental health has been less than optimal lately. I have signed him up for daily sessions with our school therapist, but I am worried that may not be enough to keep him from doing something reckless.
The words hung in the air like a poised tree snake, ready to snap at anything that dared move.
"What do I need to do?"
We, at UA, officially extend an offer for you and your husband to live on campus with the students.
"Done."
Should you accept—Done? You haven't heard the details.
"It doesn't matter. Whatever I have to do."
Like hell Mitsuki was going to lose Katsuki to over-hyped teenage angst.
Thursday, September 13th
2:54 pm
"Kamada-san! Can you hold this in place for me?"
"Yes, uhm. Just a second, Fenton-san." Kamada, decked out in her new grizzle-grey jumpsuit, hurried across the lab. Leaving the spot where Maddie and Hagakure hovered over a green-filled dropper, two metal petri dishes and an arc welder, she approached a hulking form.
Jack stayed hunched, fingers pinching two antennas that jutted from the top of what looked like a gutted CRT monitor—or maybe an old TV since it even had antennas. She'd seen pictures of these kinds of things in textbooks, but had never encountered one in person, so it was hard to tell.
Trivia about the relic played in her mind until she remembered something unnerving and subconsciously leaned away.
The proper disposal method for one of those things was to be buried six feet down, in cement.
Anxious, black eyes cast about for any of the infamous cathode-ray tubes that gave the device its name. Seeing none, the girl's slender shoulders relaxed. HAZMAT was great, but it might not be enough to protect her from a broken tube if the fluorescent powders and chemicals got airborne. That could spell disaster without a filtration mask.
"Come on, Kamada-san!" Jack whined, awkwardly scratching at his nose with an arm while simultaneously trying not to move the antennas.
In her haste Haru not-quite-lunged forward, causing a dull ache to shoot up her side.
"Woah, there! Don't hurt yourself!"
That dang portal. It couldn't have dropped her on a mattress or somewhere equally as soft. No, it had to be a curb.
Kamada caught the eldest Fenton surveying her with calculating eyes. Paying particular attention to her outer thigh, he commented, "Haggacurry-san can always help me if you're not up to it?"
"No!" Kamada squeaked, then, embarrassed, followed it up with a quieter, "No. I'm fine, Fenton-san. Jazz-san taught me some stretches while Youngblood-kun and Hagakure-chan sparred, so I'm doing better. I'm just bruised is all."
Brows furrowed, Jack eyed Haru a moment longer, causing a heavy discomfort to settle in the girl's stomach. After what seemed like ages, but was only a few seconds, he seemed to come to a decision and responded, "Well, get over here, then. My arms feel like that time I used the Fenton Fisher on a Behemoth. Even after I caught it, the whopper fought me for a solid five minutes!"
Motioning with his eyes and head, he instructed, "Just grab these antennas and keep them in place. Try not to let'em move, or I'll have to recalibrate this doohickey all over again."
Kamada reached past Jack's arms to comply, careful to keep the little wires at exactly eighty-three and twenty-seven degrees respectively.
Freed up, Jack pulled the goggles of his suit down over his eyes. Rotating the outside of the frames like one would a camera lens—to the magnification setting, Kamada realized—the scientist bent over and picked up a different device.
The thing looked suspiciously like a survey meter. And was that a Geiger-Muller tube equipped?
Even with all the high-tech stuff in the lab, the Fentons sure liked to kick it old school.
For that matter, why was he having her hold this? They could easily just—Kamada froze. Jack was looking at her like she'd done something interesting. Wait. She was frowning, wasn't she?
Kamada smoothed her face and looked away like she'd been caught with her hand in the mochi dough.
"What's on your mind, Kiddo?" The man went back to unscrewing a set of fasteners that affixed the meter's cover, but somehow Kamada knew she had his undivided attention.
"N-nothing."
"HA! It takes a lot to be a worse liar than Jazz." Steel blue eyes regarded Haru with a twinkle. "Lay it on me."
It was strange, how genial the big guy was. The Shiketsu student had yet to see him get mad. Even after Maddie hid his fudge stash in retaliation for forcing Danny to take a second shot of Fire Snake Whiskey, he'd only sulked for like, ten minutes, tops.
With that in mind, she found herself actually speaking up. "I…Well. During the lesson on Tuesday, you and Maddie-san mentioned that ectoplasm could be hardened in place to trap ghosts." Stealing a look at one of the many canisters glowing around the room, their signature, unearthly green somehow fortifying, she asked, "Couldn't you just use it to hold the antennas in place?"
"That's a great question! The short answer is no!"
The reason hit her a second later.
Duh. The device was for reading radiation! If they encased the antennas in ectoplasm, which was radioactive, it'd mess up their readings for sure.
Kamada's whole body flushed.
"But we Fentons don't like short answers, because then you don't learn anything!" Jack lit up like someone mentioned Christmas. "The main reason we can't is because of interference. Having radiation so close to the Geiger wand would throw off our data."
Called it.
"But it was a great idea!"
Haru felt her face screw up in a way that must have made her look constipated. He was wrong. Her idea didn't help anyone and would have earned a disapproving scowl from a teacher back home.
"The ectoplasm would have shrunk in a couple hours, anyway. I really didn't think that through," Kamada refuted, tone self-deprecating.
"Wrong again, Kiddo! You just made the biggest mistake a scientist can possibly make!"
Kamada's heart ached and her face deadpanned. "Thank you fo—"
"Assuming any of us know anything!" Jack raised his screwdriver for emphasis, waving it around in an accident-inevitable way.
"Shrinkage wouldn't be a problem," Maddie piped up, apparently having listened in on the conversation. "The ectoplasm we use in our work is, for lack of a better term, domesticated. It's been stabilized; and, unless we add in a specific catalyst, it'll keep indefinitely."
"See?" Jack agreed, giving the girl a lopsided grin that Kamada recognized from Danny's face. "You never know what information you just don't have."
"But you know what's neat about that? Science is about exploring the unknown!" The overweight man motioned grandly at the lab. "Never be afraid of a bad idea, because discovery and failure go hand in hand! Take us for example. Half the stuff we make blows up!"
"Half the stuff you make, Dear," Maddie added, dry amusement suffusing the words.
That was an unnerving admission.
Eying the invention in her hand, Kamada forced herself not to abandon her post.
Outright ignoring his wife's comment, the boisterous speaker continued, "Some of the best stuff I ever made was on accident! Like Ecto-Dejecto! Or the Fenton Crammer!"
"What do those do?" Hagakure asked, cradling a cartridge of basil-green ectoplasm as she and Maddie wandered over. White flashes refracted through the liquid's depths like static in a dark room while the teal woman next to her just held a…baseball bat?
"I'm glad you asked!" The words were obviously not lip service: Jack was positively beaming. His wife's own lips pursed in amusement, but she stayed quiet, letting him have his fun. "Ecto-Dejecto was supposed to weaken a ghost so that it'd be easy to beat in a fight. Wanna know what it did instead, Kamada-san?" The giant turned to her, expectant.
Well, if it was supposed to weaken them, maybe it lightly poisoned them? Diarrhea? Or perhaps acid reflux? Did ghosts even have a larynx? They could talk, soooo…
"Uh…It made them throw up?"
"Ha! Nope! Even better!" Looking like he was holding back the punch-line to an exceptionally good joke, he exclaimed, "It made them stronger!"
"You used to be ghost hunters, though. Wasn't that a bad thing?" Hagakure inquired.
"It was! Keyword being was. After we joined ranks with Phantom, we learned that one of my biggest flops as an inventor helped save a little girl's life." Jack's voice cracked at the end and his eyes watered. "Apparently, a young ghost had been destabilizing; and Phantom used our Ecto-Dejecto to bring her back from the brink!"
"That's awesome!" Hagakure exclaimed, at the same time that Kamada heard "Really?!" slip past her own lips.
"Yep!" Jack jumped up, rushing across the room. Returning with some kind of cross between a Gatling gun and a handheld vacuum cleaner, he closed one eye and aimed it at an imaginary foe. "Now look at this baby!"
"This one does even more than I expected it to! It was just supposed to shrink ghosts in size and threat level, but when we fired it up, we found out it works on anything! Including humans and non-living things!"
Kamada couldn't help it. Her jaw dropped.
The Fentons could shrink matter? And they found that out by accident?! She was already boggled just imagining how something could shrink an energy-based lifeform. This was sci-fi made real!
"There's even an uncram setting!" Jack toggled a switch in front of the girls like a show-and-tell project. "So when you're done, you can just make things big again!"
Rather than take it back to its home, Jack put the device on the floor, sliding it under a nearby workbench with a shoe. "You would not believe how many trips to the chiropractor the Crammer's saved me. I use it for all my heavy lifting now."
The Fentons could revolutionize modern medicine. Living conditions in overpopulated areas. Travel. Agriculture. There were so many applications for that kind of tech! Instead, he used it for menial labor?
Kamada gaped like a carp.
"Don't forget the Fenton Anti-Creep stick!" Maddie cut in, holding out the baseball bat like she saw nothing wrong with her husband's statement. "It's coated in an anti-ghost resin that increases durability and allows us to hit ghosts even if they go intangible." She smirked, turning to snatch Toru's cartridge away with her free hand and replace it with the aforementioned blunt-force weapon. "But these days it has an even more important function!" The inventor pivoted on her heel again, this time to address her other half. "Ready, Sweetie?"
"Just a sec!" Jack grabbed a soldering iron off his workbench with one hand and a stranded wire with the other. Holding the twenty-two gauge filament up to a pin on the now-coverless meter, he welded it in place. "Okay! Good to go!"
Maddie followed the other end of the wire over to a large, clunky device. "Hagakure-san. We're going to turn the Doorway Detector on. Any time you hear this"—she gestured to the machine—"make a God-awful, whir-clicking sound, I want you to give it a good whack." She bent down, pointing at the back, left corner. "Riiiight here."
There was no way. This was so ridiculous. The Fentons had to be messing with them, right?
Maddie lined up the cartridge with a depression on the machine, slotting it into place.
"BANZAI!"
Jack was slapping a button on the side of the CRT TV before Haru could even process the American's use of a Japanese word.
A-guitar-pick-moving-across-bicycle-wheel-spokes harmonized with the cry of a dying-airplane-propeller, the eerie sound usurping the room's normal hum.
"Oh great; an early misfire." Maddie grumbled, as Jack bellowed, "HAGGACURRY! GO GO GO!" voice laced with suppressed laughter.
The paralyzed girl scrambled forward, raising the bat in prep for a swing.
Hardly two steps into the run, the cartridge detonated.
Green goo shot out with the force of an exploding tire and everyone's jumpsuits inflated around them like startled puffer-fish.
The humming calm of the lab returned a moment later, taunting the colorful humans that now decorated it like round, stubby-legged berries.
Hagakure's glove squeezed tighter on the Anti-Creep stick as it started to fall from her clutches, a particularly large glob of green slicking the teen's fingers. Trying to catch it, but only succeeding in looking like a fat bird trying to fly, she pitched forward.
The suit's foam filling took the new weight like a champ, sending the invisible girl rolling head over heels until she bumped into the Doorway Detector's CPU, bringing Toru to a semi-bouncy stop.
As Kamada surveyed the damage, she repeatedly thanked Kami-sama that it was Hagakure over there, and not her. Questionable proximity to a CRT television or not, antenna duty now seemed like an infinitely better trade. Risking a reluctant peek at the most-likely-furious Fentons, she was surprised to find them SMIRKING.
How could they—They just—.
Kamada heard a giggle and glanced back toward Toru. The teen had apparently managed to get herself stuck upside down.
"Don't forget, Jack; for the next year, Danny's chores are your chores~" Maddie sing-songed, smile particularly devilish. "That includes lab clean-up."
The father glanced around, taking in the electrified-ectoplasm that coated everything.
"Ah NUTS!"
Still, after a second, his face brightened, "But at least the Fenton Inflatafoam works like a charm!"
As the lab devolved into laughter, Kamada found it hard to argue that maybe, just maybe, failure had the potential to be a good thing.
Thursday, September 13th
3:31 pm
"Okay, Ghostkateers. Are you ready for round two?" Jack exclaimed, in surprisingly good spirits despite having spent the past half hour cleaning ectoplasm off of nearly every surface in the lab.
Hagakure stood poised, gripping her Fenton-themed bat tighter. There was no way the CPU was going to catch her unawares this time.
The machine whirred to life, but the seconds ticked by, the centralized unit only offering a light hum.
Well that was anticlimactic.
The invisible girl lowered the bat, unnecessary strain ebbing from her arms even as she continued to keep an eye on the Fentons' invention.
"Kamada-san, I think we're ready. Can you come over here, please?" Maddie leaned down, picking a high-tech, instrumental wand off a nearby countertop as Haru settled into place.
The Shiketsu teen had, until then, been lounging in a computer chair while everyone else cleaned, her leg still sore and previous task taken up by a fancily-bent coat hanger.
Maddie raised the empty-Push-Pop-shaped wand and lined it up with Haru's torso, causing the shy girl to tense.
"Relax, Sweetie. This just reads radiation. We're going to use the energy you give off to try and pick up your universe's signature."
Kamada stayed frozen a second longer before she abruptly took an extra long breath in, held it for five seconds and slowly released. The anxiety in her muscles escaped with the air and the grey-haired teen's voice came out even-keel. "I know. I just needed a second to remind myself. Everything kind of blew up, last time."
"True!" Nodding in agreement, Jack walked over to Hagakure with a second wand in hand. Both of the Fenton's instruments sported the same sleek, green-and-silver circuitry; but the eight meters of cord coiled at Jack's feet and the large, funnel-dish-end made it obvious that his was the side made for probing the Ghost Zone.
Putting the wand on a counter so he could rummage around in the cupboard below it, Jack asked, "How about once we get this bad boy set up, we get back to working on Haggacurry-san's invisibility issue? It'll take the Doorway Detector a while to collect the data we need and I bet we can wrangle some ghostly help in the meantime."
"Really?!" Toru couldn't believe her luck! She wasn't exactly expecting to make progress, but it was nice that the Fentons remembered.
Plus, she'd get to meet another ghost! Youngblood had been enthusiastic and childish. Johnny had been sweet and too-cool-for-school. But both of them had been completely unabashed about using their qui—powers. They moved, reacted, as if it took conscious thought not to. Maybe help from a ghost was the answer to her problems after all. It was worth a shot.
"Yep! Mads, can you ring up Dani? I bet she could use a day outside the Zone."
Phantom was coming!? Wait. No. Jack-san had said "she". Just how many Dannys did the Fentons know?
"Ah-hah!" Maddie's hand raised to her face in delight. "Great idea, Sweet-heart! I can make goulash for dinner! It's been a while since we've had it and it's her favorite!"
"Who's Danny?" Kamada asked, shifting from foot to foot like standing was becoming uncomfortable.
Maddie noticed, eyebrows drawing down as she reassured, "Don't worry, this'll only take a bit longer," before answering, "Dani is Phantom's sister. They share the same name, but her full name is Danielle, not Daniel."
"Doesn't that get confusing?" the soft-spoken girl questioned as Hagakure deadpanned, "I swear you just said the same name, twice."
"Absolutely! It's awful!" Jack jumped in, face immediately dropping into a frown. "Especially on April Fool's!" Without missing a beat, he pulled a large section of duct tape off of its spool, the adhesive screaming as it unrolled. Biting down aggressively, he ripped the polythene to size and started using it to wrap part of a miniature inner tube.
The April Fool? Was that some kind of folk hero? Americans had those, right? For some reason, a blue ox flashed into her mind, only to be replaced by an Easter bunny and a tooth fairy. Toru glanced over at Haru, just to see her own confusion mirrored in the other teen's face.
Jack missed the exchange, too focused on using his layman's multi-tool to affix a table-top tripod onto the inner tube.
Seeing her husband's obliviousness, Maddie took pity on the girls: "April Fool's Day is an American holiday where on the first of April, people are allowed to play pranks on each other for fun."
"Jack's being a sour ectopus because the Phantom siblings managed to dupe the whole town the year before last," Maddie chuckled. "Between the two, their three duplicates and a shapeshifting friend, they got half the residents of Amity to believe they'd lost their minds. Us included."
WAIT. HOLD UP.
PHANTOM COULD MAKE CLONES, TOO? And he used them to play pranks? Could the dude get anymore awesome?!
A quick glance at Haru's star-struck eyes proved this was the girl's first time hearing about the quirk, too.
Hagakure had been so sure cryokinesis had to be the hero's strongest power. She'd been dumb-struck when she'd seen his control far surpass Todoroki's in an online video.
It was too bad Mashirao-kun wasn't here. He would have loved researching things about Phantom with her! He always supported her eccentric fixations.
A small pang tugged at Hagakure's heart as Maddie pulled a smartphone from her jumpsuit. Opening the lock screen while staying mindful enough of the wand in her other hand to keep it pointed straight at Kamada, she thumbed through the cell's gallery and stopped on a picture.
Toru accepted the device with fumbling hands, putting her homesickness to rest with a pillow. Over the mouth. For an extended period.
Six versions of Danny Phantom stared back at her from the screen, making various faces at the camera. Two of the shorter ones wore bulky hats and had a slightly more feminine build, but there wasn't much difference between them at a glance, otherwise.
Hagakure peered closer, searching for other tells when she noticed that one of the taller Danny's faces was slightly contorted.
What was—?
Oh.
Toru's directionless heartache broke like a wave and she laughed.
Another tall Danny was starting to drop ice cubes into the neckline of the startled Danny's jumpsuit.
That must be the "friend" Maddie-san was talking about.
Toru turned the smartphone around, facing it toward Haru's stuck-in-place form so that the other girl could see too.
The quiet female gasped, subconsciously leaning in but refusing to move forward, probably trying not to appear overeager.
A full minute passed before Kamada reluctantly dragged her eyes away. Face red and staring hard at the floor, she commented, "Sorry, I'm done."
"No reason to be sorry!" Maddie assured, "Passion isn't something to be ashamed of!"
Kamada's blush deepened, spreading and darkening to look more like a sunburn than embarrassment.
Taking the phone back, Maddie exited the gallery and opened a text thread. As the redhead typed a quick message a small ding went off nearby. Glancing up at Kamada with a gentle smile, she informed, "You're free to go, now. The meter's done recording."
The injured highschooler instantly sagged, hobbling back to her seat with a sigh that was as much a sign of social pain relief as it was physical.
Toru appraised her new friend. She'd have to remember to grab some aspirin and an ice pack later. And something for Danny-san, too, now that she thought about it. The poor guy probably still had a massive hangover.
A light buzz jerked Hagakure's attention back to Maddie as the woman exclaimed, "Dani's agreed to come! And she's bringing a guest!"
"That's great! I can blabber on about the Doorway Detector during dinner!"
Maddie just rolled her eyes as her husband carried his hodgepodge contraption (dish-shaped wand now in the tripod's microphone holder) over to the Fenton Portal. The cable slithered across the ground behind him as he went, unfurling like some great, lazy snake.
"You girls ready to catch your first glimpse of another world?!" The words boomed, drowning out the light tinkling of metal sheathing over linoleum.
"Aren't we already in another world?" Toru teased, grin goofy (not that anyone could see it, but still).
"That doesn't count!"
"How so, Fenton-san?" Kamada countered.
"Our world's too similar." Jack readjusted his tripod-floaty until it snuggled into just one of his meaty arms. Locking gazes first with Kamada, then Toru, he proclaimed, "You'll see! You girls ain't seen nothin' yet!"
A sharp, "Jack!" didn't stop the eldest Fenton as he slammed his free hand against the authorization panel with the same zeal he'd used to start up the Doorway Detector.
An alarm like a garbage truck blared through the lab and the hexagonal doors of the Portal started to open.
Toru froze as green, almost liquid light trickled into the room like water around the rocks of a mostly dry stream bed. The crack widened and a dull, familiar static just at the periphery of awareness tickled along her arms. Hair attempted to raise like hackles, but was forced flat by dense, rubberized fabric as shadows danced around her, unable to decide if they were coming or going.
The girl's eyes bugged, spine slicking with sweat when directionless dread suddenly doused her. Even a sharp gasp a few feet behind couldn't shake Toru out of paralysis, past traumas parading through her head as fear sloshed in her stomach like ice-burred water.
Something heavy and decidedly ancient eased back from her mind and Toru instantly gulped in a breath.
She hadn't even realized she'd stopped breathing.
It was then that the light finally made up its mind, plunging everything into viridescence. Uneven glare spread out along the walls of the lab like refracted sunlight on the bottom of a pool and Toru found herself shaking in a breeze that wasn't there.
The static disappeared, replaced by a soft thrum that soothed like a sun-warmed cat, rubbing and purring against a leg as it stretched. Even the violent fog churning beyond the portal's caution-striped gateway seemed more welcome, "chaotic undulation" a now-more-appropriate descriptor.
Toru smoothed her thumb over the soft polymer tape of the Anti-Creep stick, the hand gripping the invention surprisingly warm compared to the rest of her. The sensation, full of reality, and feelings that were her ownfinally rallied her legs and she staggered back.
No wonder the Fenton's were so careful with the Portal; the Ghost Zone was alive.
That phantom presence wisped along her brain again as if to say you called?, touch feather-light.
No.
Not alive. It was like a hollowed tree, an echo, a mimicry of life that was no longer there.
She shivered again and the tendril withdrew.
"Jack!" Maddie reprimanded again, "I can't believe you!"
"What?! Just look at them! They're too excited to speak!"
Toru turned to catch Haru's expression and the other teen looked about as shaken as Toru felt.
"That isn't awe, you dolt! They're scared stiff! Remember your first time seeing the portal? You threw up all over Jazz!"
Jack's halfway-to-indignant glare faded and the man sagged.
"I'm sorry, Mads. Easy to forget when the portal's been open for seven years."
"Don't tell me, tell them."
Maddie gestured Toru and Haru's way, and before Toru could deny any need for apology, Jack was speaking, "I'm sorry, Girls. I know I can get pretty excited when I show off the lab. I didn't mean to scare you." Avoiding looking in their direction, the scientist listlessly tossed his inner-tube-tripod and the cable slack that went with it into the portal.
In lieu of an "It's okay," Kamada asked, "Does it feel like that every time?" The Shiketsu student eyed the wormhole with barely-disguised mistrust, watching the cord unravel into the vibrant, eerie world. When the cable reached the end of its slack and pulled taunt, it started to float, but Haru's eyes never left it.
Jack hunched in on himself as he walked over to the wall and turned a dial near the authorization panel. A second, inner layer of overlapping sheet-metal slid over itself like the blades of a camera shutter, shrinking the center opening until it was only large enough for the cable to pass through.
With its source blocked, Toru expected the green light to disappear; but it stayed, the color receding from the rest of the room until it coalesced into a bubble-shape around the portal.
"The Zone is a strange place. Almost with a mind of its own. But once it accepts you, it never asks again. We don't really know what it's looking for, but I've never heard of anyone being rejected," Maddie assuaged.
"Yeah, but how many people have even seen the Ghost Zone?" Kamada shot back, not losing her tension. "Ten? Fifteen?"
"Oh, Sweetie, you misunderstand. When I say anyone, I mean anyone or anything that has ever been inside the Ghost Zone. That includes ghosts, creatures of legend andhumans. I asked our friend Clockwork about it once, and he said not to worry. That 'humans are exempt from the Ire of the Infinite Realms.' "
"Clockwork?" Toru questioned, curiosity fighting its way back to the forefront.
"You might know him as Chronos. He's Phantom's mentor in the Infinite Realms and the Greek God of Time." Jack grinned, apparently glad that the topic had angled away from his blunder with the portal. "Kinda an odd duck. Good man, though."
Kamada made a strangled noise in her throat.
Maddie glared at her husband, "Really, Jack?! We're trying not to overwhelm them, remember?" Sighing, she turned to Haru, "Clockwork is a family friend, but mostly visits the living realm to mess with Phantom or teach him a lesson. Before you ask, yes, Phantom already asked about you guys but Clockwork just sent him on his way. He prefers to lead Phantom to the right path in a 'butterfly effect' kind of way, if he helps at all."
Toru felt her lips start to twitch upward in sudden realization.
"CW stands for Clockwork, doesn't it?" Before anyone could affirm or deny the claim, she began to speak again: "When I first got here, I happened to find a coat someone left on a bench. It was right before my first night and kept me from freezing to death." Black gloves rose up, subconsciously rubbing at pink-covered arms in memory. "I thought I was just ultra lucky, but apparently not. 'CW' was written on the tag in marker."
The Fenton parents exchanged a glance that seemed to border both relief and vexation while Haru lost all color, looking close enough to an aneurysm that it was making Toru worried.
"Sweetie?" Maddie directed at the distressed girl. "Are you okay?"
"A literal GOD gave Danny-san a birthday present?!"
Jack barked a laugh. "I'm surprised you caught that. You're one smart cookie, Kamada-san."
Oh yeah. One of Danny's gifts had been from a "CW", too, hadn't it?
That's what Kamada-chan was stuck on?
HAHAHAHAHA.
"AND IT WAS A KNICK-KNACK!?" Haru added, voice turning shrill.
Internal laughter spilled out from Hagakure's mind to lodge itself deep in her belly, taking over until the invisible teen felt tears streaming down her face.
"Told ya he was odd," Jack agreed. "Pandora's present was way cooler!"
"Jack!" Maddie nearly groaned, glancing pointedly from her husband to Kamada. The poor girl swayed like she was ready to pass out. "I think we've had enough time in the lab for now." The matriarch hovered over Haru like an anxious helicopter. "We can work with Hagakure-san later. After Dani shows up. For now, I think Kamada-san could use a nap."
"Right! Let me just set everything to record and we'll head out."
"Sweetie, we can't just—"
Jack was turning toward the Doorway Detector's central processing unit, half listening to whatever his wife was about to say, when a-guitar-pick-moving-across-bicycle-wheel-spokes harmonized with the cry of a dying-airplane-propeller.
Hagakure's feet were moving before she even recognized the sound.
WHACK.
Whir-click-click-clunk-clack-sputter-huuuuuuuuummmmmmm.
"NICE ONE, HAGGACURRY!" Jack belted, face alight with pride.
Maddie turned a thankful smile on Hagakure before pinning Jack with an unimpressed look. "As I was saying, Jack, someone has to watch the Detector. We can't just leave it alone."
"And that's where you're wrong!"
Bolting across the lab with exuberance, Jack threw open the door to a closet. Extracting what looked like a dusty box-fan-minus-the-box, a heavy-duty, homemade stand, a small surge protector and an old boot, the man bounded back.
Too curious to interrupt, Toru watched as Jack kneeled to set the base down, positioning it so that when he inserted and stabilized the fan it sat perpendicular to the Doorway Detector. Sliding the size-fifteen hiking shoe over one of the fan blades, he bolted the footwear in place using a set of pre-drilled holes Toru hadn't noticed earlier. After a quick survey of it all, he simply plugged the surge protector into the wall and hooked the fan up to it.
"I call it the Reboot 9000!" Jack popped to his feet, knees cracking as he did, but he barely seemed to notice. "It may not look like much, but the switch is a pretty fancy bit of tech." Gesturing at the surge protector, he elaborated, "It keeps the power to the fan off unless it 'hears' "—at this the inventor air-quoted—"the CPU act up. Neat, huh?"
"Couldn't you just fix the CPU?" Kamada asked, voice a little shaky, like she was struggling to use it.
"Nope! No can do! I wrote the code to the Detector last year. Only God knows how it works, now."
Haru's flabbergasted expression quickly devolved into exasperation.
Maddie put a hand on the seated girl's shoulder. Voice soft, she disclosed, "Jack has dyslexia, Kamada-san. Writing code isn't exactly his forte." The support student tensed, bright, splotchy color lighting up a too-pale face as the teen's black eyes fixated on her knees.
"I make him add a counter to any code he writes that tallies the number of hours he's wasted on each project," the redhead added wryly. "That CPU alone's sitting pretty at two hundred."
"Fifty hours over my allowed limit!" The words came out strangely proud, even as Jack rubbed at the back of his neck in embarrassment.
Kamada seemed to study Jack as if she couldn't decide what to make of him, brow furrowed like he was a puzzle to solve.
"Yep, the dysgraphia and the dyscalculia make syntax errors a bi—iiig problem." Jack cast a few hasty looks at Maddie.
Toru recognized the hesitation for what it was and snickered.
"Luckily, dyslexia might as well be a superpower for a hands-on inventor! I can think in 3D, I excel at mechanics and I'm great at problem solving! Mads, on the other hand, is way better with the fine details and tedious stuff that I can't stand. It's why we're such a great pair! I build outrageous things and she gets 'em to work!"
A small, loving smile crept onto Maddie's lips as she watched Jack's animated chatter, but it evolved into a full grin a second later as Jack thumbed in her direction.
"Sharp as a tack, this one!" He paused a moment, noticed his error and clarified, "Er, she's real smart."
"Aww. Thanks, Sweetie." Maddie crossed the space, standing on tip-toes to land a kiss on the much larger adult's cheek. "But before we leave, you're sure the Reboot works, right?"
"Absolutely! I'm ninety-five percent positive that I've worked out all the bugs."
Maddie's wince was subtle. Five percent of a wince, even, as she commented, "Maybe I should take a quick peek at the code before we head upstairs."
Jack squeezed his other half close, grin blinding as he turned his head to look at Kamada.
"See? Sharp as a tack, this one!"
The seating chart for this scene is on my deviantart.
Thursday, September 13th
6:13 pm
"Okay, so, for me it feels like I just want to hide. Then, my powers do the rest." Dani's ghost form shrugged, looking mildly apologetic. Forking a big helping of what was essentially homemade Beefaroni into her mouth, she elaborated, "I don' reary hink abou' iih. I jus'—"
"Translation error: no English detected," interrupted the halfa, coming from a phone at the dining table's center.
The ghostly teen rolled her eyes and closed her mouth to swallow. "I don't really think about it. Anytime I don't want people to see me, a little cold spreads out from my core, and 'poof!' I'm gone." Dani turned to a younger ghost floating a few inches above the chair next to her. "What about you, Lukas?"
Looking like he'd been caught pestering Ember again, the little magician hastily pulled a bright yellow kerchief in front of his white tophat.
Dani eyed her charge with a raised brow. "That was a big bite, ya big pig!"
An intense amount of chewing and a gulp sounded from inside the headgear, then Luke defended, "Whaaat? It's not like it'll kill me. And it's good. My mom was a terrible cook."
Dani froze, and a second later, so did the younger spirit before a big grin split the clone's face. Dishing another heaping spoonful onto the boy's plate, she watched as the kid angled shyly away.
Across the table, Hagakure's fuchsia-pink jumpsuit leaned forward in her chair. "So, Myway-san, about your invisibility…?" The words came out boarding impatience.
"Oh," the boy croaked, "Right! Sorry. Uhm. I don't even feel the power draw from my core. Maybe 'cause it comes so naturally to me? I just think or say the words 'Hocus Pocus!' and I'm invisible."
A snort sounded at the head of the table and a pair of ice-blue eyes danced.
"Shut up, Sir Ph—Fenton!"
"Sir Fenton?" Kamada questioned, voice not really intended for anyone else.
The male halfa stiffened, eyes locking onto Kamada before jerking away. Luckily, neither Haru nor Toru seemed to notice, too occupied by Luke's follow-up whine, "It was an awesome movie, and you know it."
"Awww, Jack; Hocus Pocus. Didn't the kids used to watch that every October?" Maddie cut in, too-sweet smile aimed directly at her son like she already knew the answer.
"Watch it?!" Jack barked next to her. "Dann-o was obsessed with it! I remember when he went as Max for Halloween."
Danny's face darkened, freckles becoming noticeable.
"HA! See?! You like it too!" Luke huffed, sinking a few inches before touching down on the chair, coattails bunching beneath him.
"Danny did make a cute Max." Jazz's voice came out tinged with repressed smiles. "One time, he stole this nasty cold medicine Mom was trying to make me take and just downed it, yelling, 'Now you have no choice. You have to take me!' and just booked it out of there. He ended up throwing up all over the carpet like two minutes later. It was hilarious."
A groan came from the end of the table as everyone laughed, but Jazz somehow managed to keep a straight face. Continuing as if she hadn't just ousted her brother in an incredibly embarrassing way, she suggested, "Hey, Dani, you should try taking away Hagakure-san's invisibility. You can make other people invisible, so why not the reverse?"
"Oh yeah! I can't believe I didn't think of that!" The female ghost stretched forward through the table and her meal, offering a hand to the invisible highschooler.
Hagakure didn't even hesitate, shoving forward so fast her own goulash nearly knocked over.
The room went silent as a second passed where nothing happened. Then two, then ten.
Hagakure's jumpsuit sagged, and a black glove retracted despondently.
"Weird. I could feel her power, so I'm pretty sure it's possible. But like, it felt like my power was under a blanket. I knew if I could just get on the other side, I'd be able to see what was happening. But the blanket kept moving with me," Dani explained helplessly.
"Sounds a lot like how our testing went," Maddie mused. "Every time we made a tiny bit of progress, her quirk adapted, and we had to start all over."
"What did it feel like for you, Hagakure-san?" the older Danny asked, eyes holding an intensity that a human's probably shouldn't have been capable of.
"Chilly. Like when you test pool water with your toe, but it's way colder than you thought, so you jerk back. Only it was like the water was touching me, but like, randomly and all over."
"Hmmm. You guys could just be a bad match up. Dani's powers are ice-based. Maybe you feeling the need to jerk back was why it didn't work."
"Huh! You know, that could be it, Cuz—" Dani awkwardly rolled the word forward, continuing a sentence that should have ended, "—zz it felt like her power was avoiding me on purpose."
"Hey Luke, you up for the challenge?!" Jack called, startling the kid as he snuck another bite of tomato-y macaroni under his headwear.
Luke coughed, hitting his chest with a satin-gloved hand before abruptly stopping. Chuckling replaced the hacking and the boy's white suede hat plopped down into his palm like he could have had a V8. "Man, I keep forgetting I don't need to breathe. But yeah, I'll give it a shot."
Instead of floating across the table to touch Hagakure, the boy grabbed a wand out of a sleeve. The carved hawthorn branch—that most definitely should not have fit in there—swished and flicked in Toru's direction as he called "Abracadabra!"
Hagakure's pink jumpsuit disappeared.
"Whoops! My bad!" Luke frantically gestured again, "Shazam!"
The invisible teen returned, a scrunched up nose and pursed lips just vaguely outlined by warping color as if her face was water that had been sprayed with WD-40. Closing in around the features, locks of stray, flippy hair ran wild.
In a wink, the impression was gone.
"Crap! Sorry, Hagakure. I almost had it. Let me try again!" Luke waved his wand before the girl could respond. "Your power was letting me in until I added a bit too much magic!"
Nothing changed.
"No! No, no, no, no!" he called, the branch's movements turning more and more erratic with every swing. "It shut me out!" Luke turned toward his frosty caretaker, voice wobbling, "It won't let me touch it now!"
Dani's hand landed lightly on the magician's shoulder, patting it reassuringly. "It's okay, Lukas, I'm sure the Fentons will figure it out somehow. They're geniuses." Shooting an unimpressed look at her original, she added, "Well, most of them."
"Hey!" Danny yelped on reflex, but quickly quieted. Hagakure still hadn't spoken and a few drops of liquid plip, plipped onto the table below the girl's face, beading on top of the hardwood.
"I'm so, so sorry, Hagakure! I didn't mean to! I messe—"
"I felt it!" Toru cut him off, voice cracking with emotion. "My quirk! It's always just been…there. But when you first started, I felt this pressure along my skin; but it was also in my bones, somehow!"
"That's wonderful, Sweet-heart!"
"Hagakure-san?" Danny spoke up, the medium timbre of his voice disarming and coaxing. "Can you try and focus on that feeling again? You might be able to learn to control it."
"I can't. It never works." The words came out with the reflexive bitterness of a familiar argument. "I've-I've tried."
"Toru," Kamada stressed, jarring her new friend out of the soon-to-be mental spiral. "You've never had a starting point before."
Hagakure took a shaky breath before going utterly still and quiet.
Everyone stayed silent with her, no one daring to even scrape their bowls on the off chance it might ruin the UA student's concentration.
They stayed like that for five minutes, everyone exchanging glances with each other except for the star of the show.
Before finally.
"Nothing."
Frustration leapt in like a tiger, claws bared. "UGH! I knew it was—!" Hagakure cut herself off, the black hood of her jumpsuit angling at Danny before dipping back toward her bowl. She took another breath in, but her shoulders stayed rigid.
"You might be too in your head."
The invisible teen didn't answer, but whether that was because she couldn't outright deny Danny's accusation or because she didn't understand the idiom was ambiguous.
"I've heard of this happening to other ghosts before." This time, Hagakure's head whipped back toward the youngest Fenton and stayed, the girl's attention caught. "Sometimes a power doesn't work if a ghost has convinced themselves that it shouldn't."
"You're talking about Queen Dorathea, aren't you?" Luke asked, curious. "I heard rumors, but…"
A surprisingly sharp glare from the female halfa next to him had the magician's mouth clicking shut.
"Hey, now. It's okay. He didn't know how rude that was; he's just a kid," male Danny defended, explanation causing Luke to flinch more than the glare had.
"Actually, we talked about this just last week during Circle. He knows better."
"Luke, it's okay," Danny reiterated. "But in the future, try not to oust another ghost's vulnerabilities, okay?
"Kay." The boy went invisible on reflex.
"Luckily, Queen Dorathea has given me special permission to share this particular story, because she, and I quote,"—Danny's voice took on a high pitch clearly not made for his throat—" 'found it perversely funny once I stopped spitting flames.' "
Hagakure relaxed at the prospect of a diversion, leaning toward Danny's end of the table as the boy started his tale.
"Queen Dorathea is a close ally of my family and can turn into a dragon using an amulet she wears around her neck." Danny inclined his head toward Kamada, and the teen's eyes widened before she nodded at the clarification.
"During a coup her brother tried last year, the amulet was broken and she lost her abilities. She was furious. She tried everything to fix it, but nothing worked. Frostbite—another ally of ours—tried to suggest that she may not need the amulet to transform. It was a good thing she couldn't change at the time, because she probably would have bitten his head off."
"She went a whole month with only basic ghost powers before she finally gave up and went back to the Far Frozen for help. It ended up being a simple fix. Turns out, the amulet wasn't the source of her powers, it was just a way to help her focus. Frostbite made her a new necklace out of reinforced ghost-ice and she was good to go the next day."
"See, Kiddo?" Danny addressed Luke, taking a page from his father and half aiming his words at Hagakure. "Everyone makes mistakes. You just have to decide whether you plan to repeat them or not."
"That's really cool!" Luke jumped up, flipping in the air before twirling his pseudo-staff like he belonged in a color guard. "I bet my wand's just like Queen Dorathea's amulet!"
"Maybe," Danny agreed, smiling at the boy's enthusiasm.
"Can I try something after dinner?" Jazz spoke up, head turned in Hagakure's direction.
"I—" Toru paused, before pushing her dish away and collapsing into her arms like a pillow. "Yeah, sure."
Jazz smiled encouragingly. "I'm thinking guided hypnosis might help."