Maddie and Jack hurt Danny during a fight for the first time.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12
The idea for this part came from The Full Catastrophe on FFN. Thanks!
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"Which way did he go?” shouted Maddie.
Jack looked at her. The orange lenses of her goggles hid her eyes from him, but her ruby lips underneath were puckered in a determined frown.
“He couldn’t have gotten far,” said Jack, scanning the streets for his son’s familiar aura. He spoke again in a lower voice, “You’re tracking him, right?”
“Don’t break character, he could be nearby,” Maddie murmured harshly, her lips barely moving as she discreetly checked her tracking scanner.
“Well, is he?” whispered Jack with a bite of his own.
Maddie gave him a warning look before saying more loudly, “Let’s check over there.”
Jack followed Maddie as she started walking. She soundlessly held up a scanner in front of his face, and Jack could see that they were walking toward Danny’s location.
“Are you sure you want to go this way?” Jack asked in a loud voice, trying to hint his confusion to Maddie. Why were they headed toward Danny? Wouldn’t she rather let him get away from them without trouble?
“Yes, I’m sure,” said Maddie. “I thought I heard something coming from this direction.”
Maddie gave him a harsh look to stop questioning her and just follow her lead. Jack sighed and ran after her. This whole thing really was more her experiment than his anyway. Whatever she wanted to do, he just had to go along with it.
Although he couldn’t deny that their findings so far had been exciting. And having a specimen living with them in their own home was certainly convenient.
One car drove by as they headed down the street along the sidewalk, but the area was otherwise quiet, illuminated by a few very yellow streetlamps.
Jack checked the time on his watch. “He really just stopped caring about curfew after he became a ghost, didn’t he?”
“He chose to be a superhero that fights ghosts,” said Maddie. “Ghosts are more active at night.”
Maddie stopped abruptly and silently pointed down an alley between two buildings. She pressed herself against the wall and peered around the corner. Jack stood close to her to get a good look as well.
Danny was squaring off against a tiger ghost covered in spiky fur charged with electrical ghostly energy. The tiger lunged at Danny, throwing him into the chain-link fence at the back of the alley. Danny was down on the ground for only a moment before springing back up and firing a ghost ray.
“Amazing that he’s not even scared,” said Jack. “All fight.”
“He gets that from me,” said Maddie. “Plus his fighting skills. He needs to tighten up that form, though.” Maddie sighed and shook her head as she continued watching him. “Come on, Danny. I paid good money for those martial arts classes.”
The tiger pinned Danny to the ground and raised a paw, claws out, fur bristling.
Jack fingered the trigger of his ecto-gun. “Maddie, maybe we should—”
Maddie held up a hand to quiet him. Jack promptly shut his mouth and relaxed his hold on his gun.
The tiger brought down its paw in a quick swipe, clawing open Danny’s cheek. Ectoplasm oozed from the fresh wounds as Danny cried out.
Jack sucked his teeth. “Mads—”
“Give him a chance, Jack.”
The tiger raised its paw again. Danny lay beneath it, clutching his face and looking stunned.
“Maddie, come on,” said Jack, giving her a stern but pleading look.
Maddie sighed and aimed her gun, pulling the trigger and blasting the tiger with a bright green ray of ectoplasm. The tiger howled and sailed into the chain-link fence, rattling it.
“Why didn’t you want to do that before he got clawed?” asked Jack.
“I’m interested in seeing how quickly he’ll heal from it.” Maddie cocked her head. “Aren’t you?”
Jack froze, unsure how to answer that. He only moved when Maddie led the way into the alley.
Danny was still on the ground, sitting up on his forearms and staring at the tiger dizzily rising to its feet next to the fence. He turned to face Jack and Maddie as they ran up to him.
“I thought I lost you,” he said, grunting as he pushed himself off the ground to stand.
“You thought wrong,” said Maddie, charging her gun and aiming it right at him.
Danny raised his hands up by his head. “Listen, I’m not—”
The tiger roared and started lunging toward him. Jack grabbed his Thermos and sucked the ghost inside in a burst of light before it could lay another claw on Danny.
Maddie glared at him, her bottom lip pushing up in a disapproving pout. Jack glared back. She wasn’t just expecting him to let their son be mauled, was she?
With his hands still up, Danny took a couple steps back. “Okay, threat’s gone, so I’ll just be on my way.”
“You’re not going anywhere, ghost,” said Maddie, advancing toward him.
Jack held up the Thermos, shaking it. “You’re coming with us.”
Danny retreated a couple more steps until his back hit the chain-link fence. “Thanks for the invitation, but I’m already out way past my curfew, so—”
Maddie fired a blast, which hit the fence right next to his head. He staggered a few steps to the side, staring at the patch of burnt metal the blast left behind.
“Okay, your objection is noted.” Danny’s voice squeaked. “But can’t I have any say in this?”
Maddie fired again, this time hitting his knee. Danny yelled and dropped to the ground, clutching it.
Jack dropped his jaw and stared at Maddie. Her eyes were fixed on Danny.
“Now, Jack,” said Maddie. “Don’t let our specimen get away.”
Jack looked down at his Thermos, then her again. She couldn’t possibly want him to actually capture their son. She hadn’t told him this part of her scheme for the evening.
Danny gasped and stood again, hopping on his uninjured leg until he was back against the fence again. This time, he phased through the fence.
Maddie ran up to the fence and linked her gloved fingers through the chain links. She gritted her teeth and scowled at him. “Coward.”
“I don’t want to fight you,” said Danny, pleading.
Maddie pressed the barrel of her gun against the fence. Danny hopped another couple steps before launching into the air in a streak of light, vanishing himself. Jack and Maddie both stared up at the sky where they saw him last.
“I’m surprised he hung around that long,” said Maddie, shutting off her gun.
Jack turned to her, his tongue sputtering in his mouth as he tried to get his words out. “You shot him!”
“I had to show him we were serious,” said Maddie with a shrug.
“But you shot him! Like actually hurt him!”
“Just his leg, Jack. He’ll heal just fine. At worst, he’ll have a limp.”
“But you—”
“Danny knows how serious we are about our research. It would’ve been suspicious if we went too easy on him. He has to believe that we have absolutely no idea who he really is.”
Jack exhaled loudly as tremors gripped his upper body.
“But it’s interesting that he admitted to having a curfew,” said Maddie, looking up at the sky again. “Not sure if that was a slip or if he just figured we wouldn’t possibly understand what that really meant.”
She pulled out her scanner, reading the display. Jack did not come closer to try to read it himself.
“Looks like he’s heading home,” said Maddie. “Good. He has that math test tomorrow; he really needs to get some sleep. I might have to hire a tutor if he fails again.”
Maddie began walking out of the alley. Jack stared after her.
“Coming, Jack?”
Jack shook himself out of his trance and followed her.