Jack and Maddie were just heading upstairs for a snack break when the house phone rang. Maddie slotted herself in against the wall while Jack started digging through the fridge. “Fentonworks, Doctor Madeleine Fenton speaking.”
“Hello! This is Superman, with the Justice League. I have news about your son.”
“The Justice League? Well that’s just wonderful! Jack, honey, it’s the Justice League, the want to talk about Danny!”
“The Justice League? About time they finally noticed all of Danno’s hard work! He’s real hero material!”
Maddie hushed her husband, they weren’t allowed to talk about him being Phantom unless the other party already knew. It was hard, they were so proud of how their son had stepped up to defend the town, and open up entire new horizons in ghost studies to them! And their new daughter too! “What did you want to talk about Danny, exactly?”
“Well the good news is he’s safe, we rescued him from his kidnappers.”
“Kidnappers?” Maddie blinked, completely confused. “Honey, did something happen to Danny? The Justice League says he was kidnapped. Isn’t he at school?”
“Let’s go check the Ghost Logs!” Jack thundered back down the stairs to the lab.
Maddie did a quick check on the phone before following him down, thank the ancients for cordless handsets. “Jack, dear, there aren’t any missed calls.
“I assure you, ma’am, your son is here with us. He’s currently asleep.”
“Well that’s just odd, the school should’ve called us! I’m going to have to have a word with the principal after this!”
“There were a few spikes last night,” Jack said while scrolling through the ghost log. “Looks like we had an incursion last night that good ol’ Danno took care of, but there was another spike less than an hour after he got back, nothing since.”
“Alright, honey, now let me just put this on speaker so we can both talk to Mr. Superman at the same time.”
“Wonderful idea, fudgecakes.”
Maddie did just that, setting the handset down so they could be near it. “Now, tell us exactly what’s going on, please.”
“Right,” Superman sounded a bit nervous. “Last night we apprehended a cult summoning the Ghost King, but unfortunately we weren’t in time to stop the ritual. Your son was there, we believe the cult was using him either as a sacrifice or a host for the Ghost King, and even more unfortunately it looks like it worked.”
“I’m sorry, you think the Ghost King is overshadowing Danny?” Maddie asked skeptically.
“Overshadowing?” Superman asked in confusion before slowly stated, “Yes… we believe the Ghost King is… overshadowing Danny.”
“Well that just doesn’t make sense,” Maddie said emphatically. “The Ghost King is currently locked up in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep.”
“I… how did you know that?” Superman asked.
“Everyone in Amity knows that,” Maddie said matter of factly. “And not only that, I doubt Danny’s actually being overshadowed.”
“He’s really good at getting ghosts out of overshadowed people,” Jack said proudly. “Doesn’t even need the gauntlets!”
“Where are you?” Maddie plowed on, “We have some tools we can bring just to be safe. Jack, be a dear and go get the Fenton Ecto Detecto and that Specter Deflector Danny modified.”
Superman sputtered, “You can’t just-”
“And why not?” Maddie asked, an edge of steel in her voice. “Right now it sounds like you’re holding our minor son without his parents present to advocate for him. Not to mention this sounds like a ghost situation and we happen to be ghost experts. Now, where is our son?” Maddie asked that last question oh so sweetly.
Superman gulped, “I’ll send someone to come escort you.”
Jack and Maddie strode confidently through the halls of the Justice League base. They hadn’t been told which base it was or where, but that hardly mattered if their son was on it. A man in a dirty trenchcoat that reeked of cigarette smoke met them halfway there.
“Did you tell them everything?” he asked Batman, who had been escorting them since they arrived through that fascinating teleporter.
“Ask Superman,” Batman replied.
“I’m sorry, who are you?” Maddie asked, not bothering to slow down to address this stranger.
“Name’s Constantine, occult consultant.” He looked the pair of scientists up and down, he had the same expression many people had right before calling them quacks. Well, the feeling was mutual, Maddie had to hold herself back from rolling her eyes and scoffing. Occultist indeed.
“Superman said some cult was trying to summon the Ghost King and Danny is involved somehow.”
“Not trying, they actually did it. So far as we can tell your son was used as his anchor, right now we’re trying to figure out how to get the tyrant out without killing him.”
Maddie suspected something, but she would keep her peace until they had more proof.
“Since the tyrant was summoned right out of the Sarcophagus of Eternal Slumber-”
Maddie did roll her eyes at that.
“... we think he’s asleep and hasn’t realized he’s out yet. So long as your son stays asleep it’s likely to stay that way. Hopefully we can get the king out soon.”
“Oh, if Danny is being overshadowed we have our ways.” She doubted it, Danny had said any ghost that tried to overshadow him only ever managed a few minutes at most. He seemed to think his will was too strong, but she suspected it had more to do with his body already being possessed by his own ghost. Not that she would test that theory, not even if there were actually a way to do it.
“That’s right,” Jack agreed eagerly. “We brought up the Specter Deflector Mark II! If Danny is being overshadowed we just put this on and that nasty ghost will be spit right out!”
“Not all ghosts are nasty,” Maddie reminded Jack absently.
“Of course, sweetie! But this is the Ghost King, we already know he’s nasty.”
“How do you know that?” Constantine asked.
Maddie ignored him as she walked through the door Batman had just opened. Inside was a dim bedroom with all the personality of a hotel room. She pulled out the Fenton Ecto Detecto and activated it. After a brief scan, the screen lit up with the results. Maddie leaned over and held the device so Jack could lean down and read it with her.
“Hmmm…” Jack said softly, “these readings seem within Danno’s norms.”
Maddie nodded along, “If there were another ghost the readings should be higher, even if they were hiding inside him somehow.”
“What do you mean another ghost?” Superman, who had joined their group just outside the bedroom, asked with a furrowed brow.
Maddie ignored him, “Should we try the belt or just wake him up?”
“Wake him up, of course! Danny, you’re late for school.”
“Huh, what?” Danny snorted awake, then looked around blearily.
Maddie reached over and flipped on the light, “You’re late for school, you already missed first period.”
Danny scrambled out of bed, “Shit! I didn’t finish that essay either! Kitty and Johnny had another fight and I had… to… where are we?” Danny stopped and spun around, taking in the room. Then he looked towards the door and slunk over to Maddie’s side.
She gently pat Danny on the head as he tried to hide behind her despite being the same height as her now. He was growing up so fast! “It’s alright, honey, the Justice League says you got kidnapped by a cult? And they rescued you?”
Danny looked over at Jack, to the doorway, then back to Maddie. “A cult?”
Maddie looked back to the doorway, where Batman and Superman were both staring intently at that Constantine fellow. “He… you… but we saw… what?”
“Perhaps the summoning failed when you broke the cult’s circle?” Maddie asked oh so sweetly. “Those things are notoriously unstable.”
“Unstable?!” Constantine asked, clearly offended.
Batman frowned, “It is possible the Ghost King lost his link to the mortal world when Danny fell back asleep after we broke the circle.”
Constantine groaned, “Yes, that’s true. But! That doesn’t explain him being dead.”
Danny flinched, Maddie held him closer and cooed to her boy while Jack moved to stand between them and the doorway. “Now listen here!”
“Danny had a near death experience a year ago,” Maddie cut in before Jack could get any more steam going. “We didn’t find out about it until recently because Danny and his friends covered it up, believing they’d get in trouble.” She did an exaggerated eye roll, “Teenagers!”
“We’re just glad our Danno is doing better now.” Jack ruffled Danny’s hair affectionately.
When Danny smiled and practically purred under the affection Maddie couldn’t help feeling a stab of guilt, a whole year and a half of Danny hiding everything from them because he was just a scared kid with too much responsibility thrown at him. Well things were getting better now, she hoped this nonsense wouldn’t interrupt that.
“Well, now that that misunderstanding is out of the way, I think it’s time we took our son home, he’s clearly just been through a traumatic event.”
Danny groaned, “I think it’s already too late for that math test, Mr. Lancer said he’ll fail me.”
“Don’t worry, Danny-boy!” Jack ruffled Danny’s hair once more, “We’ll call in and excuse your absence, it’s not your fault you got kidnapped in the middle of the night by some wacko cultists!”
“I’m sure someone from the Justice League will be happy to vouch for you as well,” Maddie said while glaring at the three men still standing in the doorway.
“Of course,” Batman said gruffly. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll go talk to Danny’s school personally.”
“There, see? And now you’ll have the rest of today to finish that essay and any other homework you have. I’m sure one of your friends will be by later with any other assignments you missed.”
Danny sighed, but let himself be guided out of the room by Maddie.
It wasn’t until later, when all three were safely home and Danny had had a chance to shower and put on his regular clothes that Maddie finally sat him down to ask the question that had been burning at the back of her mind since that first phone call. “Danny, sweetie, why did the ritual to summon the Ghost King snag you?”
Danny shrugged, “No idea, I didn’t even know I could be summoned.”
Maddie pursed her lips, she didn’t like that her boy could be summoned, occultists had such a slapdash understanding of how things worked. “Do you know anyone who might know what’s going on?”
Danny sheepishly held up the thermos that had been clipped to his pants. “Well, I know two. And if they don’t know I can think of a couple others we can ask.”
Maddie smiled brightly. “Wonderful! Go get your father, I’ll warm up the Specter Speeder and we can head to the Ghost Zone.”
“Okay.” Danny re-attached the thermos and hopped up to go find his dad. Maddie smiled as she watched him go. Then the smile fell as she made her way down into the lab. She really didn’t like the implications of what they’d been told, poor Danny already had shouldered far too much responsibility, she didn’t like the idea of adding a crown to that. But if that was the case they would face it together, as a family.