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Chapter Twelve: Axion Happens

Amity Square, North American Isolation Zone; Four Beta Nineteen, Terra

“Agent Queen?”

A tall, imposing looking dragon looked over the member of his task force. “Problem Agent Murphy?”

Agent Murphy was a thin, short and athletic woman who had been working with the Office of Joint Services since the beginning. Her presence on the continent once called the New World, now long abandoned after the cities of New York, Los Angeles, Washington and Brasila were the target of Al Qaida in 2001, was not out of misfortune.

“I’ve detected decreased matter integrity and a disturbing amount of energy spikes in the area.” Murphy answered. “I believe this may put the decreased radiation readings into context.”

“Cause?”

“Preliminary theories suggest a tear in the aether. Given the history of this place, if Nine Eleven didn’t happen, Amity Square would have been hosting another Scar.”

Queen put a claw to his forehead. He remembered the false alarm in Sydney when the Cumberland Scar was about to rend open. All the signs were there, but it didn’t happen.

“I recommend short term monitoring until we can get more absolute readings.” Murphy continued before a device attached to her belt started beeping. “Okay! Let’s turn in and hand things over to the next shift.”

Queen sighed disdainfully, adjusting his rebreather that was sealed to his muzzle, dreading decontamination. He along with the rest of his task force trudged back to their ship.

Amity Park, Illinois (Timeline 3), 4:15pm, Monday, 21st of September, 2011

No one noticed the young woman walk into Axion Labs on her own. Security spotted her but a quick glance at her press pass and she continued unhindered. She seemed young to be a member of the press, but then again, the work force was only getting younger.

“As you can see Mr. Masters, all of this is state of the art...” The african american man explained as he showed a white haired man in one of the most expensive suits ever to come out of Europe. The two were escorted by a pair of tall, brawny security men in military dress.

“Sorry I’m late. Mr. Masters. I’m Charlotte Wells of the American Today.” The young woman produced a business card. Masters considered her for a moment, she reminded him of the only woman he loved and will ever love. But the differences from her golden brown hair to her amber coloured eyes, to even the red scarf and green outfit with a coffee stain on her vest made him wonder about the young woman more.

Charlotte on the other hand examined Masters closely. Everything about the man said money and power beyond belief, and the sudden thoughts about ‘Maddie’ told her the man was obsessive. Not that she was going to mention it in her article. She then turned her attention to Damon Grey and found comfort in middle aged scientist's similarities to her best friend’s father.

“That’s quite alright Mis Wells.” Damon assured her. “This is our newest and sole stake holder, Vlad Masters. CEO of...”

“Dalv incorporated.” Charlotte finished. “I’ve been following your work Vlad, I can call you Vlad right?”

“Only if you let me call you Charlotte.” Vlad returned.

“That or Charlie if you really want. Shall we get on with the tour?” She asked.

“Coffee Stain!” They all heard something roar, before a while haired teenager, impossibly, came phasing though the wall.

“What are you?” Charlotte asked, Damon rose an eye at the kid as Masters looked on with a look of mock surprise. Charlotte’s face turned venomous as she turned on Masters. “So what if I don’t know a ghost if I don’t see it? I’m a journalist! Not a...” She quickly caught herself. Then the entire room started shaking.

Danny Phantom:

“Danny!” Blake yelled over the Fenton Phones. “It’s going in!”

No sooner did Blake say that, the giant blue dragon broke though the last foot thick steel door. It saw the small trio of civilians, took a deep breath and let out a stream of green flames. There was only just enough time to summon an ecto-shield between the humans and the fire.

“My hero.” The youngest, a brown haired woman said both mockingly and gratefully.

The dragon roared. “Coffee Stain!”

“I’ve heard of people crying over spilt milk but all of this over spilt coffee?” I heard Blake ask as he ran inside, duster on, hood up, brown hair and grey eyes in full view to the woman, now wide eyed and mouth just about hitting the floor. Good look for her.

“Blake?!”

Sam Manson:

The door was unlocked, so I let myself in.

The warehouse was nothing like I expected the first time I saw it. These days, it became our first hangout with Danny. Our ‘Base of Operations’ as Tucker put it. After the Freakshow incident, Blake asked me to meet him at the warehouse after I finished serving out my grounding. Only a week, but the telecommute in ghost hunting was impossible. The lag between the Spectra-Speeder and my laptop left things out. I asked Tucker to do something about it. Turns out we’re still using copper wiring.

Anyway, back to current events, I opened the side door into the warehouse, leding me into the living area Vicki and Ryu used, and me when I’m hiding form another pink abomination my parents wanted me to try on.

“Blake?” I called out.

“In the field!” Vicki called out from above. She appeared and beaconed for me to come up. “Blake said you’d be by today.” Vicki said from one of the holographic terminals displaying ‘Ambient Radiation Levels’ along with the floor plan for Axion Labs.

“Yeah. Something about the staff Freakshow had.” I told her. “So what are the boy’s up to?”

“Tucker is out collecting Radiation Scans of the city. Blake and your boyfriend are following the Amulet of Argoth, again.” Vicki tapped the glass surface of the terminal.

“Got a plan?!” Blake yelled over the audio feed.

“Yeah. Get it out of here!” Danny exclaimed before a number of loud crashes made it clear they were doing a lot of damage.

“Danny! Net!”

I heard the ghost kid yelp before a muffled groan. “What the... I was intangible. What did she hit me with?” She? Intangible? Hit?

“Psychic wave projected on an ultrasonic level?” Blake suggested. “Who was that woman? And why does she look familiar?”

“Don’t know, but at least the dragon’s gone.” Danny sighed.

“Along with the amulet. We better catch up to it.”

We waited a few moments before Danny came back with “We lost it. How do you lose a big blue dragon?”

“Better luck next time. I better meet Sam, before someone finds the mess we made. Happy hunting.” Blake huffed and his feed went dead. A sudden shockwave bought my attention to a brown haired Blake stumbling around the room in his duster. He made his way to the nearest wastebin and saw the school’s meatloaf special for the second time today. “I hate teleporting.”

“So what was it you wanted to see me about?” I asked as the teenager recovered from his ‘teleport’ sickness.

He stood up and regained his composure before answering. “How much do you know about halfings? More accurately, Half daemons.”

Amity Park, Illinois (Timeline 3), 5:52pm, Monday, 21st of September, 2011

I was still processing the information I was given. Half Daemon Half Human?

“So what does my love for all things rebellious and dark have to do with me being a half daemon?” I demanded when he finished. “I’m sure I can find plenty of teenagers who have the same views as me.”

“How many of those teenagers have been able to dispel Freakshow’s hold over his ghost slaves?” Blake argued. “Out of context, your personality and ideals are shared by a number to teens across this earth, coupled with how you handled yourself with Danny while he was under the crystal ball’s control, it all points to you having the mark of chaos.”

Half Daemon. Me?

“You Samantha Manson, without realising it have reached into the arcane art, bent mana to your will and the result contributed to our goal. Love, Fear, Faith, Hate and Rage are the strongest traits of a sentient mind. Your love for Danny, your fear of losing him, and your faith in him allowed you reach out to him, weakening the barrier with every interaction with him, until his own will was able to overcome the staff’s influence.”

He pulled a tome from one of the bookshelves in the warehouse and handed it to me. “And this is?”

“Homework. Familiarise yourself with it, then think on your decision to pursue formal training. Take all the time you need. With that said, Vicki will cover for you on tonight’s patrol so you have tonight to think it over.”

When I got home, I looked at the book in my hands. It was my no means a small book. It looked almost as old a dirt, the words on the cover already faded off.

“Your home early Bubeleh.” Ah. Thank you Grandma. First covering for me when I went to help Danny and now... I really shouldn’t tell her everything. “You should probably head out dear. Your parents are in an uproar over what happened to the Greys. Apparently Mr. Grey is ruined.”