AS: Sibling Bonds prt4

Sibling Bonds
Part 4
Ties will be tested!

Everything was quiet.

Even the Guys in White who were the instigators of the whole mess remained silent.

All eyes were focused on the broken pieces of what had once been the Maddie Modulator. The young parta felt like his heart had stopped in that instant. He was a failure and a horrible brother. He'd let his sister down. If he had ducked that blast quicker than his bargaining chip wouldn't have been destroyed. Adrian Fenton remained silent, but he could take his eyes off the disaster.

Finally, they heard mechanical sounds, and all blended into a young gasp. This disturbance brought Adrian and Alicia's attention back to the area that Jennifer was sitting. Only she was no longer there. She was gone. His sister had vanished from sight. Their eyes widened as they assessed what happened their gazes snapped up to the girl's captor.

Bullet narrowed his gaze on them. "No deal." was the only thing he said with a shake of his head. He digitized the ecto dejecto before they could stop him transporting it far way. And a calculated expression came on his face as he seemed to think over something. "Unless… you can actually, get another copy of that thing?" He looked at them both expectantly.

The parta shook his head. "Not possible my grandmother only made one. That's why it's in the archives it hasn't been used for years." In fact, the first and only time it had been used according to his mother was during the whole incident where the male population had vanished thanks to Kitty's kiss power.

"They did make an upgrade a few years back." Alicia pointed out having more knowledge of the latest Fenton weaponry.

"It's either that model or we have no deal," Bullet said with his hands folding over his chest. "So, what are we going to do about this? I need to make up the difference somehow."

"You aren't using my sister as leverage." Adrian snarled his yellow eyes tinting to a brighter shade.

"Well then get this thing fixed and I won't need to." Bullet dryly spoke before his gaze turned to the Guys in White who for once were silently approaching. "You have fifteen hours. No more, no less. Until then…" one of his cannons protruded from his armor blasting the ghost hunters back into the G.P.A. team. "Chow." He saluted them pressing a button on his gauntlet to teleport away before Adrian could catch up to him.

Once the ghost was gone all the hunters turned their attention towards the two teens with their blasters raised. "Freeze ghost, you too little missy. You are both coming with us where you will be interrogated."

Adrian grumbled he didn't want to deal with these guys. He was not about to get caught and risk them realizing who he actually was either. Glancing at Alicia, he gestured to towards the sky. She threw him a look of disgust. "Hey, this time we have no other choice."

"You are not taking me up there again." Alicia protested as she moved to gather the broken pieces of the Fenton gadget stuffing them in the duffle bag once more. "I'd rather go on foot."

A warning blast came at Adrian's left side. He grunted as the sensation of the weapon burned against his side it felt like the wind was nearly knocked out of him. He'd never felt such an intense sensation before even his grandparents' weapons weren't so dangerously powerful. As he forced down the pain, his eyes darted around the area to make out the gathering of agents and hunters. Sure enough, they were getting surrounded. The young Spook did not want to become a test subject to them. He could not risk getting exposed not now.

"A.D. are you okay?" Alicia asked moving nearer to check him over. That was all the opportunity he needed. Adrian grabbed onto her wrist pulling her into his arms and took off for the sky. The added weight was barely any problem despite the pain he was feeling, but then again his best friend had always been relatively light.

Energy pelted at them from shouting government agents and another direction. It seemed the G.P.A. task force had joined the fray. But the young parta focused his powers on getting higher in the sky while Alicia's hands grew tighter around his neck. He could almost feel his windpipe beginning to be crushed.

Only after they'd finally left the area, and were far enough away did he voice his complaint. "Alicia please quit it your-"

Realizing what she was doing Alicia loosened her hold some. "I'm going to get you back for this." She said pointedly.

"Not the time to be worrying about idle details. We have to get this thing fixed."

"Any ideas how?"

Adrian sighed suddenly feeling weighed down by the problems of the day before. "A few."
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Waiting…

That's all they seemed to be doing at this council meeting.

Heated gazes were getting more rapidly drawn towards him. Most just didn't seem to accept the presence of Danny Phantom. Whispers were thrown around as fingers, claws, and other appendages pointed his way. He vaguely heard his son Adrian's name being brought up, but he had to be mishearing that. Why on Earth would any ghosts be talking about his boy?

Before he could draw up any conclusions or eavesdrop on anymore conversations a chime echoed through the building. It sounded much like an old grandfather clock with its booming presence. It would have seemed out of place, if not for the fact one of the Six Ancients was the Master of Time.

Clockwork in his present form nodded to the many ghosts with a curt expression. Before speaking. "May this council meeting come to order. We have much to discuss before time runs its course completely." Speaking in his own enigmatic way as he always did. One could never completely understand what he was saying it always came out unclear until the moment of occurrence. Still, no ghost could deny the presence of this particular spirit he was powerful enough to quiet all of them down.

A shadow of a smile came on the Time Ghost's face as he changed into his future form of an older spirit. "Then I leave the next part of our discussion to Aisha."

Danny remembered her from his studies of ghost history, before being accepted into the council. As the Mistress of Life, she was one of the Ancients. She watched over everything that was living from a distance. Aisha knew when the first breath was taken, and when the last was near. A grand woman, despite how old she truly was she appeared to be in her early thirties. With bronze skin, and long flowing gold hair. Like Clockwork she had different forms, four to represents the elements of ground, sky, water, her current one matched the sun with its blazing glory. She had a transparent veil on her head, and her dress looked like a wedding gown save for the fact it was golden it flowed down trailing behind her in a wave. Her ecto green eyes twinkled their hue unmistakable.

"Thank you, Clockwork." Aisha's voice came out rich and bountiful. It could make any feel warm just by hearing. Turning to all her face went grim. "The peace, we have enjoyed for so many years is coming close to being broken…" Murmurs broke out in the audience of this discovery, but she held up her hand gently to silence them. "Soon nothing will stand between our foes, our allies, and all in-between. This is an ill time my fellow ghosts. A shift is coming, and the balance of our world and human one is at risk once more. We survived the last threat, fortunately" She nodded slightly to Danny although he was the only one who seemed to catch her gesture. "But now our worlds are on the precipice of falling apart."

"Portals have become more rapid in a dangerous amount." Another voice spoke up next to her dryer and sterner. It was the Master of Mind usually going by the name Hugues.

He was yet another ancient older ghost this one with the appearance of an owl humanoid. His nose was shaped much like a beak. His skin was toned white, his eyes were large the color of amber brown, with bushy almond brown eyebrows. His hair was the same brown color it looked more like feathers than what is naturally seen on humans. His clothes were dominantly featured in white, gray, and a dull brown. Dressed in garb that seemed to be a patchwork of many scholars with a lab coat over his suit, bits, and pieces paper were sticking out of his various pockets. 

Hugues glanced at Aisha, but she nodded for him to continue. He snapped his attention back to the council at an almost inhuman speed, and he went on. He brought his palm out to produce a diagram out thin air it depicted a vast amount of calculations and numerical data which Danny could barely decipher growing issues. " According to my findings if this keeps going on as it is, then we have less than a year before things are thrown into turmoil. We have not found the perpetrator yet, but I can assure you nature had nothing to do with this. Too many things are behaving in such an illogical way. This situation poses a large problem for the peace treaty between both our kinds. We must..."

A sound like nails on chalk board abruptly ended the Mind Ghost's prepared speech.

Danny tensed as he and all eyes present turned to the left, where the sound was coming from. Directly next to the entrance floated a being who was obviously not a member of the Council. It appeared to look much like a stereotypical ghost one of the many haunting the realm. But it was completely pitch black, and its apple green-eyed gaze was direct. Its focus and expression spoke of too much intelligence to be incompetent like of its' kin.

"Who are you and how dare you interrupt my speech?" Hugues said sounding livid which a first was for the usually calm scholar. He looked ready to pull out his feathers at any moment.

The ghost smirked. "I'm surprised you and those other ancients don't recognize me, geek. Especially you Time Ghost." He said directing his attention to Clockwork

"You do look like someone I should know of." At his words Clockwork's form abruptly became that of a small child, representing the past. "Though it should not be so, for your time has ended long ago."

"Yeah according to you and the grim reaper, but…" he shrugged casually. "miracles happen I guess. Name's Mock, never forget it."

"What is the point of your interruption?" Hugues asked becoming exasperated. "You were not called upon to appear before the council!"

"And I wouldn't appear if you asked me. Your judicial system is flawed." He replied with a smirk. "Keep your feathers in shape nerdy owl." The shadow like ghost Mock said with a cackle. "I haven't even gotten to that part yet." He turned his gaze to the gathering of ghosts other than the Six Ancients. "I mean no harm. I am here to address our Fellow ghosts each and every one of you. " his gaze set on Danny Phantom and he smirked. "That includes you hybrid. My boss has a message for you as well."

"Well, your boss should just wait till we finish things yah know." Came a young youthful voice of Stella the Mistress of Space as she floated a little higher than the rest of ancients. She had the appearance of a teenager complete with shades of blues from her skin to her hair a midnight blue forming in a side ponytail. Her outfit was a futuristic short sleeve shirt, a flowing skirt, a pair of loose leggings, and ballet slippers. Complete with star shaped headphones nestled over her ears. She was decked completely in a star-like glow. Her bright blue eyes showed much maturity despite her appearance. She was after all an ancient. Her hands went to her hips as she looked at him. "Why get in the middle of things now bub?"

"Star Girl brings up a point I suppose." The ghost said with a shrug and an idiotic grin. "But this is far too important to wait." His tone was gradually becoming deeper. It took on a darker air sounding almost unnatural which is odd to think of when you bring up a ghost. As he spoke the Ancients eyes seemed to become wider and narrow, all of them appeared to recognize it.

Clockwork nodded silently to the rest, and the Six flew as one off their platform straight at the shadow ghost. But before they could even get close an energy barrier appeared, completely encircled the Mock's form keeping him just out of their reach.

His pupils dilated to ochre color as his expression became different. It was as if he wasn't even there anymore, and someone was speaking through him. The ghost Mock seemed to have emerged as a puppet now. "My dear ghost kind, brothers and sisters, compatriots, and confidants, today I speak to you through my servant of the beginning of greatness. The beginning of a revolution…"

The older hybrid didn't like the sound of that. "This can't end well."
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As lunchtime rolled around Sam Fenton entered the house carrying her sleeping little daughter Lilith. Her seminar had ended earlier than expected for which she was grateful. It had been eventful and informative, but their guest speaker had a very ill outlook on society. It was so biased she wanted to speak her mind about it. Only the restraint of her fellow coworkers kept her from doing just that. However, after the meeting, she gave him a piece of her mind on just what she thought of his philosophy.

After all the drama she'd headed over to the Foley's mansion to pick of Lilith who'd apparently had an all-night sleepover with Kendra and Hope. They'd stayed up so long that her usually active slightly hyper daughter was too sleepy even to greet her mother. She fell into her arms causing Sam to have to carry her to the car. She could swear Lilith got her heavy sleeping habits from her father. Unless a deafening disturbance was set off, it was hard to get him to wake up from anything.

Sam stroked her little one's red hair as she entered the living room with the intentions of heading up to the room where she kept her office supplies. But the foul odor and abrupt blaring of the smoke alarm stopped her.

Quickly and gently as possible she set down her daughter and dashed to the kitchen to find something was burning in the oven, and there was smoke everywhere. Coughing she waved away the vapors as she moved to the stove to turn it off. The smoke was still there, but the crisis had been averted. She opened a nearby window to air out the house. She took a deep breath glancing inside the stove to find charbroiled remnants of what was probably one of her soybean casseroles.

The stove had been set on low temperature, so it had probably taken only till little over a few minutes ago for the alarm to start.

"Odd where was Adrian in all this? It's not like him to forget something so important." Sam said to herself.

If she hadn't gotten home now, the house could have been burnt down. Something was definitely up. After checking on Lilith, only to find her still fast asleep, she headed up the stairs to confront her son.
--

Meanwhile, Adrian was upstairs with Alicia. Bits and pieces of the machine were scattered out on the bed. Both were exhausted, but the parta managed to get an extra boost of energy thanks to his ghost half. He needed it if they were going to finish this. The decision was inevitable he would fix the Maddie Modulator there wasn't anyone else they could ask for help. Besides, they both knew he had a knack when it came to working with ghost equipment. Just neither knew just how far the limited could go.

Alicia watched her B.F. F. idly as she could feel herself nodding off a few times but quickly shook herself awake. She'd even retrieved a package of highly caffeinated sodas that probably belonged Adrian's dad from downstairs for an energy boost. But sugar only works so far.

The parta's entire focus was on the scraps of metal he was putting back together. He barely glanced up except to ask for some random tool or his one can of soda. He'd been sipping off and on for the past three hours. Unlike Alicia, he was still only on his first. Ghost powers did have some benefits in these situations. His yellow eyes squinted over a nearby blueprint they'd retrieved from the attic upstairs. Thankfully Adrian's parents thought of keeping copies of his grandparents work, or they'd be so lost right now.

"How's it coming?" Alicia asked with a yawn.

Adrian didn't look up as he turned one of the many screws that held the machine together. "It's gradually returning to its original form."

"Only problem is if it will work." Said the Foley girl, yawning once more, as her eyes begun to twitch.

For once Adrian stopped working and glanced up at her with concerned yellow eyes. "You should probably get some sleep 'Licia. I can finish the rest."

She shook her head firmly although it appeared to be in slow motion. "No way, you don't have anyone else helping you. What kind of friend would I be if I left you alone." She yawned leaning against the bed as he continued to work.

Too tired to argue Adrian nodded. The door flung open abruptly throwing them both off balance. The young parta felt the strange cold sensation envelope his body once more, as he stared into the matching amethyst eyes of his mother.

Sam took one glance around the room. The usually neat and tidy area of her son was cluttered. Not to mention metal, wire, bits and pieces of a random ghost weapon of sorts were sprawled on the bed. She guessed Adrian had probably been tinkering with one of the gifts his grandparents sent him. Alicia was on top the bed leaning against the post, but something was missing, something or someone who should have been there. "Where's Adrian?" she asked her voice sounding calm, and collected, but it had an edge to it that the parta could detect.

Then he made sense of her words. 'Where's Adrian? What's she talking about I'm…' his thoughts stopped when he noticed the nearby mirror held no reflection. It showed Alicia and Sam, but he was missing. He wasn't there. 'No that makes no sense.' How could this be? He was on the bed right next to Alicia. 'I'm right here. Maybe it's because I'm exhausted yes that must be it.'

"Huh?" Alicia asked her eyes were wide. She must have seen Adrian's parta form. So she didn't recognize him? Well, Danny didn't so it made sense, sort of. "Oh…" she said with a small laugh. "This is just one of my ghost friends is all." She reached out for Adrian without glancing in his direction, putting her arm around his neck she smiled. "Yup A.D. Spook." But when she saw the concerned look on Sam's face she raised an eyebrow.

"Are you feeling okay Alicia," Sam asked gently to the girl. Maybe it was the bags she saw under the poor girl's eyes. "Did you sleep alright?"

"O-f-course I did." Alicia stuttered for once lying didn't seem to come easy to her.

Adrian was beginning to wonder what this was all about. He wanted to say something, but he felt he needed to hold back at least for now.

"Alicia…" Sam replied again her tone was becoming even more gentle which was something that rarely happened. "There's nothing there."

"O-" Alicia started, she turned to look in the direction Adrian should be in she gasped shoving back from him. The parta found himself flying off the bed in the process. Her eyes widened with panic. 'Where did he go? And why did it feel like I was holding him just a minute ago? Oh no please no.' Taking a deep breath, she laughed., "Oh, would you look at that you were right." She chuckled nervously trying to pass it all off as a joke. "I didn't get much sleep is all that's probably why I feel this way."

That sounded reasonable, so Sam nodded then put her hands on her hips as her eyes narrowed. "But where's Adrian? I need to speak with him about a certain incident downstairs."

Adrian raised an eyebrow from the place he was now floating. 'What on Earth was she talking about? What down—oh.' now he remembered. 'Oh great.' He wanted to slap himself in the face but didn't want to risk his mother hearing it and getting suspicious. 'Idiot you forgot to turn off the oven.' Well, he had to admit Jennifer had been more important to remember at the time.

Still nervous and finding her sleep deprivation catching up, Alicia tried to collect herself. After all, she now figured this might be another ability of Adrian's he never told her about, so she took the fall. "Oh, he went to the store to get some… glue?! Yeah, glue for our science project." She motioned to the gadget on the bed..

"Oh," Sam said and shook her head. Why did her son have to have forgetful moments like his father? Well, it didn't matter she'd have to punish him when he got back. "Well, when he returns will you tell him I want to speak with him? I'll be in the office down the hall."

"Sure Mrs. Fenton." Alicia chirped with a forced smile but fortunately this time she was able to make it more natural.

Only after Sam had shut the door did Alicia lose it. Looking about the room she squinted her tired doe eyes trying to get even a glimpse of her friend. "Oh, Adri? You can come out now." When she got no response, she became frustrated. "Adrian Fenton at least answer me. I know you're in here, the room is too cold for you to have left."

"I was just waiting for mom to leave entirely." Replied Adrian. His voice came from the direction near the window. But from what she could see he wasn't there, and neither was his shadow.

Alicia's eyes widened, and she blinked a few times. "So I wasn't seeing things you went in invisible?"

"I'm starting to think ghosts’ bodies react to their surroundings to camouflage like a chameleon but yeah basically." Came his voice in the air but he still didn't appear.

"So, when do you plan to appear again, Adri?" she asked with a slight yawn the excitement had passed, and the sugar rush had died down. No matter how amazing her friend's new power was it still didn't merit enthusiasm for someone who had been up for nearly twenty-four hours.

"Not certain. I think..." Adrian began then thought carefully about how to answer her. He'd never done something like this before. 'Or have I?' He could feel his eyes widening yes he had. "I've done this before. I remember this sensation."

"From when Adri?" Alicia asked leaning closer to the bed but listening to him the best she could.

"When I was at the G.P.A. building there was this guy in the basement…" his eyes widened. "He should have been able to see me, but he walked straight through me." Adrian thought back to the feeling from before. Perhaps if he isolated the core, he could become visible again. Reaching into the cold side of his core he tried to concentrate on willing away the blanket of energy around him. Abruptly a ring of white light appeared around him transforming him in the process.

Alicia noticed the light, and gradually the invisible being materialized as her amethyst eyed, raven hair best friend.

As soon as that was over Adrian fell to the ground with a thud. He let out a moan as he could feel the injury from the Guys in White becoming painful once more. "Why did it have to do that?" Pushing himself upright he could feel his energy quickly depleting. The young poet's eyes widened. "Alicia I need a soda promptly."

He didn't have to ask again Alicia was already rushing over with a can of soda in hand along with a water bottle. "You should probably drink this afterward since this will only increase your thirst."

Adrian nodded gulping down the can of soda and then taking to chugging dry the water. Only when he was finished did he wipe his mouth of excess liquid, and take a deep breath. Finally, his attention once more set on the Maddie Modulator with Alicia's help, he made it to the bed and begun working on the device again. "Just a few more screws, and nails, thankfully it will be done." The young parta surmised.

"Well look on the bright side," Alicia said cheerfully trying to lighten the mood.

Adrian glared at her darkly not in the mood for one of her speeches. "Which is?"

"Now it will be easier to hide from people when you turn ghost!"

"ARGH!" Adrian cried feeling all his frustration coming out at once. Not to mention he'd just crashed a hammer down on his thumb.

Alicia cringed at the loud sound coming from her usually quiet friend then shook her head. Maybe a nap would be a good idea for both of them after they finished this thing. For now, she'd lend him support and try her best to keep him awake.
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After taking her husband's advice, Valerie had headed home to get some sleep. She was up bright and early in her office to begin assessing how to handle the new occupants of the Ghost Protection Agency. It took most of the morning, but she managed to draw up a contract containing guidelines that she felt even the leader of the Guys in White wouldn't be able to argue against following. When she arrived at headquarters, she instantly became wary something was up. The usually invisible shield of energy around the building was visible.

Biting her lip, she headed toward the inside in an instant the shield went invisible once more. Or it could have vanished completely. Rolling up the sleeve of her shirt she checked her ecto-decto meter on her bracelet. No, it was obviously working. After a moment, it became visible again flickering to the same color as before. There appeared to be a glitch in the overall programming. She'd have to get Tucker down here to fix it and maybe get Jazz's husband Lars as well.

"Well, at least it's working." She said trying to think positively as possible. It wasn't easy things had been too off kilter today. There was only one person in the building at the time who would know what was up. She headed into the unmarked security room where her father Damon Gray would probably be working.

After entering his office, she found him busy as ever typing things and working on a mess of wiring that had… wait was that hot chocolate stains on it? She thought her father was more of a coffee drinker. "So, what's the damaged and how bad are we under?" Valerie asked him.

Damon Gray's attention drew up, and he smiled warmly at his only daughter. "Sweetheart…" he pulled himself up from where he'd been sitting to come over and give her one of his warm bear hugs. She looked like she could use it. "Everything's fine just a glitch."

As his daughter, she'd been around him her whole life practically so Valerie could tell when he was evading something, but she didn't press on it. If it were truly important, he'd tell her instantly everything. She instead nodded. "Think you can give me a status report on what's been happening for the last-" she glanced at the digital clock on her wrist. "Thirteen hours or so?"

He rubbed his hand behind his head, Damon's grin turned into somewhat of a frown. "Well after the whole incident with the equipment shorting out it took over an hour to get back up. Other than that I know that your Task Force along with the Guys in White headed out to deal with some sort of thief and a few others called in cases."

Valerie nodded as expected of her team most of the G.P.A.'s work seemed to be handled at night while only occasionally did day time cases actually appear. She frowned at the thought of the freeloading Guys in White getting in the middle of her team's duty. 'How will we be able to coincide when cases like this come up?' she was beginning to think her comprise was going to need a few more edits before she handed it over to the agent to sign.

She was about to speak more with him on the matter when a beeping echoed in the room alerting her of her communicator going off. "Talk to me."

"Commissioner Gray." Came the voice of one of her best task members.

"What's up Tito and why haven't you called me to relay your findings?"

"My apologies Commissioner but we've been having trouble with our communicators."

"Fine what's the status of the team?"

"We've been tailing a rogue ghost, but he's continued to evade us." Then his voice got a little quieter and took on a tone of irritation. "Not to mention the Guys in White have been breathing down our neck everywhere we turn. They're usually the ones who alert the ghosts of our presence."

Of course, that would pose a problem. Rubbing her temples, Valerie tried to bring down her increasing headache and ease off her anger. "Send me your coordinates I'll try to be at your location in less than a half hour."

"Yes, Commissioner Gray," Tito responded and the communications shorted out to static soon after.

Damon Gray spoke to her once the call was complete. "I believe the satellite at headquarters has been down. I just got everything completely back up and running little over an hour go."

Valerie nodded. "I figured as much."

"Are you going to be okay sweetheart?" He asked moving over to place his hand on her shoulder. Damon could tell this wasn't easy for her. He rarely saw his calm collected daughter so stressed.

Valerie cleared her throat and nodded. "I think so." With a set look on her face as she stormed out of the security room, and headed to her office to retrieve some things. She clenched her fists as she went feeling her anger and determination rising. She was going to get control of this thing. Even if she despised the Guys in White, somehow she was going to make it so they could all coexist under one roof.
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He never thought he'd be visiting this place twice in one day.

The parta was certain they'd arrived at the clock tower around three or four in the morning the last time they'd been there. Too bad he didn't have time to look at the old-fashioned time keeper to check that morning, but he'd been kind of busy crashing into Jenn's ghostly captor.

Adrian floated near the historical marvel admiring how looked in the daylight. He'd heard it was a timeworn clock dating back to the early years of America. His father had told him once he, Sam, and Tucker had been inside it once. He shook his head banishing those memories he had more important things to think about this was no time for his mind to be wandering.

Glancing behind he could see Alicia at ground level having managed to keep up with him thanks to borrowing his sister Lilith's hover scooter. She dismounted soon after adjusting the two bags on her back, one which carried what their bargaining chip. Adrian was more alert now as was his B.F. thanks entirely to her shrewd wisdom they took a few hours to get in a full rem cycle before coming. He'd protest fiercely wanting to get to the tower as soon as possible. But she had a point if he wasn't able to function straight chances are he'd not be able to fight Bullet, and they both sensed it might come to that.

Adrian couldn't help but feel on edge. He looked around keeping his eyes never focused on one area, as he waited for Jennifer's captor to appear. It wasn't like him to be this way, but maybe it was the agitation that came with his sister's condition, and his mind working overtime to produce images of how much worse off she might be. She'd been so vulnerable when he last saw her, and he doubted things could have gotten better since then. He was not underestimating this guy.

Alicia smiled gently up at him noticing her friend's apparent anxiety she tried to calm his nerves. She'd never seen him so jumpy, but she didn't think there was too much to worry about. "Hey, everything will work out."

He shook his head floating just above her shoulder. "Somehow I'm not all unerringly sure about that." As he grew tenser, he fidgeted fiddling with the biker gloves of the costume Alicia had talked him into wearing. He still couldn't figure out how she'd gotten him to keep it on. His thoughts were interrupted by the beginning of sweat coming down his brow followed by a strand of tangerine orange mist coming out of his mouth. All were alerting him there was a ghost in the area.

"You still look ridiculous kid." Came a dry voice from behind.

Whipping around Adrian found himself face to face with Bullet once more. The ghost looked nothing but at ease. He barely showed any emotion the exact opposite of the parta. Ironically this was how one would expect Adrian to be acting at that moment. It was like seeing his own reflection through the ghost. "Yeah well, you aren't exactly a fashion critic yourself."

Bullet's eyes slightly narrowed but he nodded his head. "Touché kid… but we're not really here to discuss such needless things anyways." He folded his arms over his chest once again looking nothing but chilled. "Where's my prize?"

Adrian landed next to Alicia to retrieve the bag from her grasp then floated back up to face Bullet. This time putting a good amount of distance between them, he aimed his Fenton Wrist Ray at the ghost's gut. "I have it here." He carefully opened the bag to reveal Maddie Modulator. It had various cracks, but it looked like it had pieced together carefully.

Mildly impressed Bullet was surprised to see that it looked so intact. "You must have had a very capable engineer put that back together." He remarked. "I like what I see. But the question is…" he raised an eyebrow at Phantom's son. "Will it work?"

Neither teen saw any reason to tell him that it was Adrian himself who fixed it.

"I've tested it out." The parta replied. "Like my grandma says, it '…alters spectral frequencies to completely reverse their effects' there is even a button that returns things to as they were before." Adrian now stared at the ghost as his mind began functioning at a proper level again, something just didn't add up. "Why exactly would you need it?"

A shark tooth grin came on Bullet's face as the parta explained things with his last words it became a smirk. "Doesn't really matter." He pulled something out of his pocket as his spoke which made Adrian tense, but it looked like nothing more than a palm-sized metal ball. "Don't burden yourself with things you don't need to understand Spooky-kid."

The parta was about to reply, but that's when things went wrong. Bullet tossed the ball directly at Adrian he tried to evade it, but it came to fast. The thing hit him, but instead of bouncing off claws came out to latch onto his shirt right where the stereotypical ghost symbol was.

Startled the young hybrid begun shaking his shirt to remove the thing but it wasn't coming off. He tried blasting it with his Fenton Wrist Ray, but it seemed to have no effect except sending him hurtling towards the clock tower to land on its second hand. Shaking his head to get rid of the dizziness he realized how stupid that move was.

The ghost just continued watching the spectacle as his grin became smugger.

Immediately afterward Alicia brought out her Fenton Bazooka from who knows where and aimed at the ghost. "Alright ectofiend what's all this about?" Her tone matched one Adrian frequently recognized when they played Ghost Catchers 0.7. Something was up.

Bullet continued to smirk adding a shrug to his chilled posture He'd barely moved since arriving. "You'll just have to see kid." A loud shrill filled the air causing the two teens to plug their ears. The ex-second in command of Walker just chuckled. "Ah, there it is." This snapped the young Foley's attention back to him. He said nothing for a moment but brought up his wrist gauntlet to her view which confused both of the young kids. "Watch the magic as I make your partner disappear before your eyes kid." He slammed a certain number of buttons on his armament.

Still puzzled by his words Alicia asked what he meant. But the cry of her best friend turned her attention to the clock where he'd been knocked. She stared at him in shock as he literally begun glowing brighter and brighter before her eyes. Then the young Foley's mind caught up she recognized this. "No…"

"Oh yes."

The young Foley sprinted to her friend aid. But how exactly could she get up there in time? Now more than ever Alicia wished she'd packed that battle suit her mother designed for her. At least in this moment, she wanted to fly. But Adrian just kept glowing as she tried digging through her bag for anything that might save him. Then she noticed a newer version of the modulator shaped like a box this time. That might help. She went to flip the switch, but it was too late her friend's screams died off, and his image faded out drifting straight into the ghost's watch.

She stared at the ghost for a long moment still stunned. Then she asked the most obvious question. "Why?"

Bullet shrugged flipping his crimson cape back a little. "Did you two really think it was a good idea to trust a ghost with a reputation like mine?!" He chuckled finding the whole situation amusing apparently. "This way I get the devices, and two Fenton kids to hold against their father. What better revenge then turning them over to some of his worst foes? Not to mention one of his spawn is a naturally born ghost in his first stage. Now that alone is a rare find."

"He's protected right now," Alicia replied her eyes narrowing as she begun rummaging through her bag for another weapon, all the while keeping her eyes on the cocky ghost.

"Oh, I'm sure there is a way around that. Let me guess he's got something on his person that helps keep his excess energy contained and undetectable? " Bullet surmised then ducked away as Alicia came at him with a Jack of Nine Tails. The whip nearly had him, but he'd learned to be more alert since being trapped in that desert realm. "Oooh so close."

Before Alicia could come at him again, he pressed a button on his gauntlet and portal emerged. "Now if you'll excuse me I've got things to settle. Been a pleasure doing business with ya." He mock saluted her before diving into the portal and teleporting away from the site.

No, no, no. This was not how it was supposed to happen. Adrian had been right to be cautious. She should have done the same now her misguided idealism had led to this. The young Foley found herself alone, she could only hope and pray her best friend, and his sister found a way out of there. Before things really became a mess.

"I'll give you three hours max Adri." She declared into the sky although she knew he couldn't hear her. "If you're not back by then I'm alerting your parents and mine." Alicia wouldn't tell his parents he was a ghost hybrid, but she wasn't going stand by, and let him be caught in a situation where escape was impossible

To be continued in next section