Seeing Double

Seeing Double - Part 5

This man was a total wack job.

After Phantom told him, point blank, that he did not want to live in his creepy mansion or act as a surrogate ghost son to any capacity he'd pretty much flipped his shit.

He'd started ranting about how he'd make a better father than Jack Fenton ever could and then proceeded to try and prove his point by possessing the man and wrecking the reunion.

Or he was just bitter and wanted to make Dad look bad. Phantom gave up trying to follow Vlad's train of thought and flew after him.

It was easier to pull him out of his dad than it had been to grab his core from, well, Vlad's actual body. Further proving Vlad's point that he really was attached to his human self.

What a lucky loon, Phantom thought.

"Good luck," Vlad said with a smirk, immediately disappearing as Dad came to his senses and grinned up at them.

"Ghost boy!" Dad said. "Oh boy, I'm going to catch you this time!"

Great.

oOo

Invisibility didn't help. There was some kind of ghost honing device in the Fenton RV, allowing Dad to follow him no matter where he flew. Phantom thought he'd at least lose him if he phased into the building, but Dad- Jack, Phantom should call him Jack- just drove through a wall to chase after him.

He couldn't properly aim at Phantom because of the invisibility, but he got one lucky shot in. It wasn't the kind of blast Phantom was expecting. Instead he ended up coated in this weird green slime, like something out of a Nickelodeon special, which was impossible to remove.

Mom took advantage of the target it painted on him and fired away. Phantom decided at that point it would be better to retreat, but the goop prevented him from phasing through walls. He was trapped.

While was looking for an open window, debating whether or not he should just break one- it's not like he'd get injured right?- he noticed Fenton. The boy was trying to shove through the crowd of people running for the exits. It looked like he was trying to reach their parents. Trailing after him was Vlad, human Vlad. That pompous fruitloop!

The man put his hands on Fenton's shoulders when he was within reach, pulling him back towards the exit.

If it were anyone else Phantom would have been grateful. Fenton should get out of the way. He always ran in the wrong direction. If it were anyone else Phantom would not have pulled such a stupid stunt.

But now Fenton was in his arms and all Phantom could do was hug him close and try to shield him from the glass as Jack and Maddie Fenton screamed after them.

oOo

He deposited Fenton on the roof. The mansion rooftop was an uncomfortable assortment of sharply sloping spires, but Phantom managed to find a flat surface where they could gather their bearings.

Initially he'd been reluctant to let go of the boy, but then he'd remembered the window he'd broken and put distance between them so he could check Fenton for injuries.

First he checked Fenton's head, running his hands through his hair carefully. He didn't find any glass, but there was a bump on the back of his head. There was blood on his shirt.

Alarmed, Phantom lifted his shirt to see if there would be more blood. There wasn't, but there was a bruise on Fenton's shoulder. The boy shivered and tugged his shirt back down. It reminded Phantom that he was so much colder than the human. Perhaps...

He placed his hand on Fenton's shoulder, hoping that he could act as an ice pack for the bruise, even through the shirt. But no, he probably wasn't cold enough.