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lexosaurus · 1 year

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The Truth to Light

This was supposed to be a drabble. Day one of Side Hoes Week 2023 featuring Tucker and the prompt "power up!"

Characters: Tucker, the news Words: 1458 Warnings: descriptions of dissecc

[ao3]

****

Tucker powered up his desktop. Anticipation permeated the air, buzzing around the light and bouncing off the walls. Underneath it stank of stress, and below that, rotting deep in the recess of Tucker’s mind was a hint of dread.

Today was the day.

Today would bring the truth to light.

He could have run the program yesterday, or even the day before. But something stopped him. Insecurity prickled his brain, worming its way up his spine and whispering flavors of, “It will never work…you’ll get caught…you’re not good enough at hacking…you’re not that smart…” in his ear.

But no, he was done. He couldn’t let this go on any longer—not if he had the power to stop it.

And so, today was the day.

He entered his password, then watched as his profile loaded in. Each increase of the bar brought a rise in tension, and he could have sworn his fingers were trembling as he booted up the virtual machine.

There was no more running. Not from this.

Danny needed him.

Amity Park needed him.

Hell, the world needed him.

Even if no one would ever find out who did it.

He clicked on Tor, went to his normal site, opened the chat log, and typed two words in:

>geeksquad: I’m ready.

>cr0mb: You sure?

>Petabyte: Hell yeah, dude.

>geeksquad: Yeah. It’s time.

****

The video was fuzzy, the frames were clunky. But even so, no amount of low-resolution could mask the horrors on the screen.

Ectoplasm on the floor, the walls. The metal table. The tubes, needles (ugh), metal instruments. The screams, shaky breathing, choked sobs. The deep voice, sadistic chuckles, flat, bored tones.

The image of his best friend on the screen, grasping onto his chest, ectoplasm seeping through his fingers.

Traumatizing, Tucker realized, wrapping his hands around his perched knees. Watching this, knowing that this was real, was traumatizing.

And yet, this wasn’t a memory he would be able to unpack in therapy later. Because all this evidence of Tucker’s involvement lived on a hard drive that no one would ever find. No one could ever know.

Not even Sam.

He cut this portion from its tape, dragging the new selection down onto the end of the dozens of other clips just like it. Tucker was going to release the videos in their entirety, of course, but there were weeks worth of content. The likelihood that the average person would even have the disk space to download that amount of content was laughable.

And so, a highlights reel was necessary, and Tucker had to be the one to do it. Which meant he had to sit here alone watching hours of his best friend being tortured. He had to sit here alone and choose the “best” moments to showcase. He had to sit here alone and edit the next viral video together.

And he would do it because Danny would die without it.

How’s that for a ride-or-die friendship, huh?

Danny, you owe me, dude, he tried to joke in his head, but even that tasted sour to him.

He shook the creeping fog from his mind and sat back up straight, put his hand back on his mouse, and got back to work.

****

“We would like to warn you that our next segment contains imagery that is extremely graphic and may be upsetting to some viewers.

“Earlier today, a data breach on the US federal government revealed leaked video footage showcasing details within the Ghost Investigation Ward. The video footage, initially uploaded to Tor under the username Geeksquad, showed graphic treatment and experiments involving Amity Park’s local ghostly hero, Danny Phantom, who disappeared two months ago. Since then, it has been reuploaded all over the internet, sending the world into a frenzy. The video footage revealed insight into the hero who was shown to morph between his popular ghostly appearance, and that of a human, teenage boy as shown here. The teenage boy has been identified as sixteen-year-old Daniel Fenton, child of the famous ghost hunter family, who has been reported missing for the last two months. His family claims they did not know that their child was a ghost, and also expressed doubt that Phantom and their son were connected, suggesting that it may be an attempt for Phantom to gain sympathy from the agents.

“We will keep you updated as more information arrives regarding this story.”

****

“Breaking news on the details of the leaked Phantom files from the Ghost Investigation Ward. Close friends to Daniel Fenton, the human child that Phantom morphs into numerous times throughout the videos, came out stating that Daniel Fenton and Danny Phantom are, in fact, one and the same. The teenagers told reporters from APC News that Daniel had been in a lab accident in his parents' laboratory two years ago, and that they witnessed the event. They claim that ever since the accident, Daniel had been able to morph appearances between his ghostly and human persona. The teenagers also claim that the accident both killed him and brought him back to life, and as such Daniel still has a heartbeat and a pulse.

“If this information is true, that could mean severe issues for the Ghost Investigation Ward. Already, protests have broken out in Washington DC as well as Amity Park, Illinois. APC News here with more details to come.”

****

“As more unfolds about the leaked files from the federal Ghost Investigation Ward, more questions regarding experimentation ethics and the blurred laws between humans and ecto-entities are coming to light.

“APC News was able to interview an anonymous source from within the Ghost Investigation Ward earlier today, who claims that the agents within the GIW did know that Daniel Fenton Phantom had a heartbeat and a pulse.

“‘A heartbeat and a pulse…you know what the implication of this means, correct?’

“‘We all did. And not only that, but we also knew that if his heartbeat stops, then he would die.’

“‘Die. That’s an interesting choice of words.’

“‘It is, isn’t it?’

“The director for the FBI put out a statement saying that while the GIW has been sanctioned to perform experiments to further the knowledge and understanding of ecto-entities, also known as ghosts, they are not authorized to operate outside of the law and perform experiments on US Citizens.

“The director of the GIW, under the code name Agent Alpha, also put out a statement citing that Danny Phantom registers as a level seven ecto-entity and does not qualify as a human, despite the appearance of human organs that seem like life-support. He stated that like other ghosts, Phantom relies on an ecto-core to exist and that his human organs are merely imprints of when he was alive. He reiterates that the Ghost Investigation Ward did not operate outside of the law while Phantom was under their custody.

“Phantom has been relocated to a holding cell while internal investigation and legal proceedings occur.”

****

“Tucker…” Sam’s tilted her head. Dark circles tattooed the skin under her eyes, and her chapped lips pressed into a thin line. She’d lost weight, and her cheeks were hollow, sharp. And yet, that hint of a spark in her eye, that silent flame of determination, had yet to go out.

Although, for as run-down as Sam was, Tucker was sure he looked about the same.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Do you know who the hacker was?”

Tucker was lucky he was such a practiced liar. But even still, he was sure that not even he could mask how thrown off he was at that question. “How would I know who he was?”

“I know you hang around those circles.”

“Yeah, but it’s all anonymous. I don’t know who anyone is. And besides.” He leaned back in some faux attempt of acting nonchalant. “There are so many hacking groups out there, Sam. It’s not that small or tight-knit of a community.”

“Yeah, I figured,” she said, though her eyes didn’t relax. “I just found it odd, you know?”

He could feel his heart skip a beat. “What’s odd?”

“Well, I found it odd that the GIW was targeted when they had Phantom. And no one else knew that Phantom was there except for us.”

“Or, maybe other people figured it out.”

“Maybe…”

“Come on, it’s not that implausible. Danny disappeared for two months. That’s not really his MO. I’m sure some gray-hat group online did the process of elimination on where he could be and figured out he was with the Guys in White.”

“Yeah.” Sam’s gaze went to her knees, where her hands were clasped. Tucker followed her sight and realized that her fingers were shaking.

He let his tone turn more serious. “Sorry, I don’t know who leaked the files. I promise.”

“Okay,” she said, her voice small. “I believe you.”

****

chapter 2

#danny phantom #dp side hoes week 2023 #phicc #my writing #posting this with the speed of light cuz i godda bounce lol

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