Part III

"So…" Danny spoke up from where he was sitting cross legged on Sam's bed. "...Now that we're working together, I think that you guys might want get familiar with some of the spare equipment that I stashed. It's pretty easy to use, so we could definitely go grab it on the way over to Jamie's place if you're down." He paused to think before continuing, quieter, and more to himself than for the sake of the Winchesters. "I guess that means we should probably leave soon-ish though… and we could probably talk things over as we travel… it is kinda out of the way-"

"I'm not too sure that will be necessary." Sam interjected, taking the boy out of his musing, "As nice as your parent's inventions might be, Danny, Dean and I do have experience with this kind of stuff, and I think we should try handling this our way." He reassembled the gun he was cleaning as punctuation before returning it to the duffel bag resting at the foot of Danny's bed.

"Your way?" Unfazed by the bag of weapons, Danny looked over at Sam. "Yesterday you two told me you didn't even know what a ghost was."

"And we told you that it wasn't a ghost." Dean rebutted, as he entered through the doorway of the small motel room with the last of their gear in tow. "But on the impossibly slim chance that it is one, I can assure you we have some guaranteed ways to gank the bitch."

Sam glared at Dean as he slammed the door closed. He did realize that Danny was still a kid, right?

Danny just rolled his eyes at their antics. "Okay, so enlighten me. How do you guys take care of ghosts?"

"Well, mainly with salt." Sam sighed, getting up from the table and methodically moving the duffle bags from the floor to a spot where Danny could observe the contents.

"Salt?" Danny repeated. He looked offended.

"Salt," Dean elaborated, "fire, and the occasional iron rod." He moved to a position beside Sam and began shuffling said iron rods and half-empty bags of rock salt out of the bag.

"Over the years we've come up with some clever ways to use this shit though." He pulled out a small cardboard box and tossed it to Danny. "You tend to get inventive once you find out how life-saving the stuff is." He smirked at the teen, who had opened the box and was now staring at its contents, more confused than ever.

"Be careful not to get it confused though, Danny." Sam added, "It's not just table salt we're dealing with here. You need purified rock salt if you want the shotgun rounds and protective barriers to actually work."

Comprehension bloomed on Danny's face before immediately giving away to worry.

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold up. Let me get this straight." Danny looked up at the two brothers before staring back at the box of ammo in his hands. "You guys put salt into shotguns and then shoot it at spirits?"

"Pretty much," Dean said, plucking one of the rounds out of the box and giving it a shake.

"That sounds dumb. Like... get-yourself-killed dumb." The kid looked skeptical at best. "You're sure it works?" He paused. "Against ghosts, I mean. Is salt some sort of natural ectoplasmic repellant or something?" The kid pulled a second round out of the box, giving it his own tentative shake.

"Of course it works." Dean deadpanned. "And it's not a repellant or anything, it's more of a supernatural Oxi-Clean. Purifies any stain intangible, invisible, or evil. So yeah, I'm pretty sure that includes ghosts." He sighed and ran his hand through his close-cropped hair for what felt like the thousandth time since finding Danny in that godforsaken house.

"Hmmm…" The boy ditched the extra rounds before popping open the shell. He poured the contents of the into his open palm and started rubbing it around. "Yeah... I'm not so sure how much I trust this, guys. I really don't think that salt of all things is-"

"Come on, dude." Dean prodded. "This is like hunting 101. You aren't telling us that you wanted to go up against that thing when you don't even know the basics, are you? If you're not actually up for this, we won't blame you."

Really, having Danny back out now would save them a world of trouble. They had a long way to go if they wanted to send Danny back to Amity Park even halfway prepared. Stupid FentonWorks. Stupid portal. Stupid monsters. This was supposed to have been an easy hunt. Easy. Not a freaking babysitting mission.

"I'm not-"

"At the very least, if you don't trust the salt, the next best thing is iron." Danny took a deep breath and sighed as Sam cut his retort short, strategically diffusing the budding argument. He continued with the lesson. "It's sturdier and easier to handle as a weapon, but not as versatile as the salt..."

After the first few hours, the three of them fell into a friendlier rapport. Danny had eventually moved to a seat at the cheap wooden table, deep in a discussion with Dean about which monsters the brothers had run into most frequently. Sam had replaced Danny on the bed, taking a step back from the conversation to continue his research on the kid's hometown from earlier.

"So wait. If all of this is new to you, then how in the world has Amity Park hidden a portal under our noses this whole time?" Dean finally asked Danny who was flipping through the brothers' journal to check if the 'ghosts' he'd been talking about had any relation to real monsters, "If I know anything about interdimensional rifts - and I know more than you'd think by the way - I'd think it would be more of along the lines of a 'we're-super-fucked' kind of problem."

"Believe it or not, Amity actually has a pretty good local line of defence." Danny replied without looking up from the journal. "They know what they're doing so word doesn't usually get out." He sighed. "Most people think it's all a hoax anyway, so it's not like the town is on anybody's radar."

"Local line of defence?" Sam asked, tearing away from his research. "Are your parents really that effective?"

Danny shifted uncomfortably in his seat and looked up at Sam. Both Winchesters took a note of it. "Well yes and no…" Danny paused to think. "My parents are enthusiastic scientists, sure, but when it comes to actually taking care of the ghosts, we have some people... like... like the Red Huntress! that know their way around. They keep everything pretty under control, so it's actually kind of unnecessary when other hunters stop by." Danny shrugged, regaining his lost composure. "Mostly it's just inconvenient."

"Inconvenient?" Dean prodded.

"Yeah, definitely." He sat back in his seat, "But from what I've heard, you two are different. That's why my friends keep making me promise to help you figure this out." He said, artfully switching the subject back to the brothers, like he had a hundred times before. "They literally wouldn't stop talking about you. Is it true that the government has pronounced both of you dead, like, multiple times? With bodies and dental records and everything?" Danny asked, eyes wide with curiosity.

"How the hell do you know about that?" Dean shot back.

"I have a very resourceful friend." Dean's eyes narrowed and Danny laughed. "Don't worry too much about it, government servers are very "year-one" for Tucker and he was just looking out for me."

"Sounds like a good guy." Dean relaxed. He honestly had forgotten about Danny's 'friends'.

"Pfft. You must have a pretty fucked up definition of good." Danny smiled.

"It's in the job description, kid."

"I get that," Danny shrugged. "but back to my question." he leaned forward, buzzing with excitement "Have you actually… like… died before?"

"Technically, yes." Dean sighed, giving in. Even though he could be annoying as all hell, the kid's enthusiasm was hard to resist, and Dean had always had a soft spot for teenagers. "but it's not anything that the government knows about…" He jumped into a watered down version of the incident with the shapeshifter. It was one of their less-involved stories and nothing any sort of higher-power would get upset at a random teen hunter knowing. Something to keep Danny interested but not anything detailed enough to resurface the trauma associated with dying and being brought back to life on multiple occasions.

Sam frowned at his computer. Something about Danny was still striking him as odd. He could tell the kid was hiding something. Or lying about something. Or both. He sifted through the tabs on his browser with newfound vigor.

Danny hadn't been telling outright lies, that much was certain. It was true that the adult Fentons showed up a lot for interviews and liked to talk shop with reporters, but from what Sam could tell they were rarely there for the actual fights and had never actually killed one of those monsters. So Danny was being honest when he said that the Fentons were competent scientists, not competent hunters.

Then there was the Red Huntress. Even without the stupid name, it was obvious that she was a hunter. The only information about her that Sam could find from his research were some blurry photos and a few speculative articles about her motives. She wasn't nearly as public of a figure as Danny's parents, which spoke to her skill. It was definitely easier to hunt the supernatural when there weren't cameras being shoved down your throat every other second. Especially when it came to the less-than-savory tactics that hunters often had to employ. So that wasn't it either.

He clicked through some more articles from Amity's local newspaper as something dawned on him. Something Danny had failed to mention.

"What about the Phantom creature?" Sam asked, interrupting Dean and Danny's continued conversation.

Danny froze up. "W-What about him?"

For a heartbeat nobody said anything.

"Dude." Dean broke the silence. "There was like a whole page of your parents' website dedicated to it. The evil 'ghost-boy' that runs around in spandex tights? The one that your parents claim is the root of your town's problems?" Dean scoffed "Like that freaking portal isn't root enough."

Danny laughed uncomfortably.

"Yeah, I noticed you hadn't mentioned it..." Sam added as Danny seemed to shrink back in his seat. "But if you look up anything about Amity Park, this Danny Phantom character is pretty hard to miss." He gestured to his computer, sure that this was the right line of questioning. "I was just wondering about your opinion as a local."

"Oh, right." The kid appeared put off by this topic, but eventually started to talk. "I guess I wouldn't go so far as to call him evil," Danny sighed, "but maybe he's not as great as some people make him out to be either… those articles exaggerate a lot." The boy shrugged noncommittally and looked back to his work. "I don't think he hurts the town by being there, and he usually helps more than he harms… But hey, who am I to talk? All I know is that the ghost hunters in Amity definitely do not consider him a part of the team."

"And are you considered part of this team? " Sam asked, not wanting to let up. They were onto something here, and Danny was revealing more than he meant to. Sam was intent on confirming their suspicions about the boy.

"What are you implying?" Danny shot back with a little more venom than necessary.

Before Sam could respond, a shrill electronic alarm went off that made the Winchesters jump. Danny's eyes went wide and he patted his pockets, looking around for his phone. "Shit, Sam, what time is it?" He asked as he continued his frantic search, finally fishing the noisy electronic from the sweatshirt that he had ditched across the room.

"Almost nine." Sam replied, looking at the time on his screen.

"Oh fuck. Guys. This has all been very educational and everything, but we should probably get going." Danny sent off a text before throwing the sweatshirt back on and starting clean up. When neither Winchester made a move to leave, Danny gave them pleading looks. "Guys. The ghost shield is going to go down in like, an hour. We have to be there before that happens."

"Don't get your panties in a bunch, wonder-boy. Ghosts can't leave their haunts. We're fine as long as no one goes into the haunted house." Dean joked.

"Well I assure you that this one can." Danny deadpanned. "Come on guys. It's the same ghost that electrocuted all of those other people. Not once in five years has it killed in the same location twice." Danny implored the brothers, bouncing anxiously on the balls of his feet. "Aren't you two supposed to prevent people from getting hurt or something?"

"Yeah, but like we've been saying, if that's true then it's not a ghost and we need to reassess the plan before we go in guns blazing." Dean antagonized with a smile.

"FINE." Danny huffed, unamused. "It's not a ghost. Whatever floats your boat. But you're seriously mistaken. We have to get there now if we want to have a chance of capturing it." Danny started throwing the brothers' equipment back into the bags on the bed. "Seriously. I'm not kidding."

"Okay, Danny, we'll go check on things, but don't think we're done talking about all of this stuff." Sam said, closing his laptop and moving to get ready. He wasn't sure if it was the jitters before his first real hunt, their previous conversation, or something the kid had yet to reveal to them, but it was apparent that Danny was incredibly nervous.

"Jesus." Danny rolled his eyes. "Come on. What does it matter if I hunt ghosts in Amity? Or know the difference between a Wendigo and a Woman in White? We have an angry creature," the teen glared over at Dean, "that's been trapped in a very small enclosure for over 20 hours. This is the threat right now, and we need to go." He opened the door to the motel room and motioned into the dying evening light. "I can't believe I let it get this late. Fuck Summer."

"Okay kid. Calm your tits. We're going." Dean scooted his chair back lazily and packed up the remaining weapons. Danny gave him a dirty look as the three of them exited the stuffy room and started toward the Impala. Danny hurried ahead and waited by the back door as Sam and Dean made their way over.

"We still don't know what this thing is." Sam leaned over to Dean. "It's not like us to go in unprepared."

"I think we're out of choices, Sammy." Dean replied, matching Sam's hushed tone. "Look at him. He's about to explode. If we don't go with the kid, he's going to go off on his own, and I, for one, am not prepared to deal with the consequences of that." He paused. "The least we can do is get him out of there if things go south."

Sam took a deep breath. "For the record, I still don't think that this is a good idea." He looked forward and smiled at Danny, who had a hand on the door handle and was watching the brothers impatiently.

"When do you ever think our ideas are good?" Dean joked. "We'll just wing it. It's not like we haven't done stuff like this before. It'll be fine."

"Don't jinx it." Sam frowned as Dean left to go unlock the doors.

The three hunters shuffled into the car, Dean driving, Sam in the passenger seat, and Danny in the back. The tension was thick as the engine roared to life, making Danny flinch uncharacteristically.

"Is something wrong back there, kid?" Dean asked, looking in the rearview mirror before shifting the gear to reverse and backing out of the parking lot.

"Oh, nothing's wrong." Danny said sarcastically, "I'm just sitting in a car with two hunters who still have no idea what's up, on my way to hunt a very powerful ghost, with no weapons, no gear and no hope." He crossed his arms and leaned back in the seat, tapping his foot anxiously. "I didn't realize how much time had passed and now we're fucked." Danny heaved an exasperated sigh.

"Come on, dude, things aren't that bad," Dean laughed at the boy, "And can I remind you that we do, in fact, have weapons? We just spent the last four hours going over all of the weapons that we have."

Danny rolled his eyes and looked out the window, avoiding eye contact. "No offense or anything, you guys may be good at hunting regular spirits, but this thing is almost definitely going to hand our asses to us tonight." He glanced at the phone in his lap with a scowl before crossing his arms and leaning against the door.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Danny." Sam tried to calm the boy down, "One of our methods is bound to work. This is our area of expertise after all. We won't let anything happen to you."

Danny huffed.

"It's not me that I'm worried about here." He said quietly, keeping his brows knit and his eyes trained on the street outside.

With that said, the car fell into silence.

What? This story is still being updated? Wan0 still writes? Who knew?

The next few chapters will be a bit shorter (more in the 2.5-3K ish range) so that I can actually finish this story. With this we're probably about half way done, so be expecting 4-6 more chapters (depending on how much I can get through each time)

Thanks so much for all of the faves follows and reviews. Everytime I get one it shows up in my email and I read it so that's probably the reason that Im still thinking of finishing this almost 8 months later. You guys are the best.

PS - the next chapter is 80% written so it should be up in the next couple of days/weeks and not in 8 months like last time ;)