7 7

Tucker and Sam were sitting in the goths mansion, sipping chocolate soy milkshakes. It had been a few days since they last saw Danny and they were starting to wonder why he wasn't answering their texts.

"Why isn't Danny answering my texts?" Tucker asked, looking down at his cell phone and his PDA at the dozens of unread texts he has sent in the last three days.

Ever since they were all small children, they hadn't gone more than two days without talking to each other. Even when they were fighting about something they would still text one another, albeit it was mostly to be salty and mean, but it was still communication.

"I know, he hasn't answered me either," Sam picked up her charging phone, glaring down suspiciously at her unanswered texts. It wasn't like Danny to ignore them for more than a day. He hadn't even done that when she told him she never wanted to see him again after he made fun of her outfit that one time when her parents were punishing her with girly clothes.

It may be true that he forgot his cell at home before he left for the fishing trip, but Danny should have been back Monday for school. It was now Tuesday evening and he never showed up in the last two days.

"Maybe we should stop by his house and check on him," Tucker suggested, "What if Vlad..." He didn't finish, regretting saying his first major concern out loud.

Sam dropped her soy milkshake, and the glass dropped to the floor shattering into dozens of sticky pieces. Her eyes were wide and her mouth dropped open at Tucker's implication, the fact that it could be a real possibility only made her more afraid.

She got up quickly and grabbed her phone off the charger, and Tucker wondered if he should have said anything about Vlad. "Sam, let's not jump to conclusions." He tried to settle her down a little, knowing the overprotective goth chick of a friend would tear down buildings when it came to him and Danny.

One time when she found out from Danny that Dash was beating the shit out of Tucker on a particularly irritating day for the jock, she had skipped a parent-teacher conference with the principal, ignored her parents telling her she was in a world of trouble and pulled the fire alarm. She was slick enough that nobody saw her do it and lucky enough when the school cameras were under maintenance that day, and fast enough that Tucker walked away with only a fractured wrist and a black eye with various other scattered bruises. It could have been much worse at the rate Dash was going, Tucker had been more scared of Dash during that than he ever had been.

Dash had paid the hospital bill and bought Tucker lunch the next day. Tucker remembered how bizarre it had been to be at his locker just before lunchtime and Dash walked right up to him and apologized for being so rough. He had handed Tucker a bag full of food, and a dessert, from Nasty Burger and a wad of cash. Though it didn't excuse his actions, it was definitely appreciated by the tech nerd who had a lower than average income at home.

He also remembered another time when Danny's parents were fighting about something meaningless for the millionth time and they didn't notice that Danny had come home with a black eye. The depressed and neglected child had called her for some company, but she was grounded for skipping class to help patch up Danny's the injuries Dash left and was under house arrest. She had climbed out of her bedroom window from three stories up, nearly broke her ankle, almost got caught sneaking out, all just to take Danny to a movie.

Tucker had been there too, and they had all went to his house when the movie was over, Sam's parents never noticed she was gone, and neither did Danny's.

"I'll stop jumping to conclusions when I find out why Danny isn't talking to us." Sam was nearly growling out as she opened the door and walked out.

Tucker followed her, but when they got to Danny's house, it took them banging on the door and ringing the bell repeatedly for 5 minutes until they realized no one was home.

That was strange, Danny really should have been back by then, and his parents were nearly always home.

They looked at each other, wondering if they should come back later, but they needed to know that Danny at least came home from the fishing trip, and the need outweighed their common courtesy.

They grabbed the extra key from under the mat and unlocked the door.

The house was quiet, it was more than obvious that nobody was home.

They figured they would check out Danny's room, the kid spent most of his time there and they knew exactly how Danny left it before the trip, they would know if Danny had been there since then.

There was no sign of him though. The empty soda cans and the various candy wrappers were still thrown around carelessly by his desk, and his clothes hadn't moved from their spot on the floor by his bed. There was no indication that Danny had been in his room at all for the last few days.

They looked at each again, now more than a little worried. They didn't see his phone anywhere either, which meant that he had to have taken it with him. Tucker started thinking about all the different ways he could track Danny before Sam tapped his shoulder.

She was looking into Jazz's open bedroom, but it took Tucker a few seconds to realize why this was sketchy.

"Wait, isn't Jazz supposed to be in college?" He said when he caught sight of the suitcase full of Jazz's stuff. "Why would she come all the way home in the middle of the semester?"

"Tucker, somethings wrong. I feel it in my gut."

"Me too."

Just then, the front door opened and voices could be heard filling the house.

"I'm just not sure about it Dad, I haven't seen even one mermaid in that cove." Tucker and Sam headed for the stairway when they heard Jazz's voice.

"Jazmine I know what I saw, there were dozens of them. They must be hiding somewhere. If only the Fenton diving suites were ready." Jack's deep voice penetrated the kid's ears.

"Can't you just buy regular diving suites?"

"Of course not, Jazz." Maddie said with her hands on her hips, "if there are mermaids there, then we can't go without the weapons on the Fenton diving gear, we would be dead in minutes."

"Um, hello," Sam said from the top of the staircase with Tucker, they waved when the Fenton's finally noticed them. They became even more nervous when they heard the conversation topic and the fact that Danny wasn't with them. "Anyone know where Danny is?"

Jazz gasped, "Mom and dad didn't tell you?"

"Sam, Tucker?" Maddie started, "How did you two get in the house?"

"Nevermind that, what didn't they tell us, Jazz?" Sam ran down the stairs, skipping a few steps. Tucker ran close behind her.

"Danny's missing," she said, "Dad is positive that mermaids kidnapped him on their fishing trip. We've been searching for him for days now."

Sam and Tucker gasped, mermaids didn't exist, so what was really going on? Where was Danny really?

"We will help," Tucker said bravely, only to be quickly refused by Maddie.

"Tucker, Sam, you do not need to. We are on a very dangerous mission that could possibly lead to getting eaten alive by merpeople. Kids like you aren't needed." Sam's fists clenched and Tucker looked outraged. They wanted to strangle the woman for being so idiotic, Danny was not kidnapped by merpeople. They don't exist! They were mythical creatures in storybooks and movies! They weren't real. Danny could be out there stranded with no food and dying of dehydration and his parents were searching for freaking mermaids!

"Let us help!" Sam pleaded, "Tucker is the best Hackers in North America, he can track Danny's phone in his sleep."

"We already tried that Sam," Maddie crossed her arms, "Danny's phone has to be dead or destroyed because we can't find it anywhere."

"That's no problem for me," Tucker spoke up, confident of his skills. "I can find Danny's phone anywhere in the world, even if it was blown to bits."

"Mom," Jazz said, standing by Sam and Tucker, "Tucker's right, I've seen him hack even the most secure security systems, he can find Danny's phone."

Maddie sighed, "as pleasant as the offered help sounds Jazmine, I can't endanger the lives of two other kids. It's bad enough your coming with us."

"Then at least let us communicate with you from your lab." Sam tried to compromise, "Tucker would have access to your communication system and could send you coordinates directly to your navigator."

"How do you know what's in our lab?" Maddie and Jack had always been careful not to let the kids have access to their lab, there were too many hazards that could possibly send them to the hospital if something went wrong.

"Hello! We're best friends with your son," she ignored the temptation to rub their neglect in Maddie's face, "Who, by the way, listens to you blather on about your new weapons every day of his life. You pretty much tell him everything that goes on in there." She had always liked the Fenton's better than her own parents, but she would never forgive them for all the pain that Danny went through in the last few years as they forgot all about him in favor of their research. "Telling Danny all that is just like telling us. We know everything there is to know about Danny."

She looked between the two kids, wanting the help that Tucker says he's capable of giving, but conflicted about allowing them access to such advanced and dangerous equipment.

She sighed, her own son's life would always come first.

"Fine, but on one condition." She held up her finger as if Tucker and Sam needed a visual of the number 1. "You let me teach you the software, and when I say don't touch, I want you to assume that I mean, 'touch and get blown up.'"

"Yes, ma'am." They both said, grateful they would at least be allowed to help in some way. It wasn't the same as physically going and searching for Danny, but it was better than sitting on the sidelines while his parent hunted on a wild goose chase with Danny's life on the line.

...

Tucker and Sam were in the Fenton's basement, sticky notes were put anywhere where Mrs. Fenton didn't want them to touch. Tucker sat in front of a monitor with a pair of Fenton phones in his ears and Sam was looking over his shoulder at what he was doing.

"I'm hacking into Danny's memory chip right now Mrs. Fenton." He was saying as he typed away on the keyboard. Sam stared at the monitor that was black with a bunch of green codes scattered across it. She was amazed at Tucker's determination, she had no idea what he was doing and yet he looked like he knew exactly what he was doing.

Tucker knew that Danny's phone was killed due to water damage, also knew that it was pretty deep down in the cove.

"Sending you the coordinates to its location." He turned on another monitor and pushed some buttons, looking at Sam with a finger over his lips. She knew that meant he was doing something Maddie Fenton didn't want him to do and she needed to be quiet.

The monitor turned on and they got a visual of the underwater cove the Fenton's were searching through. Sam's eyes widened, she didn't know that he would be able to do that so easily. She watched as Tucker turned on another monitor, ignoring the sticky note there, and pushed a few buttons. A radar came into sight on the scream a minute later.

Tucker peeled off the sticky note.

"Don't touch this angels, forgot to teach you how to work it and I don't want it to get damaged ;)"

Tucker smiled and Sam laughed.

"I got the coordinates, Tucker," he heard Jazz say over the phones, "inputting them into the navigator."

"Uh. Tucker?" Sam said as she stared at the radar where a number of glowing white dots could be seen "What does the radar pick up?"

Tucker stopped typing and looked over, staring at the radar in confusion as he covered the receiver on the Fenton phone. "I don't know," he looked at visual they had on what the Fenton's were seeing outside the submarine window.

"Probably fish," Tucker concluded, "or sonic waves being released from other techs that got lost at sea, maybe. I wouldn't worry about it."

Sam shrugged and grabbed a chair, sitting to watch the visual monitor.

It didn't take long for Danny's parents to find the phone, but when Tucker caught sight of it he remembered something very important. As if the sight of the phone triggered him to have the world's most helpful epiphany.

"Oh my God!" Tucker said.

"What?!" His sudden outburst shocked Sam enough that she almost fell out of her chair. The Fenton's all asked him what was wrong, not expecting the techno-geek to yell so suddenly.

"I just remembered, I can hack into his camera and get the last footage that was recorded."

"What?" Jazz said skeptically, "what if Danny wasn't recording anything when he disappeared?"

"It doesn't matter, the camera is still active even when it's off, that's how hackers all over the world are able to stalk people through their computers. I can do it." He said as he jumped right back on Danny's database and started typing away on it. It would be a hard and time-consuming process since Danny's phone hadn't been recording, and the footage would probably be scattered and would probably have multiple timestamps, but Tucker was on a mission and he would not rest until they found what happened to Danny.

"It's going to take me a while, but I'll keep working on it."

"Tucker, sweetie, remind me later to buy you everything in Best Buy." Maddie Fenton said as she worked a remote control magnet to pick up the phone and bring it into the sub. They still hadn't seen any mermaids, and this phone was the first sign that Danny was ever there that they have been able to find, and it was all thanks to Tucker.

The cell phone was completely crashed from water damage and cracked in a few places, but maybe with the actual physical cellphone in his hands, Tucker would be able to get more off it.

...

Danny hissed as Phantom took another small bite off his shoulder, he was sure blood was misting up in front of him but he was glad, for his stomach sake, that he couldn't see it.

Danny couldn't tell the difference between day and night down in this cave, but Phantom knew that he had kept the kid for ten days now

The 15-year-old silenced himself as best he could and shut his eyes, not willing to allow the merman to see any more pain in his face then Danny could help.

Phantom smirked as he ripped off yet another chunk from the side of the human's stomach, avoiding the arteries. The thoughts running through the kids mind amusing him to no end.

That's cute, Phantom thought, he thinks he can hide his pain from me.

Though the kid didn't seem to fear him like he did when they first met, the human was still obviously so afraid for his life.

Phantom worked his way down, taking bite after bite and tasting as the flavor and texture changed as he got farther down the kid's body. Truth is, he was full after the 5th bite, but he loved causing the kid pain. So he took another, and another, and another until he got to the inside of his thighs.

They seemed to be the most sensitive, because not only did they twitch and jerk as Phantom's talons and teeth dug into the flesh, but Danny couldn't hold back the scream he let out. Phantom's eyes glowed in exhilaration, chewing the tender flesh he tore off between his teeth.

It was then he noticed he was at eye level with that funny looking appendage that human males had. In his life, Phantom had seen many men use that on girls. It seemed to bring them great amounts of joy, that is until Phantom dragged them down and ate them. The humans always seemed to die from shock and pain only seconds after Phantom bit the thing off. He wondered what was so great about it, why did human males care about the small thing so much?

He wondered how Danny would react if he pretended like he was going to bite it off, the kid was already strung and ready to break from pain from all the bites phantom already left.

He stuck the whole thing in his mouth and immediately Danny was screaming at him not to eat that, the sudden warmth there shocking him. Phantom smirked at Danny's wide and fearful eyes as he stared into Phantom's amused green ones.

Feeling playful and sadistic, Phantom put the smallest amount of pressure on the soft appendage and watched as Danny bent down closer to him, shaking his head and begging him not to bite. Danny knew not only would it be more pain then he could handle, but he might actually die from how bad it would hurt, let alone the shock he would suffer through.

Danny begged, no regard for his dignity, there was no time to be a witty bastard, he knew Phantom would not hesitate.

Phantom smirked again, retracting his teeth and slowly released it from his mouth.

A pleasant shiver ran down Danny's spine and his eyes shut, unsure why his body betrayed him but trying hard not to think about how good that felt. He hated this creature with every fiber of his being for treating him like an animal and constantly teasing all the while threatening him. He was despicable and had to be the spawn of Satan.

"Well, I suppose you can call him Satan, my kind prefer him to be called Hades though." Phantom licked at the blood seeping out from the small flesh wounds he left across Danny's body.

So, Hades was real, too? Out of all the religions, out of all the cultures, Greek mythology was what was real? First Merpeople, now Hades? What was next, the Krakken? Davy Jones's ghost?

"Don't be silly, pet. Ghosts don't exist, and my kind killed the Krakken years ago." Phantom smiled sweetly at him in the most malicious way possible and cupped the human's cheek in his hand.

Danny moved his face away from Phantom's treacherously gentle hands and glared at him with his bright blue eyes. He'd had enough of Phantom's teasing, but he couldn't help but be a little curious about merpeople.

"Aww come on, precious." Phantom swam around behind Danny and rested his chin on the kid's shoulder, "I know you're curious. I can hear it in the little brain of yours." He licked the shell of Danny's ear just to get a reaction, and Danny didn't disappoint. Goosebumps picked up along Danny's neck and he growled, head butting the creature behind him.

Phantom shut his eyes in pain and rubbed his forehead, the kid had a strong skull, he would give him that.

The bump healed almost immediately and Phantom smirked, Danny never failed to amuse him.