The Middleton High football field was no longer a place for pep rallies and tactical cheerleading. It had become the epicenter of a spatial wound. The grass was a checkerboard of healthy green turf and scorched, ectoplasmic mud. The goalposts on the North end were standard aluminum; the goalposts on the South end were made of jagged, black iron that seemed to moan in the wind.
"Sheila," I said, my voice tight as I monitored the feed from a drone hovering directly above the fifty-yard line. "The Anchor is surfacing."
["Energy readings are off the charts, Danny. The barrier between the 'Null Void' and the 'Ghost Zone' is thinning right under the scoreboard. And the guests have arrived."]
A rift tore open in the center of the field—not a clean portal, but a jagged rip that looked like broken glass. Stepping through was a figure that made the "Campbell" in me want to crawl under a desk. Vilgax, the Conqueror of Ten Worlds, stood ten feet tall, his cybernetic respirators hissing. But he wasn't alone. Hovering beside him was Skulker, the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter, his mechanical armor gleaming with a new, emerald-tinted upgrade.
"A fascinating world, Vilgax," Skulker's metallic voice echoed. "So many unique pelts to collect in such a small radius."
"The Omnitrix is here, hunter," Vilgax rumbled, his eyes fixed on the horizon. "That is the only trophy that matters."
"Team! Go! Go! Go!" I barked into the comms.
The response was a synchronized strike that would have made a professional general weep.
Kim Possible swung in from the top of the bleachers, firing a flurry of knockout gas pellets that Vilgax swatted away like flies. "Target sighted! He's bigger than the brochures, Wade!"
"I've got the big guy!" Ben Tennyson yelled, slamming the Omnitrix. In a flash of green, he was Humungousaur, growing until he was eye-to-eye with the Chimera Sui Generis. The two titans collided in the center of the field, the impact sending a shockwave that shattered every window in the press box.
High above, Danny Phantom and Jake Long were locked in a mid-air dogfight with Skulker. Jake spiraled through the air, unleashing a torrent of dragon fire that Skulker absorbed into his shield.
"Yo, Ghost-dude! He's got some kind of heat-sink!" Jake shouted, barrel-rolling to avoid a shoulder-mounted missile.
"I see it! Cover me!" Danny dove, turning intangible to phase through Skulker's armor. He reappeared inside the suit, short-circuiting the weapon systems with a burst of freezing core energy.
I watched the battle unfold on my screens, my fingers flying across the console. "Sheila, the Anchor is exposed! It's the obsidian spike emerging from the turf! If Humungousaur and Vilgax keep trade-hitting, the vibration is going to shatter the Anchor before we can stabilize the cities!"
["If the Anchor shatters prematurely, the merger will become permanent, Danny. The cities will be fused in a state of 'mid-collapse' forever."]
"Not on my watch." I grabbed a specialized "Null-Ecto Disruptor" I'd been building since this morning—a device that looked like a heavy-duty laptop case but contained enough power to jump-start a dying star. "I'm going in."
["Danny, the risk of Kim spotting you is—"]
"The risk of her living in a town that's 50% ghost-swamp is higher! Mask my bio-signs. Use the 'Perception Filter' at 100%."
I exited the lab and sprinted toward the field. The chaos was absolute. The air tasted like ozone and charcoal. I slid into the drainage trench near the sidelines, moving toward the fifty-yard line while the literal gods of three different universes traded blows above me.
I reached the obsidian spike. It was vibrating, humming with a sound that made my teeth ache. I began to wire the Disruptor into the spike's base.
"Just a few more seconds..." I whispered.
Suddenly, the ground shook. Humungousaur had been thrown—hard. The massive alien crashed into the bleachers just twenty feet from me. Vilgax loomed over him, his hand glowing with energy.
"The watch, boy. Give it to me, and I may spare this wretched 'Middleton'."
"Ben!" Kim's voice screamed. She was running toward Ben, her eyes wide with terror.
But she wasn't looking at Ben. She was looking at the spot right next to the Anchor. The spot where my perception filter had flickered because of the massive EMP Vilgax was putting out.
She saw a silhouette. She saw me.
"Producer?" she gasped, her stride faltering.
I didn't look up. I slammed the final key on the Disruptor. "Sheila! TRIGGER IT!"
A dome of pure white light erupted from the Anchor. It didn't explode; it imploded. The violet sky snapped back to blue. The black iron goalposts vanished, replaced by aluminum. The 'Nasty Burger' signs flickered and died, leaving only the Middleton 'Smart-Coffee' logos behind.
The merger was reversing.
Vilgax and Skulker were yanked backward, the rift acting like a giant vacuum cleaner. "NO!" Vilgax roared, his fingers clawing at the turf before he was sucked back into the void.
The field went silent. The Anchor was gone, leaving nothing but a small, scorched circle in the grass.
I was already moving, diving back into the drainage trench and activating my cloak at full power. I didn't stop until I was back in the Sub-Level lab, my chest heaving, my hands shaking.
On the monitor, I saw Kim standing at the fifty-yard line. She was alone. Ben was back to human form, Jake and Danny were landing beside her, but Kim was staring at the spot where I had been.
She reached down and picked something up.
My heart sank. It was a small, silver thumb-drive—the one I'd given her months ago with the "signal-boosting code." I must have dropped it during the scramble.
"Wade," Kim's voice was barely a whisper, but the lab's high-gain mic caught it. "Run a forensic scan on the 'Producer's' last location. I don't care how many satellites it takes. I want to know who was standing at that Anchor."
["Kim... I'm already running it,"] Wade's voice sounded hesitant. ["The bio-trace is... it's a 99.9% match for a registered citizen of Middleton."]
"Who, Wade?"
["It's your brother, Kim. It's Danny."]
I slumped into my chair, the blue lights of the lab suddenly feeling very cold. The "Possible Protocol" was still active. The world was saved. But the secret was dead.
"Sheila," I said, rubbing my face. "Prepare the 'Explanation' file. And maybe... maybe order some very expensive apology flowers."
["I don't think flowers are going to cover this one, Danny."]