GHOST PROTOCOL {JLU/DP}

• WEAK •

JUST BECAUSE MADDIE KNEW she should ease herself back into routine didn't mean she would.

It was shockingly easy to slip past everyone's detection in the very open bunker, but with Jack constantly fiddling in the makeshift lab, Tucker and Sam never leaving the computer and Dani constantly out making runs with Valerie (who, if Maddie remembered correctly, dated Danny), she was almost always alone except for the hours after Dani got back until lights out at midnight.

This, however, did not mean she wasn't careful.

Maddie's by no means stupid— if she collapses it could set her progress back by weeks, if not months, completely irrelevant to the fact it's only been a couple weeks since this all started.

It seemed impossible.

Paulina and Valerie set up an entire economy and functioning government in, what? A couple days? And all in Paulina's mansion, too.

Meanwhile, Sam spearheaded a militia group that grew as Paulina collected signatures from people they both trusted to get the job done (which wasn't many) and Tucker continued to try and read through all of Danny's notes (which she had been reading in her spare time— very enlightening), trying to find a reason as to why the portals exploded in such a way that while dangerous, and potentially fatal, wasn't nearly as fatal as it should've been (Maddie personally suspected Vlad).

And so, Maddie worked slowly, and slowly those times she was tired started to disappear.

Two more weeks passed.

Paulina was becoming frustrated with the basement's progress and Valerie refused to come off duty to train the amassing group of people that needed to be trained to fight as there were still a lot of people stuck outside of protected areas such as the ones the two pockets of resistance resided in.

Maddie, hearing yet another frustrated call over the AM, decided to intervene. "I'll go. I'm not at a hundred percent, but I have enough in me to teach." Maddie offered.

Sam scrutinized her before turning back to the radio. "You get that?"

"Loud and clear— good to hear from you, Mrs. Fenton!" Paulina practically cheered. "And Sam, seriously, I don't like this, it's way too open. We need closed lines, fast."

Sam sighed. "I know, I know— I'll send Maddie over with equipment and a copy of Danny's notes. They're gonna need everything they can get."

"'Danny's notes'?" Paulina parrots smugly. "I knew he wasn't an idiot! Ha!" She must've heard Sam's raised eyebrow because she complained. "Oh, c'mon, Sam! Don't even try to deny it! All Danny did was act like an idiot in school and I'm the queen of faking it!"

"That's true," She admitted dryly . "you're not nearly as much of an airhead as I thought."

"I'm gonna take that as a compliment," Paulina waved off, "anyway, I always thought he was up to something— I just never thought he was taking notes on the ghosts."

Sam sighed. "I like this Paulina. Why can't you be her all the time again?"

Maddie snorted. "Because she likes being underestimated. It gives her a high like nothing else."

"Not even going to question how you knew that," Paulina declared slowly. "but, yeah, basically. It's this kind of silent power I've been dying to teach you, Sam."

"I'm not wearing pink."

"Y'know what— when we meet up to get Maddie, you can bring back the outfit I want to put you in." Paulina declares in slight annoyance, "Because it isn't pink."

Maddie laughed quietly under her breath as she walked off to talk to her husband, leaving the teenagers (God, she was so glad they were acting like it for once) to argue about logistics.

"Jack, honey? Can we talk?" She asks him quietly as she sits on the bench beside him. Concerned, Jack puts down the tool he was using. "Maddie? What's wrong?"

She paused. "...Paulina and Sam need someone to train the militia group..."

"And you volunteered?" Jack pretty much stated, only looking for confirmation, looking both amused and worried. "You're not going to push yourself, are you?"

Maddie smiled. "No more than I should."

Jack smiled happily. "Good. I'll pack our things." He set down the gear on his head and left for the barrack-eske room, but Maddie grabbed his arm. "Sweetheart, they need you here."

Jack sat down, grabbing his wife's hands as he looked her right in the eye, making sure she saw his fear and determination. "And I need to be there, making sure no other hunters have to die."