Benny Phantom

Chapter One: Never Listen to Five

Everyone had their own rituals for when Dad went on a business trip.

Luther and Diego snuck out to hang out with other members of the football team, Pogo chasing after them. Allison and Klaus had a sleepover, doing each other's nails and talking about boys as they blasted every song they could find with a dirty reference or word in it at full volume. Mom knitted while watching "Keeping up with the Kardashians." Vanya played her violin in one of Mom's dresses on the roof. Ben, preferably, would be reading right next to her.

Five liked dragging Ben to help him with whatever his newest stupid plan was. And once Five had his mind set on something, there was no talking him out of it.

So here they were, descending down the ridiculously long staircase to the basement, armed with nothing but two flashlights and some snacks. All because Five wanted to see what was in Dad's new lab.

Ben had only been in the lab once, to help move out all of Dad's old astronomy equipment four months ago. Dad was at crazy rich enough levels to be able to afford to just... change his lab whenever he discovered a new hobby. Before astronomy, it had been nuclear reactors. Before that was something to do with lasers. Or, at least, something that looked like lasers to five-years-old Ben as Pogo carried the equipment past him and into the moving truck.

Dad hadn't told any of them what the lab contained now. Which meant, of course, that Five was dying to find out what it did.

"I think we have a right to know what our father does in his spare time," Five declared as they walked down the stairs. "If he's going to install cameras in our fucking rooms then we should at least get to see his lab. "

"You figured out how to switch the cameras off months ago," Ben pointed out.

"It's the fact that it's even there in the first place that's the problem," Five retorted. "I appreciate my privacy. If he's going to take mine away, I'm taking away some of his. It's a fair trade."

"He won't see it that way."

"He's not going to find out."

Dad always found out. It was impossible to get anything past him, especially when it came to his rules. They both knew that. But that was a risk Five was willing to take, as did Ben by association; even though it was obviously a terrible idea.

(And okay, fine, maybe Ben did really want to see what was in that lab. Screw him and his lack of constraint).

Finally, they reached the bottom of the stairs. They were greeted with a cramped, completely dark hallway that smelt vaguely of mold, a result of Mom's programming not permitting her to go down here. A quick flip of the light switch on Five's part proved that the electricity was turned off, probably from Dad wanting to make sure none of his machines ran while he was gone. At the end of the hallway was an unappealing metal door, covered in rust and looking like something you'd find on a vault. On its valve was some sort of lock that Ben couldn't tell the details of from this distance.

Five rushed to the door and started examining the lock immediately, while Ben walked, taking in the sight of the hallway as he did. Shrouded in darkness, it was ten times creepier than he remembered it being, though he didn't remember it too well to begin with; Dad had been making them work so fast he never got a good look at anything.

Once he got close enough to the lock, he could almost immediately tell it was a fingerprint scanner. Simple, but efficient; even Five didn't know how to pick one of those. Ben almost breathed a sigh of relief. He may have no self-control, but with the door stopping them, they really had no choice but to-

Five pushed on the valve, and the door swung open immediately, emitting a high-pitched noise similar to nails on chalkboard that made Ben cringe.

"The hell?" Ben asked.