Vlad's fist left a dent in the table where he had slammed it down in frustration. Several bottles had fallen and a single beaker had tipped over the edge and now lay shattered on the floor. Vlad ignored the mess to hold his head in his exhausted arms. Sighing he reach for a pen and began scribbling in the nearby notebook.
Experiment 63: Failure
Once again my attempt at creating the perfect minion has yielded no result. The agitated state of the stronger ghost concealed any effect the serum might have had in subduing its emotional state and making it more compliant. The forced merger ended in the lesser ghost being completely absorbed into the ectoplasmic body of the stronger ghost. There have been no noticeable changes as a result. I still believe the trick is to overwhelm the resistant emotions of the stronger ghost with greater feelings of loyalty and obedience in the weaker ghost, however, in all attempts the lesser ghost is overcome by fear and only gets absorbed and devoured by the power of the greater ghost.
I will try again tomorrow.
Vlad didn't both to close the notebook as he dropped the pen among the fallen beakers and turned to ascend the stairs. Before he even opened the hidden door in the bookcase he could hear the sound of his phone in the next room. He managed to pick it up before the last ring.
"This is Masters. To whom am I speaking?"
"Mr. Master, I am Judith Evans of Amity Park PD. I'm sorry to tell you this, but there has been a terrible accident."
Vlad was slightly annoyed. Why on earth would they call him? Normally his publicist or public media coordinator would let him know if some tragedy was worthy of a photo opportunity. There was no reason for the police to contact him directly.
"Please elaborate." He might as well play along until he knew more.
"It's the Fentons. You are listed as the emergency contact in the event of their sudden passing."
Vlad's heart dropped and for a moment everything went silent. What was that supposed to mean? Sure Jack had asked him about some nonsense related to looking after the kids in the case of an emergency, but…
"Sir? Are you still there?"
Vlad's voice shook. "Yes, I'm still here. What's this nonsense about suddenly passing?" It was a mistake, he had misheard. Or maybe it was a misunderstanding, or perhaps he was lucky and that oaf was finally out of the picture. They might be calling him because Maddie was too upset and they needed someone level headed to take care of things.
"There was an explosion at the Nasty Burger. The entire Fenton family, both parents, and children were at the scene along with a teacher and two friends of their youngest child. Only the boy, Danny, survived."
Vlad felt sick. This was a joke, they were lying. Someone had given them the wrong information and it was all a big misunderstanding.
"Sir?"
"I'm heading over," Vlad said angrily. He refused to believe she was gone. "I want to see it with my own eyes.
"Sir, the boy…"
"Yes, the boy," Vlad's voice softened. "Danny." The boy was alone. He had seen everything. He could clear this up. "I'll be over as quickly as I can. I want to know everything that happened," He snapped and hung up.
Vlad hardly had time to put on a decent jacket before he was out the door. He paid no mind to the speed limit as he hurried to that disgusting fast food dive the teens of this city were so hung up over. He vaguely remembered something about an attack there the other day but he had been too busy to look into it.
...
The damage was horrible. Bits of rubble and debris, twisted metal and melted plastic were all roped off behind yellow police tape. Everything was covered in a heavy layer of soot. Vlad couldn't bring himself to step out for a closer look, but he also could work up the strength to drive away. Only the need for answers finally pulled his eyes back to the road. Someone was going to explain how this happened.
...
Vlad's Bruno Magli's struck sharply against the tile as he hurried into the APPD. An officer was waiting to greet him. Evans, most likely.
"Hello, Mr. Mast-"
"Never mind the formalities, what happened!?"
Evans hesitated, "We're still figuring that out. At the moment our best guess it the ghost fight the other day damaged the sauce tank at the Nasty Burger. As for why the Fentons and the other three victims were there at the time of the explosion…"
"So you know nothing," Vlad snapped coldly. "What about Danny? Surely he saw everything?"
The officer's eyes saddened, and her lip tightened. "He's not speaking. He was found at the scene kneeling on the ground, staring into the flames. He was completely in shock and didn't respond to any stimulation."
"Where is he?"
The officer led Vlad down a hall and around a corner. Sitting on a bench, staring at the floor and covered in soot, was Danny.
"Daniel," Vlad said sharply, striding quickly towards the boy.
Danny didn't react.
Vlad stood in front of him and said his name again to no effect. Finally, he grabbed his shoulders and gave him a shake. "Daniel, look at me."
Danny finally looked up, but his eyes were empty, hollow, dark. After a moment the boy started to recognize who was in front of him.
"Vlad? What are you…?" Tears welled up in his eyes and Vlad was taken aback. Danny's lip trembled, he seemed to be trying to speak, but couldn't. Finally, he squeezed his eyes shut and looked down.
Vlad felt his own throat close. This was real. It wasn't a sick prank or some miscommunication. There had been an accident. The Fentons had been involved. Only Danny was left.