Three Days Ago

Vlad Plasmius stood in front of Amity Park city hall victoriously, he had finally won and Danny Phantom has been defeated. So why did some small part of him still feel so wrong. You've won, that's all that matters. The voice in his head was right, Vlad had triumphed where so many others had failed, he had not only gotten rid of his mortal enemy, but had also eliminated two of the biggest threats known to darkness.

Scanning the crowd for a reaction to what just happened; Vlad noticed that no one was screaming anymore, they were all just watching him very carefully, almost as if waiting for the heroes to come rushing in to stop him. Grabbing the microphone, he addressed his new kingdom with three simple words:

"Bow to me."

When no one obliged, Vlad decided that it would be the perfect opportunity to make an example out of the more prominent dissenters. Gathering energy in his palm, he slammed the ground as hard as possible, sending shockwaves of ecto-energy into the first couple of rows in the crowd. Watching as the people of Amity Park stumbled and fell before him, Vlad heard the whirl of oncoming helicopters in the distance; no doubt it was the soldiers that had been stationed outside of town just in case such an event took place making their move.

"Vladimir Charles Masters, under commands of the president of these United States of America, we order you to stand down!"

"Oh no," Vlad said in a mocking tone, "not the U.S Government, what ever shall I do!"

So focused on the helicopter hovering above, Vlad failed to notice that Madeline Fenton had regained her composure and had turned the RV's ecto-cannon on his back. Just as she was about to fire, the front half of one of the helicopters came crashing down in front of them, partially blocking her shot.

"Dammit!" She yelled, punching the twisted metal. "He is not getting away with this!" Aiming straight through the chopper, Maddie fired directly into the gaping hole in the windshield, somehow managing to hit Vlad in the center of his back and throwing him off balance.

Turning away from the helicopters that were still hovering, Vlad re-focused his attention on the wreckage in anticipation for another attack. "What in blazes?"

"That was for Jack!" Maddie roared, climbing atop the helicopter to get a better shot at the deranged ghost. "And this," she screamed through tears of anger as she squeezed the trigger once again, "is for my son!" Still in shock over her continued defiance, Vlad was unprepared when Maddie's second shot sent him flying through the podium and city hall doors.

Taking her chance, Maddie activated the assault vehicle's p.a system, "Attention people of Amity Park, you need to get to your homes and stay there until we say otherwise, this town is now on lockdown until further notice." Directing the panicked crowd away from the soon to be battleground, she instructed Jazz to get to stage and untie Sam and Tucker and then get back to Fenton-Works. "The ghost shield will be activated as soon as possible, but you all need to get far away from here and wait… wait for us and for Danny Phantom, because he will be back to stop this madman."

Maddie wasn't sure if she even believed her words as this point, but she held faith that her son was alive; and if not, then she would make sure the man who took him from them wouldn't be around much longer.

Once the majority of people had been cleared out, she barreled towards the front of city hall with the intent of bringing it down around Vlad. However, she stopped upon seeing a movement and a faint, almost ghostly, glow coming from area where Danny, Jake, and Randy had disappeared from. Ignoring Vlad and the immediate sense of danger, Maddie dropped and began brushing aside debris with the bittersweet hope of finding her son struggling under the rubble. As she moved the largest piece of debris from the body, she was met with a black and white jumpsuit branded with her son's symbol …

"Dani" she whispered.

Although not what she expect and even though she had only known the ghost girl for a few months, Maddie still considered her family. Gently helping her from the wreckage, she passed Dani to Jazz, who had just gotten Tucker and Sam free. So preoccupied with directing the children, she failed to see Vlad erupt from city hall's ruined doors.

Taking aim at the woman he loved, Vlad struggled momentarily with the idea of hurting Maddie. "Only to teach her a lesson," the voice in his head told him, "it's for her own good." Deciding to oblige the voice, he prepared to fire but was once again sent flying through the collapsing building.

"YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY WIFE!"

Maddie turned to see her husband at the controls of the assault vehicle, scowling at the place where Vlad had once been. "Jack! You're okay!"

"I'm better than okay, I'm Jack Fenton! Now, come on!" Loading his family in the RV, Jack threw the vehicle into reverse and slammed down the gas petal, completely crushing the empty cars behind him. "Ha, man I am so cool."

"Jack, we need to get home and turn on the ghost shield, we can't let Vlad out of Amity Park!"

"On it, babydoll!" Jack said, gunning the engine, "By the way, where's Danny? Did he and his friends get out when everything was blowing up?"

The morose silence in the vehicle told Jack all he needed to know. Gripping the steering mechanism hard, Jack prepared to turn around and finish Vlad off with his bare hands.

However, he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder, a small ghostly hand. "Danny, Jake, and Randy are gone Mr. Fenton, but I don't think they're gone-gone," Dani explained, "when those holes opened, there was something on the other side, and I think they just ended up on the where ever those portals opened into, but I don't think Vlad was paying attention to that." She winced as she ran her fingers across her side, no doubt a bruised rib, "So right now, we need to make sure Vlad can't get out at least until we see Danny coming back in, alright?"

Jack loosened his grip and continued towards Fenton Works, if anyone could get through this mess, it was Danny, "Fine." Regardless, Jack worried about his son and his friends and whispered a quiet promise. "But if my son isn't back in a week, I'll kill him... Vladdie or no Vladdie… no one messes with my family like this."

Vlad pulled himself out of the wreckage of city hall just in time to see the Fenton's and friends driving away in their family assault vehicle and although part of him was relieved they decided against blasting him to pieces, another part seethed with rage. "They're ignoring me? I just held the planet hostage and got rid of three major players and they think nothing more of me than to leave me under crumbling bricks?! HOW DARE THEY TREAT VLAD PLASMIUS WITH SUCH…SUCH… DISRESPECT!"

Bringing down the rest of the building in ghostly rage, Vlad hovered above the debris as the voice in his head continued whispering dark plans; They still think of you as a joke, a madman constantly being bested by children.

"Well then…" he said, landing in front of the abandoned news vehicles left vacant in the chaos, "no more."

Turning on the recording equipment inside the news-van, Vlad placed himself in front of a camera and made sure it was transmitting to every major station and live feed in the world.

"Attention, people of the world, once again, this is Vlad Plasmius. I've tried to be diplomatic, I've tried to be democratic, but it seems that what it will take to get my point across…is dictatorship. So here's what's going to happen, starting with Amity Park, I will conquer a different city every thirty-six hours. If you have hopes to stop me, abandon them now. I have defeated the world's savior, I have eliminated legends, and I have no intention of being defeated again by the likes of you. Consider this a preemptive punishment for having the gall to hide behind these weak willed fools you call heroes. Because while they may look like saviors to you, these heroes can die…" He paused as a glowing eye symbol appeared on his forehead and his eyes became illuminated with golden light, magic overlapping with ghost energy.

"Just as easily as children."