Double Dead.
Author: Invader Johnny
Disclaimer: Danny Phantom doesn´t belong to me, it belongs to Butch Hartman, as if we didn't already knew that... Am I right?
Synopsis: Vlad finds out that sometimes the people you once knew change and not exactly for the better, then again the ghost in front of him isn't his old adversary persay, Post PP.
Author Notes: Ok people, prepare yourselves for some serious Vlad angst, considering this takes place years after Phantom Planet, it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone reading this that he won't get any sort of sympathy from the people around him.
A Newscast showed what everyone hope would never happen.
"VLAD MASTERS IS BACK"
A lone cloaked figure watched the screen with mild interest.
"What's this about?"
Tiffany Snow continued with her report "The Guys in White have come across some unusual and highly unstable ghost artifacts when trying to capture a gang of malevolent ghosts, these artifacts resembled the equipment built by the Fenton family, local ghost hunters.
"Ghost hunters my green ass, those morons couldn´t catch a ghost if it was living under their roof and there is!"
"However these weapons do not have the Fenton logo and Danny Phantom himself has confirmed THAT these dangerous artifacts do not belong to him or Fenton Works and that in fact, weapons such as the ghost gauntlets, Plasmius Maximus and a spectral energy neutralizer among other types of machinery used to belong to the notorious Vlad Master, A.K.A Vlad Plasmius"
Now the man smirked evilly "Everyone here knows the fruit loop has ghost powers? Interesting"
"The GIW organization as well as the FBI and CIA have started a manhunt to find this despicable man and bring him so that justice can be served…. The police ask that anyone who was information for this half-ghost's whereabouts to call immediately and…."
"Hey you!"
The mystery man turned his head sharply to meet the eyes of one angry store owner.
"Unless you want to buy a TV, go away!, I don't want hobos lounging around my store all day!"
The cloaked man looms over the feeble store owner and asked coldly "Want to repeat that old man? Because I'm pretty sure you were telling me what to do"
Despite his age, the elderly man was not afraid of the monster in front of him if anything it just added more wood to the fire.
"I'm warning you, scram or do you want me to call the cops?"
The muscular guy smirked "I rather you didn't, I don't have the time for games right now"
"GAMES?" The old man coughed a few times before glaring "Are you ion crack? This is no game; you are going to be in trouble if you don't leave my store!"
"I never set foot in your store" The younger male pointed out sardonically "Or are you too blind to notice?"
"OUT!"
Before anything else could be done, the monster grabbed the man by the neck and a disgusting "crack" was heard.
The murderer looks at the corpse with hungry eyes "I forgotten how good it feels to kill"
He dropped the body and walked away.
"I can have fun later, now I need to find an old friend" He thought maliciously.
A Few Weeks Later:
In the loneliness of the bunker, Vlad (wearing a cast for his broken right arm and several bandages wrapped around his chest) was in the kitchen, at the counter, making some tea, notably he seemed rather sad, his soul singing with guilt and failure. Then, he could have sworn that the temperature in the room declined to a point where he started to feel cold shivers up his spine.
And then, to his alarming fear, all the lights in his underground "house" went out, leaving Vlad in utter darkness. So then, he dropped the tea cup, shattering it on the floor, and transformed into his ghost side. Using his free left hand he charged it up with ectoplasm and aimed it anywhere in alarm. His breathing was starting to get unsteady, breathing faster and faster by the second as anxiety began to build up inside of him, anxiety that was quickly replaced by fear as he heard hard breathing and the drifting sways of a cloak.
Frightfully, he kept turning around frantically, his forehead beating with sweat. Then, his heart pumping with adrenaline, bolted out of the kitchen with top speed, flying his way out, he went intangible and phased through the floor, heading down to get to his newly made Ghost Portal, but at the moment he entered his laboratory, right when he would have dived into his freedom, ectoplasm seemed to have shot out of the darkness and enwrapped him!
With a cry of panic he tried to phase out of the ectoplasmic chains but he found that he couldn't, the chains were too strong, struggled as he might. Then he heard a familiar demonic voice.
"Well, well, well, looks like the game of cat and mouse comes to an end"
"Daniel_" The half ghost asked in disbelief "How...?
"...Did I found you?" The man finished the question smugly "Doesn´t matter...Did you think you could escape me, Vlad?"
"Please Daniel" The former billionaire begged "Leave me be..."
Danny sneered "Fat Chance Plasmius, you never let me alone so why should I return the favor?"
Phantom melted out of the shadows, slowly walking towards Vlad as his chains pulled him closer. The older Halfa attempted to shoot lasers out of his eyes but his capturer quickly punched Vlad right in the kisser, knocking out a few teeth and giving him two black eyes.
Then, Phantom commanded his chains to throw Vlad across the room, smashing onto a lab table. He tried to help himself up but by then he felt the younger man heavy right foot hold him down roughly on his back, pinning him from moving.
"Doesn´t feel good now does it?" Phantom asked darkly "Being under someone else´s wrath" his eyes glowed at their most fiery green, two twin green beams shot out of them and drilled rather painfully into the Halfa's chest. Vlad managed to hold in the urge to scream in pain as the beam, working like a tractor beam, ripped a part of Vlad's chest"
"Daniel... stop" Vlad said with utter pain "You're not like this!"
"People change uncle Vlad"the white haired ghost grinned darkly and raised his right fist threateningly.
But then he dropped it, seeing for the first time just how the enemy he once feared became nothing more than a shadow of his former self, Phantom looked down at him with a mixture of pity and disgust.
"I can´t believe I used to fear you"
And then, to Vlad's total surprise, his asversary turned the other way silently, as though nothing had ever happened. Vlad, helping himself to his feet with what strength he had, swallowed hard and asked nervously,
"Is it too late to ask for forgiveness?"
Immediately, Phantom stopped walking, turned his head slightly, and after a brief moment of silence… he began to bellow with dark laughter hysterically, making the old Halfa shake with fear considerably.
After a few minutes, hi's heavy dark laughter was reduced to a light sarcastic chuckle,
"Forgive you?" the younger male asked incredulously, after his chuckling died down, his eyes narrowed as green flames bellowed, "What the fuck do I look like? Jesus Christ?"
Then, quicker than the old billionaire could have followed, Phantom's hand enwrapped his face in a violent manner.
As Vlad tried to get out of Phantom´s iron grip, grimly the monster spat out contemptuously,
"Did you think I would forgive you after all you had done to me? After what you done throughout the years?" Suddenly, his gloved hand alit with green flames and Vlad screamed in horror and pain as they slowly burned his face,
"No second chances for you." Phantom said coldly as his fiery grip on Vlad's burning face tightened; not letting go as Plasmius's screaming pierced the silent air of the Mansion like a knife.
Steam literally poured from his head as the flames crackled and burned, and after what seemed like an eternity, Phantom dropped him roughly. After he stopped screaming, Vlad began to cry as he clasped his now burnt face, tears fled from his eyes, rolling down his scorched cheeks.
"If you thought your "ecto-acne" made you ugly… than you look worse than shit." Phantom then snorted sarcastically, "Welcome to my world."
Vlad staggered to get up, stumbling to the floor like a toddler, the muscular man watched silently as he made it over to a broken computer screen, and the Halfa gasped in fear at his new reflection.
His face burnt all over to the point where his skin looked like badly cooked meat, blood poured out of tiny wounds made by the ghost´s hands, trailing over his ugly face. Vlad gazed at it in pure horror, his own hair was gone! Revealing an ugly bald head that was terribly scorched, his own beard had left him too.
He was as every bit burned and ugly and it made him cry as he stumbled back, falling to his knees, crying bitterly.
Phantom, not feeling an ounce of sympathy, turned away and said cruelly. "Consider this your punishment for all your sins. Now you have two choices; you can either live with your disfigurement and the weight of your crimes, or you can kill yourself. Honestly? I don´t care so it´s all up to you Plasmius"
And then he vanished without a trace, leaving the disgruntle, disfigured Vlad in his basement, wallowing in self-pity as he cried with tears of regret…
"Daniel... What happened to you?"
A few Months Later:
Of all the things Danny expected from his arch-enemy, this wasn´t it, he felt empathy for the older Halfa, when he heard that Vlad actually killed himself, he found out thanks to a newspaper that was in one of the news on the internet, "VLAD PLASMIUS COMMITED BIZARRE SUICIDE".
Danny wished he could have found him sooner, maybe then he would have given his former arch-enemy a chance at redemption.
He wondered how it could have happened.
Or why did it happen. because Danny knew Vlad to well, he knew the former billionaire would never end his life just like that.
That was not in Plasmius character.
In another place at another time the same Danny looked down at the city with disgust "It´s too happy".
He melted away the human appearance and in place stood the same cloaked man "But I can deal with this for a while, after all I just wasted Plasmius, with him out of the picture I don't need to worry about Danny"
Dan Phantom smirked cruelly
"It´s only a matter of time"
He was right, Vlad was out of the picture but that didn´t meant that Plasmius was.
Because right then and there the evil version of Danny got attacked in the back.
And he widened his eyes in surprised then in malicious joy, "Come back for more huh?"
"Shut up" Plasmius snarled "Now get up and fight me"
"I doubt you want to die again"
"I know you're not the boy I knew years ago and I know what you are, Clockwork told me everything, so you are not about to kill anyone, not even Daniel."
"And you care why?"
"Because I almost destroyed the world once, I´m not about to let it happen again if there is anything I can do about it"
"How noble" Dark Danny mocked disgusted.
"I see Clockwork was right, you are constantly underestimating people"
"Can you blame me?" The evil entity mocked "No one is above me!"
"Obviously that isn't true if Daniel managed beat you"
"A mistake I will soon rectify after I destroy you Plasmius"
"Over my dead body"
Phantom grinned evilly "As you wish"
The Ghostly Wail soon came afterwards.
Vlad became intangible and went bellow the streets.
that didn't stop the green ghost, if anything he thought smugly.
"So predictable"
Phantom flew height into the sky, then once more directed his ghostly wail, this time bellow him.
Plasmius couldn't hold in such a tremendous power.
But he tried, so he flew directly towards his adversary.
Which was a mistake.
Dark Danny continued his attack, Vlad never noticed he had a hand behind his back.
Which was glowing red.
All the former Half-Ghost was thinking of stopping this monster.
"I will not lose!"
The closer he got, the more power he tried to summon.
five feet.
four feet.
three feet.
two feet.
"NOW!"
Plasmius then gasped... Trembling on the spot.
There was no more wailing.
He felt... Cold.
"What's wrong V-Man?" Dark Danny taunted "Cat's got your tongue?"
Vlad began coughing... Green.
It was ectoplasm.
Looking down he could see a pair of very sharp claws had impaled him.
His once pristine white suit was now covered with his own blood or ectoplasm, at this point it didn't matter.! what did matter was that the spot was getting bigger by the second.
The dark ghost retracted his claws, grabbing Vlad with his other hand so he wouldn't fall... Yet.
"You know what? I didn't have to kill you" He said "There was a time when you could've been useful to me"
Vlad continues coughing.
"Don't close your eyes... Don't close them! Stay awake goddamn it!"
"But I'm no longer a part of time itself" Dark Danny continued nonchalantly "So I don't need you alive... In a matter of speaking that is"
"You... You..."
"I...I what?" He mocked "I win? Well clearly"
Vlad could only reply with a feeble glare.
Dan laughed evilly "The once powerful Plasmius, reduced to a weakling... How fitting, guess your second dead should be as lonely and pathetic as your first.
He then let go of the former billionaire.
Vlad began to fall.
"Before you become a puddle of ectoplasm on the ground, remember this... Your sacrifice will be in vain, and your dead? Meaningless... After all who would mourn you?"
That was a low blow and Dan knew it, he just didn't care.
All he cared was about causing as much despair as possible.
Plasmius closed his blood red eyes.
Darkness came, accompanied by an loud and evil laugh.
"I failed."
Well people, in my mind the scariest villain Danny ever faced was his future self, it got me thinking what if Vlad eventually met him in this timeline?
The result? What you all just read, it was my way of saying "Happy Halloween" to the Phandom.
I know Vlad could withstand Danny's Ghostly Wail in "Kindred Spirits" but I feel that with Dan it would be a completely different scenario, after all he doesn't play by the rules, an ironic if dark twist considering Vlad didn't either.
And yes it was a bit cruel making Vlad think Danny was out to kill him but that's pretty much how Dan Phantom works, cruelty and evil are his main norm.
It was even more evil by killing him not once but twice.
I honestly think that Vlad getting bumped off was an act of mercy because there would be sort of impossible getting redemption after what he did, even if he tried to do the right thing too little too late.
Anyway, your thoughts?
Invader Johnny Signing Off.
