Balshumet: Well! This is a bit late, I'm so sorry about that everyone. My beta sister banned me from writing this weekend, to avoid burnout, and I didn't get myself back on the horse till after Monday. So this is really late. It won't happen again. This is my second story, and it's medium length as compared to what I have planned for the 'If Series'. By the way, this exists outside that fun realm, and it's completely Canon. This story should be finished by the end of Summer, that's the plan, right when I'm starting the newest planned story, April Fool's. As for the updating schedule, this one will be done every two weeks on Sundays. So every other weekend after a Bittersweet update, you'll get one for this story. Unless I get greatly inspired, expect that to be the norm.
This story is a tragedy so expect tears of pain and sadness to flow from the characters and you. If you aren't crying by the end of this story, I haven't done my authoress job. So now for the warnings:
This story is a lower rating than my other DP story, that might change if needed, but it should have much milder language. Very little physical violence and action, it's a character driven plot story after all, no romance or anything like that. I do warn there will be adorable small children scenes in here, so if you are sensitive to sweetness remember to wash it down with some angst somewhere else. I think that's it in terms of warnings, there's something else, but you know it might spoil it. So I'll wait till the end of this chapter.(as the specific "problem" doesn't show up this chapter) Disclaimer time:
I, Balshumet, do not own Danny Phantom. I only own my little clone-let, and the plot herein. The show belongs to Butch Hartman, the wonderful man, and Nickelodeon and Viacom. I make no money from this labor of love, so save your litigious fees for someone who matters.
Now, onwards and upwards, to my newest story! Cya at the Bottom.
He was an Experiment
The room was bright. That's what he remembered first. Overly bright, lit by the unforgiving iridescents hovering above his, my…What was the word for it again? He had lapses like that. It was only fair, he had to learn everything from scratch, and so fast too. But he had to learn it, because, his, my, what was it…Daddy…Yes. He wanted him to, and he loved him. Daddy had said so. And he was sure he loved him back, because it was the only truth he had ever known. He didn't know much, that's why he was always learning, but he knew;as if it was the only thing he had known since his first breath that thiswas true. Daddy loved him, and he loved Daddy back.
Vlad watched with detached interest as the wriggling infant before him crawled towards the side of his cold metal playpen. It made his way, slow and stumbling to the where he was standing, before lifting its hands up. It obviously wanted attention, affection. Vlad resisted the urge to sneer; he didn't have time for that at the moment. Besides, the little buggers have a habit of melting when they are this small. He reasoned. No point in getting attached when he wasn't sure it would make it over the next couple of days. He had learned that lesson the hard way after the first few attempts. Vlad walked away from the playpen, and over to the computer console a little ways off. Far enough so that he wouldn't compromise the readings, but close enough to intervene if something went wrong. The clones also had a habit of hurting themselves. And not always accidentally either. Vlad mused before starting up the machine.
He heard something loud in the bright room. Jarring and echoing all over his little world. And where had Daddy gone? He had looked away only for a moment, when he had lost his balance, and when he looked back, Daddy was already gone. Now there was this noise, and he was…he didn't know the word, but it didn't matter. He was, whatever this bad feeling was, and he wanted Daddy to make it better. He started to cry; Daddy always came when he cried, even if he didn't pick him up like he wanted, just seeing Daddy would make it better.
Vlad frowned as he heard the infant crying from his position at the computer. Undoubtedly, the sound of the machine starting had startled it, but still he hated the sound. Infant cries were grating and loud, as if they were programmed just to annoy him. He shrugged when something he read about humans being genetically programmed to find baby cries obnoxious floated to the front of his mind. It doesn't matter; this'll be over soon enough. He tapped through the next few screens on his display a little more rapidly than before.
By all accounts, this clone was doing far better than he ever expected. There was no signs of DNA degradation, it was growing and thriving, it was superbly attached to his person, and to top it all off, it had none of self-destructive qualities that had caused him much trouble with the other ones. He winced as the cries took on a desperate quality, and he heard the clone make some incoherent babbling sounds of distress. Unfortunately, despite all of that good, it was still an annoying little brat at the moment. No matter. With the accelerated growth pattern I inserted into its genome, that problem should solve itself in a matter of days. Vlad heard it cry even louder if possible, and was just about to go over and calm it down, when a familiar swishcame from the front part of the lab.
"God damn it Plasmius, what is that infernal racket?" Skulker hovered over to where Vlad was standing, hands placed firmly on either side of his head. He landed next to Vlad and peered over at the console.
"The clone. It's crying." Vlad answered absentmindedly. He needed to activate the currently dormant section of the clone's DNA. If he didn't it would only grow at normal rate, and he, under no circumstances, was going to deal with an infant for longer than necessary.
"Well shut it up then!" Skulker growled and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Why is it making that noise anyway? Is it hungry or something?"
"Your concern is touching Skulker." Vlad said dryly. "No it's not hungry, or cold or something physical like that. I believe the sound of the machine frightened it." Vlad tapped a few more things on the keyboard to bring out the tools needed to activate its genes.
"Well, why don't you go over there and…I don't know, calm the little pup down?" Skulker glanced over to the metal pen where the clone was being held. Several pointy tools had come down from the ceiling right above it.
Right when the tools came into the line of sight of the clone, it stopped crying.
Skulker heaved a sigh of relief. At least the thing has stopped making-
He heard something coming towards the top of his world. It wasn't like the loud sound from before, but even though it was quieter it had the same growl feeling. He looked up, leaning back so far that he fell. He could see them now, little claws with… the feeling of jagged that he remembered. That feeling was bad, and he didn't like it. They kept coming closer, and closer and he couldn't stop them. He didn't want the jagged feeling, the one that went everywhere. He gasped as it dropped over the top of his world, and let out the biggest scream he could muster.
"Plasmius!" Skulker glared over at where Vlad was standing. "What in the world are you doing to that creature? It sounds like you are killing it." The infant was screaming at this point instead of crying, and it was driving him nuts.
"I'm doing no such thing." Vlad grimaced when the clone let out another large scream. "I haven't even touched it yet. I'm not sure what the problem is, but the faster I finish this, the sooner it'll stop crying." Vlad tapped out a few more keystrokes, and the machines halted their descent.
They whirled in a circle into position over the clone, before powering up. They took up space on the four corners of the metal pen, before charging the tips to a bright blue-green.
"By the way Skulker," Vlad reached over and held out a pair of goggles, "you might want to put these on."
Skulker snatched the goggles out of Vlad's hand, in a fit of pique. At least the sounds of the machines are drowning out the whelp's whining. He got them settled on his face, just as the first machine fired.
It let out a high whine, as the formerly glowing tip turned into a laser. The light landed on one of the clone's limbs. The other three lasers whirled to life, landing on the arms and remaining leg of the clone. The whine picked up in pitch and volume for a few seconds, before a final large flash emanated from the fours lasers. They suddenly shut down, and began retracting into the ceiling. Underneath all of the whirling from the machines retracting, the clone was still crying.
Vlad removed his goggles, and brought up a screen for a new internal scan. The computer let out a small ping as the new data filed into the hard drive. Vlad began moving through the data. Good, looks like they are active.
"What did all that just accomplish, other than make the little thing cry more?" Skulker removed the borrowed goggles from his head and tossed them back at Vlad.
Vlad caught them, and enlarged the screen he was currently looking at. "Nanites." Vlad stepped further to the right, to give Skulker a better view. "I inserted them into the clone soon after it was finished forming. They are supposed to help keep its DNA stable, among other things. One of their secondary functions is to activate inserted sections of DNA inside its genome. For example, I added this," Vlad paused and pointed to a now highlighted section of DNA, "to the clone's DNA. It's a code for an accelerated growth phase. It basically removes the usual breaks from the growth process, telling the clone's body to grow unimpeded until it reaches the physical age of six. After that, it will grow faster than average, but much slower than before, until it reaches around 14 years of age. Of course all of these ages are marked by bone growth, as compared to the markers inside Daniel's own body. It should be full grown, of sorts, in about a month, if it doesn't try to melt first." Vlad finished up his explanation with a tap of his foot.
That was the thing about clones, if he could get them to form at all; they tried to melt during the first growth phase. Still, he had taken pains to avoid that problem with this one. The changes he'd made to the formation process, plus the high level nutrient supplements he'd been giving it, should avoid any energy shortfalls that resulted in melting. Finally, the Nanites would stop any small changes that would lead to degradation, and alert him to any big ones he'd have to head off himself. All and all, this should be a much more successful endeavor than the last…27 tries.He was a determined man, but after all of these failures, Vlad was beginning to think this was an impossibility.
Skulker narrowed his eyes at the highlighted section of proteins on the screen. "So how does this not cause it to age out of control? I mean, it causes accelerated growth right, so what doesn't it just keep going until it reaches the end of the clone's life span?" Skulker walked closer to the screen. He wasn't much for biology, unlike his employer. He was much more adapt at technology and programming of all types, still, he knew enough to know this should be tricky. Honestly, he didn't know why his employer was attempting to clone the ghost child. It would be so much simpler to either manipulate the boy into an alliance, as he usually did, or destroy Phantom if he refused to comply. Then again, humans confused him, because Phantom didn't seem interested in allying with the only other half ghost on the planet. It had to be human nature doing it, because ghosts were never this illogical. Skulker was so lost in his own musings; he almost missed Vlad's reply. "What?" He had just caught the tail end of the reply, so it warranted being repeated.
"I said, the specific genes are programmed to turn off, after three days, or if the ends of the telomeres inside the DNA reach a certain length before that. In any case, I didn't know you had such an interest in biology Skulker."
Skulker grunted and walked away from the console screen. "I do not. I just remember how frustrated you were when the last clone died."
"Melted, more like ceased to exist. These things aren't really people anyway; they are barely even alive in most cases. However, it seems this one should be the exception to that rule so far." Vlad corrected.
"Whatever Plasmius, I'm not here to comment on your little science experiments anyway."
"Ah that's right, did you find the information I asked for?" Vlad began shutting down the computer, it was a separate system from his main one, having an external power supply backed up on several generators. It had all of his data on the current clone experiments after all, and he needed it well protected and hidden.
Skulker grimaced as the clone let out another cry, this time significantly more feeble than before. "I'd be happy to share, as long as you make that little creature shut up."
Vlad glanced over behind him towards the metal playpen. "It's still crying?" Vlad frowned and stalked over to the pen, completely put out at having to stop his plans over a little noise. He had figured it would have worked out all of its energy and stopped by now. He leaned over the edge of the playpen, and looked inside.
He didn't understand what had happened. One minute he had been lying on his back, as the jagged feeling things came towards him, and the next there was this awful sound and light. It was so bright, it made the normal lights seem like it was the dark and from the warm place he had been before this. He had cried and cried, but his Daddy hadn't come for him. Then the lights had stopped, and he had felt…something new. Not like the jagged feeling, it wasn't a bad one, it was just new and he was tired of learning new things today. He was just tired period. He tried to scream again, but all that came out was a small whining sound. His…noise maker must be tired too. All of a sudden, two strong arms lifted him up, and something was rubbing his back. He gripped the front of what was holding him, and whined some more.
Vlad patted the clone's back with a look of disdain. All that crying had the little infant covered with tears and mucus, and its determined grip was smearing it all over him. He silently thanked the fact this particular part of its life would be over soon, and rubbed what he hoped were soothing circles on its back. After a few more minutes, its cries turned into small hiccups combined with whining, and Vlad was able to relax its surprising steely hold on his lab coat. He shifted it in his arms and turned back towards to Skulker. "I'll be out in a second, let me set it back down. You can wait for me in the front part of the lab." Vlad said with a small wave.
Skulker rolled his eyes and walked back towards the ghost portal. It was in the front of the lab, and its green light made an easy beacon to navigate the sometimes dizzyingly large subterranean complex that was Vlad's lab.
After Skulker left, Vlad refocused his efforts on getting the clone to release his coat, and settle down again. He frowned when further patting didn't seem to be doing the trick. Apparently, it was more upset than I thought. Vlad shifted the clone a little more in his arms, so he could get a better look at it. There were no obvious marks, so that ruled out burns from the laser. And other than its red puffy face from all the crying, it seemed to be in good shape. So he couldn't understand what all the fuss was about.
He could finally feel the warm from the arms holding him, and it was calming him down. He opened his eyes, and looked around. He wasn't in his world; he was above it. He looked further up, and saw Daddy staring back. He felt the rest of his bad feelings run away at the sight of his Daddy, like they always did. He was safe now, of course he was, Daddy had come for him. He always did.
Vlad sighed when the clone finally stopped crying or whining or whimpering or any other irritating sound like that. He looked down towards the playpen and walked around to the backside. There was a small switch, a few inches from the floor. He tapped it with the toe of his boot, and the metal box before him shuddered.
Its corners slid down, lifting it off of the ground. Two of its walls became slotted, and half of the slotted walls slid down to join the corners now three feet off the ground, to add stability. With the base elevated, and the walls on two sides slotted, it looked like a particularly ugly crib instead of a playpen.
Vlad leaned over the side of the playpen turned crib, and adjusted the pillows and blanket into the semi-resemblance of a bed. He moved the infant in his arms as he worked, humming a happy tune at the current success of this cloning project. Having finished with the makeshift bedding, Vlad leaned over further to set the clone inside for a, hopefully, long nap. He couldn't beat down his surprise when the clone stubbornly clung to his lab coat anyway. Now more than a little annoyed, he moved one of his arms to pry its fingers off when he noticed its stare.
He wasn't upset any more, and he could see the soft blues of his world so close now. But Daddy was holding him, and it was what he had wanted to begin with. He didn't want to let go now ! He reached up and grabbed onto the white of the coat harder. His Daddy looked down at him, and the warm he remembered had to be love came back.
Vlad stopped, hand half way between the crib and prying the clone's hand off, a completely aborted motion after he got a good look at the infant. Once he wasn't crying or some such other annoying thing, it was amazingly cute. It reminded him of the few baby pictures the Fentons had sent of Daniel over the years. He heard it coo at him and reach for his face. Unfortunately, as far he could tell, it had no intention of releasing him any time soon, and the look it was giving him…He didn't know much about what love looked like anymore, but he'd bet his fortune that's the look it was giving him now.
He moved it higher in his arms, and it cooed louder, apparently satisfied with the new position. Vlad looked down at the cold metal crib and then back at the clone. Something like apprehension settled into his stomach at the thought of setting the clone down, he had just gotten it to stop crying after all. Vlad looked around and saw one of the few comfortable chairs in the lab. He had moved a few down here over the last couple of weeks as his cloning attempts took up more and more time. Now, it was looking entirely too inviting and his arms were getting tired. With only a moment more spared for indecision,
Vlad made his way over to the comfy arm chair. He settled back into the seat, and took a deep breath. The clone hadn't melted yet, a lot of them did within the first few minutes after the Nanites were turned on, and so it was a good sign. He looked down when an especially loud happy cry from the clone got his attention.
He hadn't expected Daddy to still be holding him. He never did this long, but he was too happy to care. He let out a happy squeal and kicked his legs.
Vlad chuckled at the clone's obviously excited antics. "Alright you, calm down. A few minutes ago, you were exhausted, now you want to play hm?" He placed the clone against his shoulder and patted its back. That always sent the thing to sleep before, and he was sure it would work now. Vlad felt a small smile of triumph creep onto his face as, after a few minutes, the excited cooing and kicks slowed down. He heard the clone let out a large yawn, and begin to settle against him sleepily. Vlad settled it back into his arms and rocked it. That should send it to sleep. Vlad mused. He watched as its eyes closed, despite some determined effort from the small infant. Just as stubborn as Daniel. Good. Vlad began to get up, when the clone shifted in his arms, snuggling further in his grasp and leaning against his chest.
He couldn't get up without waking it now, and despite the fact he was sure he could get it back to sleep easily at this point, for some reason he just didn't want to wake it up. It might just be a particularly well cloned ball of ectoplasm at the moment, without a few more modifications, Vlad thought, but it was still rather cute. And well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to just hold it for a few minutes. Vlad settled back in the arm chair, and hefted the clone closer. He heard it let out a small sigh, and he couldn't help but smile at it. A very cute ball of ectoplasm indeed.
Skulker practically stomped over to the entrance to the current rear part of the lab. He had no idea what was taking his employer so much time, but he had better things to do than wait for him to get around to talking to him. He was about to demand Plasmius get on with it, when he noticed his employer holding the whelp in his arms. It wasn't where he was sitting or what he was doing that made him pause. It was the look on his face. Plasmius rarely looked so relaxed or at peace. Maybe just once, Skulker reasoned, it can wait. He disappeared over towards the ghost portal, determining after that sight to just come back later.
"Daddy!"
Vlad smiled down at the clone sitting a few feet from his private study's desk. It had, over the last 24 hours, grown from a helpless crying infant, of six months, into a toddler of about two. Ah, the wonders of modern science.Vlad was under the impression all children should come with an accelerate button of sorts. He was about to turn back to his work, when another loud exclamation got his attention. "Yes I see you." Vlad rolled his eyes, as the clone toddled over to his pants leg and tugged.
He wanted attention. He didn't like when Daddy ignored him for whatever he did at that big table. He walked back over to his play area, and picked up his page. The first time he had called out, Daddy hadn't even noticed the page. Maybe if he brought it with him this time…
Vlad sighed when another insistent tug broke his concentration again. "D27, did I not tell you to sit over there?" He looked down his nose at the little clone currently excitedly waving something at him. The clone didn't look at all convinced to move, the stubborn thing, so Vlad was forced to pick it up to get some peace. He stood up to walk back over to the clone's play area, when the piece of paper it was holding was unceremoniously shoved into his face. He frowned "What is this?" He held it in his left hand, as he balanced the small toddler on his hip.
"I made it."
"Yes I know D27 that is not what I asked you." Vlad chided.
"Oh." He scrunched his face, trying to think of the right word for what he was bringing. It was obviously for Daddy, so he hadn't thought about what to call it.
While the clone was lost in his musing, Vlad walked over to the play area and set both him and the paper back down on the floor. "Now D27, Daddy is busy working. I need you to sit quietly over here while I work. I promise we can play later alright?" Vlad didn't wait for a response, already walking back to his seat to continue working. It didn't really matter what the clone wanted, he had better things to do at the moment than baby-sit. Really, the only reason he was even in the same room with him, was the current growth spurt it was having. It could lead to serious instability, and if he wasn't close, he couldn't prevent any melting mishaps. While the inserted growth phase had its drawbacks, like the increased possibility of instability, the many benefits included not having to deal with a small aggravating child for more than a few days. And in Vlad's opinion, it was more than worth having to start over or tweak once or twice.
He settled back into his spot on the floor, still trying to think of a name for what he wanted to bring Daddy. Daddy wouldn't accept it without a name, so he had to think of one. He puzzled and thought until his thinker was sore. He rubbed his head and looked around the room. Then something got his attention. "What that?" He asked while pointing to something hanging on the wall.
Vlad looked up towards the clone, and followed its little fingers till his gaze met with the painting on the wall. "That, is a painting D27. That specific painting is by Van Gogh. It's called Bridge." Vlad supplied while signing a few more documents. "Now let me work." He waved a dismissive hand through the air, and focused back on the documents in front of him. Not one to be ignored, the little clone was soon tugging on his pants leg again. I'm beginning to wonder why it is I want children anyway. Vlad noted sarcastically before looking down at the creature tugging on his leg.
He had just figured out what to call his…what was the word, gift. Yes that was it! He would call his gift painting. His Daddy already liked those things, so there was no way this wouldn't work. He held it out in front of him when his Daddy looked down. "Painting." He said happily.
Vlad raised an eyebrow at the piece of paper being held out towards him. Now that he was actually looking at it, he could see it was one of those silly childish drawing kids made, the ones overly enthused parents hung on refrigerators. But- "Why in the world are you calling it a painting?" Vlad voiced the tail end of his thoughts.
He pouted, wilted by the name not working at all. "For you." He tried to hold it a little higher. Didn't Daddy like it? He thought more than a little upset.
Vlad picked up the picture and looked it over. He had no idea what it was supposed to be, that's why he had asked in the first place. When he glanced back down, the clone looked close to tears. What in the world is its problem? He set the picture down onto his desk and pulled the little clone onto his lap. "What is the matter?" Vlad practically snapped. He really didn't have the patience for a tear fest or some other such antics. Honestly, you would think I had told it, it was going to die with how sad it's looking.
By now big blubby tears were rolling down his face. He knew Daddy didn't like when he cried, but he didn't care. Daddy hadn't even liked his gift, and he had worked so hard on it. It had taken him…well he didn't know in grown-up time, but a really long time to make, and now Daddy didn't even care. He heard his Daddy ask him what was wrong, but by now, he was too upset to even tell him. "Yo-you…do-don…even…li…it!" He stuttered out.
Vlad glared down at the blubbering child on his lap. This is utterly ridiculous. I have a merger to plan, well more like a takeover but still, and the only things this clone can do is whine and distract me. Vlad was a little more irritable and impatient than usual. The clone had tried to destabilize last night sometime around 3am, and again around 6am. The clone obviously didn't remember those little near melting mishaps, but Vlad did, or more specifically, Vlad's body did. It was paying him back in spades right now; sleeplessness wasn't something he was used to. "D27." Vlad alternated between patting and rubbing its back. "Calm down, I never said I didn't like it. I was just wondering why you were calling it a painting. It isn't you know." Vlad stated matter of factly.
He sniffed and rubbed his face with the back of his hand. Daddy did like his gift. Of course he did, because Daddy loved him. He had just said something wrong again, he was good at that he found. He didn't know a lot of words, so sometimes he said the wrong thing, and it made it harder for Daddy to get. "What it then?"
"What is it you mean." Vlad corrected gently. "A painting is made on a canvas, with certain materials. What you just gave me is more like," Vlad paused in thought. The first word that came to mind was "doodle" or "drawing", but that didn't sound very encouraging, and he didn't need the thing crying on him again. Suddenly the right word came to him. "It's a sketch." He reached for the poorly illustrated scribble and handed it back to the clone. "Sketches are like paintings drawn on paper. They are usually rough drafts of a full painting though, so-" Vlad stopped when he realized he was talking to a two year old, about something he frankly couldn't be paid to give a damn about. He cleared his throat and set the small child, his little art work in hand, back on the ground. "Now how about this? You make me some more of these sketches while Daddy finishes working, and I'll look at all of them after I'm done." He propositioned. That ought to get it out of my hair for an hour or so. Vlad mentally congratulated himself and waited for the clone to process the offer.
He was already happier thinking Daddy liked his gift, and now Daddy wanted more of them! He wasn't sure what to make first. He was so happy he almost forgot to answer Daddy. "Yes!" He squealed and nearly ran back over to his play area. There was so much to make. First he would make Ghost Skulker…
Vlad heaved a sigh of relief when in the next five minutes the clone continued to scribble furiously at the paper on the floor near him. If he was lucky, he'd be finished with the last of his reading by the time the clone tuckered itself out for a nap. On his side was the growth spurt, which kept it tired and nearly always ready for sleep. He was surprised it was even up at the moment, it hadn't slept since 8am, and it was now nearly 3pm. It was really a new record for it, and unfortunately left him to be assaulted by its childish whims. Still, at least it should stay busy for a little while yet.
Vlad hummed as he finished the last his reading nearly an hour later. The clone hadn't made a sound, let alone moved since he told it to draw. I really should have thought of this earlier. This solved the distraction problem easily. I might have to buy it some art supplies. Vlad mused. He walked over to the clone after setting his work inside the brief case by his desk. He leaned over the thoroughly distracted clone's play area and watched it work.
He was working really hard on this last one. It was supposed to be a picture of Daddy. He had drawn Ghost Skulker and a picture of place where he slept too. He frowned when he realized he needed a, what was the word? Blue. A blue sketch maker to finish his sketch. There wasn't any around though; he had looked really hard already when he was making the first sketch. He looked up when he felt someone sit next to him. He smiled. Daddy was sitting with him. Maybe he knew where to find the blue sketch maker. "Daddy?" He looked over at his Daddy.
Vlad was completely taken aback. While the first drawing had been terribly crude, he could actually make out what these were supposed to be. There was one of his lab, another of Skulker, and the final one was shaping up to be him. True, they were all scraggly and drawn with wandering lines, but it was close enough he could tell what they were. That's surprising, an hour ago; he could barely make vague shapes. Interesting, I wonder if-
"Plasmius."
Vlad was snapped out of his musings by a metallic voice by the door. He looked over his shoulder to find Skulker standing in the doorway to his personal study. "Skulker, how long have you been standing there?" He said while rising from his position on the floor.
"Long enough to be bored." Skulker answered.
"You disappeared yesterday, I was wondering when you'd get back here. Maybe if you said something instead of just standing there, you wouldn't have had the chance to be bored." He had crossed to the fore part of his study and was half way out of the door when a loud whine got his attention.
"Daaadddyy!" He said again. He was ignoring him again, and now for Ghost Skulker. He had been really good too. He hadn't made a sound while he drew his sketches, and Daddy had promised to look at them after he had finished working. And he was finished, he didn't put the paper away until he was; he had said so himself.
Skulker walked past Vlad into the room, and stared down at the clone. "Plasmius, who is this?"
"The clone Skulker." Vlad said while rolling his eyes. "I told you I was going to accelerate its growth, and so I did." Really, he had explained this already, and Skulker was no idiot, surely he had understood him the first time.
"This whelp is the clone? I thought it was a baby? Wait, so it grew this much overnight?" Skulker was incredulous to say the least. The clone had been barely able to crawl yesterday afternoon, and now it looked nearly three years of age. He frowned as Vlad joined him by the entrance to the study.
"Indeed." Vlad answered all three questions at once. "It should only take it another two days to reach the age of six. Right now it's around, actually, I haven't bioscanned it in awhile, I might as well do so now." Vlad stepped around Skulker and back into the room. "Maddie dear." Vlad called out to the open space in front of him.
Within a few seconds, a blue spandex clad hologram had appeared in the room. "Yes lamb chops?" The Maddie hologram cooed.
"I need you to run a scan on the clone. Give me its current age, and simplified biological status, I'll peruse the specified data later tonight." Vlad addressed to the floating hologram.
"No problem sweetie." The hologram snapped her fingers and a digital display of the data requested replaced her in the air in front of Vlad.
Vlad quickly looked through the information before turning to talk to Skulker. "Looks like it's currently 26 months of age, it was nearly two around noon, so that's not so bad. Still, it looks like the retardant I inserted into its system this morning is still in effect. It should be 28 months by now if the initial calculations are correct. No matter, that should wear off in another hour or so, with very little delay to its growth." He flicked through another few screens, taking in normal humans vitals alongside not so normal vitals provided by the Nanites. He was about to review the, as far as he knew, dominant ghost vitals when a loud scream startled him.
Daddy wasn't listening at all. He had tried calling his name, but he was too busy looking at the lights in the air. He was doing that and talking to Ghost Skulker, and he was tired of waiting. He had promised! Why didn't he just come over and look at his sketches like he said he would? He was so upset right now, but he didn't want to cry. He had just cried, and it didn't get him what he wanted either. He was…he was…mad. That's what he was, and he wanted Daddy to listen to him now. "DADDY!" He screamed and stomped his feet. Why do Daddy not come over here? He wondered.
Vlad stared over at the little clone currently stomping his feet in anger. Its face was bright red and its fists were balled up so tightly, he was sure it would leave crescent shaped marks later. He frowned, and crossed his arms. It was not about to throw a tantrum on him. "D27." He said in the sternest voice he could muster. When it did nothing to impede the coming emotional melt down, he trudged over to its play area. He few seconds later, he was tapping an impatient foot as the clone looked up at him. "D27, stop that. Right now." He looked down at the clone, a firm frown fixed on his face. The clone looked back, tears in its eyes from being practically yelled at, though Vlad couldn't say he cared at the moment. I swear this creature is so emotionally unstable. Why can't it pick an emotion and stick to it for five seconds and stop being so needy?
On some level, he recognized he was being unreasonable. Children had a habit of larger mood swings than adults, and they also craved both attention and affection, neither of which he had been giving out over the last couple of hours. But darn it all if its little mood problems weren't beginning to drive him nuts. Just another reason why children need an accelerate button. Vlad concluded with a snort.
"Buh, Daddy…"
"No buts." He said in a way that brokered no arguments. Instead of his intended effect, the declaration only did the exact opposite of what he wanted.
The clone started to bawl its eyes out.
He was screaming and crying at this point. Daddy was being so mean and not fair. Daddy said he would play with him later, even look at his sketches, but now he was being yelled at for asking him to. It was completely not fair.
"Oh look Plasmius, you made the little pup cry. You're model father material." Skulker snipped at a very frustrated looking Vlad.
"Oh shut up Skulker, I don't suppose you have any suggestions do you?"
"Yeah actually." Skulker said dryly. "Why don't you make it shut up, and give it a real name?"
"A fantastic idea, but if you didn't know, I was asking for suggestions on how to make it shut up." Vlad screamed down at the crying child in front of him. The yelling only caused more tears and unhappy wails however, and Vlad had to resist the urge to cover its mouth with ectoplasm to shunt some of the noise. Vlad turned around towards Skulker with his hands on his hips.
"I don't know Plasmius, it's your kid." Skulker shrugged and crossed his arms. In his opinion, yelling wasn't going to have the desired effect, but what did he know about human cubs?
Vlad huffed and rubbed at the headache forming behind his temples from all the screaming. Just when he was about to go through with that ectoplasm plan, he sensed something amazing. The room filled with very familiar, at least to him, spectral energy. He gasped when it set off his ghost sense, and he whipped around towards the clone.
Its eyes were glowing a familiar green, and the air around it was moving slightly with the increased energy it was pumping out.
"Well would you look at that? It seems all this excitement has finally turned its ghost core on, well at least all that noise wasn't for nothing." Vlad noted before leaning down to pick up the clone. "D27-"
"You are not actually calling it that. Plasmius, that's a horrible name."
"It's an experiment Skulker. Maybe after I'm sure it won't melt, I'll call it Daniel, but for now D27 will suffice." Vlad shifted the still upset child in his grasp, placing it flush against the right side of his body, so he could have his left arm back. He noticed the cries had descended back into the realm of whimpers and hiccups. Finally. "D27." He tried again to get its attention; he was rewarded with a tear filled stare in his direction.
He was tired. All this crying had worn him out, and Daddy was going to be angry because he had cried too. He didn't want Daddy to be angry, but if he had just listened before, he wouldn't have cried or screamed or anything. "I'm sorwe Daddy. I don mean to cry. You just prawmissed to play." He sniffed and wiped his face with the back of his hand.
"Don't do that." Vlad scolded and reached into his pocket for a handkerchief. He wiped the clone's face off, and watched as the little attention he gave it calmed it completely. Vlad sighed and decided to not set the clone back down. He's more likely to cry when not being held. "I'm not angry." Well not anymore. He added mentally.
"No?" There was no way Daddy wasn't angry; he didn't like crying at all. He said it made his, what was the word? Brain, made his brain hurt. A headache in his brain Daddy had said.
"No I'm not. I just wanted to know what was wrong." So I could make the screaming stop. "If you talk instead of crying or screaming I can fix it. I can't make anything better if I don't know what's wrong." Vlad explained. He noticed the clone yawn and silently thanked whatever god had decided to make the little creature finally get sleepy. "Now come on, it's time for a nap." He walked past Skulker and motioned with his left hand for him to follow. Vlad pulled down on the left football player on his fireplace, and waited for it to open into the stairway leading into the lab.
"Good, because I'm not delaying a second time because the whelp has most of your attention." Skulker grumpily informed Vlad. He followed after his employer when the stairs appeared.
"If it wasn't so damn needy, and what do you mean a second time? You ran off yesterday if I recall correctly."
"You must have spent a good half an hour in the back part of the lab before I came back to see what keeping you. I don't know if you got sucked into some kind of time warp or something, because you didn't even notice that much time had passed. Even worse, you must have gone temporarily deaf as well, because I stomped my way back there, and you didn't even complain. When I got back into the rear part of the lab," Skulker began to explain, "you were still holding the clone, so I decided to come back today."
Skulker and Vlad passed into the back part of the lab.
"Don't tell me you were so distracted you didn't notice me leaving? Is the clone that entrancing?" Skulker teased lightly.
Vlad set the lightly dozing clone into his bed, and turned back towards Skulker. "Hardly. Perhaps if you came and talked to people, instead of lurking in doorways, you might not have had that problem. Now about that information I sent you to get…" Vlad walked back towards the front part of the lab, Skulker in tow.
Vlad was back in the lab. It was the middle of the night, nearly 2am. He couldn't sleep. After Skulker had left, the clone had destabilized once again, much more seriously this time. That had been hours ago, but it still weighed heavily on his mind. So he had decided to go through the data from earlier today. Despite the destabilizing episodes, the clone's DNA was looking great. The last episode was likely prompted by its newly awakened ghost powers rather than anything on its human side. I'll have to examine that later tomorrow, er today. Vlad thought blearily. He was about to get up for the night, when a frightened scream got his attention.
The clone shot up in bed and blindly groped around for a few seconds before getting its bearings.
He had seen such bad things. There was a monster chasing him in the dark. It was super scary, and worse of all, Daddy hadn't come to save him. That had never happened before, and he really wanted his Daddy to be here right now. Just in case the monster from his bad dream came back to get him again. "Daddy?" He called out into the dark around him.
Vlad sighed when he heard the clone call to him. It might not have known he was here, but he couldn't just leave it alone in the dark before checking to see if it was alright. He walked over to the bed and crouched down next to it. "Yes?"
He looked over to the side of the bed not next to the wall. Daddy was right next to him! He didn't know how Daddy did it, but like magic he was always there. "I had bad dream." He reached out for Daddy, wanting to be held.
Vlad scooped up the clone and walked back over to the arm chair he had rocked it in just yesterday as an infant. "What was it about?" He sat down in the soft plush piece of furniture as the clone began a disturbingly vivid tale about being eaten alive. "That sounds…" horrifying, "very scary D27, but you don't have to worry, it was just a dream. Nothing is going to eat you." He rubbed reassuring circles on its back as it leaned into his chest.
He felt a lot better now that Daddy was holding him. The monsters could still eat him though, even though Daddy said they couldn't. "You mean it?" He asked. He could feel his eyes go wide and get watery at the thought of the bad monsters eating him again.
"Yes I promise D27, no one is going to hurt you with me around. Not ghosts, not monsters, no one." Vlad watched as the clone settled bonelessly into his body, all the tension from the nightmare leaving it.
"Now go back to sleep, I'll be right here." He got up from the chair and began to walk back towards the bed.
"NO! If you leave the monsters will eat me." He was sure of it. His Daddy was the only thing keeping the monsters away.
Vlad sighed and sat back into the chair. He didn't bother arguing the point. The clone was too tired for logic, and too little for it to really work to begin with. So instead, he picked out a favorite lullaby from his childhood, and hummed it while patting its back. He was sure this would send it to sleep. And in a matter of minutes, he was rewarded with the soft breaths of a person in deep slumber. He walked back over to the clone's bed, and placed it inside. He wouldn't be too far for the next 36 hours or so. The possibility of the clone melting was too great, and its DNA was the best looking so far. Vlad decided to make a compromise of sorts, and moved the chair next to the clone's bed.
No reason not to be comfortable if I have to be here. Vlad reasoned. As he watched it sleep, he was stuck with how fragile and human it looked. Even though he told himself not to get attached, with such a human and cute form, it was becoming rather difficult. Worse, despite the crying and whining, it was an amazingly endearing creature. He found his hand running through the already nearly shoulder length dark hair on its head.
The clone sighed and leaned towards his touch.
Vlad closed his eyes for a comfortable rest of his own. He stilled his hand running through his-its hair and settled back for sleep. Maybe if he said it was an experiment again, he would actually believe himself this time.
Balshumet: Alright, so how did you all enjoy the chapter? I know I liked it, if only because the little clone, who shall remained un-real named for a little longer, is so cute. I do admit trying to see the world from an infant's perspective was difficult at times, but I'm ok with how it came out. Now for that final warning, there will be character death, this really wouldn't be a tragedy without it. In fact, despite the fact the characterization of the clone is my own, you all have already met this character in canon. I'm sure the canon buffs will figure out who this is very soon, guessing at it (telling) people in the reviews or something like that won't spoil anything, so feel free if you'd like.
I should be back next Sunday with the first update to this story, and this Saturday with the update to Bittersweet. I'll have a special treat to all those you added Bittersweet to Reviews, Alerts, and Favs this coming update, so look out for it. I'll see you all this Saturday, my lovelies, and as always R&R.
