Hey everyone, welcome to chapter 2! Thank you for continuing to read on. I will be honest here, this chapter is a little jumpy between scenes for my liking and I got stuck with trying to make it flow better. Please read for yourselves and let me know if you agree, so as I know if it is something I should improve on.
Enjoy!
()()()
"Hey Danny!" Dani greeted her 'cousin, "How was school?"
Danny smiled at his younger counterpart. Anytime Dani was in town she always made a point of greeting Danny when he returned home from school and asking him how it went. Danny got a strong sense from Dani that she would like to go to school, and mingle with other kids her age.
However the female half ghost never stayed in Amity Park long enough for Danny or Jazz to raise the issue with their parents. Jazz in particular was growing ever concerned about the lack of consistency in Dani's life, and was keen for her to settle down. Jack and Maddie respected the young half ghost's desire to come and go, and Danny was in between; he wanted her to feel normal and secure but he was also envious of her freedom at times.
"Hey Dani." Danny replied, dropping his bag next to the door and throwing himself on to the sofa. "Same old same old, I guess. School can be pretty tiring."
"I don't get it, how can school be tiring?" Dani chuckled, "All you do is sit at a desk most of the day how can that tire anyone out?"
Danny smiled and rolled his eyes at her misconception. "Explore anywhere exciting recently?" He asked her, changing the subject.
"Oh, you know, here and there." Dani said nonchalantly. "I came close to the Colorado Rockies the other day." She added warily, as though she had said a swear word.
Danny raised his eyebrows, but tried not to think too much into it on the first instance.
"Oh yeah? What took you out there?" He asked casually, tiptoeing around the issue.
"Well, just…you know, it's a beautiful landscape and I was sorta born there…" Dani stumbled.
Danny sat up on the sofa and looked at Dani more seriously, "Dani, is there something you're not telling me?"
"I didn't go there Danny, I swear!" Dani blurted out. "I was close, but I couldn't."
"Okay, calm down. You've not done anything wrong." Danny reassured her.
"Danny, just being out there close to his cabin…I got so scared that he'll come back. That he'll come after me again." Dani confessed worriedly.
Danny gently took Dani's hand and pulled her to sit down next to him on the sofa.
"Dani, Vlad is gone. You heard what dad said, there's no way he's coming back. You're one hundred percent safe." Danny reassured her.
"I guess I know that really." Dani sighed. "Sometimes I wish things could have been different…why did Vlad have to be so crazy? Why couldn't he have been a good dad, like Jack?"
Danny frowned slightly at the younger girl's words, "Don't worry about that stuff Dani, Vlad never deserved you anyway. He was never cut out to be a dad, he never cared about other people."
"I guess you're right." Dani smiled weakly, giving Danny a hug. His reassuring words had been kind, but Dani still felt there was a gap in her life which only her 'father' could enlighten. She decided she would simply have to move on and accept that she would never really know the man who gave her her origins.
"You wanna stay for dinner?" Danny asked her.
"That'd be great." Dani grinned.
()()()
As good times were had in Amity Park, Vlad Masters was still facing trials and tribulations. The cloning chamber took nearly two weeks to fix and reactivate. This frustrated Vlad no end because he knew that if he'd had access to his other lab in Amity Park, or to the Ghost Zone, he would have had more tools at his disposal and the job would have been done much faster.
As Vlad inspected the final product his patience had worn so thin with it that he couldn't even release a sigh of relief, or crack a smile.
"Who says things are easier the second time round?" He muttered bitterly, even though he was certain the cloning chamber was finally operational.
"Right. Now the hard work truly begins." He said determinedly as he lifted the documented file containing the DNA analysis.
"Before I attempt to clone Danny's DNA I'll need a structural basis…" Vlad reminded himself.
That had always been the difficult part. Forming the basis of a person required a lot of elements and particles. Elements which took several difficult encounters with Danny to acquire.
The structural basis of a clone was basically what made them look human, a feature which took Vlad several attempts to succeed with. Vlad himself got the elements from fierce personal battles with Danny, after rendering him unconscious.
It was only then that he could use syringes to extract from the boy; blood, ectoplasm, muscle tissue, cartilage and bone marrow.
Vlad winced at the memory. He recalled how intrusive he'd felt, whilst doing this to an injured teenaged boy whilst he was unconscious. At least Danny himself never found out about it.
The older half ghost bit his lip, he knew this was going to be an issue before he rebuild the cloning chamber. He no longer had access to Danny to take these elements from.
He examined what elements he still had belonging to Danny from when he first experimented, and what would still be practical given how long ago they'd been extracted. Vlad was surprised to find he still had most of the elements stored, however there was not enough of each of them to create a clone. Which meant Vlad himself would have to supplement the rest.
Vlad located a drawer of clean syringes and took one out. He sighed as he inspected the needle.
"I guess some good did come out of all those years I spent in the hospital, I developed a very strong tolerance for needles."
()()()
Danny smiled at Sam, a gesture which she reciprocated. It was a sunny day and the young couple were enjoying a picnic under a secluded tree in the park.
"Great day for a picnic." Sam commented contently, as she lay back on the grass.
"Couldn't have said it better myself." Danny agreed, laying down next to her and placing his hand over hers.
It was rare moments when Danny and Sam got to be on their own. Although the townspeople were becoming more used to the fact that Danny was 'the ghost boy,' he still attracted some unwanted attention. This and the fact that they still had ghost patrol duties, homework and family to attend to.
So the couple always made the most of their time alone.
"Isn't this close to where we had one of our 'fake-out make outs?" Danny asked Sam smiling at the memory.
"Yeah, I think it is." Sam agreed chuckling slightly.
Danny sat up and leaned over slightly, "Wanna revisit that moment?" He grinned, "Only, you know, not as fake?"
Sam laughed and gently pushed Danny back, "Not in the park in the middle of the day!" She exclaimed. "I don't want half of Amity Park gawking at me. Pass me a soda please.
Danny smiled and reached into the picnic basket. "Worth a shot!" He remarked, "At least I'm still having more fun than Tucker." He said as he handed Sam her Soda.
"Think maybe he's bit off more than he can chew with the whole mayor thing?" Sam asked.
"I dunno, I mean it can't be easy." Danny replied.
"Hey, at least he hasn't got a tough act to follow." Sam said before taking a sip of her drink. "I mean come on, the last mayor of Amity Park was an evil half ghost who was responsible for nearly destroying the earth. So long as Tucker doesn't get anyone killed, he'll be fine."
Danny frowned at the mention of Vlad. He hadn't heard anyone mention him since Dani spoke about him a couple weeks back. She had been worrying about him and Danny hadn't seen her since that evening.
"Dani was talking about Vlad the last time I saw her." Danny told Sam.
"Oh yeah? Haven't seen her in a while." Sam commented. "Wonder how she is. Do you think she'll ever stay in Amity Park?"
"I wish she would." Danny replied, resting his arms on his knees. "I worry about her when she's off travelling around who knows where."
Sam sat her soda can down and moved closer to Danny. "Danny, you don't need to worry about Danielle. That girl can kick serious butt, no one's gonna hurt her." Sam said, trying to reassure her boyfriend.
"I'm not so worried about someone hurting her…" Danny responded absentmindedly.
"But..?" Sam probed.
Danny shook his head dismissively, "It's nothing. Dani just said that she was worried Vlad will come back and it's got me thinking what if-"
"Vlad's not gonna come back Danny." Sam interrupted with a confident tone. "I get why Dani is worried, Vlad was the first person she knew and he was horrid to her. That's probably stuck with her. But the chances of Vlad even being alive are slim, and even if he was he'd be stupid to come back. Know why?"
"Why?"
"Cause you'll be here to kick his butt, that's why." Sam ginned, gently poking Danny's chest. "You're the hero Danny, and the hero always wins."
Sam rested her head on Danny's shoulder and she looked out over the park.
"Thanks Sam." Danny said, resting his head on hers, "You always know what to say."
Feeling reassured Danny decided to drop the depressing subject which was Vlad Masters, and enjoy the rest of his date with Sam.
()()()
Vlad was sore and weak. It had taken days to obtain enough elements from his body to create a structural basis for a clone. His body was like a pin cushion from the needles.
"No wonder it took Danny a while to recover from our fights." Vlad muttered grimly to himself. He hissed as he yanked the final needle a little too hard from his arm. "Then again at least Danny didn't have to be conscious for it!"
Unlike Danny, whom Vlad stole bodily elements from in bulk, Vlad had to allow himself time to reproduce the particles he was extracting from himself. This was because he needed to uphold his strength and energy, otherwise the process would take twice as long.
Having everything he needed to form a basis for a clone, Vlad began the ethically questionable procedure, using a mixture his and Danny's ectoplasm, muscle tissue, cartilage, bone marrow and Vlad's blood.
Whilst he was doing this Vlad couldn't help but count his blessings that his elements and Danny's elements were compatible, due to them having the same blood type. If they had not been compatible, the process wouldn't work.
"Told you you are more like me than you know Daniel." Vlad sneered as he was working with the boy's DNA.
After a few hours the cloning chamber completed an analysis of the elements, stating the structural basis was complete, though unstable.
Vlad wasn't surprised when he saw this. He got the same result when he was creating Danielle. Meaning the current clone in process still stood a chance.
Having got his verdict, Vlad inspected the remaining vials containing Danny's DNA. This is where the process got complicated.
"I need to be careful as build up the DNA characteristics of the clone." Vlad reminded himself. "If I overwhelm it or misplace a dominant gene the whole thing could be destroyed."
Vlad had learned this the hard way from his earlier cloning attempts. This is why many of them had been misshapen and mindless. Danielle was also the result of a fault at this stage.
The clone chamber had been unable to detect a high enough level of male hormone, therefore it defaulted to a female clone. When Vlad saw this he was shocked into stopping the process to figure out why his son was now a daughter, resulting in Dani only being only developed to that of a twelve year old instead of fourteen.
A very irregular circumstance, to say the least.
If Vlad had been trying to clone an ordinary child this aspect of the process would be much simpler, as there is more knowledge about human biology and genetic design. But human-hybrid genetics?
Vlad carefully added aspects of DNA into the chamber valves, one by one. He was sure to add a balanced amount of hormones this time. He completed the human genetics first, and added the ghost elements on top them. After all, Vlad and Danny were human's first, ghosts second. Vlad followed the analysed data he had found down to every last detail. He could not afford any mistakes.
Unbeknownst to Vlad, aspects of his own distinctive DNA found its way into the chamber valves along with Danny's, which connected via needles and IV lines into the clone. Vlad never noticed, how often does one notice something as miniscule a loose hair or skin flakes?
As Vlad was adding Danny's spectral elements, he couldn't help but question if he could add his own ghostly partials in with Danny's.
"Hm. Combine my ghost half with Danny Phantom's…" Vlad mused to himself.
As the remainder of Danny's ecto-energy vanished inside the chamber Vlad began to laugh.
"Combine my ghost half with Danny's, how ridiculous!" He declared. "Our ghost cores are much too different, it would be disastrous."
With that decision, only Danny's spectral elements entered the cloning chamber. Vlad stood over it, although he didn't know why. It would take hours for the chamber to process the DNA into the clone structure.
Vlad knew realistically he should be tending his own needs, he hadn't ate, hadn't slept, and hadn't bathed.
In honesty the man was disgusted with his current appearance. But still…
He leaned over the chamber, desperate to see his creation form in front of him. The glass on the chamber door had been smashed when it had fallen during Vlad's fight with Danny. He'd simply replaced it with steel. In retrospect, placing a glass chamber upright perhaps hadn't been the best idea. The chamber now sat horizontally on the ground.
Looking at now, Vlad wasn't sure if he liked it this way either. It reminded him too much of a coffin.
With the negative thoughts and memories flooding into his mind, Vlad grew angry with himself and decided to tear himself away from the chamber. This was a long process, and took many hours.
So with one last glance, Vlad took himself off from the lab, debating what he needed most; food, sleep, or a shower.
()()()
Vlad woke with a jolt. He'd fallen asleep, for how long? He sprang up from the chair he'd been sat in and headed straight for the lab. The man was cursing himself for being so lax when the most crucial thing to possibly affect his life was currently forming in a secret room of his cabin. However the man certainly looked much better from having tended to his needs.
Of course, the chamber processing had been completed whilst Vlad had been asleep. He quickly requested an analysis form which printed immediately. Vlad scanned over the biological micro details and focused in on the important aspect:
DNA and Characterisation traits process complete.
Current clone status: UNSTABLE.
Vlad let out a short lived sigh of relief. He had known that if the clone would make it this far, that this was coming. The cycle had repeated itself, every other clone had been unstable.
And Vlad now knew why.
It was the ghost half of the clones which were causing the instability. Vlad wanted to do more extensive research on this with Danielle but Danny had prevented this. Although Vlad knew that Danielle and all the other clones were missing the morph DNA samples. It was when they were in their ghost forms that they were most vulnerable. After all, Danielle herself was in her ghost form when she nearly melted.
She got very lucky, Vlad thought to himself.
How ironic that Jack Fenton had created a component which stabilised ghosts. Still he had to give Danny credit for thinking outside the box.
Vlad on the other hand did not have that luxury. He knew that in order to stabilise the clone he needed the one sample he was never able to obtain from Danny.
The morphing DNA.
Vlad knew that with the circumstances he was in, only he could provide the morphing DNA. But he was very reserved at this idea, given that the clone had only Danny's ghost molecules. How would it respond to Vlad's morphing DNA?
"Surely it won't matter." Vlad debated to himself. "Both Daniel and myself morph in the exact same way. The only difference is my transformation rings are black and his are white."
Did that matter?
Vlad decided there was only one way to find out, and that the outcome could be worth the risk. He grabbed a needle and syringe, and braced himself. Vlad's hand was shaking slightly. He knew this would be painful, the needle would have reach his ghost core whilst in mid-morph in order to extract the desired DNA particles.
Vlad recalled at that moment how Danny had resisted being forced to morph. The forcefulness itself would have been painful for the teenager, but Vlad knew the extraction itself would have been worse.
Danny had dodged a bullet.
Deciding not to put it off any longer Vlad took a deep breath, gritted his teeth and began to transform. As one black ring met his chest and the other reached his thigh, Vlad stabbed the long needle hard between his ribs.
"AHHHHHH!" Plasmius screamed. The pain was excruciating, it felt like he was being shocked with electricity from the inside. The man dropped from his feet on to his knees, already struggling to remain conscious.
Vlad tried desperately to put the feeling of this unbearable sensation to the back of his mind for a few seconds. With one hand on the syringe and the other on the floor attempting to keep him up, Vlad's fingers pulled back on the syringe plunger in hope that it would extract what he needed. The sooner he did this, the sooner he could end his pain
Once the plunger had reached its limit and wouldn't pull back any further, Vlad gladly ripped the needle out of his body. The man immediately dropped completely on to the floor, fighting to keep his eyes open, and reverted straight back to his human form.
Gasping for air and sweat forming on his brow, Vlad knew that was the worst pain he had experienced in in his life, even if only for a few seconds. He glanced down at the syringe which was barely enclosed in his grasp, the barrel contained a black substance with a dull white glow.
Just like his own transformation rings.
"I've got it." Vlad whispered with relief.
He had successfully bottled his own morphing DNA.
After a few minutes, Vlad finally mustered up the energy to stand on to his feet. He was slightly unbalanced, and his vision was blurry for a few seconds, but he was able to recompose himself and approached the cloning chamber once again.
As Vlad inserted his morphing DNA into the chamber valve, he placed one hand over the top of the chamber.
"Please God, let this work." He whispered.
Vlad could hear the desperation in his own voice, he'd never wanted, no needed, anything so badly in his life. This could be his last shot at true happiness, he needed this to work.
()()()
Love a bit of mad scientist, don't you? Oh, and I get that it's a bit out of character for Vlad to refer to Danny as Danny and not 'Daniel.' My reasons for this will be revealed later on.
Hope you like…
xseriouslyx