Does anybody still remember this story?
So sorry about the unintended six month wait. This chapter kicked my butt, and then when I finally got it to a place that I liked… my computer ate it. Swallowed it whole, in fact. I don't know if you've ever had to come up with the motivation to rewrite something you've already written, but it's incredibly hard for me. HOWEVER, on the positive side, I finally did get it written. I'm still not sure that I love it, but I don't think it's horrible, tear-your-eyes-out bad, so, you know. It did end up being ridiculously long, so I split it in two. The second half should be posted soon. Theoretically.
Anyway, without further ado…
"Mom!"
Maddie jolted awake as Danny called her name for what was probably the fifth time in a row. "What?"
"Pass the salt?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "Geez, and I thought I wasn't a morning person!"
"You aren't, but mom usually is," Jazz commented. "Didn't you get enough sleep last night? I told you all those late nights in the lab aren't good for you."
The Fenton family was gathered around the kitchen table eating breakfast, which wouldn't have been odd except that, for once, Danny had joined them. It was a nice change from his normal dashing-out-the-door routine, though even he didn't seem to know how he'd managed it. Maddie hid a smile that turned into a yawn as Danny sent yet another confused look at the clock on the wall. She just might have set his alarm clock back an hour to get him up on time, but she'd never tell.
"I'm fine," she assured Jazz. "I just had trouble getting to sleep last night."
That was an understatement. Her mind had spun itself in dizzying circles for hours before she'd finally managed to drift off. The little sleep she had managed had been filled with disturbing dreams, dreams where she shot down Danielle Phantom, only to see her bleed, turning into Tucker's girlfriend and dying before her very eyes. Those had morphed into dreams of killing Phantom himself, who stared at her in betrayal as his intense green eyes faded into blue. There was something… so familiar… about Phantom as a human, though she supposed that was part of the dream. The details were already slipping away, for which Maddie was fervently grateful.
"Phantom shot at me last night!" Jack boomed proudly across the table. Jazz rolled her eyes, but looked curiously at Danny, who had lost his grip on the saltshaker, spilling salt all over his eggs.
"He… did?" Danny asked, grimacing as he scraped the extra salt away with his fork. "Um, are you totally sure it was him?"
"Totally sure, son," Jack confirmed. "I'd know that ghost punk anywhere. He didn't know it was me, though. He's too scared of my reputation as a fearless ghost hunter to attack me normally! Which is why I had to trick him."
"And just how did you manage that?" Jazz asked skeptically.
Jack gave her a boyish grin and cleared his throat, allowing his voice to become higher and more nasally.
"I am the Box Ghost!" he roared. "Fear me and my cardboard containers of doom! Beware!"
Danny's eyes bulged in surprise.
"That was great!" Maddie said, laughing out loud. "But honey, why did you want Phantom to shoot you?"
"Yeah," Jazz frowned. "I hope you don't add this to your "Why Danny Phantom is Evil" list, because if you tried so hard to hide your identity, he really can't be blamed for shooting you. Although he can be blamed for falling for that lame trick…" she added under her breath.
For some reason, Danny blushed. "Well, I'm sure it was dark, Jazz. Cut him some slack."
"Don't worry, Jazzypants, I already know that Phantom is evil," he assured her, making everyone around the table wince. "I just needed him to shoot at me so I could trap his ectoblast in this." He whipped his hand out of his pocket, brandishing a… a…
"Honey, what is that?"
"The Fenton Ecto-Container!" he stated proudly. The object appeared to be some sort of glass sphere, though she assumed it was more complicated than that, and was about the size of a baseball. A pulsating green light burned from within, giving Jack's face an eerie green cast. It was, in a way, almost pretty.
"That's beautiful," Jazz said, echoing Maddie's thoughts. She had leaned in despite herself, fascinated. "It looks so fragile…"
"It is," Jack assured her. "And if it breaks, it'll probably blow the house up."
Jazz blinked, then leaned back again with a grimace. "There's always something."
"What does it do?" Danny asked warily. Unlike Jazz, he had scooted as far away from the object as possible, eying it with distrust. "Capture ghosts? Destroy them, maybe? Turn them to goo?"
"No, though those are all good ideas!" Jack said, and Danny bit his lip regretfully. "All this baby does is catch a ghost's ectoplasmic blast. It's been fitted with a tiny, modified version of the ghost shield, you see—ectoplasm goes in, but it can't go out."
"Oh." Danny relaxed a little, looking curious. "That's kind of cool, I guess. So that's his ectoplasm inside there?"
"I thought you wouldn't have that finished until later this week," Maddie said, and Jack shrugged.
"I had a breakthrough. I was going to tell you, but you'd finally fallen asleep, so I figured I'd better let you rest and go after Phantom myself."
He puffed his chest out proudly, not noticing as his two children exchanged similar expressions of wariness. Maddie noticed, and narrowed her eyes.
"So why did you want Danny Phantom's ectoplasm again?" Danny asked, and Jack grinned, leaning in conspiratorially.
"Well—"
"Jack," Maddie said. "I'm thinking of making some cookies today. Could you start the oven preheating for me?"
"COOKIES!" Jack shouted, forgetting the conversation as he pocketed the Ecto-Container and ran into the kitchen. "Cookies cookies cookies…"
"Did you finish your homework, Danny?" Maddie asked casually, ignoring Jazz's suspicious glare. She didn't like keeping things from her children, but she couldn't trust them to keep anything from Phantom, either, and this was something she had to keep secret. If Phantom knew the exact nature of the net Jack was trying to design, he might put two and two together and realize that someone had been watching his battle with Skulker that day. Maddie… didn't want that, for more reasons than one. Her guilt from letting Skulker almost destroy Phantom earlier that week had yet to wear off, and until she could find a way to repay him, she didn't want him to know about it. Not that Phantom would be surprised if he knew—he'd probably wonder why she hadn't finished him off while he was weak. Still… she would rather he didn't. Besides, if he found out that she had been watching his daily activities at the park, she would lose this priceless opportunity to study and observe Phantom. It was amazingly convenient to know where he would be each day, especially if…
Maddie frowned. Though the idea didn't exactly sit well with her, she had realized that morning that it would be easier to get the answers she needed if she could talk to Phantom face to face, an exchange she would presumably have to force. If Jack's net actually worked, that clearing in the park would be the perfect place to catch him off guard. Phantom seemed remarkably at ease there, even after Skulker's attack. He was certainly less alert there than he was at night, with constant ghost fights putting him on edge. No, it was a good, logical plan, one she should put into action as soon as that net was finished—if only her stomach would stop flip-flopping with guilt at the thought.
Stop it, she scolded herself mentally. Wasn't she justified? As much as she had grown to... if not like, then maybe fondly tolerate Phantom, didn't she have a responsibility to protect her family? In the end, he was a ghost, and as such he was inherently dangerous! How had Jazz and Danny ever reached a point—behind her back, no less! —where a ghost considered them as friends?
"Earth to Mom!" Danny shouted, waving a hand in front of her face. "You are soout of it today. I asked if I could stay at Tucker's tomorrow night. You know, since I turned in all my homework this week."
"Tucker's?" Maddie repeated. "Oh—sure, sweetie. Just clean up your room first."
Danny's triumphant "Yes!" transformed comically into a groan as he dragged himself up to clear his spot at the table.
"Don't worry so much about us, mom," Jazz said softly, and Maddie turned in surprise to find her oldest child scrutinizing her. "I know you want to protect us from everything, but sometimes we know what we're doing. Even Danny does, occasionally. You just need to trust us."
With that, she stood up and cleared her plate, following Danny into the kitchen and leaving Maddie to wonder if her daughter was actually capable of reading minds.
"I trust you, Jazz," she murmured, "but it's a mother's job to worry."
Jack came bounding back into the dining room.
"The oven's on! What kind of cookies are you making?"
Shaking her head to clear the last vestiges of doubt about her decision, Maddie smiled up at her husband.
"Whatever kind you want, so long as you get started on that net. I'll join you as soon as I'm done, okay? I think I've thought of a way to make it ice-resistant."
It was decided. One way or another, Phantom would answer her questions.
…Well, one of him would, at any rate.
In hindsight, Maddie thought as she crouched in her usual spot behind the bushes, camera in hand, this shouldn't have surprised her as much as it did. After all, he'd been going on about his newly developed ability to duplicate himself all week. Still, it was one thing to hear it, and another thing entirely to see it with her own eyes. She shook her head, bemused. Two Phantoms. And I thought one was bad enough.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the worst part of the scene in front of her.
"Okay, Danny!" Sam called, aiming an ectoblaster at him… one of him. "Are you ready for this?"
"I was born ready!" one Phantom shouted back.
"And I died ready," the second Phantom added.
"Did you really die, do you think?" Tucker asked thoughtfully, which Maddie thought was an odd question to ask a ghost. He, too, was armed with an ectoblaster, which she recognized with a scowl as Fenton technology.
Jazz. Or Danny. At least that solved the mystery of how Phantom managed to get his hands on their inventions so often, though she had guessed as much when she discovered her children's connection to Phantom. Danny was nowhere to be seen, and she wondered for a moment where he was. Not that she wanted to see him here, really, but she would have expected him to be with Sam and Tucker. Frowning, she realizing he'd probably earned himself another detention. That boy would be the death of her… but at least he wasn't here.
"Focus, Tucker," Sam scowled. "We're here to train, remember?"
"Right." Pivoting suddenly, Tucker aimed and fired, hitting the second Phantom's chest.
"Ouch!" As he flew backwards, his body flickered for a moment—Maddie blinked twice to make sure she was seeing things right—but he managed to pull himself together before he disappeared completely. "Dude, not cool. I wasn't ready!"
"I thought you were 'born ready,'" Tucker quipped, and Phantom made a face.
"Besides, your enemies don't exactly ring a doorbell before they attack," Sam added. "Your duplicate might be able to handle school and the Box Ghost, but he'll be practically worthless in a real fight if a surprise shot from an ectoblaster is enough to make him almost disappear."
"What do you mean, 'worthless'?" Phantom #2—the duplicate?—asked in mock hurt, clutching his heart. "I thought you loved me!"
"Hey, yeah!" Tucker jumped on his words with a sly grin. "Don't you love him, Sam?
"Shut up, Tucker!" Sam growled, blushing furiously.
"Or what? You'll send your boyfriendafter me?" he taunted. "Oh wait, make that boyfriends."
Both Phantoms blushed as red as Sam, narrowing their eyes at him.
"Tucker…"
It was a familiar interaction to Maddie, one she'd seen almost a hundred times over the past few years—but not with Phantom. Puzzled, she scratched her head. This makes no sense.
Tucker blinked, finally seeming to realize that he was on the receiving end of three death glares, and his grin fell. He laughed nervously.
"Uh… we're supposed to be training, right?"
"Yep," Sam said, aiming carefully and sending a blast right past Tucker's ear. Tucker jumped back with a yelp.
"You're supposed to shoot Danny, not me!"
"Sorry. My finger slipped." She grinned wickedly at him until he gulped, then turned to Phantom and his duplicate. "He's right, though—it's your turn next, lover boys."
"Bring it on," they said, taking to the air with identical smirks.
Sam started shooting again, and Tucker joined in, with a nervous glance towards Sam every now and then. Maddie was more than impressed with their aim—with a little more practice, they might even make decent ghost hunters. The two of them were still no match for Phantom, though, especially now that there was two of him.
"I don't know if this is helping," he called as he almost lazily separated his legs from his torso, allowing a shot to go straight through him.
"Yeah," his duplicate agreed, curving his body around another shot. "This isn't that hard to maintain."
"We need to make this more like a real battle!" Sam yelled back. "Try using your shield, or shooting or something."
"Or both at the same time?" The two Phantoms grinned at each other, then flew together. Dupli-Phantom formed a shield around them both, protecting them, while the original Phantom stuck his hands through the shield, shooting ectoblasts into the trees around them. Apprehensively, Maddie crouched closer to the ground as a shot whizzed over her head.
"Nice move!" Tucker said. "Now let's see how long you can keep it up." Sam and Tucker aimed their guns at the bubble-shaped shield and started firing.
The two Phantoms held up for the first minute, but it was obvious they were tiring fast. Finally, Sam got in a direct shot, and the shield shattered. With identical cries of pain, the Phantoms fell to the ground, the duplicate disappearing on impact.
"Danny! Are you okay?" Sam called worriedly. "We didn't hurt you, did we?"
Phantom groaned as he sat up, but a grin split his face.
"That was awesome!"
"Heck yeah!" Tucker's eyes were practically shining with excitement. "We need to come up with more tactics like that! I never thought about it before, but having two of you opens up a whole new avenue of possibilities!"
"As long as we can build up your stamina," Sam added, "though I'm guessing that'll come in time."
"Yeah, that's how it always seems to work," Phantom nodded. "Of course, if I'd actually been shooting at you, I might have been able to stop you before the shield broke. But you're right!" he added hastily, raising his hands to ward off the lecturing look Sam was sending him. "Stamina's good."
"Do you think you could do two duplicates yet?" Tucker asked excitedly, and Sam frowned at him.
"Danny's already tired—"
"No, I want to try," Phantom interrupted. "It's what I've been working towards all week, right?" He closed his eyes, concentrating, and his body split once, reforming his first duplicate. "Okay, there's one…" Face scrunched, his body stretched again… then snapped back together, leaving two heads on one body.
Mouth dropping open, Maddie stared in amazement, but the teens in front of her seemed mostly unfazed.
"Darn it," the two… three Phantoms sighed together. With a pop, Phantom pulled himself back together, and his successful duplicate disappeared. "Still stuck at one, I guess."
"Don't worry, you'll get it," Sam said.
"Yeah, I guess so." Phantom grinned again, unable to stay down for long. "That was cool, though. You know, the shield thing."
"Seriously," Tucker agreed. "Being able to simultaneously defend and attack? That's gonna be useful, especially when you need to buy some time."
"And unexpected," Phantom added. "For now, at least. I might even be able to take on Vlad if I work hard enough. I'll have to, if he's really stuck on that idea of cloning again."
The three teens shared a serious look.
"You haven't told Danielle about that, have you?" Tucker asked worriedly, and Phantom shook his head.
"Not yet. Maybe not ever, if we can put a stop to it before she finds out. She has enough on her plate as it is—after living for so long in the Ghost Zone, starting a normal life has been hard for her."
"You're gonna have to watch your back, you know," Sam said. "Just because Skulker failed once doesn't mean Vlad's going to give up. It just means he's probably going to come after you himself."
"Yeah, I know," Phantom sighed, scrubbing a hand through his hair. "I don't know what to do about him. I mean, it's not like I can just throw him into the Ghost Zone like any other ghost, you know? And I can't… can't kill him or anything, either. I feel like all I can do is sit here and take what he dishes out, and I hate it."
"Maybe you could trap him in a thermos indefinitely?" Sam suggested, but Phantom shook his head.
"What if he starves to death or something?"
"Well, he has to die of old age sometime, right?" Tucker said optimistically. "I mean, he's ancient, isn't he? He's got to be, like, maybe sixty."
"Um, hello?" Sam said. "He went to college with Danny's parents, remember? He has the hots for Danny's mom. They're like the same age, and his parents are not sixty."
Maddie frowned, confused. This wasn't making any sense. From the little she'd heard about this mysterious "Vlad" so far, she'd assumed he was a ghost. Wasn't he supposed to be the only person in the world like Phantom (whatever that meant), as well as the one behind the cloning of Phantom and the creation of Danielle? But the way they were talking about him now made him seem human—after all, since when did ghosts starve to death? Or die of old age?
An odd thought struck her. Danny's mom… Sam had to be talking about her Danny, right? Not Phantom? Their conversation had been almost impossible to follow up until now—another example of why she needed to talk to Phantom face to face—but Sam couldn't possibly be referring to Phantom's mom. Which meant… they were talking about her. And if they were talking about her, and Vlad was human…
"He went to college with Danny's parents. He has the hots for Danny's mom."
"No way," Maddie whispered. "Not possible."
Not… Vlad Masters?
"I highly resent the direction this conversation is taking," said a cold, smooth voice, and Maddie jerked violently, rustling the bush in front of her. Fortunately, the movement went unnoticed as everyone's attention was immediately drawn to the tall, blue-skinned ghost who had simply appeared in the middle of the clearing.
"Vlad!" Phantom said, startled, shifting instinctively into a defensive position. Sam and Tucker tensed behind him, aiming their ectoguns at the intruder. "You know, if you didn't eavesdrop on conversations that weren't meant for you, you wouldn't get offended."
The ghost smiled, showing off an impressive set of fangs. "I'm afraid old habits die hard. I removed most of my cameras from your home, Daniel. Be grateful for that."
When she'd first heard the voice, Maddie could have sworn she recognized it as Vlad Masters. Hearing it again, though, she realized it wasn't his voice—though similar, it had that same echoing quality as Phantom's. So Vlad was a ghost? Did that mean that Masters had nothing to do with this? She even recognized the ghost, which she hadn't expected. He'd made his first appearance a couple years ago, when he'd overshadowed Jack during their college reunion at Vlad's… mansion…
Her breath caught. That was too much coincidence. Masters had to be involved with this… but how?
"Most?" Phantom repeated suspiciously, then shook his head. "You know what, I don't even want to know. What do you want, Vlad? I'm kind of busy at the moment."
"Ah, yes." His lips curled into a smirk. "Training. I understand you've achieved your first duplicate? Congratulations, my dear boy, though under my tutelage you would have achieved so much more. You have to admit, your last attempt to create a second duplicate was nothing short of embarrassing."
"Don't I get any privacy?" Phantom demanded, and Vlad looked amused.
"Daniel, you're in a public park. Personally, I'd be surprised if I was the only one to discover your presence here this week."
For the tiniest second, Vlad's eyes flicked towards Maddie's hiding spot, but she was too busy thinking to notice. Once again, she was weaponless. The Fenton Bazooka was still in the RV, and she and Jack had stopped ordering weaponized jumpsuits after he'd blown up his tenth kitchen table. She didn't even have so much as a lipstick laser. Sam and Tucker were armed, though. If worst came to worst, maybe she could reach one of them in time to take a weapon? She could run back to the RV to arm herself, but that would mean leaving Danny's friends unsupervised with a potentially dangerous ghost for several minutes at least. Could she trust Phantom to watch over them while she left?
While she was still trying to decide, Phantom spoke up.
"Look, do you think you could get to the point for once in your life? If this is about my midmorph DNA, you should know that never in a million years will I—"
"No, Daniel," Vlad interrupted him. "It's not that, though after that little episode with Skulker I can understand your confusion. The poor ghost seemed so certain that he could actually capture you this time that I simply had to allow him the chance… though of course he failed, as usual. Not that it was really of any concern to me. To be honest, I'm starting to doubt that cloning you is really my best option."
"Vlad, that is the most sensible thing that has ever come out of your mouth," Phantom said, sounding almost impressed, but Vlad continued as if he hadn't spoken.
"No, the problem with clones is that they're so difficult to control—I mean, look at Danielle. They are born with no attachments to this world, nothing to lose, which makes them almost impossible to manipulate. However, it finally occurred to me that the reason I have difficulties controlling clones is the same reason I will have no trouble controlling you. You see, little badger, unlike a clone you have a lot to lose… and I am perfectly capable of taking it all away."
Phantom's eyes narrowed, flaring a brighter shade of green as he raised his fists. A glowing shield sprang into existence around Sam and Tucker, and they stepped together, startled.
"Hey, let us out," Sam protested. "We can help you fight!" Phantom ignored her.
"Watch it, Vlad," he growled. "You leave them out of this."
"Oh, I will—for now," he smirked. "But they're not the only people you care about."
Maddie raised herself a little out of her crouch. This was her chance. Phantom had Sam and Tucker covered for now—certainly he could hold that shield long enough for her to run for weapons. She'd grab the Fenton Bazooka and maybe the Specter Deflector and then she'd be all set—
"Going somewhere, dearest?" whispered a voice from behind her, and she whipped around to find Vlad floating above her, smirking slightly. But I thought… Casting a quick look behind her, she saw that Vlad was also still in the clearing.
Duplicate, she realized, opening her mouth to scream—but then Vlad flew towards her, inside her, and the sound never came out. Her camera fell from slack hands.
Darkness settled across her vision and the world blurred. Her feet stepped forward as her mouth moved, forming words, but none of this was at her command. Images and sounds flashed through her mind—shouting, bright lights, pink and green. All of it slipped like soap through her fingers the second she tried to hold on to it, and soon the darkness deepened and there was nothing to hold onto.
Sleep, Maddie, a voice in her mind whispered, as she sunk further, away. Sleep, my love. This will all be over soon…
And then, with a flash of green light she was jolted back to reality.
Bewildered, she looked up to find Phantom aiming an ectogun at her with a grim expression. Surrounding them was a glowing green dome that she recognized as one of his shields. Two Phantoms crouched at the edge of the dome, one maintaining the shield as the other attempted to deflect Vlad's blasts with his own green ones. So he'd managed to create a second duplicate after all. A pink blast hit the shield, and all three Phantoms flinched.
Maddie's mind raced. Had she been overshadowed? They were obviously fighting a battle of some sorts, but who was winning? Then it finally occurred to her that Phantom was staring at her. He knew she was here.
She scrambled to her feet. Face to face with Phantom, barely aware of what was happening, she said the first thought that tumbled through her brain.
"You shot me. Again."
Phantom grimaced. "Of course. Figures that's what you'd remember." He paused, biting his lip as something like anxiety passed over him. "Umm… what else do you remember?"
"Not much," she answered truthfully, though her eyes strayed for a moment to her earlier hiding spot, where she had dropped her camera. "Nothing, really."
Phantom's expression cleared. "Good." He tossed the gun at her, and she caught it automatically, surprised. "Take this, but please don't shoot me. I really need your help. I mean—okay, I know you wouldn't help me, but Sam needs your help. She's hurt." He gestured to the side, and she looked to see Tucker bending over Sam's limp form.
"Is she alright?" Maddie demanded, and an agonized expression passed over Phantom's face.
"I don't know. I think she's just unconscious. But you and Tucker need to take her someplace safe." He winced as another barrage of shots hit the shields. "The RV has a portable ghost shield installed, right? Is it nearby?"
Deciding that now was not the time to question Phantom's knowledge of her vehicle's capabilities, she nodded. "It's parked to the side of the road."
"Perfect. Take them there, then. I'll deal with Vlad." Another shot hit the shield, and he flinched again. "I have to let this shield go soon or it'll shatter and I'll lose my duplicates. Go help Tucker—you might have to cover him while he carries Sam, but I'll try and keep the real Vlad occupied. The duplicates will be easier for you to beat—hurt them enough, and they disappear. I've taken one out already, and the one that was possessing you is gone, so there's only two left. My two duplicates can handle one of them… leaving one for you. Are you ready?"
Hefting her gun with determination, Maddie nodded. "Ready." No ghost overshadowed her and got away with it!
"Good. At the count of three I'm letting this shield go. One."
Maddie sprinted to where Tucker knelt, grabbing his shoulder to get his attention.
"Grab Sam," she muttered. "The Fenton RV's parked to the side of the road—we're about to run for it. I'll cover you."
"Two."
Tucker nodded, and bent down to pick up Sam, grunting under her weight. She stirred at the movement, and Maddie's heart leapt.
Tucker gasped. "Sam? Are you okay?"
"One comment… about my weight… and I'll kill you, Tucker," she murmured weakly, and Tucker grinned.
"I think she'll be alright."
"Three!"
"Let's go!" Maddie shouted as the shield dissolved around her, and Tucker took off at a loping run, Maddie following behind.
Vlad and his duplicates were taken aback by the shield's sudden failure, which gave Phantom a moment's head start. He moved in immediately on the real Vlad, sending off an ectoblast that took him by surprise, knocking him through the air. Phantom's duplicates also moved as one, cornering one of Vlad's duplicates. That left one duplicate free. As predicted, he came after Maddie.
"Get back here," he snarled, flying towards her. Maddie sent a quick succession of shots his way, which he barely managed to dodge. "I don't want to hurt you, but I'll do what I must to keep you here."
"That's too bad, ghost," Maddie called back. "I don't have any problem hurting you."
Scowling, the Vlad-duplicate formed a pink ectoblast in his hand and let it loose—but not at her.
"Tucker, duck!" she shouted, and Tucker dropped down, barely avoiding the blast. Sam moaned at the impact.
While the ghost was distracted, Maddie let off another round of shots, and this time one of them hit its mark. Shouting in pain, the duplicate flickered, and she felt a burst of hope. Phantom was right—a few more hits, and he'd be finished.
"Get up," she urged Tucker, helping him pick up Sam and start running again. Vlad's duplicate had already shaken off the attack and was coming at them again, looking angrier than before.
"Running is useless, Maddie! I refuse to lose you again!"
Maddie shot at him again, but he put up a shield and her shots bounced off harmlessly. The RV was getting closer—they just needed another minute!
"What do you mean, again?" she shouted back, hoping to distract him from attacking Tucker and Sam. If they were safe, she could just worry about herself. "You never had me in the first place!"
"I did!" he shouted, rage distorting his face. "I had you until that idiotic oaf Jack ruined my life and stole you away!"
His words were strangely similar to what Vlad Masters had said that night in the woods so long ago. What was their connection?
Keep him talking.
"Jack never stole me away from anyone, Vlad—I loved him all along. Even if I hadn't, what makes you think I would ever go with you, a ghost?"
She meant to incense Vlad with her words, but instead they had the opposite effect. He laughed coldly.
"You're brilliant, Maddie—you always have been—but in this case, you know nothing. I would have had you then, and I will have you now. All these years I've waited, wanting you to come to me on your own, but my patience has worn thin. If I have you I have Daniel, and if I have Daniel… I have you. It won't matter what you think of me when you cannot leave me!"
"What makes you think I care what you do with Phantom?" she asked, and he grinned knowingly.
"Oh, you care… or at least, you will once you find out who he really is."
Every inch of Maddie was dying to let him continue that tantalizing sentence, but she had to take advantage of his distraction while she could. Again she shot at him, and this time it hit its mark. Vlad went flying backwards, flickering, and Maddie chanced a glance in front of her. They were almost there!
Tucker reached the RV first, clambering in awkwardly with Sam still in his arms. Maddie got there a few seconds later, but before she could climb in, a pink shot came out of the sky, hitting the RV and rocking it backwards.
"Tucker!" Maddie called out in alarm. "Sam! Are you alright?"
"We're fine, but he hit the control panel!" Tucker yelled back, panicked. "I can't turn on the ghost shield!"
"They don't have to die, you know." Maddie turned to find Vlad's duplicate descending from the air to float grimly in front of her. "I don't really care what happens to them. All I care about is you and Daniel."
"I don't know what makes you think that Phantom cares about me," Maddie said, trying to buy time. Something hit her foot, and she looked down. A tube of lipstick? But she wasn't holding…
Surreptitiously, she glanced at the RV. Sam was hanging out the door, giving her a meaningful look. Was this what she thought it was?
"Oh, Maddie," he said, shaking his head. "You really have no idea, do you? Phantom cares more about you than almost anyone in the world. I can't believe you haven't figured it out yet, especially after all that time you've spent spying on him this week, but perhaps some jumps are too big for even your mind to make."
"You've been watching me?" Maddie demanded, and he smirked.
"I'm always watching. Now, drop that gun, or I'm afraid I'll have to do something you'll regret."
With one last glance back at the RV, Maddie bent over. Dropping the ectoblaster, she furtively grabbed the lipstick container, praying that Vlad hadn't noticed. As she straightened, it seemed that he hadn't.
"There's a good girl. Now, come closer."
Maddie stepped forward, heart beating faster and faster. Less than a foot away from the ghost, she could feel the chill emanating off his skin. Running his fingers lightly along her arm, he smiled down at her, and a shiver ran through her before she could suppress it. A smile on that face looked wrong, and there was something hungry in those glowing redeyes.
"Finally," he said, "after all these years… you're mine."
Slowly, Maddie shook her head.
"I'm nobody's," she said. "Least of all yours!"
With a yell, she pointed the lipstick container at Vlad, flicking off the lid, and he flinched backwards.
"No!"
…And then there was silence. For a moment they stood like that, eyes squeezed shut, neither one daring to look. Finally, simultaneously, the two of them snuck a peek. Purple lipstick poked innocently out of the tube.
"Well, that was anticlimactic," Tucker muttered. Sam looked horrified.
A small chuckle escaped Vlad, then a bigger one, and then a full on laugh. He bent over, unable to contain himself as the laughter came bubbling out.
"What are you going to do, Maddie?" he gasped out. "Give me a makeover? Oh, the horrors!" He doubled over again.
Maddie looked at the lipstick, then back at Sam, then at Vlad, then at the lipstick once more. With a shrug and a grim smile, she tossed the small tube behind her.
"In a way, yes," she said pleasantly, drawing back her fist. Vlad looked up. He barely had time for his eyes to widen before she'd hit him with the hardest punch she was capable of—and as a 9th-degree black belt, that was pretty hard.
Tucker and Sam cheered as Vlad's duplicate flew backwards, dissolving into the air.
"That was awesome, Mrs. F!" he crowed, punching the air, and Sam grinned.
"Yeah, it was." The expression melted away. "But what about Danny?"
As if on cue, they heard Phantom scream in the woods behind them.
Sam's eyes widened. "Danny!"
She tried to get up, but Maddie pushed her down. "You're not going back for him! You can barely walk."
"Tucker, then," she pleaded, but Maddie shook her head.
"Neither of you are going back. It's too dangerous."
"Look," Sam said angrily, "I know you don't like him but he needs our help! So either let us go or—"
"I'm helping him," Maddie interrupted her, and Sam spluttered to a stop, looking dumbfounded.
"You're what?" Tucker asked, as if he couldn't believe his ears. "You're helping him?"
"Do you have your driver's license yet, Tucker?" she asked, ignoring him, and he blinked.
"Um… learner's permit…"
Maddie winced. It would have to do.
"Take Sam back to Fentonworks and have Jack put up the ghost shield. I'll go help Phantom and be back when I'm done." They stared at her uncomprehendingly, and she scowled. "What are you waiting for? Go!"
"Take this," Sam said suddenly, digging into her backpack and pulling out an old thermos. Maddie raised her eyebrows as she recognized the device.
"I thought these didn't work?"
"They do," Sam told her. "Danny uses them all the time."
"Of course he does," Maddie muttered. "We're going to have a talk about that when this is all over, by the way. Now go!"
Not waiting for their response, she grabbed the thermos along with the gun she'd dropped earlier and ran back towards the clearing. Behind her, she heard the sound of the Fenton RV squealing away, and she sighed with relief. Now she had only herself and Phantom to worry about.
She smiled, shaking her head as she ran. Maddie Fenton, ghost-hunter, rescuing Danny Phantom, ghost. Who would've guessed?
Sorry for any errors. I tried to edit it, but it's kind of late, so… yeah. Thanks to all my reviewers, and to everyone who faved this or put it on story alert. Reviews are appreciated
