The shock wave from the explosion sent debris flying all throughout the food court, flinging tables and patrons about like straws in the wind. Shards of metal and glass ripped deep into flesh, turning screams of terror into moans of pain for the fortunate. The bodies of victims were strewn about everywhere; some piled up on top of each other where they met an impenetrable barrier and some lying alone in the open. In both cases arms and legs poked out at oddly impossible angles, muscle and bone lay exposed and every surface in the food court was painted in blood.
Danny slowly pushed himself up from the floor, his ears ringing and head swimming. Quickly he glanced around and found Tucker pinned under the partition, obviously hurt but trying to stand. Moving over to his friend Danny grabbed onto the remains of the barrier and lifted with all of his strength. His head pounded in pain at the effort, but he was able to move the obstruction enough for Tucker to slither out from under it. Fighting off a wave of nausea he pulled Tuck up from the floor and looked him over thoroughly.
Most of the wounds he saw on Tucker were on the side that was facing the window at the time of the explosion. Fortunately they appeared to be minor in nature; the partition having absorbed the majority of the blast damage. Danny could feel numerous cuts and scratches on himself as well, but the accompanying pain was minor so he wasn't too worried.
"You ok Tucker?"
"Are you kidding me? You?" Tucker responded.
"I'll live, more or less. What the hell was that?"
Foley shrugged his shoulders, which he regretted as he winced in pain from a muscle strain in them. "OW! I don't know, but it sure messed up this place."
That's when they both took a good look at their surroundings. The dust was just settling so the view was a bit hazy, but the carnage around them was obvious. The moans of the wounded and dying assaulted their ears, while pleas of help could be heard from every direction. The smell of blood mixed with that of food and the freshly emptied bowels of the dead. Just in front of them, mere feet from what was the sheltering form of the partition, lay a young girl with the remains of an autograph book in her hand. Her body was mangled, clothing shredded, her neck at an odd angle and a huge piece of glass imbedded deep in her left eye. The child's remaining eye was unscathed and open, staring directly at Tucker and Danny, yet destined to never see them or anything else again.
The combination of sights, smells and a meal of greasy food were too much for Tucker, and he fell to his knees retching and spewing the contents of his stomach everywhere. Danny was sure he was just seconds away from joining his friend on the floor, but managed to hold it together. He had seen and experienced unbelievable horrors before, but the blood bath around him was so totally foreign he couldn't wrap his mind around it. The closest thing he could equate to it were the stories his uncle would tell him about the Gulf War conflict, but even that seemed to pale in comparison; this wasn't a war zone, it was his home.
He was just thankful that Sam hadn't been here to see it, or worse: be a part of it.
An evil laugh behind him cut through the fog of revulsion and made him turn toward its source. Standing in the wreckage that used to be the food court window was, quite literally, a ghost from the past; one he had never expected to see again.
"Plasmius?!?" Danny exclaimed, looking like a deer caught in the glare of oncoming headlights.
"Yes Daniel, it is I. Are you pleased to see me?" Vald said tauntingly. "I'm glad I didn't accidently kill you when I blasted out the window. It would have been a pity to find you already dead or dying."
Danny stumbled forward a few paces but was brought up short by what he saw. The thing standing before him barely resembled the Vald Plasmius he knew a year ago. Puss filled boils covered nearly every inch of exposed skin and the hair on his head was patchy and sparse. Vlad's whole body looked bloated and deformed, and the stench of death surrounded him. His eyes glowed a sickly reddish black like clotted blood, and madness filled them. The very sight of this, this thing in front of him filled Danny with revulsion and loathing.
The being that claimed to be Plasmius smiled at Danny's obvious discomfort. "What's wrong Daniel, don't you recognize your old Uncle Vlad? Is my appearance causing you some distress?" Vlad's tone turned darker, and his eyes burned bright with unfathomable madness. "I hope it does. Take a good look Daniel. This is what happens when you are exposed to Ectoranium radiation for too long. And believe me, a year in space floating through that meteor's debris field was more than enough to do the job."
Danny shook off the fear and disgust he was feeling and took up a defensive stance. "Why are you here Plasmius? Why did you attack all of these innocent people? You killed or wounded so many of them!!" Danny shouted.
"Temper, temper my little badger." Plasmius said mockingly. "Isn't it obvious why I came back? But then again, you were always slow on the uptake." Once more Plasmius 's tone turned dark. "I'm here for revenge you little brat!"
With that Plasmius took aim and shot a red bolt of ecto-energy at Danny. Anticipating the attack, Danny dodged quickly off to one side, concentrating on becoming the Phantom. Instantly, two concentric rings of bright, white light formed around his midsection, traveling in opposite directions down his body. By the time he landed on his feet, Danny Fenton had completely transformed into Danny Phantom.
Cursing the missed shot Vlad took aim again and charged up another blast. Moving faster than Vlad, Danny charged up and shot his own green bolt of ecto-energy, catching Plasmius dead in the chest and knocking him back out the blast hole. The sudden shift in location caused Vlad's second blast to go high, slamming into an already unstable ceiling and raining more debris on the fallen below.
"Danny, you gotta take this outside." Tucker said, choking on the dust created from the last blast. "One more hit and that roof's coming down."
"I know, I know!" Danny took to the air and moved quickly in pursuit of Vlad. "Get a Fenton thermos and stand by to use it!"
"I'm on it." Tucker immediately started sifting through the rubble near where he and Danny fell, careful to avoid the pools of blood rapidly spreading throughout the floor of the food court.
Danny meanwhile was in the fight of his life and having to use every trick he knew to stay (mostly) alive. Upon flying out of the mall he was immediately hit with an ecto-energy beam and knocked back through the hole in the wall. He shook it off quickly, and then moved out more cautiously, firing his own ecto-energy bolts and flying in erratic defensive patters. Vlad continued to harass Danny verbally while fighting, and it was having the desired effect; Danny was using more power and fighting harder than ever before. Both of them got in several good blows and shots, but Danny was slowly gaining the advantage.
Sensing the time was ripe Vlad positioned himself above the construction contractor's shack and slowed his movements some, feigning exhaustion from the battle. Danny's next bolt was a glancing blow that sent Plasmius to the ground in front of the temporary building. Getting to his feet slowly, Vlad turned toward Danny who was twenty or more yards away getting ready to hurl another ecto-energy blast at him.
Perfect.
Acting as if he was nearly spent, Vlad looked up at Danny and laughed. "Well Daniel, you've improved since last I saw you, where I have become unfortunately weaker. No matter. I know your weakness; a disgusting propensity to be a boy scout and protect the innocent." He began charging up a ball of ecto-energy, cackling as he did so. "Let's see you be the hero and save what's left of the vermin infesting that mall."
Danny still couldn't believe Plasmius had sunk so low. Charging up a huge ball of his own, he began to take aim. "Why attack them Vlad, they've done nothing to you. This fight is between you and me; leave everyone else out of it."
Madness flared in Plasmius's eyes as the energy ball he was forming got bigger. "Silly boy, there are no innocents in our struggle. I would gladly slaughter a thousand so called innocent victims just for the pleasure of seeing you squirm!" With that, Vlad took an obvious aim at the mall.
Danny quickly realized that the blast from that ecto-energy ball would bring the roof down, killing everyone still alive in the food court. Left with no choice, he hurled his ecto-ball before Vlad had the chance. It traveled the distance between them in a split second, colliding with Plasmius's ball just as he was releasing it. The explosion of the two powerful spheres of energy was intense, throwing Plasmius hard into the contractor's shack and shattering the windows as well. The force from the blast sent a shockwave that ruffled Danny's hair even at a considerable distance away.
It was the second, unexpected explosion a microsecond later that flung Danny through the air and onto the ground more than fifty feet from his original location.
Slowly picking himself up off the pavement Danny surveyed the damage. The contractor's hunt was about ten yards from its original location, which was now a smoking crater; the building no more than a burnt and twisted pile of metal and broken furnishings. Maintenance trucks parked in the lot had been upended and tossed about like toys in a child playroom.
Vlad's body was nowhere to be seen.
Danny stood there in confusion. There was no way those two ecto-energy balls colliding together could have caused this kind of damage; it had to be the second explosion. What had caused that? He was about to investigate when he heard something off to his left near the hole in the food court wall. Wheeling around he took aim, hands glowing green with power.
A startled Tucker threw his hands up, one gripping a Fenton Thermos. "Whoa! Danny, it's me! Power down, man!"
Danny let the energy in his hands dissipate as he brought them to his sides. "Tucker, what the hell kept you?"
Danny regretted the question the second it left his mouth. Foley was covered head to toe in dust, glass, vomit and more importantly, blood. He knew Tucker had issues with anything medical related, and blood definitely fell into that category. It must have taken every ounce of nerve he had to search for the Fenton Thermos under the conditions in the mall.
Tucker looked totally dejected after Danny's question. "Sorry dude, my backpack had somehow gotten under…that…girl." Foley looked like he was about to cry, hurl or both.
"Tucker, it's ok man. I'm sorry about being cross with you. I know it was hard, but you came through for me. Thanks."
The sound of emergency vehicles in the distance reminded Danny that there were still people alive in the food court that could use his help. He took flight and turned toward the hole where Tucker was standing, but a familiar laugh stopped him in his tracks. Turning to his right he saw Vlad walking through the parking lot toward him.
"Ahh Daniel, leaving so soon? Flying off to help all those insignificant pests in the mall? How heroic." The last word dripped with sarcasm, and Vlad made a face like he had swallowed something distasteful. "It's a shame that you weren't able save all of them. But then again you can't even protect the one's you love, let alone total strangers." Vlad's face broke out into a maddeningly gleeful smile at this.
Danny narrowed his eyes at Plasmius as his hands glowed green with power. "What are you rambling on about Plasmius?"
Ignoring Danny altogether, Vlad instead focused his attention on Tucker. "Ahh, the young Mr. Foley; techno-geek of Team Phantom, but certainly not it's brains." Plasmius looked around in mock confusion as if searching for something. "But where is the other member of your little trio of do-gooders; the dark and brooding Ms. Manson? Certainly if you two are here," his voice took on an ominous edge, "then she can't be very far behind."
The implications of Plasmius's words hit Danny like a sledgehammer and caused Tucker to gasp in shock. Danny immediately fired an ecto-blast into Vlad's chest, slamming the grinning ghost into the pavement. Moving like the wind he was on top of Vlad a second later, grabbing him by his neck and hoisting him up off the ground. The green in Danny's eyes glowed dark and menacing, and the tone in his voice sent shivers down Tucker's spine.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SAM?!!!? WHERE IS SHE?!?" Danny growled, shaking Plasmius like a rag doll.
Eyes devoid of any warmth looked up into Danny's. "I didn't do anything to her. Well," Plasmius said with a sadistic grin, "almost nothing. I did give her a 'ride' to the mall so that she could see all of the fun firsthand." His expression took on an unconvincing look of sadness. "As to where she is, well, I suppose I should have chosen a better location for her to view your battle with my clone from. But really," he said in a mock apology, glancing toward the twisted remains of the contractor's shack, "I didn't know they were keeping explosives in there. I mean, who stores dangerous materials like that on a shopping mall parking lot."
Danny's eyes flew open in horror, and he hurled Plasmius away from him. Rushing quickly to the wreckage of the shack Danny looked into its remains. Metal, scraps of cloth and wood from furniture and charred papers littered the inside of the warped metal hulk.
And near the middle, poking up through all of the rubble, was a small, delicate hand covered in blood.
A silent scream echoed inside Danny's head as he moved swiftly to the spot where the hand was. Flinging detritus out of the way like a man possessed, he eventually uncovered the broken and battered remains of Sam. Looking down on her frail form, knowing that life no longer resided in her, made all of Danny's worst nightmares come horribly true.
She was naked, and the remains of burnt rope at her wrists and ankles gave testament that she was tied up when she died. One of her signature purple stockings was stuffed into her mouth like a gag, no longer held in place by the tape still stuck to one side of her mouth. Her once beautiful hair was burnt and in disarray, and what was left was plastered to the side of her forehead that had been burnt away to the bone. Long shards of metal poked through her body at obscene angles, leaving muscle and sinew exposed by their passing. Looking down at her legs Danny noticed that one foot had been entirely blown off, ragged bone jutting out where it should be.
Then Danny looked into her eyes, her beautiful, warm, lavender eyes, and the strength to stand left him. They were untouched by the blast that killed her, forever focused in a look of sheer terror that bespoke of her final few moments of life. They looked up at him almost pleadingly, begging him to save her.
The emotions of the situation ravaged Danny's will, leaving him shaking and weak. Bending down he gently scooped Sam's body up into his arms, holding her more tenderly than he had ever before. His voice cracked with emotion, his mind barely able to form the word he whispered. "Sam?"
Laughter, high pitched and crackling with insanity, rang out in the parking lot. "She's gone Daniel, and nothing you can do can ever bring her back. You have failed her, allowed her to die because you couldn't protect her. How very sad." Vlad taunted.
Danny stroked what remained of Sam's hair, cooing under his breath as he rocked back and forth, clutching her body to his own. His heart and mind refused to accept what his senses were telling him. No, she wasn't dead, she was asleep. That's it, I just need to wake her. In a voice full with despair and denial, Danny called out to her. "Sam!"
Plasmius moved closer to Danny, he eyes alight with triumph. "Do you know why she'd dead Daniel? It's really quite simple: you were the catalyst that caused me to damage my space station, resulting in its destruction and the threat of the Ghost meteor. My life and dreams ended because of what you made me do."
Vlad moved even closer, to within a few yards of Danny. Face split in gleeful delight, he continued. "It seemed only fitting that I should be the catalyst that caused you to destroy the one thing that you loved more than anything…by you own hand!"
Danny was crying now, silent tears spilling onto Sam's face and washing the grime away. It was true, it was all true. Sam was dead, and he killed her. Danny Fenton. The one she loved and trusted to keep her safe from harm. His actions took her away from him forever.
Guilt consumed Danny from within, and from it was born hate. Hate for Plasmius, hate for himself, even and irrational hate of Sam for allowing herself to be captured and used like this. All of this built up inside Danny, burning his soul until an anguished cry erupted from his lips.
"SAM!!!!!"