OKAY! I SET OUT TO FINISH A SECOND CHAPTER THIS WEEKEND, AND I HAVE ACCOMPLISHED THE FEAT! SURE, I'M CUTTING IT A LITTLE CLOSE TO MIDNIGHT, BUT AT LEAST IT GOT DONE! ANYWAY, HERE IS CHAPTER FOUR! NOT AS MUCH ACTION IN THIS ONE, BUT I PROMISE THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL INDEED HAVE SOME EPIC-NESS! PLEASE ENJOY! OH, YES, DANNY PHANTOM AND THE RESPECTIVE CHARACTERS BELONG TO BUTCH HARTMAN AND NICKELODEON, NOT TO ME. SO THE EPISODE 'KINDRED SPIRITS.' I JUST ADDED THESE NEW TWISTS.
CHAPTER 4
Vlad Masters held up the vial filled with Danny's DNA sample. The liquid was a rather unattractive shade of brown: the red of Daniel's blood mixed with the green of his ectoplasm. And even as unappealing as the substance appeared, Vlad couldn't have been more ecstatic to have it in his hands. He glanced at the containment unit where Danny was still confined; the boy was hardly standing, and his head hung low to his chest. Perhaps he was unconscious.
Not that Vlad really cared. He hadn't even bothered to check. Besides, Danny would be dead soon anyway, and what better way to accomplish the task than with the child's own duplicate? The display would be quite satisfactory, even with himself as the only spectator.
Vlad approached a table covered in laboratory equipment and donned a lab coat, then began his work, studying the fluid he had extracted from Daniel's body and preparing it for its administration to the clone. He had been at work for half an hour when he heard the tell-tale sound of approaching feet on the rough concrete floor. He turned to see Danielle, young Fenton's feminine side, walking toward him in her human guise.
"Danielle!" He crooned. "What a lovely surprise to see you, my dear! But you do know how I feel about my work: you mustn't come into the lab while I'm busy." The millionaire flashed a bright smile at the girl and reached down to pat her shoulder.
"Hi, Dad! I just came to see if you needed anything! You've been down here for a long time."
"Well. . . ." Vlad allowed his sentence to trail off as he feigned thought. "I could use a glass of water. Perhaps with some ice?"
"Of course, Daddy!" Danielle beamed at her 'dad' and turned to retrieve the requested item. Vlad watched her walk away.
'Of course, once my work is complete, your usefulness shall be as well, and I shall no longer have need of you.'
Vlad smirked and turned back to his work, pausing only to accept the glass of water Danielle brought for him several minutes later, and to watch her leave as he drank. The girl was clueless as to his intentions, and he liked that.
He also liked the idea that Daniel's clone would be the one to eliminate the true Daniel. Perhaps he would go even further and use the duplicate to destroy the girl, as well.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.
Two hours later, the serum was finished, sealed in an airtight vaccine bottle like those found in hospitals. Vlad had devised a substance consisting mostly of the DNA sample extracted from Daniel's body, but other elements and chemicals were present as well. He had even infused it with some of his own ghost-half's more powerful ectoplasm, enhancing the power that the clone would receive upon administration of the serum. His creation would be, could be, nothing less than perfect.
Vlad glanced toward the containment unit; Daniel still hadn't moved. How disappointing. Perhaps he wasn't so strong after all. He had certainly showed potential during his forced transformation, but now? Well. . . .
"How close is the clone to being ready?" Vlad spoke into the air, knowing that his Maddie program was listening.
"The clone has reached its prime readiness level, Darling! It is ready to receive the DNA sample as of six minutes, thirteen seconds ago."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome, Dear!"
Vlad removed his lab coat, folded it, and placed it on the work table next to a microscope, then picked up a syringe and filled it with the serum he had created. He carried it to the real Danny's containment unit and with his free left hand knocked gently on the hardened window. He smiled at Danny.
"I don't know if you can hear me, Daniel, but I would like to say thank you for your help." Then with mock sincerity he said, "I don't know how I can repay you."
"I know how." Danny's voice returned. "You can let me help you out with that needle!"
Vlad spun around to see Danny Phantom hovering eye-to-eye with him, his hand glowing with a pent-up energy blast. Danny reached toward Vlad's chest and opened his hand, releasing the ectoplasmic energy at the same time, but Vlad was quicker. Even through his confusion, the years of practice he had spent with his spectral side took over. He grabbed Danny's wrist and jerked it upward, allowing the energy burst to pass harmlessly over his left shoulder and impact high on the wall behind him. Then he channeled a burst of his own energy through the hand holding Danny's wrist. Danny clenched his jaws in pain as the man overloaded him with the ectoplasmic blast.
Vlad snarled and squeezed Danny's wrist. In an effort to protect the syringe, he pulled his right hand backward and around his waist, away from the ghost boy, and positioned the same elbow in Danny's stomach. He flexed his shoulder and threw his elbow backward, flinging Danny overhead and behind him, directly toward the containment unit. At the last second, he turned himself and the boy intangible and pushed Danny through the front of the machine, releasing him as soon as the boy was inside. Before Danny could recover, Vlad pressed a button next to the 'Release' control, and the device began to glow a subtle pink color.
Danny, having been shoved upside down into the machine, struggled to reorient himself. As soon as he was upright once more, he attempted to phase through the barrier, but found himself unable to do so. He snarled defiantly at Vlad and punched the reinforced glass between them. Before he could begin yelling insults, however, Vlad seized the opening.
"How did you get out?" He shouted, taking on his ghost form as he spoke.
"Oh, come on!" Danny replied, touching his double's chest and seeming to absorb it into his body. "You know as well as I do that we can use our powers in human form!"
"Of course we can, but you duplicated your form without transforming! Even I can't use that much ghost energy without shifting over to my ghost half!"
"Think outside the box, fruit loop! I phased out of here, left, transformed, and then created the duplicate! The duplicate shifted back to human form and took my place in your machine, and I came back to destroy your precious clone!"
Vlad grinned, revealing his fangs in a vampiric smile. "And how did that work out for you?"
Danny's glare only intensified in response.
"We'll see how defiant you are when I get done with you."
Vlad checked the syringe to be sure that it was undamaged, then turned and approached the containment unit holding Danny's clone. He pressed a series of characters on the number pad next to the bio-monitor and waited for the hatch to slide open. When the clone had been fully revealed, Vlad reached forward and checked all of the intravenous lines leading to the various parts of the duplicate's body. With the exception of the needle in its hand, the one providing the sedative and keeping the clone asleep, Vlad removed all of them. He then injected the serum into the tube through which the sedative was flowing.
Danny watched, unable to act, as the brownish substance from Vlad's syringe flowed into his clone's body. When finally it was gone, Vlad gently removed the IV of sedative from the copy's hand and returned to the lab table, where he placed the syringe exactly where he had found it moments before. He leaned against the table and waited.
For several minutes, nothing seemed to happen, and then the clone gasped and opened its eyes. With an expression of alarm on his face, he leapt out of the machine and stood on the floor fists clenched in preparation for some sort of attack. When it opened its mouth to speak, the true Danny noticed it had a pair of fangs, no doubt a byproduct of something Vlad had done to it.
"Where am I?" It spoke in a voice similar to Danny's, but also different. The vampire-like canine teeth interfered with his speech.
"You're home." Vlad replied. "Welcome, son."
The clone turned and looked at Vlad for a moment, then stood up straighter and ran his fingers through his hair. "Dad?"
"Yes, son. I have waited a long time to see you, and I have much to teach. But first, I must tell you of your destiny."
"My destiny?"
"Of course, Child. And there is much to learn. You may know some of what I have to tell you, or all of it may be new, but it must be told. Come with me and I will impart to you what I know."
Vlad approached 'Danny' and laid a hand on his shoulder, then guided him from the room. Danny didn't see them again for two hours, and when they returned, both Vlad and the new 'Danny' were smiling at him with a predatory glee.
x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.
I realize these last couple of chapters have been a bit on the short side. Usually I upload word documents that are about four to five pages long, but these most recent uploads were only about three pages apiece. At any rate, the chapter size should increase soon, but that means they'll take a little longer to write, so we'll see what happens. Have a wonderful week, and God bless!
-Oreo (I am not a cookie!)