Sam, Tucker and Jazz were roughly pushed aside as Dan lumbered back into the kitchen, angrily swiping at the dust and brick shards littering his jumpsuit.
"Your little hybrid is becoming more and more of a nuisance," Dan spat, throwing a cabinet door open and rifling through the contents. The three watched him carry a little white box back to the table with curious expressions, but when Dan opened the container and took out a roll of white bandages, they understood. He was littered with small cuts and slashes, some fresh from his meeting with the wall. It was amazing, however, that he remembered exactly where everything was.
Tucker was the first one to ask what they were all thinking. "So, what do you think Danny wanted? Why was he spying on us?"
"I'm not sure. He wasn't there long enough to hear too much; I would've sensed him. He must have just---aghh!" Dan slapped a hand against his forehead, growling very offensive curse words under his breath. "He knows," he said, disgust written all over his face.
"What do you mean, he knows? You just said--" Sam was cut off as Dan undid the zipper at the front of his jumpsuit and tugged it off, leaving him bare from the waist up. Everyone, even Jazz, had to stare at the impressive six pack, but there gaze soon shifted to the bloody wound marring his skin. He started winding the bandages around his stomach, his face livid.
"Think! He must have seen what was going to happen in Clockwork's lair on the damn viewing screens! He knew what you guys had planned before you did!" The three's eyes widened in horror, but understanding was hidden beneath the shocked expressions. "The only reason he even came back was to rub it in," Dan rolled his eyes and sneered, pinning the end of the soft cloth and slipping his arms back into the sleeves of his spandex costume and zipping it up.
Sam stared at the older version of her "friend", but Tucker was, yet again, the first to ask. "What makes you think that?"
Dan, surprisingly, started to laugh, and he calmly gestured to himself. "We may have totally different futures now, but I am a part of him. If I was in his position, and with his power, I would have done the same thing. In fact, now that I think on it, I have done that. Countless times, actually."
Scowling at that, Sam ran a hand through her short black hair and sighed irritably. "Well, this is great. If he's right, then Danny knows of our plan to go to Plasmius. Jazz said that he was the one who stole the notes on Ecto-Reverso, which means he also knows that another dose of Ecto-Reverso won't affect him. And, to top it all off, he's probably going to get there first."
Jazz and Tucker began to shake their heads no, probably about to say something positive, but with a curt nod from Dan they stopped.
"There's no doubt about it. He is going to get there before us. Even though he's wounded, Danny has the advantage of speed on his side. Besides," he frowned, "he's got a head start, considering he's known about your scheme to get Plasmius to help you before you even thought it up. He probably already has a plan set into motion." Dan sank down into one of the chairs, his cape draping the wood like a funeral shroud. "The only real thing we have going for us is the fact that Danny's most likely going to try and trick the cheesehead into helping him with whatever scheme he's concocted, which is going to be exceedingly difficult for him."
"Why?" Tucker nearly cringed at the are-you-stupid looks that Dan, Sam, and Jazz sent his way, blue-green eyes widening in confusion. "What?"
"You know, I'd almost forgotten how stupid you are," Dan remarked. "Well, since you are clearly too ignorant to figure it out on your own. Does Danny's recent makeover ring any bells?"
"….oh…"Enlightenment entered Tucker's pale eyes, a sheepish smile spreading over his blushing face.
Dan longed to kill the younger boy right then and there. "Yeah, oh. His looks are going to cause him some problems. I doubt things have changed so much since I was in the thermos to the point where having red eyes, fangs, and a wardrobe that practically screams evil is regarded as a simple fashion statement. The cheesehead will suspect something the second he lays eyes on him."
A wide mouthed grin appeared on his face.
"Depending on how long it takes us to think up a strategy, we should be in time to stop him from completely destroying poor little Daniel." With a self satisfied smirk, Dan leaned back in the chair and propped his booted feet up on the table.
Sam stared at him with a murderous expression on her face, an angry gleam entering her periwinkle eyes.
"I thought you wanted Danny dead? Why do you care if Plasmius kills him or not," Tucker scratched his head, and Dan smiled that wicked leer that both he and Danny now seemed to share.
"I do want your precious halfa dead. However, I want to be the one who kills him, so there's no way I'm going to let that brat get himself killed before I get to him. I had a wonderful experience last time ripping him apart limb from limb, and I would love to feel that pleasure again." His voice slipped, letting out a husky purr, but his smirk fell away as Sam lunged towards him, her hands moving for his collared throat.
Dan, barely moving fast enough, shot forward in his seat and managed to grab her frail wrists in one of his hands, the other erupting in green ectoplasm.
"Don't you talk about Danny like that!" Sam screamed, tugging and thrashing against his grip. "I don't care who the hell you think you are, but you're not him and you have no right to say things like that! If we didn't need you, I'd gladly kill you myself!"
Dan, brows raised at the goth's less than successful antics and barbed words, stood up from the chair so that he towered over her, her wrists captured in his gloved hands.
"I'll talk about your beloved boyfriend however I please, and you will do well to remember that I am the more powerful one here. Without my help, you three have no chance of saving Danny," he stated coldly. "You seem to be under the misunderstanding that I am the same Danny you could frighten with one of your temper tantrums or scary looks."
"Danny would never--!"
"I don't give a damn what that insufferable twit would or would not do. Honestly, you're being very hypocritical, Sammy. One minute you say I'm not Danny, and then you go and try to treat me like you would him. Sorry, but it doesn't work that way." Dan roughly tightened his grip on the pale flesh, hearing her slight whimper of pain that brought around a deep sense of satisfaction, though not as much as it would have if it had been Danny's. "I am not the Danny you seem to love so much."
"I--I don't love him!" Her cheeks blushed a dark red, but Dan sneered at the false declaration.
"I'm not blind. I know you love him. You think you hide it so well, but the fact is that the only reason people never truly realized it is because they're too idiotic. And he loves you too, even if he never realized it himself until now, and though you were too blind to see it for yourself."
Sam's mouth dropped into an O of surprise, but she quickly covered it up with a stubborn look. "This isn't the point! Whether I love him or not, which I don't, I won't have you threatening to kill my best friend in my presence! Or in theirs," she nodded towards Jazz and Tucker, who, until then, had been watching the display with faint curiosity and fear. At the mention of them, both teens glared angrily at Dan, who only snorted and, giving her wrists a final squeeze, dropped Sam to the floor. She immediately held the bruised limbs to her chest, the two glaring daggers at each other.
Jazz and Tucker glanced at them, the redhead's hand lightly moving to rest on Sam's quivering shoulder.
"Listen, now that you two are over your spat, we need to leave now if we even want to have a hope of saving Danny." Jazz said. "We can discuss the plan of action and fill…umm," she frowned, glancing over at. "What are we supposed to call you, exactly?"
His brows lifted, but he silently regarded them for a few moments before letting a dark look spread over his face, twisting his lips up into a cheeky smile.
"Well, the Valerie of my timeline called me many things, but I'm sure you children don't even use such horrifying language." Dan stressed the word children, and each teen grimaced in disgust. "However, since I have no interest in being referred to by my old alias, I suppose you could call me Dan."
"Dan?" Jazz frowned, but scarlet eyes gleamed with a wicked mirth.
"Dan. If you want to get technical, then you could also call me Dan Plasmius, seeing as how it still fits my emblem."
"…..okay….Dan it is." Shaking off the utter weirdness and unbelievably awkward note to the current situation, Jazz headed towards the doorway and looked back at them, seeing their gazes following her. "Well, we should probably be going. After all, we have a friend to save." She strolled out, with Tucker following quickly behind her. Dan and Sam were left alone, each still actively shooting firey stares at the other.
"Come on."
Sam nearly jumped when he spoke, her panic momentarily flaring as a black gloved hand shot out and grasped her upper arm. She glanced up to see Dan towering over her, his lips set into a firm line of deliberate impassiveness.
"We need to catch up with Jazz and Tucker." Dan tugged the teen out of the brightly lit room, fluidly maneuvering them to the stairwell. Only when he and Sam had entered the concrete room did they stop, and for good reason. It was splattered with blood; Danny's parent's, Jazz's, and even some of Sam and Tucker's. But that wasn't what drew their attention.
The portal was completely destroyed. The metal doors were twisted and melted in spots, visible dents studded all over the colored metal. Bits and pieces of the doors were scattered around on the floor, along with battered strips of the molten frame.
"I never thought about how Danny managed to return to this realm, but I guess this was how. He beat his way through. How did we not hear him doing this?" Jazz murmured, running a finger over a strip of bunched metal and hissing, recoiling away. "It's still hot."
"Maybe now you'll understand." Dan stepped up to the warped portal and warily cast an inquiring gaze over the blackened indentions. Feeling the questioning stares from the three, he growled irritably and slammed a fist into the unhinged door. His fist cut through it like a knife through butter. "See what I did? That's only a half of my power. And, as sore as I am to admit it, he owns that same power, possibly more. He destroyed the portal with little effort on his behalf, while wounded and suffering from blood loss. Imagine what he could do with such untold power when fully capable, which, if Jazz was correct, will be in a few days at most," he snarled.
Lost for words, the three could only stare wide eyed at the destruction Danny had caused with his powers, the mangled door that could easily have been one of them.
Finally, his patience seemed to wear thin. "Enough of this! We're wasting time! Are we going to leave anytime soon, or are you planning on staring at the damn door all day and forget that a murderous ghost is on the loose," he finally snapped.
Sam, a scowl still plastered on her face, jerked her sight away from the remains of the Fenton Portal, Jazz and Tucker slowly following suit.
"So, would anyone care to explain exactly HOW we're planning to…" Dan broke off as a secret panel suddenly slid open on the wall, revealing a silver colored vehicle standing...floating in the air.
Jazz smiled and removed her hand from the button that had activated the secret door, looking expectantly at the older man.
"Well, seems my parents weren't total losers after all." He remarked, his voice shockingly cold. Jazz shot a glare at him, but without a word stepped into the machine now recognized as the Specter Speeder, followed by Tucker and Sam. Dan spared a final glance around the basement, unable to resist a small chuckle when he glimpsed the bloodstained wall, and then he too jumped into the machine.
His head immediately smacked the roof. He was too tall for the machine to completely stand upright. "Oh, fud--fuck." Dan quickly replaced what was about to be a snack food with a curse word, if only to save face. One of his less redeeming qualities was that he had a horrible tendency to bellow snack foods in replace of curse word when he was angry, a quality taken from the Plasmius half he'd fused with.
A loud hiss cut through his thoughts, catching his attention. Craning his neck, as bent as it was already, Dan looked up and promptly hissed an inaudible "fudge buckets," under his breath. His hair was melting the roof!
"Sit down before you melt the whole thing," Sam snapped at him, leaning back against the wall. Glaring at her with a bloodthirsty lust for violence in his hungry eyes, Dan sat down on one of the built in benches with a murderous frown, hands flexing, longing for the ectoplasmic that normally would have been covering them at that point.
Jazz and Tucker, the two teens sitting behind the wheel of the Specter Speeder, glanced back to stare at them. "If you two are done playing cat and mouse, then can we please leave without having to worry about you killing each other?" Jazz frowned, not even waiting for their agreement before turning back around and starting the vehicle.
"I'mbefinengvovwundrvyIevrmisdu," Sam heard the ghost sitting across from her grumble.
"I, I'm sorry...what was that?" The goth growled. Dan slowly turned his gaze to hers, and he gave an inward smirk as he saw the teen wince. But even so, the adamant expression remained in her own purple eyes, her lips set into a line of rage that even he himself had to appreciate.
"I said I'm beginning to wonder why I ever missed you," Dan snapped. "Really, what does my weakness see in you?"
"EXCUSE ME?!"
Jazz and Tucker exchanged pained looks at the sound of human flesh meeting hard and unresisting metal erupting from the back.
"Let's just get out of here. Those two aren't gonna stop fighting anytime soon," Tucker sighed, and with a nod Jazz piloted the Specter Speeder out of its holding, the machine rising like a bullet into the cloudy gray sky.
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At the same time, Danny himself was soaring through the stormy sky, but no longer was his expression one of satisfaction. Now, he bore a look of intense frustration, his eyes glowing like dark flames.
"There has to be a way to change my looks," Danny snarled, rolling over in the air so that he floated on his back. It hurt his chest, what with the wound slashed across his flesh, but the pain was dull, easy to ignore.
Raising a hand, Danny stared at the black gloves that ended at his wrist and the pale flesh above them, the other hand beginning to idly tap its fingers on his chest. "There's no way I can trick Plasmius looking like this! The bastard's stupid, but he'll know something's up…I'm can't change back, and it'd take too long to alter my looks cosmetically." he muttered to himself.
As if a higher power was trying to make his life even more miserable, it started to sprinkle, and then pour. Within seconds the rain had drenched the teen, and, unfortunately for him, the rain was icy cold and stung like tiny needles on his bare flesh. "Great. Just great."
Danny struggled to stay afloat in the air, but the weight of his soggy clothes were beginning to weigh him down. The burning pain in his torso and the stinging sensations radiating up his leg didn't help didn't help matters either. It was too much; he gave up and hurried towards the ground, landing in a clearing surrounded by dozens of trees.
He took shelter under a large weeping willow, shaking his white hair and sending beads of moisture flying through the air. "Ughh, this isn't turning out the way I hoped," he growled. "I'm cold, wet, hurt, my human half can take control of me any time he wants and is driving me crazy, and now my one plan to get rid of him won't work because of my damn appearance! Damn it all to hell!"
Danny slammed his fists into the tree trunk, wincing as the bark scraped his bare knuckles. The blood trickled down his fingers, dripping onto the bark and staining it a dull reddish-brown.
"Nice going genius. Add another injury to your already wounded body." Sighing, he dropped to the ground and crossed his legs, feeling the wound on his thigh twinge. "Ok, I've gotta think of something." Danny ran his fingers through his hair, hooded eyes glaring at the wet grass before his feet. "There has to be a way to change my looks. Hell, just because nobody else I know can't do it doesn't mean that I," he broke off and lowered his hand, intently gazing at the pale fingers and leather clad palm. "Wait a second….somebody else hasdone it! He did it. That day in the future, when the old man threw me into the Ghost Zone. He transformed into a younger version of me!" Excitement raced through him as he remembered staring at what looked like his twin, save for the wicked sneer on his face. "Jazz did say that my powers would be accumulating at a much faster rate. If he can do it, then so can I."
Danny closed his eyes. He knew from experience that trying to master a new power could be particularly painful, and this was a power that hadn't even begun to manifest itself yet. Taking a deep breath, he laid his palms on his knees and leaned back against the tree, barely noticing the bark that instantly fell onto his shoulders. 'I've got to focus…I have to master this power! My future depends on it.'
He took another long breath and felt his powers swirling inside him, a searing vortex of raw energy that was untapped, unnoticed by his goody two shoes self. As the power started rising to the surface, Danny felt the pain beginning to eat at him, but he pushed it back and delved deeper into the pool of energy.
An agonizing feeling shot down his torso, fresh blood trickling down his skin. His leg throbbed and started to burn, his small frame shaking and fangs digging into his lower lip. Blood beaded up and smeared his lips, but Danny ignored it, pushing himself harder. The power was so close, he felt like it was cocooning him in its flaming heat. He cracked open his eyes and gasped; ecto-fire was glowing on his hands and forearms, and red light flickered around his body in a blinding aura. His hair flew behind him, ruffled by the garnet energy, several of the black tipped strands blowing over his face and dyed red by his glowing eyes.
Suddenly, his body jerked, a blinding pain ripping down his spine. Danny let out a hoarse scream and wrapped his arms around his bleeding waist; it felt like his body was being ripped apart! Each surge of pain was matched by an equally strong surge of energy, energy that filled his body and chased through his veins. The mixture hurt, to the point where he felt tears stinging in his eyes, but it was oddly alluring. "I--I have to control it--!" The power was starting to overwhelm him, shooting more pain throughout his injured frame, but he inwardly reached out and grasped it, wrapping a hand around the blinding energy that flooded his veins.
It happened.
The pain abruptly vanished, leaving his body feeling oddly strengthened. He glanced down and a smirk slid onto his face, a face that was turning a deep golden tan. The wound on his chest, which had been visible beneath the tear in his shirt, was somewhat healed, and it was barely oozing blood, as was the one on his thigh.
Silver-white and black cloth appeared on his arms, legs and torso, the leather coat disappearing and red eyes fading to an electric green. Danny grinned when he felt his fangs retracting and hair lifted out of his face, and he raised a hand and grabbed a silky strand, chuckling at the plain silver color.
"I did it…" he murmured. Climbing to his feet, he dusted off the rotted bark that had fallen on him and snapped a hand; red ectoplasm immediately appeared in his cupped palm, but he merely tossed it aside where it dropped harmlessly to the ground. "All right, so my energy color's still the same. I'll just have to make sure that I don't use my powers. But, that aside, I suppose I can set my plan into action now."
"Well, it seems that you've been busy lately."
Danny's ghost sense went off, but only when the source emerged from the trees did the hybrid hold up a warning hand, the palm exploding into red ecto-fire. "Yeah, you could say that. So, tell me. How does it feel, knowing that all your efforts were a humongous waste?" He flashed the ghost a smile that, even without fangs, was frighteningly sinister.
"My efforts have not been wasted. Far from it."
Danny frowned at that, the fireball spreading so that it covered his whole hand.
"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"
Chuckling, the other figure began to slip back into the shadows. "We shall see each other again soon. In fact, it may be sooner than you think," the voice replied, and then it and its owner were gone, leaving nothing behind to even suggest they'd been there.
"Ok, that was really random." Danny frowned, a layer of goose bumps on his naked arms. "I should kill that bastard as soon as possible," he thought out loud, and with a slight shake of his head tossed the ectoplasm blast at a random tree, feeling no satisfaction at the loud FWSHH the impact made. "Now, lets see if I…" he drifted off, raising one of his hands to eye level. His body was beginning to ache, unsurprised, but the discomfort was worth it when he saw the spandex disappear, leaving his skin bare. A black fingerless glove enveloped his hand up to the knuckles, and he let out a soft sigh when his hair fell back down into his face, the black tips brushing his neck. His clothing morphed into the garnet colored shirt and leather coat, his pants loose around his legs and cuffs tucked into tall boots. "Yeah. This outfit totally kicks the jumpsuit's ass," Danny languidly stretched, feeling his muscles twitch as he performed a graceful roundhouse kick and smashed his foot into the nearby tree. The wood shattered beneath the force, and a gaping hole was left in the tree's middle.
The teen smirked and flexed his hands. "Excellent...I hope Plasmius doesn't mind me paying him a little visit," Danny chuckled, his twisted mind gleeful with thoughts of his elaborate little scheme.
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Vlad Masters aka Vlad Plasmius relaxed in his armchair, quietly sipping from a glass of chilled champagne. A book was held in the billionaire's hand, the black letters on the cover spelling out the title Romance For Dummies.
A loud crash echoed throughout the empty halls of his castle all at once, disturbing the man and his once peace and quiet.
"What in the world?" He frowned. Another loud crash followed the first, and his curiosity grew too great. Vlad moved out of his armchair and set down his glass, the book forgotten as he strolled out of his study and down a vividly painted green hall towards the front door.
He had a good tirade planned for whoever or whatever was disturbing him, and Vlad was prepared to use it when he realized the crashing sounds were coming from the front door. His face setting into a dark scowl, the older halfa jerked open the door only to let out a cry of suprise as Danny was revealed.
"DANIEL?!" Vlad stared in shocked surprise at the boy, who was soaked to the bone with icy rain and had pale streaks of hair plastered to his unnaturally pale cheeks. What really stunned the billionaire, however, was that the teenager had glowing streams of blood splattered across his face and hands, hands that were barely covered by the tattered remains of his jumpsuit.
Dark blue eyes widened as the halfa fell through his doorway, a pained mewl falling from blood streaked lips. Vlad caught the stunned boy in his arms, feeling both cold rain and warm blood seep through his suit jacket. "Daniel, what happened to you?" He forced a calm note into his voice, but a flare of panic was welling up inside him for the boy he both hated yet couldn't help but care for.
"Vla--Vlad?"
"Yes, Daniel. It's me."
A weak smile was visible on his thin lips, and the panicking feeling grew only more frantic when the boy sighed and fully collapsed into his arms, his body slack in Vlad's grip. "Thank god…."
"Daniel? Daniel?!"
He didn't respond. Vlad scooped him up in his arms and hurriedly carried him into his study, depositing the small frame on a chaise. Anxiously, he scanned his eyes over the thin form, searching for any sign of a wound or injury. Sure enough, there were two visible ones; a cut on his chest, which, although looked to be healing, would require some sort of medical care, as would the wound on his right thigh, which was seeping blood. Blood was plastered on Danny's gaunt face and neck, and his jumpsuit was torn and bloodied. Vlad could see almost all of his chest, and there were several tears in the arms and legs of Danny's jumpsuit that revealed hints of pale skin.
"Daniel. Wake up. I need to talk to you. Daniel!" Vlad kneeled down besides the couch and lightly slapped the boy's face, feeling a twinge of relief when the teenager moaned. "Daniel, wake up!"
With what seemed to be a snail pace, Danny inch-by-inch opened his eyes, tears glittering in the usually bright orbs. "Pla...Plasmius. I was--was able to make it here."
"Yes, you were. Now, would you care to explain why you are here, and why you appear as if you were mauled by a bear?"
"I--I ne...need your help," Danny stammered, a faint blush beginning to color his cheeks. "I..I had nowhere else to turn."
Vlad looked surprised, and rightfully so. "And why, pray tell, would you need my help?" There was a slight suspicion to his voice that he didn't even bother concealing, but the white haired teen merely gazed up at him with a pained expression on his face, tears threatening to roll down his cheeks.
"There was an accident at my house…" Danny whispered, averting his eyes from the older man. Vlad's gaze softened, but even as he laid a hand on Danny's shoulder there was a flicker of doubt.
"Alright...you have my attention. Now, tell me what is so dire that you came all the way to Wisconsin to ask for my help?"
Danny nodded, but his face was home to a pained grimace . "Mom…and Dad…they, I---oh god Vlad, they used this stuff on me. I--I tried to tell them, but--"
"Daniel." A soft hand gently rubbed his shoulder, and Danny looked up from his lap in surprise, staring into oddly sympathetic eyes as Vlad, almost tenderly, brushed a strand of hair out of his face. "I can see that you've been through something very tragic, but I need you to calm down and tell me what happened."
"….o--okay. I'll try." Taking a shaky breath, Danny sighed and gave the man a tiny smile. "Well, I was kind of ca--captured by my parents. They wanted to test a new invention on me, and…they," shaking his head, he gritted his teeth and stared at Vlad with hooded eyes. "They have this liquidy stuff called Ecto---umm, Ecto-Reverso, I thi--think that's what Mom said. Jazz….she…she helped them make it---she thought she was do--doing the right thing," Danny suddenly spat, his cheeks wet with salty tears. Vlad tenderly draped an arm over the shaking teen's shoulders and lightly hugged him, and Danny leaned in to the warm touch.
"And what does this Ecto-Reverso do?"
Danny cringed. "It--it changes a ghost--turns them into the--the opposite of what they are."
"You mean...turn them good."
"Yeah."
A sickening feeling awoke in Vlad's gut. What had Maddie been thinking, creating such a dangerous substance? And to go so far as to inject it into the infamous Danny Phantom, for Vlad knew just by looking at the teen that that was what had happened. His tear filled eyes said it all.
"Daniel….they used it on you, didn't they?" Triumph slashed through him when the teenager nodded, but it was bitter, unfulfilled. "Oh Daniel….but what happened? It obviously didn't work."
"Oh, it worked all right," Danny growled under his breath, and Vlad looked at him in surprise. "Just not the way they wanted. I was turned evil...halfway. For some reason, the Ecto-Reverso only affected my other half and it was turned evil. Before I knew what was happening, I was attacking my parents and Jazz. I hurt them so bad that they had to be sent to the hospital," he spat bitterly. "I don't even know how I was able to re-transform. My human half…he's out of control. I didn't know where else to turn," a pleading note suddenly entered the teen's quivering voice, and he glanced up at the billionaire with sorrowful ectoplasm green eyes. "You're the only one who's capable of helping me."
Vlad's eyes were wide as dinner plates, his mouth curved into a deep frown.
"So...only when you're in human form are you evil," Vlad stated, and Danny gave him a short frown. "Odd...and it was your parents that created this, this Ecto-Reverso?"
"Yeah...guess they wanted to make sure I wouldn't hurt their precious children," his voice turned venomous, anger evident in the normally quiet or proud tones. "They didn't do enough research. They screwed up. That goop of their's caused my two halves to separate into different personalities."
Confused, Vlad started to say something, but Danny held up a hand.
"My stupid human half is starting to take control of my ghost half." He said. "That's why I need your help."
"What do you want me to do," Vlad asked, and Danny closed his eyes, relaxing on the chaise.
"I need you to make me more Ecto-Reverso. I don't want my human half taking me over anytime soon, but that scenario's looking all the more likely every minute. At times I can feel him taking over, and, honestly, it's not a pleasant experience." Danny rested his head on the couch's buttery soft armrest, staring up at the fellow hybrid with his shadowed eyes. "My parents screwed it up somehow. I have their notes on how they created it, but there's no way I can read them. You're the only person I could think of who might even understand what I'm going through," Danny reached into the pocket of his jumpsuit and pulled out a wrinkled, bloodstained packet of papers, which he quickly handed to Vlad. The billionaire eagerly began scanning the typed text, his small eyes growing wide as he stared at the horrifying truth of what the Fentons had created.
'They did create this Ecto-Reverso to use on ghosts. It may not have worked on Daniel once, but it's reasonable to suspect that Jack Fenton somehow botched the making the of this substance and that's why Daniel's human half was affected, not his ghost half. My god, does Maddie even realize what's she's done?!' Vlad dropped the papers onto the chaise and gazed at the roughened teen sprawled out across the leather, bleeding and looking at him with deranged eyes. 'On her only son…but is this really such a bad thing?' He gazed into the tired light emerald eyes of his usual foe, seeing the insanity and vengeful fury virulently swirling around the rims of the cool irises. 'Perhaps I should allow the substance to run its course. Daniel would then be evil, and, perhaps, I might be able to persuade him to my side if--'
"You don't see why you should consider helping me," Danny spoke, his voice no more than a soft murmur. Vlad glanced at him in faint surprise, seeing the all knowing expression on Danny's pale face. "You weren't doing a very good job of hiding your feelings," he smiled, but it was cold, fake.Wincing, Danny pushed himself up into a sitting position, the cut on his stomach painfully flaring. "Plasmius, did it ever occur to you that, if you don't help me, I might attempt to kill you?" His piercing green gaze never left Vlad's as he leaned back against the soft leather, his arms weakly crossed in his lap. "I already attacked my own family! What would make you any different?" He smiled wearily at his arch enemy, taking careful note of the look of obvious look of fear that had awaken in Vlad's eyes.
"You...you wouldn't try to kill me…" he muttered, but there was a touch of doubt shadowing his words, and it only aroused a surge of anger in the younger hybrid.
"Oh, wouldn't I? Plasmius, get real! All you've tried to do since we've known each other is either control me or kill me! Now, you try and explain why you think I wouldn't kill you, especially if I was to turn evil!" Danny snapped at the older halfa, turning his face away and shutting his dull eyes. "You better believe what I'm saying, Plasmius. I will turn evil if you don't help me, you can be sure of that. And when I do, I'd recommend going into hiding."
Vlad's face shifted into a dark glare as he interpreted the boy's last words. "Are you threatening me, Daniel?"
"….I wish I wasn't."
Danny slowly turned his head and let his eyes flutter open, hearing the silver haired man gasp. There were rims of garnet around his pupil, and his canines had slightly elongated, hardly noticeable but still enough to frighten the older man.
Danny leaned forward and took in the billionaire's worried expression, one of his own scared smiles plastered on his bloodied face. "Yeah. I am. Listen, I don't want to kill you. My parents already paid for their stupid mistakes, including my mother." He reached out and gently laid his palm over Vlad's fisted hand, a soft smile taking over his lips. "Don't make the same mistake they did. They wouldn't listen to me when I tried to tell them that they were wrong, that I wasn't evil." Pausing, Danny let out a quavering cry and squeezed the hand beneath his. "They didn't listen to me, and they ended up hurt…hurt by my own hands. Please, Vlad…help me."
Vlad, positively dumbstruck, gazed at the younger hybrid with what could only be an odd mixture of loathing and pity. "Well, Daniel, it seems that I have no choice. Very well. I will help you, if only for your mother's sake."
"Really? Thank you!" Danny pulled the man into a tight hug, ignoring the look of shock on his pale face. "You won't regret this Plasmius!"
Vlad drew away from him, lightly pushing the grinning halfa back. Still smiling, Danny let the thin hands guide him down onto laying on the leather couch, instant relief spreading across his leg and torso.
"Stay here and rest. I'll go and get you some antiseptic and bandages for those wound."
"Ok--thanks." Danny watched as the billionaire walked out of the room, a wicked smile spreading across his lips when as he watched him go. The red around Danny's pupil fanned out and completely covered the green irises, and his fangs shot down and brushed his lower lip. "Perfect…."
End of Chapter 4