Chapter 10

Dark Danny then took on the guise as the present Vlad, the more powerful, experienced, and most importantly the evil half (at least to this ghost). This just might work better than destroying cities and nations. He could turn the tables on the other Phantoms and he could hardly help to contain his laughter. The female Danny Phantom was most likely a clone from his original weakling self somehow created by Vlad.

"The Cheesehead was even crazier than I imagined!" He thought while laughing evilly. He cackled on for several minutes until an alarm rang out forcing him to keep his cool but he had a hard time not smirking. He could also hardly believe that he gained his most valued traits from that half. Before he knew it a crowd of reporters and concerned community members stormed into his office demanding action and asking all sorts of questions. Even more the Guys in White were also in the crowd assuring the frightened citizens and media personnel that everything will be under control and peace will be restored. The Dark Phantom couldn't help but to turn the public against the other Phantoms and he had the perfect opportunity.

Meanwhile in the Ghost Zone, Vlad struggled to make sense of the situation and how Danny could have defeated him that easily. Even though Vlad struggled to escape the ghostly cords, he couldn't help but notice that the whole Ghost Zone was in a commotion/hysteria from what he could imagine was an attack by a very powerful and evil ghost that bore Danny Phantom's symbol. He figured that those ghosts must be fleeing through his portal until he had it shut down and headed to his office. He wondered and worried if anyone would be able to pinpoint the location of entrance from his mansion that he was living in at the time. Not only that, how was he supposed to explain to the public of why he went absent during this crisis. It was like the Ghost King Pariah Dark's invasion again. Did the Fentons suffer from a similar fate?

Vlad was able to convince some other ghosts into setting him free and overheard the frightened specters voicing their concerns of not being able to escape now that the back-up portal (Vlad's was now shut off). The offending ghost was able to create his own portal and escape into the real world, leaving much destruction and injury. Even the ghost police force was outmatched even though many of the ghosts weren't fond of Walker or his cronies. (And Walker himself was a powerful ghost with a powerful force which gave other ghosts reason to fear this ghost all the more.) Vlad couldn't help but think that what he thought was Danny was acting somewhat off as if he didn't know some key past events. Could that Danny he spoke with and fought earlier be an imposter? Could this Danny somehow be connected to the other ghost bearing the same symbol that went on a rampage earlier? The rampaging ghost was described quite differently than the Danny Phantom that the dwellers of the Ghost Zone were familiar with. He wasn't sure but he had to figure it out.

It was hard for the citizens and authorities of Amity Park to take 'Mayor Masters' orders and statements seriously because most of the citizens had grown to admire and support Danny Phantom. The city had influxes of ghosts like this but he was able to set matters right. They knew that Mayor Masters was a critic of Danny Phantom but this seemed way off. Could the Mayor somehow be behind/part of this or was he too prideful to admit ineptness? Or was the Mayor overcome by stress that all he could think to do was to lash out at the town's most beloved hero? Still there weren't very many other people to defend the public against ghost attacks. Even the Guys in White had their minds racing with any form of protocol that would allow them to legally override Mayor Masters' authority in case he was clearly displaying lack of proper leadership and placing innocent citizens at risk. From the way that the mayor looked at them, it seemed that Mayor Masters was scheming about how to deal with them. Still the Guys in White couldn't help but notice that something was off with the mayor as did some of the reporters and community members. The disguised Phantom couldn't help but remember how easy they were to defeat during his time although the remnant of force was able to put up a worthy resistance. They didn't like Danny Phantom either, but something wasn't quite right with the mayor.

It took a while but both Phantoms were able to convince Valerie that they were defenders not attackers and that it would be in the public's best interest for her to team up with them. Danielle must've gotten to know Valerie very well in the future and had lots of practice in negotiation in order to win Valerie's allegiance like that. It probably did help the fact that Valerie had just recently discovered Vlad's secret and was disgusted at the thought of serving him. Now to convince the Guys in White into aid them, that would be an awesome feat.

Suddenly Valerie discovered that Vlad was summoning her.

"What should I do or say?" Valerie asked in a semi panic tone. She didn't like the idea of serving him anymore after he had tricked and manipulated her into performing an evil deed of killing an innocent human despite the fact that he was going to pay her very well.

"Just act like you know nothing. That way you won't seem suspicious and you can weasel some information out of him." Danny suggested. Danielle gave an impressed smile since he was learning something. Without a second thought Valerie took off toward the meeting point.

"Should we try to negotiate with the Guys in White?" Danny asked when Valerie was out of earshot.

"I don't think that's a good idea right now. Maybe if they make some sort of big blunder and their humble enough to request our help then yes. However during this time too many of the force's agents are too narrow minded and stubborn to ask for help. The agency will become more flexible and less antagonistic in the future but I won't be surprised if we end up looking out for them." She stated.

Suddenly a white aircraft zoomed in on them. They were both able to dodge it in time. It was one of the Guys in White flying vehicle. It was clearly in attack mode. Danny fired a freeze ray at the craft because he suspected that it might be highly resistant to ghost rays. Danielle fired something else; it looked like a cross between a ghost ray and an electrical charge. It seemed to stun the aircraft and even cause the engine to stall. They had to make an emergency landing. A crowd nearby cheered for the Phantoms and jeered the government agents.

"Seriously with all the pestering ghosts around you'd think that these agents would have the right of mind to fight those off and leave the helpful ones alone. Gosh, they're keeping the jokes and stories about government inefficiency alive." Danielle stated.

The crowd nearby laughed but then they began asking questions but Danielle didn't stick around to answer. Instead they flushed out and captured a number of annoying ghosts nearby and headed off to the secret base leaving the Guys in White to take care of the rest of the ghosts that were being pests.

The disguised Dark Phantom had half a mind to send a duplicate after them but figured that they would be able to avoid it. Still he could control the Guys in White since extremely few were aware of Vlad Masters being a ghost hybrid. He could even command them into doing his dirty work in a sneaky way.

"Never mind that pesky Phantom or that female copycat." The fake Vlad stated to the Guys in White.

"I am however concerned and confused about the Fentons absence. You might want to investigate FentonWorks. Something either abducted them and striped FentonWorks of all equipment or scared them away causing the Fentons to take everything needed to fight off ghostly enemies. This isn't like them. They were usually the first on the scene when something like this occurs. Even the Red Huntress doesn't seem to know."

The Guys in White agreed and they contacted their colleagues who specialized in investigations of possible missing people. Carefully the agents tried not to bust down the entire front entrance in order to not compromise possible evidence. They disabled any traps or weapons that might be hazardous to anyone. Everything was disabled as a precaution. Operatives K and O acted as guards while their colleagues and even the (fake) mayor later on watched and called out to the family members. The whole facility/house was searched but none of the Fentons were found. Even the vast majority of the technology and weapons were gone as well. The disguised mayor was even more upset to lose again to that female Phantom but he wasn't surprised because she would have taken advantage of his absence to move the whole Fenton family as well as their technology and weapons to a safe location.

Still, the evil ghost couldn't help but peeking into what was still around while none of the investigators or guards were around. The sensors kept going off because of so many ghosts nearby that they had shut them off. That allowed Dark Danny disguised as Mayor Masters to mingle with the Guys in White without them realizing what he really was. When none of the agents were around he took a peek inside the fridge that once was a secret passage to the Op Center. He slammed the door shut as he gagged from the overpowering and nauseating stench it produced. One unintended sniff was too much. It was long overdue that Jack dispose of that rotten ham because it ought to be considered a biohazard by now. Even members of the Guys in White were noticing the offensive odor.

It would take a while for the whole scene to be processed and that didn't guarantee any answers anytime soon of what happened to the Fenton family. Soon the evil ghost began to plot and scheme of what to do next. He was tickled at the thought of having the Guys in White unwittingly aid him and being a (fake) mayor.