Danny stared blankly at himself in the Star Laboratories bathroom mirror. His black, disheveled hair stood up at odd angles and his eyes were tired and bloodshot. Stress. That's why he looked like crap. Well, that and the fact that he'd slept on a park bench and charged headfirst into a burning building.

Danny sighed, leaning his hands on the edge of a counter where the sinks were. White bandages curled around his arm and leg, and his skin was still red and raw from the fire. Weird. He usually healed faster than this. Actually, he usually never got this hurt in a building fire before.

It must have been the stress again. At this rate he'd probably be gray at the age of twenty. He shouldn't even be here right now! He should be sleeping in, or watching his Saturday morning cartoons, or playing video games with Sam and Tucker- literally anything but this. Stupid Vlad and his stupid schemes. Being kidnapped by your archenemy sucks.

Then again, Danny supposed it could be worse; Vlad could have him tied to an examination table. Or those scientists could. And speaking of scientists…

"Do they fit?" Barry called from outside of the bathroom. Danny looked down at the STAR Laboratory shirt and sweatpants Barry had found for him. They were a little baggy on him, but in a comfortable way.

"Yeah," Danny called back. "They fit." Danny picked his own clothes off the floor and gave the mirror another quick glance. It was a little weird wearing this place's logo on his chest, and that was coming from the kid who grew up with loads of FentonWorks merchandise on practically everything he owned. But this was different- he didn't know the owner of STAR Labs as well as he did the owners of FentonWorks.

Still, it was better than his dirty, smoke-filled clothes so Danny guessed he should be grateful.

Barry was smiling at his phone when Danny came out of the bathroom. "Who are you texting?" He asked. Barry kept typing.

"My girlfriend, Linda." He slipped the phone into his pocket and looked over at Danny. "You still need some shoes?" Danny nodded. "Alright, I'll see what I can do." The two started walking down the hallway. "In the meantime," Barry continued. "Are you hungry? I know this great burger place a couple blocks from here." Danny put a hand to his stomach. Jeez, when was the last time he had any food? It felt like ages ago.

"I can eat." He replied with a smile.

"Great." Barry started to walk away. "You just… make yourself at home then. I'll be right back." Then he was gone. Danny looked around him at the now empty hallway. Home. Yeah right.

Danny rounded the corner, heading back to the main cortex. This place really was huge. Barry had only briefly given him a tour on the way to the bathroom but from what he'd seen, this building was at least three times the size of his house. At least. Maybe he should ask for a full tour before he left.

That is, if he left, assuming they find a way to get him back home. Danny thought back to everything they told him. Apparently they hadn't even known that there were other dimensions, which meant they'd never made a portal, or even seen one for that matter, which meant that this was going to be a lot harder.

Then there was these Metahumans that apparently liked to show up every now and then to complicate things further. And, of course, there was Vlad, who could really show up at any time and…. what? Kill him?

Danny quickly shoved the thought from his mind and kept walking, absentmindedly tossing an ectoblast between his hands.

The good thing was that there were no ghosts on this earth.

Just then the overhead fluorescent lights flickered before going out. The temperature plunged. Danny froze as a chill ran down his spine and his ghost sense went off.

Seriously?

Just as Danny was about to shift into his ghost form, the lights flickered back on. Danny blinked, slowly losing his fighting stance.

"Danny?" The boy quickly spun around at the sound of the voice, hands blazing green. Cisco stepped back, throwing his hands up in a surrender pose. "Whoa, don't shoot!"

Slowly, Danny put his hands down. "Sorry," He apologized. "Guess I'm a little jumpy." Should he tell him about the ghost? Danny decided not to; it seemed to be gone anyways.

Cisco nodded. "Hey, do you know where Barry went?" Danny, still getting over his shock, took a little longer in answering.

"Oh, he -uh- went to get food."

"Great," Cisco started to head back the way he came and this time Danny followed him. "I'm starving."

Vlad Masters strolled down the street, looking casual for a man who had recently stolen three million dollars from the Central City Bank. If there was anything he was good at, it was putting on a facade.

Out of all the earths Vlad could have landed in, this one wasn't bad. It was almost identical to his own aside from the severe lack of ghosts and apparent increase in technology. Nothing too drastic, not like flying cars or anything, just simple things like larger phones and sleeker computers.

Vlad paused at a stop walk. True, he could have just turned invisible and intangible and just walked on by, but he didn't want to draw too much attention to himself, in case someone happened to be watching. Besides, it felt good to walk; collect his thoughts, explore the city...

The street sign said to walk, so Vlad walked.

It was too bad he hadn't been able to drop Daniel off at a less habitable dimension before coming here. Who knew what that brat was up to at that moment.

Trying to find a way home, most likely. That boy was surprisingly resourceful, the man wouldn't be surprised if he already had. Vlad scowled. Perhaps he shouldn't have left him back there after all. Then he would at least know where the boy was, and what he was doing. If only that masked man hadn't surprised him like that.

No matter. The important thing was that he had found a home. For now. He could always track Daniel down later if he wished. What he would do then, Vlad truly didn't know. Kill him?

Vlad quickly shoved those thoughts from his mind and walked into one of the fancier restaurants this side of town. He walked up to the front desk and placed an order, pulling out some cash from his pocket. It wasn't safe, keeping all the money on him like this, but there wasn't much he could do about that. At least he's had the sense to buy a briefcase for most of it, instead of carrying it all in his pockets.

After sitting down at a table, Vlad waited for his food to arrive. It would feel good to have a hot meal again.

Something in the corner caught his eye. Mounted on the wall a TV was playing what looked like the daily news. The sound was off so he couldn't hear what was being said, but he could see what was happening plainly. A fire, consuming the better half of a tall building. And there was something else, darting in and out of the fire, carrying several people with him. The words on the screen classified it as something called a metahuman, but Vlad could see plainly who it was.

Danny Phantom.

Of course. The man smiled slightly. "So that's what you've been up to."

I know this story has been kind of slow so far, so I hope this chapter wasn't too boring, hehe.

Anyways, thank you to all of those who have favorited and followed this story.

And big thank you Musiclover435, gilly boy, buterflypuss, XxChrysilisxX, Bananarock509, Kawilger, Davidscrazy234, All4AnimeTDR, This-Lil'-Fan-Girl, RandomZambi, SonicMax, desiree031103, Luciangrl, Blitza, and kingvlad2011, who reviewed last chapter! I appreciate everything you had to say, good and bad, it means a lot.