Danny wheeled in the air, but Vlad was getting closer. His father wasn't yelling at him any more— instead, he fired ectoblasts left and right, trying to hit Sam.
He was gaining, too— Danny couldn't fly as fast with an extra person under one arm.
The Masters Tower was close, fortunately. Danny dived around a corner of the building, betting Vlad wouldn't risk hitting his shiny tower.
He was wrong. A bolt of energy punched a hole through the recently repaired panoramic window.

Danny looped in the air; Sam had her eyes closed, and she was looking paler than usual. Vlad came around the corner just as Danny turned himself intangible, flying into the heart of the Tower itself. He knew what he was looking for. Now...
Danny released the intangibility as he flew into the elevator car. Dropping Sam on the floor, he slapped the '1' button, phasing out as the car began to move. Vlad, who'd followed Danny, flew after him, blinking through the empty elevator shaft after he chased after his son.
Sam was safe.
After a few moments, she turned to face the floor of the car, and threw up.

Danny shot out of the Masters Tower, reversing and firing an ectoblast down to clip Vlad as he showed up. Vlad roared and chased after Danny; they landed on the slick roof, scrambling into an open space.
Vlad roared like a demon, charging at Danny. Danny barely dodged; he fired another ectoblast at Vlad, but it only made his dad angrier. Curving his charge, he slammed Danny into an air conditioning unit, hard enough to bend metal.
"No more, Daniel. You may have changed, but I'll fix you—"

Danny gritted his teeth and shoved upwards, loosing dual ectoblasts into Vlad, throwing him across the rooftop.
"Stop trying to think you can just make everything like you want again! I'm not your pawn any more!"
Vlad landed on his feet, glaring at Danny. "My pawn? You were never my pawn! You are my son, and you will live up to that whether you like it or not!"
He threw a ball of light at Danny; Danny shielded himself just before it exploded, leaving a crater in the roof that gently steamed.
"I'll do better than that!" Danny yelled back. "I'll run this place better than you! Nothing stolen! No one gets hurt! And you can go fly off into our portal like the murderous freak you are!"

Vlad's eyes flamed a furious red. "Daniel..." he said, softly, before yelling as loud as he could. "I... am no less... of a 'freak', THAN YOU!"
He charged again, matching Danny's dodge and slamming into the ghost boy. Danny tried a shield; Vlad shattered it with one clawed fist, grabbing his son around the neck and lifting him in the air. With his other hand, he sliced open Danny's jumpsuit, plunging inside Danny's form to try and grab his core.

From his hiding place on the far corner of the roof, Tucker saw Vlad rummaging inside Danny through his binoculars. He thumbed the walkie-talkie in his other hand.
"Vlad's distracted! Now now now now now!"

From behind a spire, the woman heard Tucker's voice. She lifted the rifle she held, aiming the crosshairs squarely on the forms of Vlad and Danny Masters; she fired.
The dart flew through the air, shedding its outer casing in flight. A slim shard held its course, the sunlit air speeding its course as it hit Plasmius's head.
With a flare of light, Vlad was forced out of ghost form, falling to the ground as he unbalanced. Danny recovered, turned intangible; the second dart hit him in the shoulder... and bounced, as what was left of his Fenton Jumpsuit repelled the weapon.

Danny flipped back, drifting away as Maddie Masters stepped out of the shadow where she'd been hiding, stalking towards Vlad, letting him see who was responsible.
Tucker followed her, watching Mr. Masters as he lay, dazed.
The roof door opened; Sam (a bit vomit-stained, but not much worse for wear) walked out, standing over Vlad, smiling down at him.
"Vlad. From one 'corporate vampire' to another? You suck."
It was over.

"Correction: We previously published the obituary for Ms. Samantha Manson, CEO of Eidolon Inc. This was in error. Ms. Manson suffered a brief illness and has since recovered.
Mr. Daniel Masters has not taken over from Ms. Manson as the CEO of Eidolon Inc.; he has succeeded his father, Mr. Vlad Masters, as the head of his father's company, the Masters Corporation. The two entities have merged, with the Masters Corporation as a subsidiary of Eidolon, Inc; no further changes in management or structure are expected.

We apologize for any confusion our previous report may have caused."

Danny and Sam smiled at each other as they rode the elevator. With Maddie's dart permanently lodged in Vlad's skull, he wouldn't be using ghost powers any time soon. Without them... all his threats no longer mattered.
Today was going to be a quick visit. The elevator dinged as the doors shifted.

"Hello, Vlad," said Sam, as she and Danny walked inside his office. 'Office' was something of a misnomer. Vlad wasn't making any decisions anymore; it was just somewhere for him to stay.
"What do you want?" said Vlad, glaring at them both.
"Just a quick note," Sam said, looking at Danny. He was carrying a familiar plush folder with golden letters. "Now that I own the Masters Corporation, there's been a slight change to the dress code."
Keeping a straight face, Danny passed Vlad the folder. Sam quickly backed out of the office, pulling Danny with her.

They were almost to the elevator when they heard the shout.
"BLACK EYELINER?!"

Once Vlad was sure Sam and Danny were gone, he left his desk, muttering under his breath.
"Black eyeliner. Ha! Those little... no. They won't beat me in the end."
He headed down a corridor, following a route only he knew. His first stop was the basement; from there, he went to his secret elevator, keying in a different set of commands from his usual codes.
When the doors opened, Vlad smiled as he looked upon what the room contained.

There were vats. There were dozens of sealed vats, most glowing as they were lit from within. Each was tagged with a number or letter, their contents each the size of a person.
Vlad walked past the first two, their curved glass containing things he didn't care to look upon. The third had no light; it was empty, and the tank was drained.
Finally, he settled on the fourth, tagged only with the letter, "D".

Clapping his hands together, Vlad began to work, verifying that Danny's newest memories had been recorded, edited, and downloaded into the mind of the owner of the tank.
Once he was sure everything was ready, he pressed RELEASE, looking up at her; she floated there, nude, in the vat's slime... a woman.
23 years old. Black hair. Her eyelids were open, revealing eyes of crystalline blue.

The vat shuddered. Its glass parted, and pulled away; the tank's fluid deluged Vlad as the woman tumbled out. Landing on the floor, she breathed in, gasping the room's filtered air.
Seeing her awake, Vlad pulled her to him in a hug, ignoring the slime that covered his clothes.

"Daddy's here, sweetheart," he said, holding the girl to him as she breathed air for the first ever time.
"Daddy's here."

THE END?

Author's Note: Maaaan. It's been one heck of a ride. Thanks to everyone who's followed my first ever DP fic. In particular, special thanks to scrollingdown, for unceasing effort and advice, and to all those in the Phandom Chat on Skype.

Thank you, and good night.
—Faux