Danny Phantom Post Planet Chapter 14
Danny spent the next couple of hours with Sam and her grandmother at the hospital. At around five, they reluctantly agreed that it was time for him to go home and get some rest as well as get something to eat (According to Sam hospital food didn't count) and get started on homework. He texted Dash and they agreed to meet up at the mall so he could get his work.
"I still can't believe your parents let you skip school." He had said handing him a big folder with his work.
"I can be persuasive when I want to be." Danny smirked looking into the folder to see what he had to do tonight. "Did I miss anything at school besides work?"
The quarterback shrugged his shoulders. "Not really. We think Paulina has finally gone nuts though."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. She was caught trying to vandalize both your and Sam's lockers."
"Seriously?"
Dash nodded and Danny shook his head. Paulina must have been really desperate for attention. He knew that the solution was to ignore her, the problem with that was he wasn't sure how long he could ignore her before she did something like endanger herself or someone else. But he didn't want to really think about that right now, not with homework to do and Vlad still out there.
"And Valerie wanted to know if you were patrolling tonight."
"Not tonight." At this point Danny had practically given up on finding Vlad while on a patrol. Despite the guy's many failings, he was a master of not being found unless he wanted to be. The only other option was to make sure he was prepared in case he happened to show up again. Danny felt that the second option was best.
"Well," Dash continued, "She wanted me to let you know that she will be and I'll be looking around too." Danny stared at him and Dash put his hands up. "Don't worry, we'll let you know if we find something." They said their goodbyes and he went home to do his homework.
Danny spent most of his night sitting in the kitchen with all his homework spread out on the table. He had called Sam at the hospital during a meal break and she was getting better every hour. According to her, she was going to be released around this time next week. Danny was thrilled to hear it and started planning some kind of welcome home date for her in his head. He was wrapping up the last of his work when his mother came in.
"How's the homework coming?"
"Just finished actually." He said, pumping his fists in triumph and stretching out his arms.
"Good job." She said walking to the table and examining his work. "And how's Sam doing?"
"I talked to her a little while ago," He said going to the fridge and grabbing a drink. "She's getting better and it looks like the infection is gone. She said she's going to be released next week."
"That's great Danny!" She exclaimed and holding her arms open for her son. He hugged her back. After they broke apart, he started cleaning up his work and putting it away for school tomorrow. He checked his phone, it was a little after 9 and there were no messages from any of his friends and he didn't get any while he was working on homework either. The ghost teen was starting to feel a little guilty. He was finishing his homework and spending the day with his girlfriend at the hospital, while his friends were risking their lives. The guilt must have been showing on his face because his mother noticed addressed him about it.
"Something else on your mind son?" She asked grabbing some food from the fridge.
He took a breath. "Valerie offered to patrol for me tonight while I was catching up on work. We still haven't found any sign of Vlad. I don't know what to do about it because patrols aren't working."
His mother placed her food down on the now empty kitchen table and sat down.
"I've been worried about that too." She admitted. "You and your friends aren't the only who've been looking for him. The FBI and the guys in white have set up patrols with no results."
Danny sighed. "Wonderful. With so many people around looking for him, it's no wonder we haven't found any sign of him."
"I know and Vlad is the kind of person who won't be found if he doesn't want to. There were times in college where he would disappear for weeks and only came back when he wanted to."
Danny sat down again. This was the first time he heard his mother really talk about Vlad since he disappeared. They never really talked about the guy that much except to give quick status reports and express their mutual disgust for him.
"What was he like in college?" He didn't know why he asked. Maybe he wanted to find some kind of humanity within the guy. After all, Danny only really knew him as a crazed up fruit loop, maybe knowing who he was could give some clue to where he was now and what he was doing or planning.
She ate a little of her food before answering. "He was incredibly smart, easily top percentage of the class. We all had a lot of good ideas but he was only really interested in things he was sure he could make a profit from."
He nodded. "That sounds like him. What happened to him after you and Dad tested the first portal?"
"He vanished and didn't show up again until around graduation. After that, he got successful and we rarely heard from him."
"You never reached out to him?"
"Your father did it more than me but it became clear that things would need to be done on his terms and I wasn't ok with that. Maybe if I tried harder things would be different."
Danny sat up and walked over to hug his mother. "Mom, you can't blame yourself for that. Vlad told me over and over again that he blamed Dad for what happened to him. I don't think anything anyone could say would change that."
"Thank you Danny. You're a good son."
"And you're a good mom. I'm gonna call Jazz and go to bed. Night."
"Night Danny."
He walked upstairs towards his bedroom dialing his phone for Jazz's number as he walked. His sister was a top psych major after all, and she knew Vlad just as well as he did. If anyone could get an idea of what a crazed fruit loop might be planning next, it was her.
His sister answered the phone by the time he reached his room. Danny expressed his concerns and a little of his guilt over the fact that nobody could find Vlad. Like his mother, Jazz felt that Vlad was the kind of guy who wouldn't really be found unless he absolutely wanted to be. Things became a little strained though when she asked him to recount the fight at the Nasty Burger. Mostly because it was something he really didn't like repeating it.
"And you're sure he said 'Two of you?'" She asked at one point in his story.
"Positive. Why?"
"I think I have a plan to lure him out. It'll have to wait until I get home this weekend though. Think you can wait?"
Danny looked at his calendar. It was Wednesday and Jazz would be home on Friday but not likely enacting on it until Saturday. He was ok with that.
"That's cool. But if he makes a move before then, I'm gonna have to do something about it."
"Understood. Night little brother, I'll see you this weekend."
"Night Jazz."
He hung up the phone and yawned. At this point he was really tired. It had been a long day and he wouldn't likely get permission from his parents to skip school again so he might as well get some sleep. He fell asleep early thinking about all he talked about with his mother and sister. He was starting to hope that Vlad would show his face again so he could be locked away, hopefully for good.
He woke up the next morning feeling well rested but he wasn't looking forward to school. Danny had always been one of the average students. A guy who didn't hate school but never exactly liked it either. He ate and left for school, though he wished he could have still had Tucker with him at least. Ever since he became Mayor, he was being privately tutored. Danny had missed his best friend, especially now without someone to talk to in the mornings.
Danny reached school with plenty of time to spare and was happy to hear that Paulina had been suspended for vandalism. At least it was one less thing for him to have to deal with today. He handed in all his homework and some of his teachers were impressed with how well he had done on it. He had lunch with Valerie, Star and Kwan again and they filled him in on what happened while he was in the hospital for Sam's operation.
The biggest news was that Paulina had been suspended and it was Star who turned her in. Lancer didn't take kindly to the attempted destruction of school property and she would out of school for a while. Apart from that nothing really happened at school and there was still no news on Vlad. After that he gave them an update on his girlfriend's condition and when she would be leaving the hospital. Valerie and Star wanted to throw some kind of party but Danny stopped their planning in the dust.
"I'm sure Sam would appreciate it you guys but I was really hoping to do something for just the two of us once she was out."
The girls swooned. "Just what did you have in mind for your girlfriend?" Valerie asked. She seemed unable to contain her excitement.
Danny felt himself going a little red. "Nothing real exciting. Just her favorite dinner and a night of her favorite movies."
"That seems way too simple." Star said folding her arms, the disapproval in her tone was evident.
Danny shrugged his shoulders. "Sam likes it simple. She gets enough big fancy dinners and stuff with her parents."
"Well whatever you do, I'm sure Sam will like it." Kwan said, tossing away his trash. "You always seem to know what she likes and vice versa."
"Yeah," Valerie added, "You're a good boyfriend. Don't let anyone except Sam tell you otherwise."
"Thanks guys."
Danny left for his afternoon classes and spent the rest of the day pretty much like every other school day. He had some trouble paying attention largely because he was thinking about his new friends. They genuinely invested in helping him and were concerned for him and his girlfriend's well being. He had to do something to thank them and he think he had an idea.
After the last bell, there was the usual rush of chaos in the hallways and once it died down Danny had contacted his parents on his new idea with his friends. They were ok with it. Afterwards he sent a group text to Kwan, Star and Dash telling them to meet him at Fenton Works after they were done with all their practices. He then told Valerie he was planning on patrolling a little later than normal. She just said she would start and she would report in if she found anything dangerous.
At around 6 that night, the doorbell rang and Danny answered. Just like he predicted, his friends had all come fresh from practice in Casper High gear.
"Not that I don't like hanging out with you Danny." Dash started saying once he entered the house behind Star and Kwan. "But why are we here when we should be helping Valerie with patrols."
"Because it's time to make you guys a little more effective."
"What do you mean?" Star asked.
"Just follow me."
He led them to the lab where his parents were waiting. There was a lot of equipment and safety gear lined up. His parents were cheerful and said hello to his friends before Danny started talking again.
"Here's the deal guys, Vlad is still out there and I'm thankful for the help you're giving me on patrols so we're gonna teach you how to use some ghost hunting weapons so you can defend yourselves."
"I thought you were against us using weapons and stuff." Kwan said.
"I was and in some ways still am especially where Vlad is concerned." Danny admitted. "But I also really don't want you guys to get hurt and you can't really fight a ghost using your bare hands so here we are."
Dash clenched his fists and started walking towards the weapons. "Happy to help buddy."
Danny and his parents spent the rest of the night teaching his friends how to properly work the weapons and defense equipment. It was no surprise that Dash and Kwan had picked it up fairly quickly and Star needed some more work, but she was determined to get better. At around 8, Danny decided to head out and join Valerie on patrol. His parents were fine with staying and helping his friends but told him to be back by 10 for curfew.
Danny flew out and began checking out some of the places that Valerie hadn't checked yet. He checked back in with Valerie around 9:30 just before his curfew was up. Like so many nights before, there was nothing that either one could really report. He told her about his conversation with Jazz and she was brewing a plan that would hopefully trap Vlad. After their meet up, Danny went home and said one last good bye to his friends before doing homework and going to sleep.
Jazz was waiting for Danny when he left school the next day. She offered to drive him to the hospital to check on Sam since the two of them were best friends and she wanted to hear his girlfriend's side of the story behind the Nasty Burger to finalize the plan.
They met with Sam, who honestly looked MUCH better than she ever did while in the hospital. Jazz questioned her about the attack and got as many details as possible. After the last question, Jazz stayed quiet for a while thinking. Finally she spoke up.
"I have a plan. But I don't know how much you're gonna like it Danny."