A/N: Yay for two updates in one week! I like this chapter, actually. Although it's not exactly the the most funny or action packed, but you really get to know two of the characters more in depth, and that's what's cool. Anyways, enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: ML and I don't own any Danny Phantom characters. Everything else is ours.
Previously In The Collector: Ryder is even more delusional on drugs, which is quite a feat. Despite this, the team comes up with a recon mission where Danny has to go through the laundry trolly to get out of the main room and explore the museum. The teen doesn't make it very far and ends up bumping right into the Collector. In the end, Danny sees the Curator as the villain and vows to escape the museum no matter what.
Chapter 14 Doodles and More Underpants
The chess game had been completely forgotten. Melody and Vlad sat listening intently to Danny's tale of him venturing out around the museum, his capture and tour, and then eventually his brief encounter with the Collector at the end. As the story progressed, Melody kept pulling her hair up into a high pony tail, letting it drop, and then repeating the cycle.
Vlad, on the other hand, was strictly passive. While he'd been angry at first at Danny for getting himself discovered and caught so quickly, he had to give the teen some credit for talking his way into a tour. Still, it was obvious to Vlad that Danny had been fazed by his run in with the Collector. Vlad understood how he felt. There was just something so profoundly restricting and infuriating about the ghost. The Collector had an eerie way of making you feel less than human, that you were simply an object he possessed. In a way, Vlad was thankful he wasn't the only one who experienced this agitated feeling after talking with the Collector.
Once Danny was finished, the table was silent except for Ryder's loud snoring. He'd passed out not long after Danny had left. Now he was drooling all over the table as he slumbered peacefully into oblivion.
Finally, Vlad cleared his throat and said without looking up from the table, "You did a good job, Danny. I thought you might be able to learn a little of the layout of the museum, but you ended up getting a tour. Do you think you might be able to remember any of it?"
"Maybe," Danny answered after a short pause. Like Vlad, he wasn't looking at anyone else. He preferred to glare off at the wall as he went over his conversation with the Collector over and over again. Each time he thought of it, he just got more annoyed and frustrated. Worst of all, he was feeling incredibly homesick, and the last thing he wanted was for everyone else to know that. All he could do was try and hide his real feelings with a scowl and averted eyes.
The teen sighed and shook his head. "I can get us to the main part of the museum, but I don't know about anywhere else," he added, his tone hinting at his hidden emotions. Danny glanced momentarily at Vlad and Melody before looking away again. "It was...hard to focus."
"Maybe if you could draw it out, you could re-jog your memory," Vlad mused aloud, rubbing his chin. Looking up, he asked Melody, "Do you have any paper and something to write with?"
"I have plenty of pens and markers," Melody answered. She made a face as she added in a mutter, "But for some reason all the post-it notes I stole are gone. I think I just misplaced them, though."
To avoid glancing at Ryder, Vlad gave a nod and asked, "Could you get them? Anything is better than nothing at this point."
Melody shrugged in agreement before getting up and walking over to her cabin. Once she was inside, Vlad leaned forward in his seat, pinning Danny with a curious stare. He knew something was bothering Danny, but he wasn't sure what it was beside what the Collector had told him.
"Is there something you're not telling us, Daniel?" Vlad asked sternly.
Danny didn't want to look at the man, but his firm tone forced him to look back at Vlad. His frown remained fixed to his face as he stared across the table at Vlad, unsure of what exactly to say. He didn't want to talk about how he was feeling because he was sure Vlad would just tell him to suck it up and stop being such a baby. And that would get him absolutely nowhere in feeling better. Actually, it'd probably just make him feel worse.
And why was Vlad asking anyway? What did he care? Did he think he was just hiding some big, important secret from him or something?
The teen wasn't sure what to say so he just went with what he was comfortable with: sarcasm.
"Oh, yeah, there is," Danny replied, looking right back at Vlad as he nodded mockingly. "I didn't tell you that I just happened to pass by the exit and that it's actually marked with a flashing red sign that says 'Exit' above it. Ya caught me."
Vlad rolled his eyes in slight annoyance, but he knew something had to be wrong if Danny was resorting once again to his defensive sarcasm. "I didn't mean it like that," Vlad said. "I just want to know if the Curator said anything specifically to you. Like a threat, some form of blackmail, or something similar. We need to know what we're dealing with, Danny. If we don't understand, we could make a mistake. And you're clearly upset about something. I just want to know if it has anything to do with your talk with the Curator. That's all."
Oh, I get it now, Danny thought as he leaned back in his seat a bit. Vlad wasn't actually concerned about him; he was just curious if the Collector had threatened him because he was concerned that he'd be the one to get threatened next. That made sense.
Dropping his frown, Danny looked away again and shook his head. "No, he didn't say anything. It's nothing," he muttered under his breath.
Vlad's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. If it wasn't the Collector that was bothering the boy, Vlad didn't understand why the teen was so currently upset. Glancing back to Melody's cabin then to Danny's forlorn figure at the end of the table again, Vlad went out on a limb as he asked, "Then why are you so disconcerted?"
Danny's eyes drifted down to the table as he silently tried to figure out why Vlad was still talking to him. He didn't get it. Vlad never cared about how he felt unless it was going to affect something he was doing. However, they weren't stuck in their display cases so Vlad could just easily walk away and avoid him if he wanted to.
The teen closed his eyes and shook his head. He was definitely thinking too much about this. That was what this dumb museum had done to him. He was over-thinking everything.
Letting out a sigh, Danny mumbled, "I just-."
He had to stop when Ryder's snoring cut off for a moment, allowing him to grunt, "Mmm'ug monkey wrench," before he turned his head to the side and settled back down again.
Danny smirked a little as he wondered what the man could possibly be dreaming about before he reluctantly finished, "-miss my family, I guess. I know they're worried about me, and I can't do anything about it. It...it sucks."
Vlad heaved a sigh of relief, happy to know that Danny's distress wasn't coming from an abnormal factor. The teen would be fine, and so would everyone else.
"Mmm. Homesickness," Vlad said, nodding. "That's understandable. Granted, I've been feeling the same, as I'm sure everyone else has. Thankfully, though, the feeling comes in waves."
"Yeah...I guess so," Danny slowly agreed. In an odd way, it was nice that Vlad automatically understood where he was coming from since they were both stuck in the same situation. On the other hand, it sucked that both of them were stuck in this situation in the first place. The only positive he could see was that he and Vlad could actually talk to each other somewhat. It worked in its own weird way.
"I just- I kinda don't want to think about them 'cause it just makes me feel worse," Danny admitted, shuffling his feet uncomfortably beneath the table. "But I can't help but think of them even though it makes me feel worse because it makes me feel better too." He smirked at himself and muttered, "I'm not making sense."
Vlad heard and understood what Danny was trying to say, but he knew he'd never fully, truly know what the teen was talking about. Unwillingly, Vlad remembered his times away from his parents when he was Danny's age. Those were times of liberation and freedom. Never once did he consider the fact that his parents could be worried about him in the way he knew Danny's parents were worried about him. Vlad knew that, if anything, his parents had probably felt relief whenever he left for an extended time. He was always one less factor to stress about in their busy lives.
Sure, there were probably some people back in Amity Park who would worry about their missing mayor, but their worry wouldn't be the same as Danny's parents' and friends' worry. Vlad couldn't think of anyone who could be genuinely missing him except for an uncle who lived overseas. But even then it was hard contacting his uncle these days, so communication came in short spurts throughout the years. Briefly, Vlad wondered if his uncle even knew if his nephew was kidnapped. Probably not. It was kind of a depressing thought.
Closing his eyes, Vlad commanded the thoughts away with a short sigh. There was no need to take a trip down memory lane. It wouldn't get him anywhere.
Danny knew something was wrong when Vlad didn't respond. He quickly glanced up at the man to see if he was mad at him for bringing up his family, but he didn't look angry. He looked kind of sad...in a Vlad way. What could he be upset about, though? He hadn't said anyth- wait a minute.
The teen grimaced when he realized his mistake. Smooth, Fenton. Real smooth. Why don't you bring up the fact that his cat probably ran away by now too?
Danny quickly averted his eyes in case Vlad looked at him as he tried to think of something to say. Did Vlad even have any family? He had to have family somewhere right? He couldn't have just sprung up from nowhere one day fully grown. So if Vlad did have family, did he miss them? That was the question. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't.
He really had no idea what to do. Danny wanted to make Vlad feel better, but he didn't have a very good record of doing that in the past. He might just make him angry by trying to help. That happened a lot.
Brow furrowing in worry, the teen hesitantly murmured, almost too quietly to hear over Ryder's snores, "I bet my parents are really worried about you too. Heh, wouldn't surprise me if my dad started putting your face on milk cartons by now. That's a fun thought, right?"
Vlad looked up at Danny with a dry, unamused smile. He thought the boy was trying to goad him, but Vlad wasn't about to take the bait. He wasn't in the mood for an argument, which he found odd. When it usually came down to the ghost boy, especially Danny's father, Vlad always thought the more arguing the better. Now it seemed he tried his hardest to prevent one.
"I have in mind a lot of words to describe my feeling toward your father slapping my face on milk cartons back home," Vlad said with a cheeky smile, "and fun is not one of them."
Danny simply rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Well, you are the human thesaurus," he agreed, also hoping to avoid an argument. The last thing he wanted anymore was to fight with Vlad. Of course, back home, he'd never really wanted to fight with the guy in the first place, but Vlad always got him to somehow. At least here they both seemed to make an effort to avoid biting each others heads off.
The teen glanced back at Vlad and smirked. "I'm sure you can think of a word that's both mean and smart at the same time."
"What kind of word game are you guys playing?" Melody asked in confusion. Vlad and Danny looked up at her sudden presence. She held a few pens in one hand and a single yellow notecard in the other as she stared at them with her head tilted to the side.
"It was nothing," Vlad brushed the previous conversation aside. "What's more important is what Danny remembers from the tour. Did you find the post-it notes?"
"No," Melody sighed in defeat. "Can't find them anywhere." She glared half heartedly at the passed out Ryder while muttering, "I wonder if he's behind this."
"Let's focus," Vlad said.
"Right," Melody said, nodding. She put the materials on the table in front of Danny, saying, "Don't treat this like it's art class, kid. Stealing that notecard wasn't easy, and it's my last one."
"So no pressure or anything," Danny sarcastically agreed as he picked up a pen and looked down at the notecard. It was then that he realized...he couldn't draw. Sure, doodling wasn't that hard, but actually drawing something that was going to be their map to lead them out of this place was a totally different story.
Ok...don't think about it. Just draw, Danny told himself as he pulled the notecard close and rapidly sketched out what he remembered of the tour. Once he was done, he sat back in his seat and looked at what he'd done.
Needless to say, it wasn't pretty. Or coherent. Or helpful at all, really.
Danny grimaced as he picked up the card and tried to figure out exactly what he'd just drawn. He guessed it made sense...sorta. It just looked like a bunch of blocks, squiggles, and lines. He didn't think anyone else was gonna be able to read it and make sense of it.
"Um...tada?" Danny said, dropping the notecard back onto the table so Vlad and Melody could see it. There was no use trying to hide the evidence. He was a crappy artist.
Melody and Vlad stared at the notecard long and hard, trying desperately to decipher what it was they were seeing. Vlad was more gracious as he looked up at Danny with puzzlement all over his face. Melody, on the other hand, wasn't as quiet as she stated the obvious.
"Your map looks like shit," she stated. Vlad glared at her as if in warning to behave, but the girl couldn't be quieted as she added, "I mean, it looks like your pen just had diarrhea all over my notecard."
"Ok, so I can't draw!" Danny snapped back at her, rubbing his forehead with the side of his fist. He couldn't get over how jerky Melody was being over something so pointless. Could she just not help herself or something? "Why don't you just sue me and get it over with already?"
Melody opened her mouth to snap something back, but Vlad quickly intervened as he said sternly, "That's enough." Thankfully, Melody settled down in a pout, glaring at both of the halfas moodily.
Getting back on track, Vlad told Danny truthfully, "She's right, Daniel. I can't make heads or tales of your drawing. I'm not sure if you're trying to write in another language or imitating Picasso. But the point of the matter is that we still need more information. Thankfully, the Curator didn't find out how you exactly got out; meaning, we can still use that laundry escape method in the future. Next time, though, it's not only Danny that's going. This kind of mission needs two people for it to work properly."
"What are you getting at?" Melody asked cautiously. She didn't like where the man was taking this.
Leaning back in his seat with a smug smile, Vlad explained nonchalantly, "We need another reconnaissance mission, and it is going to be you two who will have to pull it off."
There was a moment's pause as Danny tried to assimilate what Vlad had just told him in his head. When he was sure he understood the man right, the teen crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head.
"No," he said firmly, doing his best to make his tone no-nonense like Vlad was able to do most of the time. "Heck no. Not happening. I'm not doing that again with her. I don't think so. I'd rather have a tea party with Skulker, thank you very much."
"Look, we're not asking for-," Vlad began.
"We? Who's this we?" Melody butted in, narrowed eyes and voice sharp. "For once I'm on the twerp's side. I'm not doing this mission. I'm not getting in a basket filled with everyone's smelly, disgusting laundry all around me with this dorky kid, and that's final, alright? You can't tell us what to do like you're our parent or something."
"I'm not your parent," Vlad said severely, becoming a little frustrated. "And I am not telling you what to do like I am one. All I'm saying is that if we are to escape, we need to know the museum. It is the same when you rob a place. You have the know the layout of the building you are stealing from if you want the heist to go properly." Glaring at both Danny and Melody, Vlad finished resolutely, "If either of you want to escape from here, both of you will need to do this mission. Understand?"
Both Melody and Danny shared a look of pure loathing as they both silently came to the same conclusion. As much as they hated to admit it, Vlad was right. If they ever wanted out of this place, everyone was going to have to sacrifice something. In this case, it was their dignity and their sense of smell.
Danny sighed despairingly as he nodded in agreement to what Vlad had said. If he'd done it once, he guessed it wouldn't be so bad to do it again.
Just as the boy was going to speak, Ryder suddenly snorted and shook himself as he lifted his head up from the table. His dulled and foggy eyes seemed to breeze across the faces of the people around him like he couldn't actually see them. He was smiling, though.
"Don't...don't trust the llamas, kay?" the thief slurred, his head bobbing up and down like a duck on a lake. "They're two-two faced, those llamas."
With that, Ryder's eyes closed again as his head thumped back onto the table and his snoring promptly returned.
"And that, ladies and gentlemen, was Ryder's Words of Wisdom," Danny muttered. "Thank you for joining us."
Two Days Later
"Ug, this was definitely worse the second time around," Danny complained as he heaved himself up and out of the trolley of dirty clothes. He grimaced when, for probably the third time, Melody elbowed him in the side of the head as she squirmed about to free herself.
Once the teen had successfully escaped the dirty clothes, he turned back and reached down to help Melody out of the trolley before she had a complete spazz attack.
With a growl, Melody shoved Danny's hand away. She didn't want his help getting out of the basket. Her pride just wouldn't allow it, especially since her pride at the moment was so low. Scrambling ungracefully over the side of the basket, Melody dropped down beside Danny, shuddering from all the nasty bits of clothing she had touched and the rancid smells attacking her nose. Screaming a little, she flung a pair of boxers that had been hanging off her shoulder back into the basket.
"So, so, so, soooo gross!" she squealed.
Danny took a moment to stare in wonderment at Melody as she basically did a 'I'm-totally-disgusted' dance. He knew she was girly, but this definitely took the cake in the girly department. He was almost positive Sam wouldn't hesitate to comment sarcastically on how overdramatic the girl was being. Although he really wanted to say all of this to her for hitting him in the head so many times, he decided to take the high road and save the insults for later.
"Yeah...it was gross," Danny agreed, shaking his head as he led the way over to the exit. "But try and stay quiet. I don't know where that maid goes off to, so we need to hurry." He opened the door and peered out into the quiet hallway before looking back at Melody. "You coming? Or you wanna stay here and keep spazzing?"
Exhaling loudly, Melody pushed her way past Danny, peered quickly into the hallway beyond, and then walked out. "Shut up," she hissed back at Danny. "I wasn't spazzing." Unfortunately, she didn't have a word in mind to replace spazz, so she remained silent as she traversed the quiet hallway.
"This place is so damn creepy," she muttered to herself as she looked around.
Glancing back to Danny, Melody said, "Alright, we need a system if this mission is going to work out. I'll observe and try to remember where everything is while you be my lookout. Got that?"
Danny gave Melody a half-hearted thumbs up and said, "Got it." Seeing as how she'd never let him lead, Danny just trailed along beside the girl, keeping his eyes peeled for signs of the Collector or his guards. However, like yesterday, the museum was closed and it was eerily quiet throughout the building now.
"This is where I got last time before I ran into the Collector," Danny whispered to Melody as they passed by the wall of Loony Toons plates. The teen almost expected to see the ghost again, but they were able to move on without getting caught just yet. That was encouraging.
Vlad and Ryder
"Hey, Vlad...Vlad...Vlaaaad," Ryder whined to the man as he stared up at the ceiling. He stretched his free hand up above his head as if he was reaching out to high-five God or something, patiently waiting for a response from Vlad. This patience lasted about four seconds longer before Ryder finally cracked and tilted his head back to look at the man.
"Why is it that in 80's movies...everyone drives a station wagon?" Ryder asked, curiosity evident in the furrow of his eyebrows. "I don't remember seeing a lot of station wagons when I was a kid. Is that...is that a white person thing? You can level with me on this, Batman. I'm serious. I won't tell anyone."
Looking up from his book, Vlad stared flatly at Ryder before returning his eyes to the page he was on. The man wasn't the best at French, but he found the challenge of reading it in War and Peace entertaining. What he didn't find entertaining was Ryder's constant, incoherent ramblings.
Turning the page to his book and without looking up, Vlad said emotionlessly, "I'm sure it is a white person thing, Mr. Walker."
Danny and Melody
After a few minutes of looking around the empty museum that reminded the girl of her old boarding school, Melody was pleased to find a stand full of brochures. She picked one up and quickly unfolded it to look at the map. "Oh," she muttered in dismay. Her shoulders slumped at what she saw. It wasn't an uplifting sight.
"Come over here," Melody told Danny. She held the brochure out for Danny to view as she told him, "This escape is going to be harder than we thought. So you know how we thought everything was on the same level? Well, it's not. See this? We're on the second floor of three floors."
"...Crap," was Danny's first response. What else could he really say? As if it wasn't going to be hard enough to escape before, now the task seemed completely impossible. He rubbed the back of his head and looked around the hallway, extremely nervous about getting caught being so far out in the open.
They were making progress. He wanted to keep going just to see how far they could get. Anything that defied the Collector was definitely worth doing to the fullest.
"Well, is the elevator on that map?" Danny asked and leaned over to look at it himself. Thankfully, the elevator was on there, and they were actually pretty close to it. The teen glanced up at Melody and said, "Let's try to get to it before we get caught. I gotta see this other floor."
"For once, we agree," Melody said as she took off in a brisk walk toward the elevator. Once there, she pressed the button to go down. She studied the map as the two waited for the elevator to get there. There wasn't much to talk about between her and Danny, and she didn't want to start their usual pointless arguing. Remaining silent was the best they could do.
Ding!
Both Danny and Melody shuddered as the elevator doors opened to the bell chime that uncannily sounded like the one that always sounded when they had to go to their display cases. Without glancing at Danny, Melody waltzed into the empty elevator and pressed the button to the first floor. The doors closed, soporific music played, and Melody avoided looking at Danny to combat the awkwardness now creeping upon them as the elevator descended.
With a sudden lurch, the elevator jerked to an abrupt stop, and the lights went out. Melody gave a surprised scream as she almost fell to the ground, clutching onto the side railing to keep her balance. After a few seconds, the red emergency lights came on, bathing the small box in an eerie, crimson glow.
Danny straightened himself up after nearly falling and looked around the elevator, his expression void of emotion. He wasn't too surprised, honestly. Every time they tried to escape, something went horribly wrong. He was starting to get used to it by now.
"Well..." the teen glanced up at Melody after releasing a sigh. "...at least Ryder's not here."
Vlad and Ryder
"...And words. What's the deal with words? Like, who sat down one day and was all 'hey, this word means chair.' And, like, did everyone listen to them or something? Like, did everyone just agree that chair meant a chair? That's...that's just awesome..."
Ryder paused in his ramblings as he tilted his head to the side to look at Vlad again. The man hadn't really been saying much, but that was okay. Vlad was reading the book he'd stolen for him, so that made him feel all smiley inside...and outside.
Chuckling under his breath, Ryder rolled his head back so that he was staring up at the ceiling. "I can't waaaait to get outta here, Vlad," he slurred the words out, happiness deeply engrained his voice. "I can see Jet again, and Esperanza, and-and then I can get a beer. Man, I want a beer so bad. Do you like beer? I like beer. And then I can read to Jet. He loves it when I read. He loves those books about the-the Funtastic Fox guy or whatever his name is. Loves them."
Ryder let out a happy sigh, smiling at absolutely nothing in particular. "Ohhhh, Vlad, I don't know how much of what I say is true," he declared, shoving his hand over his face as he shook his head and laughed. "I don't...I don't know anymore. I never knew."
Sighing as he continued to read, Vlad said tediously, "Consider yourself lucky, Mr. Walker."
Danny and Melody
"What the hell?" Melody exclaimed in confusion.
Pacing the small space of the elevator, Melody braided tiny strands of her hair as she ranted, "Of all the times we try to escape, why does the one time we get in an elevator have to be the one where we get stuck in it? And just to rub it all in, I get stuck with you after swimming in a basket of underpants. It's ridiculous, I tell you! Normal people don't have this kind of bad luck. This so stupid!"
"Yeah, well, welcome to my life," Danny grumbled back at the pacing girl. He'd sat down against the wall to wait out however long it'd take the guards to find them trapped yet again. Pacing wouldn't do anything, and it wasn't like he could go anywhere. Of course, it just added insult to injury that Melody was here with him.
Danny placed his chin on his crossed arm and muttered, "I'm pretty sure I have the worst luck on the planet, so sorry about that. I'm pretty sure it just rubbed off on you."
The boy frowned as he thought about all the bad crap that had happened to him over the years. He'd been joking about the bad luck at first, but when he really stopped to think about it, he realized that he definitely had terrible luck. How else would he have ended up in this museum in the first place?
"Well, thanks for that," Melody snapped sarcastically back at Danny. "Because what I really needed today was more bad luck." In a low grumble she added more to herself than to Danny, "Seems like the day I set foot here that's all I've been getting. I'm sick of it all."
As her initial anger died down, Melody slowed her pace until she finally halted in front of the elevator's control panel. She stared at it for a moment, as if trying to calculate something she wasn't sure about. With a firm shake of her head, she decided against whatever she had been debating and went back to her pacing. This time, though, she kept her hands out of her hair as she folded her arms across her chest.
Ug, stop with the pacing, Danny complained in his head. That's too Vlad-like. Cut it out, Melody. Seriously. The teen groaned when the girl didn't stop and shoved his face into his knees. Didn't he get enough of Vlad's pacing in the display case? Now Melody was doing it. Why couldn't people just stand still?
Danny released a heavy sigh and glanced back up at Melody just as she was staring intently at the control panel. A frown came to the boy's face when he saw her expression. It was very similar to a face he'd seen Tucker make about a billion times whenever he was trying to hack into something or just found something of interest on the web.
"Hey, Melody," Danny quietly said to get the girl's attention. He didn't wait for a response before he blurted out in a rush, "Are you a hacker or something? 'Cause you've got all those computer things in your cabin, and it reminds me of some stuff my friend Tuck's got in his room back home, and he's really good with computers, and I was just wondering if you were too."
Melody stopped pacing as she heard the dreaded question, pinning her stare on Danny. She kept her face expressionless as the girl desperately thought of excuses and lies to tell. If Danny had figured it all out on his own, though, it was probably too late to fool him. Besides, he had a friend who was a hacker. Danny of all people would be able to know the signs of one. It was better to just end the discussion before it got anywhere, she finally decided.
"I don't do that anymore," she said in a quiet, cold voice before going back to her pacing.
Sheesh, bite my head off, why don't'cha? the teen thought, shocked at the coldness in Melody's tone. Whether she knew it or not, she'd just piqued his interest. Why was she so defensive about being a hacker? Tuck seemed really proud of it, and he didn't hesitate to shove that knowledge into his and Sam's faces whenever he got the chance.
"Is that why the Collector brought you here?" Danny persisted, unable to fight down his nagging curiosity. He'd never really thought much about either of the thieves' personal lives. He figured it was a don't ask, don't tell kinda thing. But now he wanted to know. "Are you like the master hacker or something?"
Anger rushed through Melody as she spun around to face Danny again, hands clenched into fists. She couldn't believe that the kid was asking her these kinds of questions. He'd never shown an ounce of interest in her life this entire time, and she'd gladly returned the favor. Now it was like he couldn't stop the interrogation.
"Why do you even care?" Melody asked in a sneer.
Danny could only shrug back up at Melody. He'd always wanted to know about Melody and Ryder's past, but it'd always been rude and inconvenient to ask. Not to mention, he figured he'd never get a straight answer from either of them, anyway, but being stuck in small places made him do weird things. Vlad could definitely attest to that one.
"I dunno," he honestly admitted, shrugging again. "I guess I'm just curious. I've known you for awhile now, and I feel like I don't even know you at all, really. And you never seemed like the thief type in the first place." Danny attempted a smile as he added, "And hacking's pretty cool too."
Melody didn't know what to do with such an honest answer. In her old life, honesty was in short supply. There was no room for it...except with some certain people, or more like person. Since coming to the museum, though, honesty wasn't exactly something everyone expressed willingly. There was always a motive behind every good act or truthful word. Yet here Danny was just spilling out his every thought as if it was no big deal. The girl didn't understand, and she was running out of time before the awkward silence kicked in. So she decided to simply wing it.
"I don't care what you think it is," Melody said. "Hacking is dorky. Period. And because you think it's cool, you're probably proving my point. Also, just so you understand, I didn't do a lot of hacking like what I'm sure your friend does. I worked with numbers, banking accounts, and the like. I've always...I've always been good with numbers. Not exactly the coolest tool to have, but at least I've never had to use a...um...a calculator. Yeah..."
Melody died off at the end, trying not to outwardly express the true awkwardness she was currently feeling on the inside. She hadn't expected to say that much, especially to Danny, but once she started she couldn't stop. She felt kind of guilty, though. Some of that stuff she hadn't even told Ryder about.
"Man, I bet you could seriously help me with math," Danny said, grinning to hide his surprise. Melody had actually answered him truthfully. She hadn't yelled at him for being stupid, she hadn't insulted him, and she hadn't lied. That was basically going against everything he knew about her up to this point.
"It's...y'know, really hard to study when I've got so much stuff to do," the teen went on, hoping to make Melody feel less awkward. He could just sense that she felt weird about telling him something about herself so he felt it was best to do the same. "Sometimes I'll stay up to like four in the morning ghost fighting, and then I gotta wake up at seven to go to school. And then I gotta pay attention somehow even with ghost popping up during classes. And then it just gets worse when I go home."
Danny shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "I get tired just thinking about it sometimes," he added in a mutter. The boy glanced back up at Melody, saying, "And don't worry. I'm not gonna tell Vlad anything." He rolled his eyes and smirked. "Let the fruitloop figure it out on his own."
"Mmm. For all I know, he already does know," Melody complained in a huff. She was glad they were getting off the subject of her, though. "He's probably just keeping it a secret until the right time for whatever reason. That guy always knows too much. You're totally right. He is a major fruitloop."
Glancing down at Danny and trying to hid her curiosity, she asked him with a cute tilt of her head, "How do you and Vlad even get to know each other. You're the only two half ghosts in the world, and it's not like you two proclaimed your powers to everyone. At first I assumed it was because Vlad could be one of your enemies while you were in ghost form or whatever you call it, but you guys seem to know each other well enough in human form too."
Crap. Danny grimaced and turned his eyes away from Melody. He'd been hoping to avoid ever going into this subject with either Melody or Ryder simply because he didn't know how they'd react to knowing what Vlad had done to him in the past. Would they freak out and be wary of the guy like they had every right to be? Or would they just accept it like torturing a fifteen year old kid was no big deal?
"It's...it's a long story," Danny eventually murmured, keeping his gaze focused on the doors of the elevator. Maybe if he just stared at them long enough they'd open and save him from the horrible turn the conversation had taken.
Frowning, Melody crossed her arms again. While she found it interesting that even the superhero kid wanted to keep secrets in this place, she was more insulted than curious. "Oh, yeah, sure," she said irritably. "You can ask me questions all about my past, but I can't ask you one without you getting all quiet and emo on me."
Leaning against one of the walls, Melody stared moodily at the control panel again as she muttered, "What did I even expect?"
"I'm not being emo," Danny responded after blowing out a sigh. "It's just...it's a touchy subject, ok? I don't really know what to say without making everything sound bad because it is bad, but, I mean-argh."
The teen closed his eyes and thunked his head back against the wall. He honestly felt bad about keeping this from Melody because she had a point. She had shared something with him, and it wasn't exactly fair to not do the same. But what could he say that didn't make Vlad look like the villain that he was?
Danny slowly reopened his eyes and looked up at Melody. "Vlad and I...we're not friends," he began slowly, pressing his lips into a firm line. His eyebrows furrowed, and he shook his head. "My parents knew him when they were in college. They all were pretty good friends until- there was this accident that gave him ghost powers and after that...it just wasn't the same."
The half-ghost swallowed, forcing himself to continue no matter how much he didn't want to. "The first time I met him, he almost killed me, but then he found out who I was and that I had powers like him, too. And...and he wanted us to be allies, but I can't ever do that. He hates my dad, and he's got this weird, freaky love-crush on my mom, and he's tried to clone me, and then he became mayor just to mess with me, and he set up all these ghost detectors around town so I can't even go ghost when I want to and...and..."
Danny closed his mouth and shook his head. I shouldn't have said anything, he thought as he rubbed his forehead. Vlad's gonna kill me.
The more Danny kept talking, the wider Melody's eyes became. It was at this point that she realized all her assumptions about Danny and Vlad had been just that: assumptions. Didn't make them true in the least bit. Hearing all this from Danny, who she knew to be more open and honest than Vlad, was all new to Melody. She now knew why the kid wanted to keep it in. This was something Vlad probably would never want to be said publicly, especially to her.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Melody said loudly. "Back up the drama llama gossip train for two seconds, kid. Ok. You're telling me that Vlad went to the same college as your mom and dad. The same parents who are now ghost hunters. And he was friends with them, so that means they probably studied the same thing. So did they study ghost stuff or whatever you call it together or something? Was it like a Ghost Busters thing? How did this accident even happen? I mean, it's not like these things happen ev-...oh my gosh!"
Melody put her hands over her mouth as she figured it out in her head. She looked at Danny for his reaction before pulling her hands away and saying quietly, "Oh. My. Gawd. Did your parents cause the same accident that happened to Vlad to you too?"
Danny could only cringe the longer Melody babbled to him. He knew he'd made a mistake. This was why Vlad hadn't wanted him to talk to her. He'd said way too much and now there was nothing he could do to take it back. The teen winced when she directly asked him another question he didn't want to answer.
"Sort of," he squeaked out, completely flabbergasted as to why he was still talking. He'd made a big enough mess already. Now he was just making it worse!
"I mean, wait," Danny quickly amended himself, "I kinda accidentally did it, but it was 'cause my parents thought that the Ghost Zone portal wasn't working, but it was. I went inside and...turned it on..."
Danny looked up at Melody, his eyes pleading. "Don't tell Vlad anything, please. I shouldn't have said anything. He's gonna kill me if he finds out. Just...just don't say anything to him about this."
Pieces of the puzzle had been falling into place inside Melody's head, but everything came to a halt after Danny's plead to keep everything hush-hush. Confusion swept across the girl's face as she reared back and studied Danny intently. She didn't understand his motives.
"Why would you care?" she asked. "I mean, he's your enemy. Sure, he might be angry for awhile, but, between you and me, I'd say he's naturally that cranky. He'll get over it. Though if he's not over what happened to him in college by now, I'd say he's someone who keeps a grudge. But - ug. I'm getting off the subject. Whether he hates you or not for it, it shouldn't matter. So why do you care what he thinks?"
"Of course he keeps a grudge!" Danny shouted as he jumped to his feet. "He's hated my dad for years! He doesn't just let things go! He can't!" He shoved his hands through his hair as he began to pace back and forth in the elevator. He was just digging himself deeper with every new word that came out of his mouth. There was literally no way to make this situation any better.
"Because...because, I just want to get along with him," Danny managed to say, staring intently at the ground as he continued to anxiously move around. "I don't want to fight with him. I never did! I just want him to leave me alone, I want him to be nice to me, I want him to stop messing with my life like it's some messed up chess game that only he can control!"
Danny stopped his pacing and looked at Melody again, shoulders slumped. "I think I'm getting through to him. I think...maybe he's starting to realize that we don't have to fight all the time; that, maybe, we can actually get along back in Amity if we try. If you tell him what I said he'll go right back to hating me like nothing's changed at all..."
The teen trailed off and looked away. There was nothing more he could say.
Though Melody's face had resorted back to being expressionless, there was an understanding sadness she was hiding underneath her blank exterior. All this time she'd thought Danny was just a lazy teenager tagging along with everyone, doing his best to play peace maker because he thought it was his silly duty somehow as a naive superhero. She didn't think he was planning anything or making that big of an effort, but now she saw all the stress he was under. Never once had see seen Danny pace, but now she could almost feel the suppressed anxiety roll off him and crash into her like waves as he walked back and forth.
The fact that he was trying his hardest to get through to his number one nemesis painted the teen in a new light in Melody's eyes. She imaged herself trying to be genuinely nice to the person she most hated. It would be an impossible task for her, yet here Danny was doing it each day. It took a lot of inner strength and stamina to do that. It wasn't something a lazy teen would do, that was for sure.
What mattered the most, though, was the fact that Melody believed what Danny said about Vlad was true. The man was different from the person he was on the first day he arrived at the museum. He was more patient with everyone and tolerant. Sure, they had their rough patches lately, but even Melody could see a small change. Although it didn't mean anything to the girl, she figured it was highly significant to Danny and his life. Her telling anyone what Danny just told her could ruin everything he was working for.
"Look," Melody started with a relenting sigh, "I won't tell him if it means that much to you. I told you a little of my past, and you told me yours. If you don't tell them I'm some dorky hacker with an infatuation with math, I won't tell anyone about your beef with Vlad."
She offered the boy a weak smile as she added, "Besides, this place is so much better when Vlad's in a good mood. What the pompous man doesn't know won't hurt him."
Danny let out an explosive sigh of relief and nodded quickly to what Melody had said. "Yeah, yes," he rapidly agreed, a grateful smile coming to his face as he looked up at the girl. He honestly wished he could hug her at that moment, but he knew from Ryder's experience that that wouldn't end well.
"Thanks, Melody," he said, shoulders sagging further with relief and gratitude. "I won't tell anyone. I promise."
"Good," Melody said, her iciness returning as she felt the tangles of awkwardness ebb away. She glanced back at the control panel and allowed a sly smile sneak to her lips. "Because now that you know I can be a nerd, I'm free to dismantle that lovely piece of technology over there. We've come this far. I'm not going back to that stupid room until I've seen the first floor."
That said, Melody waltzed up to the control panel and felt around the metal edges. She reached in down under her shirt when she realized what she needed and pulled out a small, mini screwdriver. She smiled a little, as if happy to be back in her natural environment as she went to work on opening the panel.
Though Melody's tone had returned to normal, he could tell something was different between them. It was small and probably unnoticeable to a normal person, but Danny could tell it was there. Like Vlad, he knew Melody had changed being in this museum too. She may not have liked him, but he could tell that she definitely tolerated him. And Danny was definitely okay with that.
Danny arched an eyebrow when he saw Melody pull a screwdriver out of freakin' nowhere. He couldn't help but grin and shake his head as he said, "Where were you even keeping that?" The teen paused as he thought back to the second laundry cart ride he'd been on and the things he'd seen during that time. He held up both hands and quickly added, "Oh...um, never mind."
"Yeah," Melody shot back with a mean smile. "You better never mind, or I'll kick your ass."
After all the screws were undone, Melody pulled them all out and dropped them on the floor before using her fingertips to pull off the metal grading keeping her away from the good stuff. Once that was gone and thrown to the ground, Melody could see all the wiring inside the box and the LED lights that were currently off. The challenge of it all thrilled her.
"Mmm. Goodness gracious. It's been a long time since my last class in electrical engineering, but I think I remember the basics," Melody mused aloud as she reached into her front shorts pocket and pulled out a small pocket knife. She stuffed the screwdriver in her mouth as she flipped the knife open and parted some wires in search for the one she wanted.
With the object in between her teeth, the girl snickered to herself, "An Maffew sad da glass woodt be pragtigal."
"Wait, where did you get the kni- never mind!" Danny stopped himself, shaking his head rapidly as if to ward off his curiosity. He figured that this was the reason the Collector had chosen Melody and Ryder as the two best thieves in the world. Ryder had stolen a book somehow for Vlad, and Melody had stolen...all of this stuff. Who knew what else she had hidden away on her person?
Focusing back on Melody, Danny leaned forward a little, trying to decipher what she'd just said. It kinda sounded important, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure it out. "Uh...yeah, Maffew," he agreed, nodding along like he totally got it. It was then that he realized Melody was messing around with electronics...of an elevator they were stuck in...with no place to go if something went wrong.
Squeezing his hands into anxious fists, Danny couldn't help but question, "You're sure you know what you're doing, right? Like, the lights aren't gonna suddenly go out as we drop to our deaths, right? I mean, I totally trust you, but...you're positive about this?"
Melody glanced over to Danny as if noticing he was there for the first time when he mentioned "Maffew". She hadn't remembered saying that aloud, but she decided he didn't know what he was talking about as she carried on.
She was pretty thankful when he presented her with a new question. Taking the screwdriver out of her mouth, she answered, "Relax, pipsqueak. It's only a few feet of a drop since we're in between the first and second floors. Not like it would kill us."
Finding a wire she liked, the girl quickly looped it around her knife and gave a quick yank to cut the wire. She held onto that wire's end as she peered into the box some more, saying over her shoulder, "Besides, I'm not playing around with that system. It's the doors I'm after. If we can get them open, we might be able to squeeze through to the first floor."
"Oh."
Danny closed his mouth and resisted the urge to jokingly say, 'I know I can fit, but what about your butt?' He smirked at the thought and quickly looked at the doors to fight down a laugh. He almost wished Ryder was there at that moment so that he could say it for him, because he knew Melody would totally punch him for even mentioning her butt again. Only Ryder could say things like that and live to tell the tale.
Instead of continuing to think about his internal comment, Danny just grinned and said, "That's a good plan."
"Damn straight," Melody muttered.
For another minute or two she messed around with some more wires until she was satisfied with her progress. Stuffing the screwdriver and knife back where they had come from, Melody told Danny, "Alright, this should be it. When I connect these two wires, the doors should open."
Staring hopefully at the elevator door, Melody connected the wires.
Ding!
Accompanied by its obnoxious ring, the doors smoothly parted for the two. Thankfully, the elevator had gone down far enough so that the bottom half of the elevator was only a few feet off the ground.
"That's right! I'm awesome!" Melody celebrated in a excited squeal. Composing herself, she told Danny quickly, "These wires have to be together to keep the door open. You go out first, and I'll follow."
"Right," Danny instantly agreed, smiling wider at the fact that the doors actually opened. And they weren't dead! Always a plus in his book.
The teen didn't hesitate to slid forward and bend down so that he could squeeze himself through the small opening that the doors had made. He just barely managed to fit his shoulders and head between the doors. If he'd been even the smallest amount bigger, he definitely would've gotten stuck.
Danny let out a tense breath when his feet finally touched the first floor, and he was able to slide the rest of the way out of the elevator and into the hallway. Before he could celebrate his victory of being skinny, he froze in place, eyes widening.
"Uh, Melody?" he called back up to the girl, slowly holding his hands up as he flashed a nervous grin. "You might as well stay in that elevator."
"Why?" Melody asked, sounding offended. "Is this another big butt joke? If it is, it's not appreciated, especially considering what I just did."
"Um, no," Danny replied, chuckling despite himself. "But I really wanted to say one a little bit ago, but I totally decided not to just so you know."
The boy focused his attention back on the ring of museum guards that had seemingly been waiting for him right outside the elevators doors. It was safe to say that they did not look pleased.
"So," Danny began conversationally, "who thinks Melody can squeeze through those doors without getting stuck? Keep in mind, she's the one that got stuck in that vent not too long ago."
"Wait, what? Who are you talking to?" Melody shouted as she peered out of the opening. Seeing the display of impassive ghost guards waiting there, Melody grimaced before saying, "Oh. That's who."
Suddenly, the doors to the elevator closed on Melody and the real lights and music came back on as the box she was in finished its journey downward. Upon discovery of the escaped thief and halfa, someone must have told the person in control of the lockdown procedure to to turn the elevator back on.
Ding!
Melody cringed as the door reopened for her on ground level. Folding her arms across her chest in her usual pout, Melody walked up to beside Danny and gave the group of guards a frosty glare. She didn't like being played the fool.
"Well, at least we got to the first floor," she muttered.
A/N: Well, hope you readers liked the chapter! Next chapter is one of my very favorites! Can't wait to post it next weekend. I'll see you guys there!