The New Adventures of Danny Phantom
A Danny Phantom Fanfic by Quill N. Inque
I do not own Danny Phantom.
Chapter 20: It's Alive! Vlad's Ultimate Revenge!
(Statler and Waldorf aren't in this chapter; I couldn't find a way to make them fit, and they'd just kill the mood anyway. Sorry.)
A Secret Lair, the Colorado Rockies
Endless clouds of the darkest black obscured the sky, blocking out the sun and its reassuring warmth and radiance. Freezing raindrops as big as marbles fell in saturating sheets as thunder made the air shake with its deafening roar, as though the very heavens were being torn asunder. Mighty trees were snapped like toothpicks by the gale-force winds, which screamed like a thousand wounded men as Mother Nature vented her boundless fury upon the land.
None of this concerned Vlad Plasmius, who looked on imperiously as his minion, the Fright Knight, set about implementing the final touches to his plan. These mountains were the perfect place from which to exact his vengeance upon Jack Fenton's pathetic whelp of a son; even if the world had known of Vlad's return, they'd never think to look for him here, and the thick rock walls served to shield the energy signature from satellite detection. The unpredictable Rockies weather also worked to his advantage; he'd need thousands of volts of electricity to hit at just the right moment for his creation to be born.
Years of scientific study and experimentation had gone into this moment. Vlad had come close to perfecting his "protégé" upon the birth of Dani Fenton, but, like everyone else, the ghost brat had turned her over to the "good side".
But Vlad Plasmius was never one to give up, especially when he'd come so close to his goal. In the years that followed Dani's betrayal, he'd continued experimenting in secret, trying to find the elusive secret to creating the perfect "son", a powerful, mindless killing machine who lived only to serve him. Each attempt had met with failure, but in the wake of the Disasteroid, inspiration had dawned upon Danny's archnemesis.
Though he was loath to admit it, Jack Fenton deserved some of the credit for this venture; had his former friend not abandoned him in space, Vlad never would have gotten the idea, the solution to his problem.
The solution came in the form of the Disasteroid, made of pure Ectoranium.
To ghosts, and even half-ghosts like Vlad, Ectoranium had the same effect as Kryptonite did on Superman. But then Vlad got to thinking: Was it possible to reverse-engineer the Ectoranium's molecular structure? If his calculations were correct (and they always were), it could theoretically be done, but not without the most cutting-edge scientific equipment on the planet. The costs for the machinery alone would be enormous; the facility would be bigger than an oil refinery. This, coupled with some of the ghost child's DNA MacFinn had been kind enough to gather, formed the blueprint of his plan.
Thus, Vlad hid himself in the mountains, emerging often to "borrow" the necessary accoutrements, constructing, piece by piece, the path to his vengeful triumph. He had the Fright Knight blast caverns and tunnels deep into the Rockies, hiding Vlad's masterpiece from prying eyes. From the instrument of his defeat, he had constructed the key to his success, a piece of synthetic anti-Ectoranium that didn't impede ghost powers, but amplified them. This precious fragment, billions of dollars in the making, would be used to forge Vlad's ultimate creation: an ultra-powerful clone of Danny Phantom that would swear undying allegiance to him. If all went as planned, this marvel of engineering and genetic manipulation would not be harmed by the ecto-energy Danny so carelessly threw around. Instead, Daniel (as Vlad christened him) would absorb the blasts , adding and amplifying them to his own unstoppable might, growing more and more powerful every time he was hit. Vlad's greatest triumph would be a thousand times greater than himself or even Pariah Dark, a superweapon that he would use to bring this world to its knees.
And best of all, that thrice-cursed Danny Phantom would take the blame.
The rogue had to congratulate himself; the irony was just too delicious.
Vlad also took the liberty of making several of the world's top scientists vanish off the face of the planet, kidnapping them and forcing them to work around the clock on his machine. When each egg-head's task was done, Vlad took them, one by one, outside, promising them "freedom".
And freedom he gave them, in the form of a two thousand foot fall off the mountain.
The villain spoke without raising his voice as the thick power lines around him crackled with electricity. "Increase amplitude to maximum."
The Fright Knight, stolidly obedient, turned a row of knobs in quick succession. "Amplitude increased."
"Activate the lightning rod."
"Lightning rod, activated."
A hidden panel opened on the side of the mountain, and the dull metal orb was immediately bombarded by streaks of lightning.
"Power level now thirty percent," the Fright Knight said.
"Keep going," Vlad ordered. "We need to be at full capacity."
"Power level sixty five percent…"
His master glanced at the screen before him, as the power graph turned rapidly from red to green.
"Power level now one hundred percent," Vlad shouted. "Do it! Do it, NOW!"
The Fright Knight groaned, pulling an obscenely oversized lever with all his might as the storm outside reached fever pitch. The clash of thunder echoed around the spacious cavern as rain pelted Vlad's face, and the flashes of light illuminated the madness in his eyes. Before him, in a specially constructed pod, his dear boy grew ever closer to consciousness.
The electricity gathered outside traveled at impossible speeds down the amplification rods, and the sinister-looking vessel was blasted with over one hundred million volts of nature's wrath.
Inside the pod, a shadowy form stirred. Its eyes opened as the jolts of lightning jump-started its heart, forcing blood to its brain while its fingers began to twitch.
The heart-rate monitor began to beep faster and faster, signaling the success of Vlad's experiment, this perversion of life that had been created from death. Vlad's eyes glistened with thoughts of vengeance, and he stepped forth, unafraid, as the pneumatic doors of the life-support pod hissed open.
The villain's tone was gentle. "Daniel? Can you hear me?"
The voice that replied sounded exactly like Danny, down to its pitch and timbre. "I hear you…Master."
Vlad's maniacal laughter was almost drowned out by the storm outside.
Almost.
A/N: I'm sorry this is such a short chapter, but my time on the computer is somewhat limited right now. I'll try my damnedest to have the next installment up tomorrow, but I can't promise anything, and for that I'm sorry. I know the wait's killing you, but please be patient, guys. This story WILL be completed, or my name's not Quill N. Inque! (Well, technically, that's not my name, but you get the idea…)