Chapter 25
All in
Danny sat next to Garrett at the large table in the safe room as Tucker and the Secret Service continued to monitor the Fenton Ghost Tracker satellite feed on the screen.
"The concentration of spectral energy is growing large. He's getting stronger by the minute." Dash observed, pointing toward the large orange area that covered half of Northern Virginia, all of Maryland, and even went into Pennsylvania.
"So you're saying he could be anywhere in that?" asked Dani.
"Anywhere." Said agent confirmed with a grim nod.
"What I don't get is why he withdrew. I mean, he supposedly all powerful now, why did he retreat from the White House?" Sam added.
"Because he wants to gather more power." Dani whispered, causing all in the room to turn their attention to her.
"Huh?" asked Dash.
"Look, after that whole thing in the Ghost Zone, Vlad basically acts like a magnet for Spectral energy. It follows him around in this massive cloud and he draws on it whenever he needs it, such as when he's fighting. I think he wants to add more energy to his cloud." The latter explained, gesturing toward the large area of orange on the screen.
"But how, and where would he go?"
"Now there I have no idea." Dani admitted.
"We have to think like him." Said Dash, knowledgeable in the catching of potential Presidential assassins.
"Hmmm, let's see. I'm Vlad, a seriously deranged fruit loop who would love nothing more than to mount my old nemesis and his family's heads over my mantelpiece, where would I go." Danny droned on sarcastically, drawing a giggle from Dani.
"Can you please at least pretend to take this seriously? Vlad's an acute threat to us all." Agent Baxter spat at his old school mate, who frowned.
"No one's taking this more seriously than I am." He insisted.
"Of really, I think I might just be putting a bit more effort into it than you, Fenton."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"Will you two act your age?! This is neither the time, nor the place to be seeing whose is bigger." Tucker hissed at both of them, causing the pair to go silent.
"I suppose we could send out search teams." The president continued after his scolding.
"That's a lot of ground to cover though." Danielle reminded him, gesturing toward the large area of orange and red on the screen.
"True, maybe we could…" the reply was cut off by the sounds of Sam's cell phone ringing.
"Sorry." She muttered, as she stood up from the table and walked a few feet away before answering the device.
"Hello? What? Becca, slow down." Said Sam, as she listened to the frantic voice on the other end.
After a minute or so, she placed her hand over her mouth with a gasp and dropped the phone with a clutter. Danny, who had been watching her, stood up immediately and went over to her.
"Sam, what's wrong?" he asked concernedly.
"Oh my God, they've taken her!" his wife gasped, removing her hand from her mouth, "they've taken Madison. They've kidnapped her!"
Danny, after staring at the look of horror on his spouse's face for only a moment, released her and headed for the stairwell. He was up it and out of sight before the others could ask him where he was going. Instead, Dani and Garrett walked to Sam.
"What's going on?" Danielle asked with concern.
"They've taken Madison, Vlad and Dan, they took her from the apartment. Rebecca just called me about it."
"Madison?" Tucker's voice inquired.
"Their daughter." Dani explained, hugging Sam as she did so.
"On no." the President whispered as the gravity of the situation dawned on him.
"We have got to find Vlad, now." Sam insisted.
"We'll do our best. In the meantime, you go find Danny; I don't want the team separating right now." Tucker suggested, and Sam nodded before stepping out of Dani's grasp and heading up stairs.
"Right, there's got to be a way to shrink down the search zone." The Commander-in-Chief turned to face the monitor once more.
"I'm on it." Garrett volunteered as he approached the consul and began to interface with it.
"I hope he can." Dani thought as she watched him work.
"That stakes are growing higher."
Danny stepped outside the office building and was about to make his way down the street when a voice called out to him.
"Where are you going Danny?" it asked.
He turned, expecting to see Sam, but was surprised by the familiar sight of Clockwork.
"Vlad's got my daughter. I gotta go stop that psycho."
"And just where are you going to find him?"
Danny opened him mouth to reply, but nothing came out when he realized he had no answer. With a defeated sigh, the young man slumped against the building and slid to the ground.
"I gotta find him, Clockwork. I didn't even know I had a daughter till last week, I can't lose her just when I found out she even existed." He whispered.
"Well, you shall be happy to know that I bring some good news." Clockwork explained, moving to stand in front of the sitting Danny.
Despite his current situation, the Halfa actually grinned. "That'd be a first." He observed.
"Indeed. I have convinced the Overseers not to initiate Protocol Purge, for the time being anyhow." The Master of Time reported.
"Lovely, the world isn't going to go all to Hell straight away." Danny scoffed with a roll of his eyes.
"I've bought you some time, yes. But this thing needs to be ended, and soon."
"How? Like you said, I don't even know where he is."
"He's headed off to the north; I know no more than that." Clockwork continued, "that may shorten your search area at least."
Danny looked up at the ghost in surprise and gave a small smile. "It just might, thanks Clockwork." He said, standing up and preparing to head back downstairs to report the information to the others.
"You plan to fight him then?" the question made Danny freeze and look at Clockwork in puzzlement.
"Of course" he confirmed slowly, still looking at the elder ghost in surprise, "why wouldn't I?"
The look in Clockworks eyes made a cold shiver run up the Halfa's spine. There was a sort of mixture of sadness and fear, one that Danny never imagined he would ever see in the Master's face.
"Am I going to die fighting him?" he finally found the courage to ask.
"I don't know." Clockwork admitted solemnly.
"What do you mean, you're the Master of Time. You know what's going to happen, don't you?"
Clockwork shook his head.
"You think of time as a street going one way, but this is not so. Time is more like a tree with many possible branches that may shoot out from a main stream of events. And while I can see every branch that may or may not come to pass, even I do not know which branch time will take. It often depends on the choices of the individuals involved in the event. With you and Vlad, there are some braches that end with you defeating him and surviving, some that end with you both dying, and some with you failing and perishing and him taking over the world. But I cannot know which will come to pass; I suppose that frightens me a little."
"So there's a lot of ending for this little confrontation between me and Vlad then?"
"Yes, and I must admit, many of them do not end happily for you."
"But some do?"
"Yes, of course."
A heavy silence hung over the pair as Danny seemed to contemplate what to say next.
"Well, I suppose I better go tell the group my info, thanks for the help Clock, you take care of yourself." He said with a final nod before heading back inside the building.
"May time show mercy to you, Daniel Fenton. I pray it does anyway." Clockwork thought as he watched Danny leave, "I pray it has mercy on all of us."
Back inside, Danny ran into Sam who was crying slightly. As soon as he saw this, Danny wrapped her up in a tight hug, ne which she accepted, albeit a little awkwardly, but gratefully nonetheless.
"No more running, no more hiding." He whispered as they embraced, "I'll find her Sammy. I promise."
His wife said nothing, only hugged him tighter. They held one another for a few minutes, only Sam's broken breathing through her sobs could be heard. At last, even those stopped and Danny released her, stepping back and smiling bravely at her. The couple then headed downstairs where the rest of the group was still looking over the monitor.
"I know where Vlad's gone." Danny announced aloud, causing everyone, including Sam, to look at him in surprise.
Without a word, the Halfa stepped up to the computer monitor and began typing away on it. He worked soundlessly for several minutes until curiosity got the best of Dani and she spoke up.
"What are you doing?" she voiced aloud the question on everybody's mind.
"Scanning for the highest concentration of spectral energy north of D.C." Danny explained, still working away on the consol, "that's where Vlad will go."
"How do you know he went north?" asked one of the Secret Service agents incredulously.
"Let's just say an old friend told me."
There was a series of beeps from the computer, which were then followed by a steady beeping. A square box highlighted a small town to the north of D.C. and a text appeared stating the name of the town. As soon as Danny read the name he nodded.
"That's the place." He stated confidently before turning and heading back toward the stairs.
"Get the GIW on the horn, tell them to set up a perimeter around the town, Vlad doesn't leave that place alive." Dash ordered one of his men after he too read the name.
Sam, Dani, and Garrett all followed Danny upstairs to the Fenton RV, while Tucker looked back at the screen. The text next to the town read:
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Vlad stood on top of Cemetery ridge, a large wooded chain of hills that overlooked the small town. He could literally feel the spectral energy pulsating in the air around him.
"50,000 men died on this spot over 150 years ago. But their energy remains, and now it shall be my stepping stone to God-hood." Vlad observed with a sneer.
"Spare us the history lesson; I want to get this over with." Dan, who was standing behind him, said sarcastically.
The latter turned and grinned at the sight of his ally.
"Ahhh, you're back, I assume your mission was a success."
Dan stepped to one side, revealing a terrified Madison who was still hovering in a bubble of psychokinetic energy.
"Yeah, I got her."
"Excellent." The mad man approached his captive with a malicious grin. The young toddler tried to shrink back from the evil looking man, but could not move. Instead, the young girl settled for a terrified whimper as Vlad stopped just in front of her and leaned in close.
"Please, don't hurt me." She begged feebly.
At this, Vlad gave a sharp chuckle. "Heaven forbid child, though I can't say the same for your father should he attempt to interfere again."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, can we just do what we need to and get the hell out of here please!" Dan interrupted with ill concealed irritation.
Vlad gave a small sigh. "Excuse me dear, I'll be just a moment." He said, before striding over to Dan and grabbing a hold of the ghost's collar.
"Have you been noticing a feeling of exhaustion in yourself Dan?" he growled, and the evil ghost felt said feeling suddenly intensify.
"What are you…?" Dan began, but a sudden pain that seemed to rack his whole body hit him, and a cry of pain was all that issued forth.
"You see Dan; I can absorb the spectral energy not only from the air, but from other ghosts as well. It feeds me, making me stronger, at your expense of course."
Dan was starting to shrivel up like a raisin. He crumpled to the ground, feebly attempting to pull Vlad's hand off of him, but to no avail.
"And, the best part is, I don't have to hear your incessant wining any longer!"
Dan began to literally disintegrate before Vlad's eyes. Indeed, it was as though the ghost was made of sand as his physical being came apart and scattered to the wind, his screams of pain echoing throughout the area.
Dan Phantom was no more.
Madison watched on in utter terror at the whole scene. When it was over, Vlad took a deep breath of satisfaction before turning back to her yet again with another evil smile.
"Well then my dear, I think it's time we invited our guests." He stated, before pulling out a cell phone and dialing a number.
The pone began to ring.
The Fenton RV raced down the highway out of D.C. and toward Gettysburg. Fortunately, the small town was only a two hour drive away. As they were rushing along, Dani behind the wheel, Sam's cell phone began to ring yet again.
"Hello?" she answered.
"Yes is Mr. Fenton available?" asked a familiar voice, causing Sam to cringe.
"It's for you." She whispered, holding the phone out to her husband who sat at the table nearby.
"Hello?" inquired Danny upon taking the phone.
"Hello, Daniel." Vlad's voice sounded from the other end of the line, "I just wanted to let you know that your daughter is completely unharmed."
"Where is she?" growled Danny.
"She's safe with Uncle Vlad for the time being. I think it's time we had a little get together wouldn't you say? I'm on Cemetery Ridge just outside Gettysburg Pennsylvania. You being the smart young man you are, I assume you're already on your way here, so I'd expect you within two hours." Vlad continued in a sickeningly nonchalant tone.
"If you so much as lay a finger on her, I swear Plasmius, I'll…"
"Please Daniel, save your cheap threats for when we're speaking face-to-face. I might actually feel a brief twinge of fear."
"We'll be there, you can count on it."
"Good, oh and Daniel" Vlad stopped Danny just as he was about to hang up, "just you and Mrs. Fenton if you please. I want to keep this thing family only, you understand. I'd hate for something to happen to poor Madison as a result of your lack of following instruction."
After this, the fruit loop began to cackle with amusement, and Danny hung up the phone before throwing it against the wall in frustration.
"What's wrong?" asked Sam immediately.
"He's got Madison all right, and he wants you and me to meet him alone outside Gettysburg." The latter explained with a frustrated sigh.
"Well then, I suppose we'll just have to meet him."
"You both know it's a trap" Garrett cautioned them.
"That may be so, but we still have to try all we can to rescue her." Sam insisted, moving to sit next to Danny.
Danny was busy staring at the wooden surface of the table in silence, deep in thought. For a moment, he had a twinge of guilt about not being present to defend his daughter hewn she needed him. However, for the first time in a long while, he shook of the guilt defiantly. His daughter didn't need his guilt right now, nor did the world. Right now, both his daughter and the world needed a hero.
Right now, they needed Danny Phantom.
He stood up resolutely and turned to Tucker and Dash who were both riding with them as well.
"We've got to stop Vlad." He said firmly. "And I've got a plan that just might work."
As he did so, Danny remembered Clockwork's words: "All throughout history powerful men have been brought down by their vanity."
"Vlad's made his mistake." he thought to himself,
"Now, we exploit it."
An appropriate chapter name neh? The stakes grow higher still, and we approach the final climax. Exciting isn't it? :) As for the poll the situation remains the same: Incursion-50%, Thou Shalt not Kill-50%. Please review and comment, it's been an exciting chapter. Cheers.