Danny dialled Tucker's number for the fifth time while his parents tried Jazz for the sixth time. Danny punched the end button when he got Tucker's voicemail. He'd left three messages already, he didn't need to leave another. He glanced at his worried parents as they hung up another unanswered call.
"I swear if Vlad got them hurt…" Danny hissed to himself unsure how to end that sentence, as he typed in Tucker's number again. The call rang off. Danny growled in frustration.
"Danny, I'll keep calling Tucker. Ask Vlad what else he told-er the enemy," Sam suggested, aware that Karl was in the room. Danny nodded and teleported back to the lab, much to Karl's annoyance. Vlad had hidden down there since he'd dropped the bombshell.
"Vlad, who else did you tell Grindelwald about?" Danny demanded angrily. Vlad bit his lip. He shook his head.
"I only know of Sam and Tucker being your friends. That's all, I don't know much about your college life," Vlad answered fearfully. Danny scowled at Vlad.
"I'm warning you now Vlad, if anything happens to them, you're going to regret it," Danny threatened. He teleported back to the kitchen. Vlad glanced at Harry, Steven and Danielle who had decided to stay and watch Vlad. He turned away. He'd really messed up this time.
Danny watched as Sam ended another unanswered call to Tucker.
"If they don't answer in the next few minutes, I'm going to them," Danny decided. Sam turned to Danny.
"Danny, you can't do that. It'll take you hours to get to them and it's too dangerous to go through the Ghost Zone right now. They might be in lectures or unable to answer for some reason," Sam attempted to reason with her boyfriend. Danny shook his head.
"No, I have a really bad feeling about this. It explains why we haven't been attacked yet. If they don't answer, I'm going through the Ghost Zone, I don't care about the risks. I have to know that they're okay," Danny retorted worriedly. Sam put a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him warmly.
"Danny, I'm sure they're fine. Jazz is pretty smart and she was the one to figure out it was him and not you last time. And she's gotten tons better at ghost fighting. And Tucker. As annoying as he is, he's not half bad at ghost fighting either. After all these years, we know not to go anywhere without something to protect ourselves," Sam reassured him. Danny smiled at her before frowning.
"Tell me the truth Sam, do you always carry a weapon and a thermos when you're not in Amity Park?" Danny asked. Sam bit her lip nervously, but her reluctance to answer him told him what he wanted to know. She didn't. While Tucker always carried around his tech, ghost weapons were different. And Jazz, despite always wanting to be prepared, ghosts generally came after him before his family.
"I should have warned them the moment I knew he was involved!" Danny growled, angry at himself. Sam sighed.
"I'll try Tucker again," she decided and typed in his number.
Danny walked into the living room and the worried looks on his parents' face told him they couldn't get through to Jazz either. Danny sighed to himself. He felt so helpless. What could he do?! Ignoring Karl trailing behind him, he went to his room and got out his laptop. He returned to the living room and turned his laptop on. He opened the internet and typed in a search for ghost attacks. It was a possible hint at what Grindelwald and Dan were doing. If a ghost attack was happening, it might mean that Dan was helping Grindelwald at the moment and not the other way around.
He frowned however when a news report popped up that had been uploaded minutes ago. He clicked it but turned off the volume on his computer. He didn't need to worry everyone even more with news of a recent ghost attack. However when the video had finished buffering and started, Danny's eyes widened in shock. Lance Thunder was reporting on a ghost at the Nasty Burger. Danny didn't need the sound to see that the restaurant had been evacuated and he could see why. Floating above the building was none other than Dan Phantom. Danny scowled angrily at the video. Dan had a sick obsession of getting Danny to the Nasty Burger. He'd done it when he'd been trapped in the future. He'd tried to blow up his family at the Nasty Burger during the C.A.T.s and now he was luring Danny back to that establishment.
Danny closed the laptop, but didn't turn it off. He calmly walked back upstairs. He didn't want to worry his loved ones. Besides Dan was one ghost that they couldn't help him with. Dan was most dangerous when he had hostages, Danny had to hope that Dan hadn't gone after Jazz and Tucker first. He changed into his ghost form.
"What are you doing?" Karl spoke up. Danny froze, he'd forgotten about the wizard.
"I'm going for a flight," Danny half-lied. He would be flying to the Nasty Burger.
"Not buying it. Where are you going?" Karl growled suspiciously. Danny turned to Karl and glowered at him.
"None of your business," Danny snarled.
"Actually it is my business. The only reason I'm here is to watch you. You aren't that interesting to watch you know," Karl retorted. Danny sighed.
"Fine, you want the truth, I'm going to a ghost attack across town. I don't want to worry everyone," Danny admitted.
Karl raised an eyebrow.
"I'm coming with you," Karl decided. Danny shook his head.
"No, you're not. It's too dangerous," Danny refused. Karl glared at the halfa.
"I'm an auror. I've been in dangerous situations before creature! You have no right to side line me," Karl informed him. Danny glanced worriedly at the stairs.
"Karl please," Danny whispered. Karl froze. It was the first time Danny used the wizard's name. Danny wasn't playing a game, he was being serious.
"I have to do this alone. Please cover for me," Danny continued, knowing that the wizard was listening attentively. Karl frowned.
"This ghost is dangerous, especially with hostages. My family and Sam… they can't help me this time. I have to go alone," Danny pleaded softly. Karl bit his lip.
"Alright, but come back. If you don't I'll never hear the end of it," Karl agreed in the most understanding tone he'd ever used when speaking to Danny. They usually growled at each other and argued but they'd finally stopped seeing each other as enemies.
"That's the plan, because if they find out what I'm doing, I'm going to be in big trouble," Danny replied with a nervous smile before jumping into the air and phasing out of the house. Karl glanced at the stairs and decided to wait upstairs. He went to the Ops Centre, it had the best views and ghost fights tended to be destructive. With luck, Karl might even be able to keep an eye on the halfa.
Danny flew through the skies as fast as possible.
"Right, no big deal. Face Dan, defeat him, find a thermos and get back home before anyone notices. Man I wish I'd grabbed a thermos," Danny muttered to himself nervously. Danny flew up higher to try and approach the Nasty Burger unseen. Hopefully Dan didn't have a long range ghost sense.
"Got to remember, don't use ice powers and Dan's over charged," Danny mumbled the reminder. Danny frowned. It was obviously a trap. Dan was crazy not stupid. If he was revealing himself, it was for a reason. And that reason was clearly because Danny would chase Dan for as long as the ghost was free.
Danny floated high above the Nasty Burger and surveyed the situation. He couldn't see much as he was so high but he could see a crowd had gathered. After so many years, the people of Amity Park had taken to gathering at ghost sightings as they knew Danny Phantom would appear sooner or later or his cousin Dani Phantom who was growing in popularity. As Amity Park's hero, Danny had many fans. It was a concern. That many people near Dan was never a good thing, but that many near Dan at the Nasty Burger was worse. The Nasty sauce was highly volatile and Dan knew that. He could cause an explosion so large it could take out a city block and that crowd was definitely within a city block of the restaurant. Danny bit his lip. He had to get the people to leave or at least get to a safer distance.
But to warn the crowds would give away the element of surprise. Danny sighed and shook his head. He had no choice. If he defeated Dan only because he'd left so many people in harm's way and they got hurt, he'd never forgive himself. He was beating himself up for not warning Jazz and Tucker already and it wasn't even for certain yet if they were in trouble. Sam could be right after all, they might be too busy to pick up. However the coincidence that they'd found out that Jazz and Tucker were potentially in danger and then Dan turned up… a little too much.
Danny flew down and noticed the news crew with Lance Thunder. Lance, as usual, was complaining that he'd gotten the job to report on the ghost attack. But after so long, no one listened to him anymore. Danny turned invisible and landed beside the weatherman. He turned visible, startling Lance.
"Danny Phantom! Hey, mind signing my camera before you go fight that ghost?" the cameraman exclaimed. Danny raised an eyebrow.
"No. Look you need to get everyone to leave. This is probably going to be a big ghost fight and you're all too close," Danny warned them. Lance blinked before his reporter side surfaced.
"So you know this ghost? Have you fought before? Why does he have your emblem?" Lance questioned. Danny groaned in annoyance.
"I don't have time for an interview Lance. Get everyone away from here. At least a full city block. But two blocks would be better," Danny retorted.
Before the news crew could ask another question, Danny turned himself invisible. He didn't leave until he heard Lance grumble about following orders and that he was just a weatherman and didn't need this stress. Danny rolled his eyes and invisibly flew to the restaurant. He phased through the front doors, hoping that by using the actual entrance he'd be unpredictable. He gasped as his ghost sense triggered and he bit back a groan as his ice core pulsed with a stab of pain. It was nothing like using his ice powers before Frostbite treated his back, but it was enough for Danny to instinctively grab his chest and take a few calming breaths. He scowled angrily, knowing the discomfort was Dan's fault. Danny knew that if his ghost sense had gone off, it was a safe bet that Dan's had gone off by now.
Danny glanced out of the window and smiled in relief as he saw the crowds slowly moving further back from the Nasty Burger. He turned back to the task at hand. He had to find Dan and hope not to find any hostages. He floated invisibly through the restaurant and into the back kitchen. He needed to check the Nasty sauce vat. But he gasped as he saw three hostages tied to the vat. Two were Jazz and Tucker. They looked worried about something and Danny could bet it would be because Dan told them what he did to Danny. But the third was Irving, the manager. He was silently sobbing with fear and Danny could see why. Dan had obviously messed with the sauce vat as the temperature gauge on the side was edging into dangerous territory.
He glanced around and coming to the decision that Dan wasn't around, turned himself visible. The three hostages gasped. Danny put a finger to his lips.
"As soon as you're free, get out of here," Danny whispered.
"What about the sauce?" Irving interjected. Danny raised an eyebrow.
"I'll do my best but no guarantees. Just get far away from here," Danny replied as he carefully cut the ropes with a narrow ghost ray. Irving nodded and ran out of the back entrance.
Danny turned to Jazz and Tucker. They pulled him in a tight hug.
"Dan told us he'd killed you," Jazz sobbed. Danny carefully extracted himself out of the hug.
"Guys, you have to get out of here. I'll explain later. Where are your phones?" Danny retorted.
"Dan has them," Tucker answered. Danny nodded. He then gently pushed his sister and best friend towards the exit.
"Go. I'll handle Dan," Danny prompted.
"Okay little brother, but be careful," Jazz relented and left.
Danny gave Tucker a meaningful glance. He nodded.
"I get it dude. I'll keep Jazz safe, and I'm guessing that the others don't know you're here," Tucker remarked. Danny nodded slowly. Tucker put a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"I'm not lying for you this time. But I'm glad to see you're alright," Tucker muttered and then ran out the door.
Danny let out a deep relieved breath.
"Aw, how sweet?" Dan taunted from behind Danny. Danny scowled and turned to the ghost.
"But I must admit, I didn't expect to see you so… healthy. It's disappointing really," Dan continued. Danny gritted his teeth angrily.
"Listen to me Dan, you're sick. You need help. I can help you but you have to let me," Danny attempted. Dan frowned.
"Sick am I? I disagree. If anything, I feel better than ever. Ever since I used your little trick on you, I've been feeling amazing! I wonder, if I did it again, would I feel better than this?" Dan replied and grinned greedily at Danny. Danny nervously took a step back, knowing that the extra distance wouldn't help either way. Dan was so over charged he could easily move too fast for Danny to react to.
"Dan, I know how you feel, but trust me it's not as great as it feels. You have to stop," Danny tried again. Dan chuckled.
"I don't have to do anything," Dan growled darkly and lunged at Danny, throwing him through the ceiling and high into the sky.
And the final face off begins! Let me know what you think of the story so far.
Until the next chapter.