Sam looked at the busted and scratched up machine Jazz called a laptop. She explained a laptop was a tiny computer, but Sam didn't know what that was either. She remembered the strange machines she came across at the library in the room marked "Computer Lab," but that was really the only thing she knew about computers. Concerning the small one in front of her, it wasn't really the machine itself that caught her attention, but the picture of another strange machine displayed in front of her on the laptop's cracked screen. Jazz explained that this Vlad person had already told her the strange machine was supposed to drain a ghost's powers, but through some hidden notes on the laptop, she was able to discover that the drained powers were then supposed to be transferred to Vlad himself. She had just finished bringing up said hidden notes when Sam finally spoke up.
"But I'm not a ghost!" she protested, skimming the notes in disbelief, "I'm just a regular human. A human with strange powers, yes. But still, a human. If the machine works on ghosts, how's it supposed to-"
She stopped and stared at the screen in front of her with wide eyes. Her face became pale and a feeling of dread came over her as she carefully reread the notes. Jazz didn't notice her silence and attempted to come up with an explanation to Sam's question.
"My guess is he probably thinks you're at least part ghost. Or that he thinks you might have some sort of ghost DNA in you that's making your powers. Not that it really matters. As long as you have powers, he's still going to try and get you. My question is why kidnap Dan? What's he got to do with all this?"
For the past few hours, Technus had remained silent still a bit pissed off about carting these ridiculous human girls to Wisconsin. The only thing that seemed to cheer him up was the thought of getting more equipment for his battle armor and finally conquering this world. That and the look of sheer terror on those girls' faces when he finally fulfilled his destiny of being the human world's ruler. With these thoughts in his head, he had mainly blocked out the girls' blabbering, but at the mention of the Phantom's human name, he perked up. Technus had a few altercations with that candle-headed moron in the past and none of those ended very well on Technus' part. They weren't getting him, were they? Not that Technus was worried about that buffoon now that he had a new battlesuit, but he had to admit, if the Phantom was going to be involved, he'd be sure to throw a huge monkey wrench in Technus' plans. To his relief, the girls didn't seem interested in getting the Phantom involved in stopping him, but did find it a little surprising one of them didn't know who he really was.
"Really?" he finally broke his silence, "You really don't know about the Phantom? That's surprising."
"The Phantom?" Jazz answered, looking around her quizically, "Who's the Phantom?"
"You've got to be kidding me. You were just talking about him! Next you're going to tell me you don't know about Plasmius, either!"
"What about Plasmius? And what do you mean we were just talking about the Phantom? We were talking about Dan! Sam, do you know what he's talking about? Sam? Sam?"
Sam didn't hear Jazz or Technus. In fact, she didn't hear a single word that was said at all. She was too busy reading and rereading over and over again the notes on the laptop, not really sure if they were true. Hoping they weren't true.
Parents are Pamela and Jeremy Manson who live just a few blocks away. Met them at a party where Mrs. Manson proceeds to get drunk and in her stupor, claimed to have had an "evil" daughter who had the power of chlorokinesis. She then claimed she abandoned the child to rid her family of this "evil."
Pamela and Jeremy Manson. The Mansons. Her family. Her parents. Abandoned her? The evil child? They thought she was evil? Sam blinked back tears as she stared at those hateful words. Pamela and Jeremy Manson. Evil daughter. Abandoned the child. Rid of the evil.
With a chill running down her spine, another memory came flooding back to her. She was in the middle of the dead woods sitting on the rock where she found the barrette. She was nervously tugging at the ends of her hair as she watched a redheaded woman in a prim and prissy pink and white dress in pink heels walk away. Her mother. She had just finished sitting the little girl on the rock and sternly commanding her to wait there until Mama came back. Sam had obediantly stayed at her place waiting for Mama to come back, desperate to show her what a good girl she was. Maybe when Mama came back and saw her sitting there like she was told, she might not think Sam was a brat after all. Maybe, she'd call her a good girl for once, like those nice, lovely girls in the neighborhood. She smiled at the thought of these praises she was sure Mama would finally give her when she came back. But Mama never did come back. She was gone. And she'd never see her again.
Sam still stared at the laptop screen still completely ignorant to Jazz's call behind her. A hollow pit formed inside her stomach. A few tears had trailed down her cheeks as she stared at the word "abandoned." It was true. Abandoned. That's exactly what Mama did. Sam was never lost. She had been abandoned. On purpose. By her own mother. The same one who had forbidden her from playing with the good girls in the street for fear of Sam's evil hurting them. The one who wouldn't let her play with many toys, if any at all, for fear of Sam's evil accidentally being released. The one who would lock her in a dark closet, sometimes for the whole day, as punishment whenever Sam accidentally let out her evil. A buttercup. A daisy. A new blade of grass. All of those were proof of Sam being a nasty, naughty little brat with evil powers. It was all true.
"Sam!"
Sam yelped and fell out of her chair as a hand touched her shoulder. Jazz yanked her hand back, startled herself, before helping Sam off the floor.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah," she replied, standing back on her feet, "Yeah, sorry. I was thinking about something."
Jazz noticed Sam's eyes looked a bit redder and that her cheeks seemed to have tear stains on them, but decided against asking about them. Whatever she was thinking about seemed to really hit a nerve with her judging from her expression, and Jazz wasn't too sure she'd be willing to talk about it.
"Anyway," Sam wiped the last of her tears from her eyes, "You were saying?"
But before Jazz could say anything, Technus suddenly interrupted.
"You two might want to hold on to something."
Both girls looked at each other with a questioning glance and asked in perfect unison, "Why?"
They were immediatly answered with a CRASH! Sam and Jazz both lost their balance and fell on their stomachs as the RV kept crashing through whatever Technus was attempting to drive through. The entire RV shook and tremored and whatever small appliances that were left came crashing down. The girls covered their heads with their hands as dishes, ghost-hunting weapons, toiletries, and all other sorts of crap crashed and shattered near them.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Sam shouted as coffee mug barely missed her head.
"Well, you're so welcome for my bringing you here like you asked!" Technus shouted back, sarcastically.
"Wait," she and Jazz perked up at the news, "We're here? We're actually here at Vlad's place?"
"Again, you're welcome!" he continued shouting sarcastically.
"Thank you!" Jazz finally answered. She already had to fight Vlad, she didn't want to add Technus to that list.
"Well, at least somebody's grateful," he muttered.
At last, the crashing stopped. The girls tried to stand up, but found themselves falling again as they discovered the RV was at an odd angle with the front facing downwards. Jazz looked out the window and discovered why. Unlike a normal, sane person, instead of parking in the driveway, Technus had decided that since he could make the RV fly, it would be a swell idea to crash into the roof and through the floors of the mansion, and finally stopped the RV with the rear rising up and sticking out on the first floor while the front was pointed down and sticking out of the ceiling of the lab in the basement.
Jazz wasn't the only one who noticed the RV's odd parking spot. Plasmius ran out of one of the chambers on the power transferring machine and stared up in disbelief and confusion at the vehicle.
"Plasmius?" Jazz asked herself, "Why's he here? Where's Vlad?"
"Who cares?" Sam scrambled around the RV gathering various weapons, "Where's Dan? You see him?"
"Who cares?" Technus answered and flung both the driver and passenger doors open, "I've put up with you two for long enough! Get the hell out of here!"
Sam and Jazz watched in alarm as cables and wires still sparkling broke off the dashboard and wound themselves around the girls' wrists. They shouted as they found themselves being yanked out and flung to the lab below.
"Out! Get! Shoo!"
They landed at Plasmius' feet. He stared at the girls before staring back up at the RV, narrowing his eyes.
"Technus!" he demanded, "Technus, you idiot! Is that you? What are you doing in my lab?! Get out! Get out this instant, you fudging little pest!"
The cables suddenly wrapped themselves around Plasmius' waist and delivered a painful shock.
"Who are you calling an idiot?!" Technus demanded, "I am Technus! Lord of all scientific technology!"
"Why you-!"
Plasmius flew up to the RV with a pink ball of ecto-energy forming in his hand. Not that Sam really noticed. She ignored the fight behind her and was frantically looking around for Dan. Where was he? She couldn't find him. Where did Vlad take him?
"Dan?" she shouted, getting back on her feet, "Dan? Dan!"
Silence. He was okay, right?
"Dan!"
No answer. What was Vlad doing with him?
"Dan! It's me! Sam! Dan!"
Nothing. Oh, dear god. Plea se don't be hurt.
"Dan, please answer me!"
Still no reply. Where the hell was he. She was about to leave the lab and look for him upstairs when she happened to glance at the closed chamber on the strange machine.
"Dan!"
She ran up to the glass and pressed her hands against it as she stared in shock in terror at his limp body. He was being held up in an upright position by metal straps around his wrists. His hair covered his face. She watched his heaving chest rapidly rise and fall. Oh god, he couldn't breathe! She needed to get him out of there!
She banged her fists hard against the glass, but not a single crack would form. Sam didn't fail to notice that all that knocking and bashing around apparently hadn't caught Dan's attention. His head still hung limply as if he hadn't heard anything. Seeing that Dan wasn't reacting to the noise at all made Sam's heart pound harder as she reached for an ecto-gun she had strapped to her waist. Grabbing it by the muzzle, she raised the but of the gun and slammed it down. Again it refused to break. And again Dan didn't stir. Damn it. She struck again. Still nothing. Again and again she continued hitting at the glass. In desperation, Sam grabbed a chair and started flung it against the glass. It hit the glass and fell to the floor. Still nothing dammit!
"Jazz!" she finally called, picking the chair back up and trying again, "Help me! I can't open this thing!"
Jazz had been occupied with trying to shoot Plasmius with an ecto-gun she had taken from the RV and trying get him to talk about Vlad. Meanwhile, as he dodged Jazz's attacks, Plasmius was blasting pink ecto-beams at Technus. Technus retaliated by shocking him with electro-beams and possessing various machinery and equipment in the lab. Jazz ducked as one of Vlad's Ghost Gauntlets drew out its claws and aimed them in Plasmius' direction. The gauntlet had just flown past her and slashed at Plasmius' arm, drawing green ectoplasm when she heard Sam cry for help. Relieved to be away from the middle of the two ghosts' feud, she ran towards Sam who was hitting and bashing away at the glass of one of the machine's chambers with a chair.
"I can't break this thing! We need to get him out of there, now! How do you open it?!"
Jazz looked inside the chamber and gasped at Dan's slumped figure inside. What the hell? Why did Vlad put Dan in the machine? What did Dan have to do with any of this? Nevermind! Jazz needed to open this thing! She ran for the machine's control panel, giving the Ecto-Converter a questioning glance for a second, before scanning for some sort of release button.
"Well?!" Sam demanded, now trying to use a microscope as her new battering ram.
"Working on it!"
"Take this, you babbling cheese doodle!" Plasmius shouted.
"Babbling cheese doodle?!" Technus shouted in outrage as he commanded a centrifuge filled with vials of ectoplasm to hurl itself at Plasmius' head, "I am the Master of all of this technological equipment! And you dare to- AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHHH!"
Plasmius stared in fascination at the pink flames shooting out of his hand. He had meant to summon a ball of ecto-energy in his hand so he could use its force to punch Technus out of his house, but instead of a ball, his ecto-energy had turned into fire. This must be the Phantom's power making itself known. Interesting. What else could the Phantom do? Plasmius concentrated and soon the trail of fire turned into pink fireballs. He stopped the attack for a moment and summoned a fireball in his hand. He grinned in both triumph and awe as he held it, savoring it for a moment before throwing it at his opponent. The RV let out another shout as it hit him and summoned a heating chamber towards Plasmius. Fire spewed out of the heating chamber and started to form a giant ball itself until Plasmius blasted it into pieces with a normal ecto-ray. Dividing himself into two, both Plasmius' summoned a pink fireball in each hand and raced towards the RV with their fists raised. Before Technus had any time to react, he was punched by the two hard enough that he was loosened from the hole in the ceiling he was sticking out of and crashed to the floor. That was painful enough, but the blows had also caused the RV to catch fire. Pink flames ran across him as he desperately looked for a way out. He flew out of the RV, returning it back to its normal, though now severly beaten, state. Plasmius angrily watched him levitate before him as he pointed his electro-staff accusingly at him. Something stirred deep in Plasmius' throat. Something powerful. The Phantom's power. And it wanted out.
"You fool!" Technus shouted, "Do you know who you're dealing with?! It is I! Technus! Ghost of all things with wires and-!"
Again, he wasn't able to finish his sentence. Plasmius had let that power inside him grow until he couldn't hold it back any longer. He let out a roaring ghostly wail, making the entire lab tremble and blasted that electrical idiot out of his house with his pink ecto-soundwaves. Sam finally took notice of the fight behind her and looked back curiously at Plasmius. That ghostly wail. She heard it before. Back home. Back when the Phantom was chasing her at Papa's lair. He had used it then to try to capture her. And again to save her from the Guys in White right about the time she discovered Dan and the Phantom were one and the same. She glanced back at Dan still breathing heavily inside the chamber before looking back at Plasmius still roaring. Finally, it hit her.
"That's Dan's power!" she shouted, startling Jazz, "He used the machine and stole Dan's power!"
"What?" Jazz turned her head to Plasmius, "Dan's power? What are you talking about? What would Vlad want with Dan's power? And that's not Vlad, by the way. That's Plasmius. We haven't even seen Vlad yet."
But Sam wasn't listening. She drew her ecto-gun and pointed it at Plasmius.
"Hey!" she shouted, marching towards him, "Asshole! You looking for me? Well, here I am! Come and get me, you bastard!"
Plasmius fininshed his new ghostly wail and had just turned towards Sam when she fired, sending a green beam right in the middle of his torso and knocking him back until he crashed into an examination table. The table collapsed under the surprise attack and sent him down the floor. Sam aimed again and glared at him as two black rings surrounded him and went in opposite directions, changing his form as they passed. She soon found herself glaring at a human with white hair and blue eyes. She heard Jazz gasp from behind her.
"Vlad?! You're Plasmius?!"
"Get Dan out of there!" Sam reminded her.
"Right! Right! Sorry! Working on it!"
Vlad got back up, brushing away the dust on him as he chuckled maliciously.
"Well, well, well," he faced Sam, ignoring the weapon pointed at him, "This certainly is a surprise. And to think of all the trouble I went through. Placing the bounty on you, hiring those hunters, going after you myself. And all I really had to do was kidnap your little Phantom friend and just wait for you to stroll on in! Funny how life works out, isn't it?"
"Let Dan go!" she demanded, fingering the trigger, "Let him go now! It's me you want, isn't it? Then let Dan go!"
"Oh, don't worry, girl. I have no need for him anymore. I'll take care of him soon enough. It's yourself that you really ought to worr y about."
"'Take care of him?' What do you mean? What are you going to do? Don't you dare- HEY!"
Vlad had pointed his index finger at her weapon and shot out an ecto-beam, knocking the ecto-gun out of her hands. As she turned around and raced for the gun, Vlad transformed back into Plasmius. At first he didn't notice any difference in his appearance, but as he bent down to grab the girl, a strand of his hair fell over his face. As he reached to brush it aside, he noticed it was flaming. No, it wasn't on fire. It was fire. He quickly dashed to a towering machine nearby and checked his reflection in its shiny metal. He stared in amazement at his black hair now flaming like Skulker or Ember. Or the Phantom. This must be his power's doing! They were changing Vlad's appearance. Not that he was complaining. He actually rather liked this change. He couldn't help but wonder what sort of things Samantha's power had in store for him when he was suddenly shot to the ground by a beam from the girl's gun.
"Get him out!" Sam continued demanding, "Get Dan out of that thing! He can't breathe in there! Let him out!"
"Oh, don't worry, girl," he growled at her menacingly, "I will."
Before she could react, Vlad charged and tackled her to the ground. He yanked the gun out of her hand and threw it behind him before tightly gripping onto her wrist. He flew up, dragging Sam with him and headed for the machine. Sam flailed, kicked, and shouted in an attempt to free herself to no avail. Hearing the commotion behind her, Jazz turned around in time to see Vlad grab her by the collar and toss her across the room. She screamed and crumpled to the floor as she hit the wall. He paid no attention to her and pressed a few buttons on the machine's controls. The chamber imprisoning Dan finally opened up. Again Sam tried to get free and run towards him, but Vlad's grip was too tight. He grabbed Dan by the collar and yanked him out, breaking the straps across his wrist, and tossed him aside. Dan didn't stir as he landed hard on his side. He was unconscious and still breathing heavily. Before Sam could try struggling again, Vlad threw her in the open chamber. She hit her forehead against the back wall as the glass door closed behind her. She quickly spun around and began banging and pounding at the glass. As ususal, it refused to crack.
"Let me out!" she shouted, "I know you hear me, goddammit! Let me out! Now!"
"What was that?" Vlad smiled and turned his ear towards her, "You want me to drain your powers and take them for myself? Why Samantha, how generous of you! Of course I will!"
"That's not what I said, you bastard! Hey! Let me out!"
"Ten. Nine."
Sam looked up to see where that robotic voice was coming from.
"Eight. Seven."
Oh to hell with it. It didn't matter! She had to get out of here!
"Six."
"Jazz!" she shouted, pounding on the door, "Jazz help!"
Jazz sprinted for the controls and started fiddling with them again.
"Five."
Sam looked towards Dan. Other than his chest rapidly rising and falling, he remained still. He wasn't moving. Come on, Dan. Wake up. Please wake up! Please!
"Four."
She was sorry for hitting for calling him a bastard. She was sorry for screaming at him. And punching him in the face. Repeatedly. And for having her plants beat him up. Repeatedly. And for doubting him. She should never have doubted him.
"Three."
She should never have run away. Then she could have been there. She could have stopped him from beind kidnapped. She coud have stopped Vlad from taking his powers. She could have stopped Vlad from leaving him nearly dead.
"Two."
"I'm sorry, Dan," she whispered, "I failed. I couldn't save you. I'm sorry."
"One. Engaging Transferring Procedure Now."
Sam flinched and clamped her eyes firmly shut as she waited for the attack.
"Abort! Abort! Disengaging Transferring Process Now."
She opened her eyes in surprise and blinked. Huh? It was aborted? She looked out to see Jazz beaming with pride with her hand flat on top of one of the buttons.
"I did it!" she shouted in excitement, "I did it! I stopped an evil ghost's plan! I finally did it!"
In her excitement, she accidently pressed another button with her fist.
"Re-engaging Transferring Process. Ten. Nine. Eight."
Sam scowled at her as she quickly pressed the previous button.
"Abort! Abort! Re-Disengaging Transferring Process."
Jazz sheepishly smiled in apology. Sam rolled her eyes and was about to scold Jazz when she noticed Vlad marching out of the other chamber and drawing out a pink ecto-energy in the shape of a lasso from his arm.
"Behind you!" she shouted.
Too late. Vlad had already wrapped the lasso end of the ecto-energy rope tightly around Jazz's waist, pinning her arms to her sides.
"Get away from that, idiot!" he shouted.
He flew up and spun her round the room twice before letting go. She screamed as she found herself soaring towards a shelf packed high with various machine parts and failed prototypes of previous inventions. She crashed into the shelf and fell to the floor with all the stuff on the shelf raining down on top of her. With a satisfied grunt, Vlad headed back towards his chamber but suddenly felt himself being pulled backwards by some unseen force. He turned around to see Jazz with an earlier version of the Masters Thermos, make based off of Maddie's Fenton Thermos. Jazz had found it and was trying to use it against him.
"Stupid girl!" he snarled, trying to keep steady against the vacuum, "Do you honestly think that measly little thing can stop me! I have the Phantom's power! I'm almost impossible to defeat!"
He lost his balance. He fell to the ground and desperately clawed at it as he found himself drawing nearer towards the thermos until he was finally sucked in all together. Quickly, Jazz slammed the cap on the thermos and smirked.
"Almost impossible to defeat," she said, heading for the control panel again, "Almost."
Still beaming and congratulating herself for finally catching a ghost, she tried once again to open the prison chamber's door. Sam nervously drummed her fingers against the glass as she anxiously watched Dan. He still wasn't waking up. He looked dead. And if she didn't get him some help fast, he will be dead soon.
"Please, Dan," she whispered, "Please just hang on. Don't die. Please don't die. Wake up."
Nothing. He still didn't stir. Finally, Jazz figured out which button opened up the doors. As soon as the chamber was open, Sam practically leapt out of the chamber and kneeled down towards Dan. She grabbed his shoulder and started shaking him.
"Wake up!" she shouted, "Wake up, dammit! Come on! You need to wake up! He needs help! Now!"
Sam looked up towards Jazz, but before Jazz could start looking for a phone, she felt the thermos at her waist tremble. Uh-oh. That wasn't good. She quickly yanked it off her belt and threw it inside the prison chamber. She slammed her fist down on the button that closed the door just as the thermos shattered and a blue mist appeared before solidifying itself into Vlad's ghost half.
"You nitwit!" he shouted, "I swear, you're worse than your father, if that's even possible! That was a prototype thermos, you moron! It doesn't work as well- YEOWCH!"
Sam questioningly raised her eyebrow at Jazz, only to be answered by a shrug. Whatever was going on in there, Jazz didn't do it. The girls looked through the glass and watched as an electric spark surrounded Vlad and forced him back into human form. The shock stopped and Vlad stared at his human hands in confusion.
"What the-?"
He suddenly looked out to see the girls glaring at him through the glass. Problem was the girls were in the lab side of the glass. He wasn't. He was in the chamber. But his chamber didn't have any electric shocks. Which meant- Uh-oh.
"Oh, peanut brittle!" he shouted, "I'm in the other chamber!"
"And you're going to stay there, too," Jazz shouted at him, "Until the police come!"
"Oh, really?" he retorted, putting his hands on his hips, "And just what are you going to tell them? Hmm? That I'm using some sort of power transferring device to power up my ghost half?"
"Exactly!"
"And what if I refuse to show my ghost half? You'd look pretty stupid, wouldn't you?"
"Uh, well," Jazz's face paled. She hadn't thought of that.
"And that power transferring device story will sound incredibly stupid without a ghost nearby, now wouldn't it?"
Sam wasn't paying attention to the argument. She looked at Vlad and looked at Dan. Power transferring device. That's it! That's how she could save him! Without a word, she jumped to her feet and took Dan's arms. With Jazz watching her curiously, Sam dragged Dan to the other chamber until they were inside. She stepped out and pushed his feet in before walking over to the controls. Vlad was watching too and had figured out what she was up to.
"Please, girl," he snorted, "You don't know how to start that thing."
"How do you start this thing?" Sam asked Jazz.
"What are you doing?" Jazz responded as Sam went for the controls.
"I'm giving Dan back his powers! That's what's going to save him! Now, how do you start this thing?"
"Powers? What powers?"
"Vlad took Dan's powers! That's why he almost dead! How do you start this machine?"
"Then won't that thing nearly kill Vlad?"
"Who cares? He deserves it. Now if you're not going to help me-"
"I don't know about this," Jazz nervously looked at Vlad and then at Dan.
"Please! I need to do this! It's the only thing that'll save him! If you're so concerned about Vlad, you can call help for him right after this! Just please tell me how to turn this thing on!"
"I don't-"
"Haven't I always been honest to you? Even when you didn't believe me, was I lying?"
Jazz sighed. Sam just had to go there. She pointed at the button she had mistakingly pressed and immediatly ran for a phone. If Vlad was right about this thing being painful, and if Sam was right about this machine nearly killing Dan, Vlad was going to need an ambulance and fast after this was over.
Sam watched her leave and pressed the button. The door to Dan's chamber closed and the robotic voice started counting down.
"Ten. Nine. Eight."
Vlad started panicking and was banging and pounding at the door of his chamber.
"Seven. Six. Five."
Sam saw a flash of light from Vlad's chamber and heard him cry out. Apparently, the prison chamber wouldn't let ghosts use their powers. No wonder Dan couldn't get out.
"Four. Three."
"Wait!" Vlad pleaded, "You don't want to do this! I'm sure we can all just laugh and forget about this!"
"Two."
"How much money do you want? I'm a billionaire you know! I can make you a very rich girl, Samantha! You and your plant father, what's his name? Undergrowth? Undergrowth is it?"
"One."
"Wait!"
"Engaging Transferring Procedure Now."
Sam jumped as Vlad letting out a blood-curdling scream. She watched completely horrified as Vlad writhed in agony on the floor. She turned around and winced. God. As much as she hated this asshat, she didn't want to cause this much pain for him. She looked at Dan's chamber and sharply inhaled before exhaling it out slowly. This is what he did to Dan. All that pain and agony. He made Dan go through that. All that writhing is exactly what Dan was doing before they got here. Vlad got what he deserved. Still, she could do without the screaming. As if somebody had heard her silent wish, the screaming stopped. The machine whirred as it slowed down. It must be finishing up. Finally, it came to a stop. She peeked inside Vlad's chamber to see him lying there unconscious. She couldn't see his chest, but she was going to guess he was breathing hard like Dan. Speaking of Dan...
She scanned the control panel for the door release on Dan's chamber and pressed it. The chamber opened and Sam ran inside. He was still lying there unconscious. She got down to her knees and listened to his breathing. Steady. He was breathing normally again! Now he just needed to wake up!
"Come on, Dan!" she shook his shoulder again, "Dan! Dan! Wake up!"
She heard him groan and slowly stir. It's working! He's waking up!
"Dan! Dan! It's me! It's Sam!"
"Sam?" he moaned, weakly.
"Yes!" she shouted, excitedly, "Yes! Sam! I'm here! I'm right here, Dan!"
He opened his eyes and looked up at her smiling face. God, that smile was so beautiful. And that sparkle was there in her eyes. That gleaming sparkle in those precious eyes.
"Dan!" she shouted, tears of relief watered her eyes as she threw her arms around him and held him tight against her, "Dan, you bastard! Don't do that again! Don't you ever do that again, you stupid bastard! You scared me! You scared me! Don't you dare scare me like that ever again, you bastard! I thought I was too late! I thought I lost you! When I say wake up, goddammit, Dan, wake up, you bastard! Don't scare me, Dan!"
Still crying, she softly kissed his cheek. Not once or twice, but multiple times. Kiss after kiss. She couldn't see Dan's cheeks turning bright red. Nor did she see the goofy grin that had spread across Dan's face.
