Arriving shortly to the Fenton's home, Danny and Ember landed in the living room of the household.
The ghost boy gave her a look after they landed and asked, "You know we could have went straight down to the lab."
"I know but I don't wanna be rude," responded guitarist.
"You? Worrying about being rude?"
She folded her arms.
"Yeah. What's so crazy about that?"
"Because 99.9% of the time ghosts phase through buildings unnanounced."
"Okay, but this is your pad and its the exception. Why else did you think I waited for you to come outside earlier?"
He smiled.
"Oh. So I am special after all."
She balled up a fist a struck him in the shoulder.
"Ow!" cried the ghost boy rubbing the sore spot.
"Danny?" a male's voice came from not too far away. Then a set of heavy footsteps could be heard coming from upstairs. The two ghosts in the room shifted their attention to the large man in orange as soon as he was making his way down into the living room. "You finished your chor... Huh?" Jack Fenton locked eyes on the fire haired ghost.
Under his gaze, the pop princess seemed to display a somewhat cordial countenance and said simply, "Hey."
Jack stiffly replied, "Hello..."
Sensing the awkwardness, the halfa in the room rubbed the back of his neck with a cough and said, "Dad, you remember Ember right?"
It was a dumb question on Danny's part. He knew that his parents would never forget the ghost that helped kidnapped them alongside Sam.
The father looked to his son.
"I do..."
"You see... we were out fighting and..."
"Fighting? As in fighting together or each other?"
At that the two ghosts exchanged looks.
"Uh... well each other, but something happened."
Suspicious of Ember, the man gave her a look.
"So you were fighting my son. Were you trying to take over the world again? Or did you want revenge against Danny like the other ecto menaces that haunt our streets?"
She didn't respond to the bold yet reasonable questions. Not because she was afraid to but because it was unfamiliar territory for her to be interrogated by the concerned ghost hunting parent of her enemy.
Fortunately, the pop princess didn't have to say anything because Danny stepped in again and said, "Dad, I know you and mom don't exactly trust her or any ghost all that much but there's a bigger problem we have to worry about. It's your old buddy from college."
This seemed to drop all the heat as it were off of Ember as the large man in orange gaped.
"V..."
The patriarch of the family shook his head to stop himself from uttering the name and to compose himself.
"He's... back?"
Danny nodded with a serious expression. His dad clenched both fists.
"But he's supposed to be...!"
"In space. I know. But I..."
Then the ghost boy gestured to the ghost girl next to him and corrected himself.
"...we saw him at the park."
Jack turned his gaze to Ember again but not in the same way as the last time he had.
"You're against him too?"
The pop princess' hair flared a bit while her face contorted into a scowl followed by a nod of the head.
After her reaction, the man in orange seemed convinced.
"Good to know we're all on the same page. In the meantime, we should go downstairs and tell Maddie the bad news."
He turned before heading in the direction of the other stairs which lead down to the lab.
"I never expected your old man to overlook me being a ghost because of Plasmius," Ember admitted in a whisper as they followed.
"If you went through what he went through on the day the Disasteroid came, you'd understand why."
"What happened?" she asked now curious.
"Before all of us turned the Earth intangible, Vlad and my dad went to space so that the former could try to turn the Disasteroid intangible himself. But he only tried to do so because the nations agreed on giving him a hefty fortunate and undisputed rule over them if he saved the world."
Ember blinked twice.
"Wait a sec. Plasmius nearly wiped us all out so he could control the world?"
"Yeah."
"That's either genius or insane."
Danny raised an questioning eyebrow at her.
She explained with a shrug, "I'm a villain."
"Anyway... before Vlad attempted to fulfill his end of the deal he showed my dad his true colors so to speak and burned down the phony bridge that was their friendship."
"I'm lost. Why would Plasmius do that? Didn't you say they were college buddies?"
"They were but Vlad secretly hated my dad for years because... A) He had infected him with ecto acne, which gave him ghost powers, and B) Stealing the 'love of his life', which is my mom."
The pop princess gaped a little.
"I... wha... that..."
She shook her head.
"So let me get this straight. Plasmius has a bone to pick with your dad because he's half ghost like you and he can't get with your mom?"
"Pretty much."
"Ok. He's insane."
"Now you're a hero."
She glared at him.
A few seconds later, they arrived down in the lab where they could see Maddie using a pipette to dispense blue liquid into an Erlenmeyer Flask glass that was filled with a purple liquid.
"Maddie," Jack called alerting her of his presence.
"Just a moment honey," the mother in the blue jumpsuit continued with her work. "After I finish with this I will get started on dinner."
"But..."
"It will only take a second."
Several drops of the blue liquid mixed with the purple and the result shown was a blue-violet color. Then it became darker than what it was before.
"Perhaps not the correct dosage?" she sighed out of disappointment before turning to face her husband. "What are you in the mood for? Spaghetti and meatballs or beef and cheddar casserole?"
"Beef and cheddar casserole but it will have to wait," Jack responded.
Confused by his words she asked, "Why? Is something wrong?"
"We have a serious problem," Danny said.
Jack stepped out of the way so she could see their son alongside the ghost girl in the room.
As soon as Maddie spotted Ember, her mind couldn't help but attempt to figure out the reason behind the ghost being present with them.
However, her thought patterns would soon be interrupted as Danny continued to say, "Vlad's back mom."
Again, the focus that was once on Ember had shifted to the Vlad Masters, who was currently not present.
Maddie seemed to freeze on the spot. The Erlenmeyer Flask glass she held fell to the floor and shattered; allowing its contents to spread on the floor.
"Uh... mom?" Danny called unsure if she was alright.
Her hands clenched into fists before she uttered, "That dispicable... lying piece of cheese...!"
"(At least the spotlight isn't on me.)" thought the pop princess a little intimidated.
"And I have something else to add now that we're all in the same room," the teen boy announced. "Vlad has a new ghost he created called ECTA and it can absorb the core power from other ghosts."
"What?" his parents both let out simultaneously.
"I saw what it could do when Vlad ordered it to attack Ember," Danny continued explaining as he glanced in the musician's direction. "It... was not a pretty sight to look at once it forced its hand into her core. I was lucky to get to her in time before it stole all of her power."
Concern then painted across the mother's face.
"Are you hurt?"
Surprised by the both the question and solicitude, Ember blinked several times before answering, "I'm... fine."
"Are you sure? I can run a few tests if you're not."
"I'm..." Ember started to say she was ok but she noticed Danny giving her that same concerned look he had demonstrated earlier and changed her mind. "...not bothering you am I?"
Maddie smiled.
"Of course not. Besides, you'd be giving us an opportunity to study a ghost's physiology."
Ember frowned at the idea.
Seeing this, Danny decided to elaborate, "Uh... what my mom means is she'll do a few scans and draw some blood. Then she'll compare what she learns from the tests she does on you with the data she has on me."
"That's it?"
"Yes," the mother confirmed. "But if something is wrong with you on the inside and surgery is a necessity I may have to..."
"...Put me under the knife."
Maddie nodded.
"But only with your consent if that situation arises."
Ember looked between mother and son, considering the offer. Seeing that she doesn't have a reason to disrust either in the current situation, she accepted. With that, Maddie showed her patient to the opeating table where the tests could be completed. Danny stayed nearby so as to keep the musician company and make sure she didn't feel uncomfortable with his parents alone.
Meanwhile somewhere secret and undisclosed, Vlad paced down a rather spic and span hallway with one arm behind the back. He pressed his cain against the floor in a rhythmic pattern as he made his way towards electronically locked titanium doors.
Once he was but a foot or two away from said doors he said, "Knock knock."
A computerized voice asked from the speaker built into the wall next to the titanium doors, "Who is there?"
"Boo," Vlad replied.
"Boo who?"
"Boo who says all spooks."
After that was uttered, the doors spread apart revealing a rather large and spacious room. Inside of it were several tanks filled with purple liquid that bubbled every so often.
"Can a proper welcoming be sung in commemoration of my return?" Vlad asked as he stepped inside.
No response came.
"Aw butter buscuits. And here I thought all of you would have been happy to see me."
He came further inside of the area and moved towards the tanks lining the very back of the room. He stopped and took a gander at all which seemed to host various beings in them that were unresponsive with closed eyes. One in particular had his sole attention.
"And you," he smiled deviously placing a hand on the tank's glass. "My greatest creation thus far. We'll have other opportunities."
"Masters," a voiced called out from behind.
Vlad sighed but smiled nonetheless.
"Yes?"
"You failed to submit a status report."
"Did I really? My mistake."
"What are you doing in here anyway?"
"Isn't it obvious? Checking on our insurance policy."
"That better be all for your sake."
Vlad chuckled.
"Do you suspect me of something nefarious?"
"Fool the world once, shame on you. Do it twice, and its off to Pluto."
Vlad turned away from the tank and faced the man across the room.
"You need not wrinkle your crisp dry cleaned white suit. I learned from my past mistakes and I promise I will not stab humanity in the back again metaphorically."
"Good."
The man turned and headed out of the area.
Once he was out of sight, Vlad glanced back at the tank behind him.
"Just a little while more and we will be out of this place."
With that, he followed the other man's example leaving out the area with the titanium doors sliding shut behind him.
AN: Thank God for pulling me out of darkness.