Vlad had finally returned to the base. The 120 soldiers of The Order had been sent off in groups of 20 to six chambers. From these chambers they were to await Vlad's orders and then the signal to move out.
"Gentlemen," Vlad was speaking to all the men telepathically, "Operation: Haunting has begun. You are to remain in your release chambers. They are designed to prevent you from phasing out, should you get cold feet. Ten minutes from now, the light on the ceiling of your chamber shall go from red to green, and the doors opened. Once they open, you are to head to Amity Park and cause as much mayhem, havoc, terror, and general chaos as you possibly can. This is meant as a message to Paranormalics."
"What's the message?" one of the pirate-ghosts asked.
"Come if you dare," Vlad resumed, "The war for our freedom has begun. Remember, in ten minutes, and not a moment sooner. If you'll excuse me, an old friend of mine's son is within our walls and I have yet to receive him."
---
Danny and Evan (that was the ghost's name) ran down the halls as fast as they could. Evan stopped them just before they entered a room without a door.
"Through there," he pointed, "There's three more empty rooms. Once you get through them, you'll find the door to the experimental lab."
"Wouldn't they have a guard around here or something?" Danny asked.
"Not tonight," Evan shook his head, "Not with Operation: Haunting going on."
"Operation: Haunting?"
"Oh, I can't believe I didn't tell you about that!" he slapped his head, "All of The Order's soldiers are gathered into six release chambers on the side of the base facing Amity Park. In..." he checked his watch, "less than ten minutes, they will be sent out to terrorise Amity as a declaration of war to Paranormalics!"
"What!? We've got to..."
"The doors are made of ectoplasmic energy and are controlled by a programmed control mechanism on the side. If we can destroy those controls, then the ghosts will be trapped inside."
"After we free Sam, will you help us with that?"
"Of course."
"Good. Let's go!"
"Leaving so soon?" Danny and Evan turned around at the sound of Vlad's voice, "I don't think so."
---
The experimental lab had the same long rows of tables and several of the same chemicals as the chemicals lab. The only difference was that the rows were made up of several small tables, there was a computer, and a retractable display drawer where several injection guns were kept. The scientist-ghost took one of them in his hand, examining it for error. The ghost from whom the seed had come stood near him, resigned to his fate after Sam was infected. Sam herself was still trying to get loose, though considering the size and strength of her guards, it was just a waste of time.
"The seed," the scientist-ghost said. It was handed to him, and he readied the injection gun. Sam began looking around desperately, trying to find something that would help her escape. She noticed a chemical sitting by the computer. Thinking quickly, she kicked it off and onto one of her guards, who immediately began screaming, letting go of Sam to brush the chemicals off. Surprised, the other guard's grip on her was starting to loosen, and she managed to break free and roll under the nearest table, kicking it forward and the chemicals with it. They went flying all around the room, sending the four ghosts into a panic. She placed her handcuffs in a small puddle of what appeared to be acid. It was, and she was soon free...from the restraints on her hands, anyway. The two guards and the ghost who had created the seed had avoided the flying test tubes, and the now burning scientist-ghost was infuriated.
---
Danny quickly parried Vlad's red sword with his green blade. Unlike his fight with Panther, his re-merging was not helping him against the other ghost-hybrid.
"That was a good plan of yours, Danny," Vlad grinned, kicking him back, "Unfortunately, The Order has other ideas," he charged up an energy blast, but before it hit, Evan knocked him back.
"Get to that lab!" he shouted to Danny, "I'll hold him off!" Danny nodded and jumped to his feet, Evan slamming into Vlad once again. As he fell back, Vlad hit a red button on the wall. Two halves of an ectoplasmic door began to form in the doorway to the next room, one coming down from the ceiling, the other coming up from the floor. Danny saw it. He dived through the space in between just before the door closed all the way and ran off.
---
Sam tossed another beaker at the guards, who jumped back quickly. There was a door up ahead; hopefully, it was a way out. Dodging the ghost who had the seed, she made her way to the door and shut it behind her. Unfortunately, this was not a way out. The room was just barely large enough to hold two people, with the only exit being the door to the lab. The scientist-ghost phased through, holding the injection gun. His lab coat was badly burnt and there were some small scars on his face. He was grinning evilly, readying the gun. Having no choice, Sam just closed her eyes and hoped it would be quick. But nothing hit her. There was no surge of pain throughout her mind as when Volpe had infected her. It didn't even seem like she was on the ground anymore. She opened her eyes. She was floating well above the ground in a large, empty room. She looked over to see who had saved her.
"Danny?" he smiled.
"And I'm back in one piece," she returned the smile.
"Well now," a voice came from behind them, "Don't you two make the most charming couple!"
"WE'RE NOT A COUPLE!" they both shouted, turning around. Vlad floated above ground at their level, grinning.
"Without that Panther serum your friend doesn't amount to much, does he, Danny?"
"You know this guy?" Sam asked.
"Remember when I got back from my dad's college reunion in Wisconsin and I told you and Tuck about Masters?" he nodded over to Vlad.
"Oh."
"Well I'd hate to break up your little chat session," Vlad resumed, "but..." Danny blasted him back into another room before he could finish.
"Sam?" he said, "On the side of the base facing Amity there's six rooms. The soldiers of The Order are in them, and in less than ten minutes they're gonna attack Amity. I need you to stop them. Look for doors with a control panel off to the side, and destroy the control panel."
"Right," he set her down and flew up to face Vlad, who had already come back through the wall and back up in the air.
"Impressive, Daniel," Vlad had formed a sword, "It seems our lessons together have paid off."
"Not in the way you're planning," Danny formed his own sword, "In case you haven't noticed, I've pulled myself together."
"Oh, I'm sure that we can take care of that," Vlad blocked Danny's blow, "The Ghost Catcher's still intact, after all. Then, once you're like me, your mother joins us, and Samantha is infected, we'll handle my contract to The Order and be free to go."
"If your contract was to get Sam and me here, it's gonna be hard for you to get us to leave too once we're trained."
"You think I'd really let them train you!?" Vlad laughed, "I told you, I'll handle it myself. You'll want to leave with me! In any case, there won't be an Order for you to stay with for much longer!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Danny asked, missing a cut to the flank.
"I always choose the winning side, Danny," Vlad smirked, "And do you really think this little pirate crew will emerge victorious against the CIA!?"
"Then why didn't you keep your human self and join Paranormalics?" Danny parried a thrust to his side. Vlad chuckled lightly.
"It was I who arranged Operation: Haunting. I worked out the time and place. The Order have all been hoping that the issue of Conrad vs. Bruce would be drawn out more. A Paranormalics with Conrad in charge would be helpless against my little plan! But I…I have been hoping that Bruce would emerge triumphant, and the sooner the better!"
"WHY!?"
"Sarah Frost wasn't a fool, Danny. She and Bruce discovered what I was shortly before your little incident with her. Bruce tracked me down with a squadron of men without Conrad's knowledge and confronted me. I made a deal with them. I had learned about The Order from Skulker. In return for amnesty to me and all my true loyal friends, I would deliver The Order to them," Danny dropped his sword, which vanished. Vlad did not continue to attack. Instead, he put on a horrible grin. Danny continued to stare in disbelief…he didn't!
"Oh yes, Danny," Vlad said, as if he could read his mind, "I did. Bruce and his men are waiting outside Amity as we speak, ready to take all of The Order. They'll have their excuse for a state of emergency, my friends and I will be perfectly safe, and eventually…" he grinned again, "Eventually…I get you. The ectopuses are moving the Ghost Catcher as we speak and I have my own seeds. You will see that I can carry on without The Order quite well," his sword vanished.
"You…you would do…I can't…" Danny stammered in disbelief.
"Until next time…son," with a whirl of his cloak and a swirl of green, Vlad vanished. Danny stared after him for a moment, then took off down the halls. Enemy or not, the fall of The Order meant that Bruce would have a clear field. They had to stop Operation: Haunting, now for more reasons than one.
---
Sam had grabbed a small hammer that was lying on the floor as she ran off towards the side of the base facing Amity Park. She now came across the first release chamber. The clock on the control panel was counting down.
"Five minutes and...sixteen seconds," she muttered, "Hope they're not that far apart," she smashed the control panel, and she could hear the mumbling of the ghosts inside. She made her way down the hall, but the second door wasn't as close as she had hoped.
---
Danny sped down the halls, trying to find Sam. He heard electronic sounds coming from one large room and floated in. Velkan was typing something into a control panel and storing some files in his belt. Out of the corner of his eye he caught Danny.
"Danny," Velkan tipped his hat, "Well done in rescuing Evan and Sam from our clutches," there was something in his voice that made Danny feel uncomfortable.
"You've got to stop Operation: Haunting right now," he said nervously.
"And why is that?" Velkan seemed unconcerned, "I see no fallbacks or consequences for ghosts, my men are capable…or is it that you simply care too much for humans?"
"You don't understand! Vlad's…"
"Yes, he did come up with a nice plan, didn't he?" there didn't seem a way to get through to him from that angle. Better try a different approach.
"My friend's taking care of your release chambers," Danny told Velkan, "And you can't stop her without going through me."
"You and your friend should have more immediate concerns, Danny," Velkan smirked, "Your intervention has caused a slight change of plan. Take a look in this room right here," he stepped aside, motioning his hand to a door. Suspicious, and keeping an eye on Velkan, Danny slowly phased into the room. The walls had been stripped bare, revealing the metal framework. Attached to all the frames were small detonators.
"Every single wall in the entire base has these," Velkan said through telepathy, "We installed them in case we ever had to leave. We have another base in the country. All of them are set to go off just five seconds after Operation: Haunting begins. My advisors have moved all of our important equipment out of here in these past few minutes and are heading towards the other base. If I were you, I'd be more concerned with getting out of here alive rather than with Operation: Haunting," Danny just stared at the detonators. He was right; the timers were counting down. He flew out of the room as fast as he could, heading towards the side of the base Sam was at. Laughing, Velkan calmly floated up through the ceiling and towards the surface, surprising Tucker and heading south.
---
Danny caught up with Sam as she destroyed the control panel to the third release chamber. It had taken longer to find her than he had thought it would.
"We've got to get out of here now!" he shouted.
"But there's still three..."
"Now!" he ripped some of the plaster off the wall, showing the bombs. Sam grabbed Danny's arm, and the two flew off towards the surface, the timers on the bombs ticking away. Thirty seconds...twenty seconds...ten seconds...5, 4, 3, 2, 1...the base shook violently, and then began to cave in on itself, fire shooting upwards. One blast of fire knocked Danny and Sam up through the door that let one enter the base. They landed near the hole that was once the entrance. Danny was on top of Sam, making both of them uncomfortable.
"Uh..." Sam said, "Thanks."
"No problem," the explosion having disrupted the ground from being completely flat, they accidentally slid downhill, Sam now on top of Danny.
"I'd hate to interrupt," they both turned to Tucker, still feeling awkward, "but a bunch of ghosts just headed towards Amity a second ago, and it might be a good idea for...hey, where's Danny Fenton!?"
"I'm back in one piece, Tuck," Danny suddenly took notice of the first thing Tucker had said, "The Order!" Sam got off him, and he took off towards Amity.