Jazz looked at her watch for what she thought must have been the tenth time in that minute. Sure enough, the digital face went from 8:45 to 8:46 when she glanced down. She sighed and looked at her phone. She didn't want to seem like a worry wart but she had gotten into the habit of knowing where Danny was even if he himself didn't know that she knew. It was almost nine and Danny hadn't called or even given a hint as to where he was. She looked at her phone again.
"Hello?" Sam's voice came on the other end of the line.
"Hi, Sam?" Jazz asked. "Can I ask you something?"
"Jazz?" Sam asked a little surprised. "Umm, okay?"
"Is Danny there with you? I mean, are you guys ghost hunting or something?"
Sam frowned, "No, Danny hasn't called me all day. I thought he was at home."
"Well, I might be overreacting but I just have a bad feeling. Is there anywhere Danny might be?" she asked.
Sam glanced at her clock nervously. "He normally tells me and Tucker when he goes ghost hunting. We help him, so I have no idea where he might be."
Jazz resisted the urge to correct Sam's grammar. "Please Sam, anything, anywhere he might be."
Sam thought hard. "Well, we can start looking for him at the school. It is a three day weekend and it's probably deserted. Maybe he went there to talk to Skulker or something."
Jazz sighed, "It's the best lead we've got."
"I'll call Tucker and we'll meet you there in ten minutes. I'm sure he's just planning something for the future," Sam said in what she hoped was a convincing voice.
"I hope you're right," Jazz said worriedly. She hung up the phone and grabbed her purse, then she dashed out of the door.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Danny groaned and woke up. Almost every muscle in his body was aching and he was in human form. He winced and sat up, pressing his hands on something soft. He was surprised to see he was lying in a bed in a normal looking room with no obvious signs or methods of keeping him imprisoned. He scanned the room and jumped when Kitty turned visible.
"Kitty?" he asked.
She smiled, "Sorry I wasn't there before. You two flew ahead when you started the fight and Vlad seems to have issues with ghosts who dated you, no matter what the intentions were."
Danny snorted, then realized something. "Why couldn't I sense you?" he asked.
Kitty pointed to his wrists and Danny saw that two seemingly normal looking bands of silver encircled his wrists. They were tight and wouldn't slip off and there was no clasp, and when Danny tried to go ghost they glowed a bright green. Danny didn't transform and he winced when he tired to.
"Spectral energy neutralizers, version two," Vlad said nastily as he phased through the door of Danny's room. Danny and Kitty jumped and Vlad gave them both a nasty grin. "You beat me here," he said to Kitty.
Kitty crossed her arms and adopted her tough girl look. "I just wanted to see if the looser was awake, that's all," she drawled.
Danny frowned and Vlad smiled. "Well he is, now may I ask you to leave us alone for a bit?"
Kitty gave a nonchalant shrug and flew out of the room.
"What do you want Vlad," Danny hissed.
"Me? Well, I could go on forever with that list but for now I'll settle for wanting to know where you are and keeping you from spoiling the rest of my plans. Then when the time comes, you may prove to be very…" Vlad gave Danny a poisonous grin. "Useful," he said.
Danny glared at him and stood up. "What did you do?" he yelled.
"Just making sure you can't transform or use your powers. I know how much you value being 'normal' Daniel. Now you are as 'normal' as you'll ever hope to be," Vlad laughed and disappeared.
"Wait!" Danny yelled and ran to the door. It was locked and even before Danny turned the doorknob he knew he was trapped. He looked around the room for another means of escape but there were no windows or ventilation shafts that he could see. Vlad was right, he was a human being (and not in a box) for the first time in six months and he hated it.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Sam, Tucker and Jazz met up outside of Casper High School. "If he's not here, then where do we look?" Tucker asked.
"Let's just look here first, maybe we'll find a clue," Jazz said.
"How do we get in?" Sam asked. "I mean we don't have anyone to phase us through the walls."
Jazz pulled out a large set of keys. "We can use these," she said with a smile.
"You have the keys to the school?" Tucker asked wide eyed.
Jazz nodded, "Yeup, since I do so much extra circular stuff and I often am here until 8, the principal just gave me an extra set of keys to use to get around after hours under strict rules to never use them except for extracurricular purposes."
"And this is?" Sam asked.
"The first meeting of the 'Being in school after dark for no apparent reason' club," Jazz said, smiling.
"Nice," said Sam.
Jazz opened the side door and they walked in the deserted halls. Tucker shivered, "This place is creepy in the dark."
"Tucker, you fight ghosts on a regular basis and you're saying you're scared of the school in the dark?" Sam asked incredulously.
"Not scared, just majorly creeped out," Tucker said.
"Ah, yes, that's so much different," Sam retorted.
"Danny!" Jazz called out in a whisper. There was no answer.
They walked further down the hall. "Danny!" Sam called. There was still no answer.
"Danny!" Tucker yelled and his voice reverberated down the hall.
"Shhhh," Sam and Jazz hissed.
"Just what do you think you're doing here?" a dry voice said behind them.
Sam, Tucker and Jazz all spun around to see, "Mr. Lancer?"
Mr. Lancer looked less then happy as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Yes, I'm here because of the ghost watch program in place for the school. Now care to explain why you three are here?"
"Well we're… ummm…" Jazz said.
"Mr. Lancer, have you seen Danny at all?" Sam asked hopefully.
"Daniel? No, I'm afraid not, why do you ask?" Mr. Lancer inquired.
The three looked at each other nervously. "We can't find him," Jazz said.
"McBeth!" Lancer said. "He was supposed to tell me when he went out on his little excursions."
"He was?" Jazz asked.
"Yes, your younger brother doesn't seem to possess the same common sense that you do. So, I made him promise to tell me in case he got hurt," Mr. Lancer said.
"Now wait a minute!" Sam said sharply. "Danny is a lot of things, but he isn't a liar and he doesn't break his promises. If he didn't tell you he would have a really good reason for it! Like if he got into trouble for example."
"Trouble how?" Jazz asked.
"Well, if Plasmius actually managed to catch him for one," Tucker said. "But we all know that…" Tucker paused.
"That Plasmius told Danny that when his plans were set into motion he'd be the first one to know," Sam gasped. "Of course!" she slapped herself on the forehead.
Jazz looked at Sam. "You mean that Danny's been captured? But what about his ghost friends?"
"What ghost friends?" Sam and Tucker said simultaneously.
There was a pause.
"Vlad invited my mom over his hotel room for tea tomorrow, I think the address is still on the table," Jazz said quickly. "I'll drive."
"I'll follow," Mr. Lancer said. Everyone looked at him. "Well, I can sit out in the parking lot and if you don't come out I can call the police," he said.
"Mr. Lancer, that might not be the best idea," Sam said.
"It's that or I will tell your parents," he said.
"Stake out it is!" Tucker said. "Now let's go."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO
They arrived ten minutes later at the large hotel. Jazz, Sam and Tucker all went into the main lobby and Mr. Lancer waited in his car. He told them they had no more then a half hour.
The receptionist was asleep at the desk and all the threesome had to do was get into the elevator. They got out on the last floor and looked around. "Wow," Tucker whispered.
"Admire it later, we need to find Danny," Sam hissed.
They looked around and saw two large doors. There was no telling one from the other so Sam, Jazz and Tucker were forced to wait. Fortunately they didn't have to wait long and Vlad came out of the room on the far left grinning and setting something down. Something that glowed a very creepy green.
"Which room?" Sam asked.
"The one that he didn't just come out of," Jazz said.
"Why?" Tucker asked.
"Call it a hunch," Jazz replied and tapped the side of her nose. They waited until Vlad was far from sight when they went to the other room. Jazz knocked softly on the door, "Danny?" she called.
"What are you doing here?" Danny's voice came through the door. Everyone let out a sigh of relief.
"We came to rescue you," Tucker said.
"Are you okay?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, Vlad has shorted out my powers though," Danny said.
"How?" Jazz asked.
"Spectral energy neutralizers, I can't go ghost for anything," he groaned.
Jazz pulled a credit card out of her wallet. "I'll get you out of there in no time," she said. She wiggled the piece of plastic in between the crack and pushed it through where the lock held the door shut. The plastic slid through the sloped piece of metal unlocking the door. It slid open and Sam was the first one to jump on Danny. "You're okay!" she whispered loudly.
Danny hugged her back. "I'm fine," he smiled.
"Where did you learn how to do that?" Tucker asked Jazz.
"Dad locks himself in the lab and looses the keys all the time. I learned how to do this so I could get him out," Jazz smiled and pocketed her credit card.
Danny laughed and they turned around to go out. "Wait," Danny said. "The Jewel!"
"Danny, we need to get out of here," Jazz said.
Danny shook his head, "We need to get…" he paused as Kitty flew out of the room that Vlad was in earlier. She held up the shining Jewel and winked, then she disappeared. "Never mind," Danny said.
Jazz looked at him and opened her mouth, then they heard a sound from down the hall. "Okay, let's go," she said quickly and pulled Danny into the elevator. Sam shut the door to make it look like it was still locked and followed them. Tucker was behind in a close third. The doors slid shut just as Vlad came back into the hall with Spectra.
"Well my dear, what say we get this started," he smiled.
Spectra nodded and followed a good three feet behind Vlad as he opened his study door.
OOOOOOOOOOOOO
Jazz, Sam, Tucker and Danny ran out of the hotel but before they could get to the other side they were stopped by Skulker.
"We need to go," Sam yelled.
Skulker nodded, "I know." He looked at Danny and nodded, "Well done."
Danny actually felt a tinge of pride upon receiving the compliment. Skulker looked at the bracelets that were around Danny's wrists. "What are those?"
"Spectral energy neutralizers," everyone said simultaneously. "Man that's a mouth full," Danny said.
Skulker grabbed Danny's wrists made the metal intangible and took them off. Danny rubbed his wrists and smiled at Skulker. "Thanks," he said.
Skulker smashed the bands and nodded. "Don't get used to it," he growled.
"I know," Danny said. Then they ran to where Mr. Lancer was waiting. They all piled into the car and Mr. Lancer sped off.
"Are you all right, Mr. Fenton?" Mr. Lancer asked.
"I'm fine," Danny said.
"Well, I'll drop you all off now, seeing as the drama is over with," Mr. Lancer said wryly. "Next time make sure you get captured at more convenient hours."
Danny opened his mouth to reply, but thought the better of it.
OOOOOOOOOOOOO
Sam and Tucker were dropped off first, both managed to get inside of their houses without detection. Jazz and Danny weren't so lucky. Maddie and Jack waited on their door step and Mr. Lancer pulled up with Danny and Jazz followed closely in her own car.
"Just where have you two been!" Maddie asked. "Do you two have any idea what time it is?"
"It's…" Jazz started.
"Not a word out of you, young lady," Jack snapped and Jazz was quiet.
Mr. Lancer had foreseen this. "Excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, this is entirely my fault."
"It is?" Danny and Jazz asked.
"Yes, you see I asked your son and daughter to help me with a few things around the school and we lost track of time, I do hope you'll forgive me," Mr. Lancer said.
"Well…" Maddie was speechless. She sighed and said, "Well since it was a weekend I guess its okay. It was very nice of you to help Mr. Lancer."
Danny and Jazz nodded and they all started to go inside.
"Mr. Lancer?" Danny whispered.
"Yes, Daniel?"
"Thanks," Danny gave Mr. Lancer a quick smile and ran inside.
Mr. Lancer smiled back and got into his car. 'Hopefully all these shenanigans will be over soon,' he thought as he drove away.
OOOOOOOOOOOOO
o. Ow... okay, that was a long chapter. Hopefully better then the last :3 It seemed some people didn't very much care for the last chapter. I do like this one though, go Mr. Lancer!