AN: My apologies to anyone reading this for being slow in updating. Reviews would help. Thanks to Mythic Storm (formerly Dragonbringer) for her review.

I must tell you; if you get through this fic at a mere 12 chapters + prologue, you'll love Kidnapped. I have to finish writing it, though... worried look over at fic And after that is Absolution, which is gonna be a doosie... to write and read. So, please, hang in there. And I'll try to hang in, too.

PLEASE REVIEW.

Chapter Four: Bully

Danny walked into school the next morning to find the usual face of Dash Baxter ready to shove him into his locker. Danny quickly found himself being shoved around a circle of jocks, ready for Dash's word to give him up.

"Excuse me," said a voice from outside the circle. The group turned around, as Dash grabbed Danny's collar and held him off the ground by it.

Lanna stood there, looking annoyed. Danny looked on and had the sudden urge to crawl somewhere and hide. He shifted uncomfortably under Lanna's searing gaze. It was bad enough that Dash had to beat him up, but did Lanna really have to see it?

"Can we help you, babe?" asked Dash, trying to pull on some moves on the new girl by slicking down his hair with his free hand.

"Actually, yes. You can start," she said sharply, "by moving from in front of my locker, and you can continue by putting him down," she nodded at Danny.

Dash's voice grew slightly menacing, "Oh, look, we have a goody-too-shoes on our hands here. Well, since you are new," he said, as if conferring a great favor, "I'll let you off today, but next time you won't meddle without … without… uh,"

"Repercussions?" suggested Lanna in a helpful tone. "Oh, and 'meddle' is so Scooby Doo. Please, I think you mean 'interfere'. And I'll interfere all I want when I see something I don't like. And I don't like bullies."

She shoved through the line of boys and nonchalantly began to put in her locker combination. Dash was obviously flabbergasted.

"Hey! You can't talk to me that way! Don't you know who I am?" he demanded

"Actually," she said, jerking her locker open, "I don't. Now, if you excuse me, I have to find my homeroom."

"Listen, babe, if you think - "

"I think a lot, something I doubt you do on a daily basis."

Dumbfounded by the girl's banter, Dash handed Danny to an accomplice and grabbed her wrist from behind. "Listen, babe, if you weren't a girl, you'd be dog food right now. I can do a lot more than just talk."

She stomped on the instep while jabbing a thumbnail into the wrist of his offending arm, forcing him to yelp and let go.

"Really? It doesn't look like it," Lanna shook away from the group and headed down the hall. "And I really wouldn't attack me if I were you. Ever. You won't like the results," her eyes flared dangerously, though the rest of her face was unreadable.

Dash turned his anger onto his original victim and held Danny against the wall.

"One word of this gets out, Fenton, and you're dog food." He shoved Danny into Lanna's still open – and thankfully empty, as Lanna had mostly been testing her combination – locker.

After a few minutes, when he figured it would be safe to phase out, Danny heard the lock clicking and decided to stay where he was.

He tumbled out of the locker as Lanna opened the door. "Uh, thanks," he said, dusting himself off from the floor.

"Somehow, I figured you'd be in there. I just walked around the corner and waited for them to leave. Now, pay me back by showing me where my homeroom is," Lanna's words were short and sweet.

"Ok, but …" Danny trailed off. "Why are you shaking? I mean, you really told Dash off! He probably won't try that again."

Lanna pursed her lips together and regarded her trembling hands with visible disgust that they had betrayed her. "I was scared," she said simply, her voice shaking. "I really don't like bullies, and lets hope this Dash isn't as bad as some I've seen, or else I haven't seen the last of him."

"But why not? I mean, you totally rocked against him!" Danny was confused.

"I wasn't in control of the situation, no matter how it might seem to you. And I shake because I gave away some of my best moves for deterring unwanted attention without getting in trouble. And I'm way out of practice. If he tries something like that again, I might have to tell. And I hate telling, it feels like… like cheating," replied Lanna, bitter at herself. "Now hurry up and show me to class, please. I don't have all day."

"Wow, I can't believe its Thursday already!" said Tucker, "I mean, the week just flew by."

Lanna took a bite of her Salisbury steak, the school's lunch, and made a face. "I can't believe I forgot my lunch at home," she complained, having packed yesterday, "I mean, this food is even worse than my old school's!"

"That's not hard to believe," replied Sam, eating her vegetarian lunch.

"Yes, it is," replied Lanna, earning three sympathetic glances.

The conversation eventually shifted.

"Oh, I almost forgot to ask, Lanna, do you like sports?" asked Tucker.

"Why?"

"Because the Senior Showdown is tomorrow night, and we're all going and I was wondering if you'd like to." The words flew out of his mouth in a rush.

"What is it?" she asked, curious.

"It's just a stupid sporting event," said Sam.

Danny sighed, looking up from his chemistry homework, "It's where the Seniors get to prove they're better than the underclassmen in every way, shape, and form. Athletically, at least. Jazz is giving a speech, or else I wouldn't go."

"Sounds fun. I'm in. Maybe Matt will come. Family event, huh, Danny?" she asked. Danny looked uncomfortable.

"Yeah, something like that…" he had to tell Tucker and Sam about this cousin thing, tonight. And talk to Lanna.

Lanna took another bite of her lunch and wincing, spat out a rusty bolt. "EEWW!" she shouted, attracting the attention of just about everyone else in the cafeteria, half of which already had been sneaking glances at her, the rumor mill having run its course about the new girl. "There's rusty metal in my lunch! I'm not eating this, it's too gross!"

Several people at other tables looked down at their own lunches, faces turning slightly green. Dash even ran from the room, shortly followed by barfing noises coming from the hall. Lanna smirked slightly.

"Ok, now that was worth eating metal."

Tucker's face was gleefully admiring as he said, "You made Dash Baxter barf!" like Lanna was some grand hero from a fairy tale.

"Serves him right. I hate bullies," was her reply. She finished her milk and threw the rest of her lunch away.

The bell rang, and the foursome walked out of the cafeteria to their classes. No one noticed the fading green hand print on the glass, nor the face that looked longingly in through the upper windows. As he walked out, the last person in the queue at the doors, Danny saw a light blue mist come from his mouth. Turning around, he could see nothing there. He hoped that it would stay that way for a little while, at least.

Tucker flew down the steps outside school to find Lanna waiting under the tree again. He swooped over to her.

"I can't believe you!" his tone was admiring, "That was amazing!" Hearts were in his eyes.

"What was?" asked Lanna.

"I just heard about the Dash incident this morning! That was awesome!"

"Oh, that. Ha, that was not brave, it was stupid."

"Stupid? Why?"

She sighed. "Tucker, look. From what I've gathered, I now have the biggest bully in school after me. I hurt him and his pride. I'll be the target now. And I showed off. I pro – I don't like doing that."

"But it was awesome!"

"In the short term, yes, it was. But now I'm a target again," she reiterated.

Her face slipped. Her previous expression had been one of slight self-anger, a slip past her prior carefully blank one. Now, it was truly sad, almost … grieving… as she looked up in the sky.

"Lanna? What's wrong?" asked Tucker, concerned.

She flinched and shook her head as her mask easily glided back into face. Her features contorted into a smile, a modicum of relief slipping through as she looked past Tucker. "Hey! Sam! Over here!" She waved at Danny and Sam, coming out of the school.

Tucker only had time for a surprised, flabbergasted look as Danny and Sam walked over to them. He promptly forgot about the incident.

"Hey, guys! What's up?" asked Sam. Danny and Lanna traded uncomfortable looks at each other.

Tucker replied, "I was just talking to Lanna. Did you here how she told off Dash before first period? Man, I wish I had been there."

"I wish I hadn't," said Danny succinctly, looking at his feet while he shifted them back and forth. "Dash had been beating me up."

Sam looked at him with pity. "Did he stuff you in a locker again?"

"Yeah, but Lanna let me out a minute later. It was her locker."

"Can we talk about something else please?" asked Lanna, uncomfortable with the situation. "I have to be home in less than an hour because Matt wants me to finish unpacking my room before we go to dinner."

"Aww, that sucks," said Tucker. "I was hoping to show you around the mall. Well, the three of us can still go, right Danny? And maybe we all can go tomorrow."

"Sorry Tuck, I can't make it. I have to be home soon, too," replied Danny. "Dinner is a family requirement tonight."

"That's an odd coincidence that you both have to go to dinner," said Sam.

"Yeah, it is a bit weird," said Tuck.

Lanna sighed. "I almost wish it was a coincidence. I'm nervous," she whispered to the air. Her face now held worry as she bit her lip.

Sam and Tuck looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

"What are you saying?" Asked Sam and Tucker, respectively.

Lanna's expression changed again, her eyes widened in shock, "Did I just say that out loud?"

Sam and Tucker nodded.

It was Danny's turn to sigh as he said, "Remember how Lanna's brother acted all weird yesterday, guys? Well, my mom told me last night…"

"We're related," Lanna blurted, relief once again showing. "Second cousins, as it turns out. Matt told me last night."

"So now my mom invited them over to dinner."

"Oh," was Sam's slightly flabbergasted reply. "Well, that's a surprise."

Tucker's response was slightly less predictable. Instead of putting his foot in his mouth, he did something else. He fainted.

Sam looked at her idiot friend. "I'll take care of him, you two. Go on home and get ready for dinner, and call us later. Maybe we can go to the mall after you're done."

Above the trees and buildings, behind Lanna's and Danny's backs, floated a ghost, her eyes glowing green as she watched the teens. As the two figures of Danny Fenton and Lanna Spatza walked away, she followed, looking over the two from above.

Far, far away, a man named Vlad Masters, known to some as Vlad Plasmius, looked into the computer screen at the video. His young cousin – first cousin, once removed, to be exact – was walking down the street with his sworn enemy.

Where did it go wrong? All of the plans, the schemes, could not get him what he most desired. Two simple, simple things. He'd thought he had gotten rid of Cousin Ed and his precious wife and family – the only ones close to him to ever suspect he had nothing but good intentions – and he found that two of Ed's children still lived. This meant two things: one, he did not get Ed's money, which was a sizable amount both from both inheritance and savings, and two, there were two miserable brats left to go through their parents belongings. Oh, yes, they were related to his Maddie, but so was that Danny Phantom! And now they were all happy go lucky, going to dinner and being friends.

It was enough to make him sick!

He had had to rearrange his priorities. That night almost a year ago Edward's whole family was supposed to be going down that dark and lonely road with the steep drop on one edge. Making the gas tank explode with a well-placed ectoplasmic blast was just an extra, personal touch.

But one had not even been there and another had escaped nearly unscathed. And they were becoming happy again! And now… Now two were back on his list of people to … remove … Right next to Danny Phantom and Jack Fenton.

A horrendous idea lit in his blood red eyes. Maybe, just maybe, there was a way to kill four birds with one ectoplasmic blast…