This chapter is dedicated to the wonderful Pottersparky. Thanks for digging me out of the hole I was in as always you ROCK!

This is my favorite chapter (so far) I hope you like it as much as I do. PLEASE review and let me know.

Chapter Four

Jack stood in the center of the lab staring down at the empty thermos laying on the floor. He looked fearfully toward the ghost portal then turned to Maddie.

"Which one was it?" She asked. "Who escaped?"

Jack closed his eyes and gestured for her to look for herself. Maddie growled in exasperation and walked to the table. She let out a deep sigh. "Well what are we going to do now?" she asked as she turned off the alarm.

Jazz and Sam came skidding down the stairs. They both looked at the empty thermos and then at the portal. "It's him isn't it?" Sam asked shakily trying not to sound hysterical. "He got away didn't he?" Jack and Maddie looked at each other then jumped and began to work on the shield to keep both ghost and human out.

Jazz bent down and picked up the thermos. It was very badly beaten. It was obvious he'd been working for a long time to escape. The thermos had held up well, all things considered.

"I hope Danny's okay," Jazz said then looked at Sam. She expected that the girl would be crying, but then she didn't know Sam very well. Sam only looked angry.

"We need to get that shield operational!" Maddie cried. "Hurry Jack."

Jack was digging in his tool box. "He just cut through my containment field like it was nothing!"

"Then we need to change the resonance," Maddie said.

"To what?" Jack laughed. "I couldn't get it to phase any higher without…Wait! I think I got it!"

Sam and Jazz sat in the corner of the lab as they watch Jack and Maddie work. "I wish someone could warn Danny." Sam said wistfully.

"Me too." Jazz agreed as she rested her head on her knees. Sam watched and Maddie work for a moment then her gaze lit on the Specter Speeder. She cast a sideways glance at Jazz then stood. "I'm going to call and leave a message on Tucker's cell." She said as she dug her phone out of her pocket and walked upstairs.

"Tuck," She whispered into the phone. "Danny went to the Ghost Zone to see if he could find Clockwork. While he was gone….Dark Dan escaped. Tuck. We're all in danger. You and Val need to get over to Danny's house as soon as you wake up. As for me, I've got to go warn Danny. Tell everyone not to worry about me. I just hope I can find him before…He does."

Sam took a deep breath. The next problem she had to deal with was the genetic lock on the Specter Speeder. She ran upstairs and grabbed Jazz's hair brush. She pulled out the hair from the brush and wrapped it around her thumb and hoped her idea would work.

Sam almost cried out with triumph as she started the Specter Speeder. She eased the seat belt over her then took a deep breath and gunned it through the portal. She didn't look back to see if Jack, Maddie or Jazz had anything to say about her escape. All Sam was focused on was finding Danny before...He did.

"I'm not going to give him a name," she whispered to no one. "He doesn't deserve it!"

Sam sped through the Ghost Zone as fast as she could. Her focus was finding Danny. She only hoped that focusing on him mentally would send her to him. She had no idea how to get around in The Zone. She stopped and looked around. Then something appeared in front of her. No it wasn't something. It was someone. A grinning skull with green flame hair.

"Hello there!" he said as he leveled one of his many weapons at her. "You look very familiar."

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"But," Danny said. "What about Dark Dan? He still exists. If I had changed the timeline, wouldn't he vanish? Doesn't his very existence mean I am destined to turn into him?"

"Ah," Clockwork laughed. "You are not a scholar yet. You know little about Quantum Physics and alternate realities. You are now living your life in an alternate timeline. His existence does not predestinate you turning into him anymore than it does me."

Clockwork walked to mirror and looked through it. "Now young Danny," Clockwork said. "I would worry less about your teenaged angst and a little more about your friends and family. Samantha has entered the Ghost Zone in search of you and is now under the care of Skulker. Alternately, a foe now seeks you."

"Skulker has Sam!" Danny exclaimed and then paused. He had a horrible sinking feeling. "Foe?" he asked.

"Yes," Clockwork answered calmly. "The one you fear the most. And he seeks you as we speak. It would be better to leave your friend to Skulker's devices than to risk capture by your foe."

"How do I defeat him?" Danny asked in despair.

"Send him back to his own timeline of course," Clockwork advised. "He cannot reach you there. He exists independently of you."

Danny sighed in frustration. "How do you suggest I do that?" he asked.

Clockwork handed him an amulet. "All you need to do is get this around his neck and call on me. I will do the rest."

"Oh great," Danny said. "Send the mouse out to put a bell on the cat. Great!"

"I can send you back to your own world," Clockwork suggested. "It may give you an advantage since your nemesis seeks you in the Ghost Zone."

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Danny appeared upstairs in the kitchen. He took a deep breath and ran downstairs. Everyone screamed when appeared and he jumped back.

"A little on edge are we?" he asked.

"What are you doing?" Maddie asked. "How did you get upstairs?"

"It's a long story," Danny answered. He turned to his Dad. "I need the Fenton Phones."

"Why?" Jack asked suspiciously as he raised one eyebrow. "How do we know you're really Danny?"

"Aww come on Dad!" Danny whined. "We don't have time for this. Just hand over the Fenton Phones."

"Oh all right," Jack grumbled as he dug through a drawer and produced the device for Danny. Danny grabbed them and turned them on. He stuffed them in his ears.

"Sam?" he called. "Are you there? Come on Sam answer me! Sammy!"

"Don't call me Sammy," came her fuzzed by static reply. Danny relaxed a little.

"Where are you?" He asked trying to remain as calm as possible.

"Uh, well," Sam answered. "I don't think I can really answer that. Uh hold on a sec."

"Sam!" Danny called frantically as the connection went dead.

"I said hold on!" came Sam's annoyed reply.

"I'm coming after you!" Danny said as he ran through the portal without a backward glance.

"Yeah you do that. You know right where I am," Sam said sarcastically.

"Why did you go into the Ghost Zone in the first place?" Danny asked in annoyance.

"Because Dark Dan is on the loose. I had to warn you!" She answered. "By he way. Guess who got loose and is after you?

"Uh. Dark Dan?" Danny asked.

"Wow," Sam said in a mock amazed tone. "You're like psychic or something aren't you?"

"Well," Danny said trying not to laugh. "I could be."

"Um….Hold on again," Sam told him casually.

Danny waited a second. "What are you doing?" he finally asked.

"I'm fighting Skulker," she answered calmly. Danny knew better than to not be completely alarmed. He could tell by the even tone in Sam's voice that things were not going well. She was trying not to alarm him, to play off that she had things under control.

"I'm headed to Skulker's lair. I should be there any moment," He told her.

"Well Danny my Darling," She said then suppressed a giggle. "I suggest you speed up just a little bit. I don't think I can hold on a much longer."

"I'm there My Precious," he said in a cutesy voice. "I see you. Wave to the camera!"

"Ha ha you're cute," Sam said sarcastically.

"Yeah I'm cute now," Danny laughed as he zoomed down toward Skulker who had given up on Sam in the Specter Speeder and was flying toward Danny. "But things are about to get real ugly."

"I'm going to make you a deal," Danny called to Skulker. "You leave us alone and let me get her out of here and I'll spare you."

"You think I fear you whelp?" Skulker asked.

"No," Danny said honestly. "But you will. Just trust me on this. You don't want to fight me right now. There are more important things going on. Things that are vital to your continued existence."

"Explain yourself whelp," Skulker said as he fired a few rounds of his weapon at Danny who dodged effortlessly.

"We have a…mutual enemy," Danny started. "He's on the loose and gunning for me. If he finds me here, he'll destroy you with no qualms. It would behoove you to get out of here now!"

"Behoove?" Sam asked as she laughed. "Didn't you say you flunked your vocabulary test today?"

"I will give you the benefit of the doubt!" Skulker proclaimed. "But should you ever be at my mercy again. I shall have you!" He looked at Sam a moment then disappeared. Danny didn't waste any time getting to Sam and she didn't waste any time opening the Specter Speeder to let him in.

He grabbed her in a hug and said, "You're really stupid you know that?"

"And here I thought I was being courageous," She laughed. Danny kissed her quickly and she blushed. "What did Clockwork have to say?"

"He said he could help me stop Dark Dan." Danny answered. "Lets get you home."

"Oh so you know how to get out of here?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," Danny answered. "Now answer me this. How do you know Dark Dan is after me?"

"Well you see he left this note…" Sam started then rolled her eyes at Danny's irritated look. "Okay I don't know. But it's only logical that he would be. All things considered."

"So you went to find me?" Danny asked. "What if he had found you before I did?"

"Well I would have sweet talked him into letting me go." Sam said as she fluttered her eyes at Danny.

"Oh yeah like you sweet talked Skulker into letting you go." Danny started feeling angry. Sam was way too flippant about what was going on. He knew she was playing off her fear, but he needed her to be serious for a moment.

"I'm free aren't I?" asked Sam softly. Danny stopped the Speeder for a second.

"Really Sam," he said. "I appreciate your courage but…" Sam put her hand on Danny's mouth and he was quiet.

"You told me nothing has changed," She began. "I have done stuff like this multiple times in the past. I will continue to do so in the future. I'm not going to sit idly by and wring my hands waiting you to return from some dangerous situation Danny. It's not me. If you want that kinda thing in a girl, then by all means go get Paulina. But I'm not going to do it."

Danny took a deep breath. "Where do you get all your courage Sam?" he asked in resignation.

"To love someone deeply gives you courage." Sam answered.

"Being loved deeply by someone gives you strength," Danny said his eyes sparkling as he held Sam's gaze. "You've been talking to Lau Tzu haven't you?" Sam smirked and Danny started the Speeder moving again, toward home.

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The lab was in complete disarray. It looked as though several tornados had stop through, then stood around for a family reunion.

"Oh crap!" Sam said as she jumped from the Specter Speeder. The canister holding Vlad, Spectra and Bertrand was gone. And it looked like everyone else was as well. Danny and Sam stood speechless as they surveyed the wreckage.

"Danny" he heard his mother call. "Is that you Sweetie?"

"Mom?" Danny yelled then attempted to run up the stairs. Something blocked him. A wall. A shield! He returned to his human form and tried to go up the stairs, but was blocked.

"Mom! Dad! Jazz!" Danny yelled. "It's me and Sam! Let us up!" He saw his father look down the stairs.

"It's them Maddie!" Jack boomed. "Let em up!" They heard some shuffling from upstairs and then Jack called. "Okay Danny. Come up now. Hurry cause the shield will rearm in 3.5 seconds." Danny grabbed Sam and they ran up the stairs together.

"Danny!" Maddie yelled. "Sweetie we were so scared for you!"

"Samantha Manson!" Jack boomed. "You stole my Specter Speeder!"

"Sorry about that Mr. Fenton," Sam said sheepishly. "I just had to make sure Danny was okay.

"Where's Jazz" Danny asked in alarm. Maddie and Jack looked at each other and…

"I'm safe Danny," Jazz called as she came from upstairs, her hair was wrapped in a towel. "I just needed to take a shower. Ecto hair isn't very fun."

Danny sat down at the table and composed himself. The last thing he should be doing was running up to Jazz and hugging her and expressing how glad he was that she was safe. He'd been imagining all kinds of terrible things.

"So," Sam said. She was tired of waiting to find out what happened so she figured she'd ask for herself. "Was Dark Dan here? What happened?"

"He came looking for Danny," Maddie answered. "We were sure he was going to destroy us, but instead he released Vlad."

"Vlad is stupid," Jazz said. "First he tried to talk to the guy. Dark Dan didn't seem the least bit interested in anything he had to say. When he didn't respond, Vlad attacked. Spectra and Bertrand disappeared through the portal and Vlad and Dark Dan fought "

"I must say it was quite pleasing watching someone knock the stuffing clean out of Vlad," Jack interrupted. "He didn't stand a chance."

"Mom and Dad got the shield operational and used it to isolate the lab," Jazz said. "He couldn't break the shield. He tried. He was going to capture us and use us as bait to get to you."

"Instead he took Vlad," Maddie said. "He said something about separating the "old man" from his ghost half then capturing you and separating you and creating another him."

"Oh great," Sam said.

"Not gonna happen," Danny vowed. He looked at Sam a moment. She was leaning against the table looking at him questioningly. He smiled at her and she tweaked his nose. He then told his family what Clockwork said. Well, not really he told them what Clockwork wanted him to do to defeat Dark Dan.

"How are you going to do that Sweetie?" Maddie asked. "I don't think you want to get within 50 feet of him, let alone close enough to put a…um…amulet around his neck.

"You could capture him in the thermos again," Jack suggested. "Throw the amulet on him as he's sucked in. Call your friend and have him dispatched."

"What if that doesn't work?" Maddie asked. "We need to have a back up plan. Isn't there a way we can destroy him? I'd hate to unleash him on any reality." She yawned Danny realized that he and Sam had the advantage of extra sleep. He felt alert, and slightly hungry, while it was past everyone's bed time.

"Go to bed," Danny suggested. "You'll wake up in the morning and an idea will come to you Mom."

"But what about you and Sam? And how can we sleep knowing that such a dastardly fellow is out there?" Maddie shook her head. "No Sweetie. I think we should stay up and figure this out."

"I don't know if I can sleep," Jazz said. "I'm too worried."

"But having you all tired and sleep deprived is not going to help," Danny insisted and he pushed his family toward the stairs to their rooms. "Sam and I will keep a watch on things. We'll wake you up if there are any changes."

"I am pretty tired," Jack said as he headed up the stairs. "Just 40 winks is all I need."

"Okay Sweetie," Maddie sighed. "But if there is even the slightest change…." She punched a few buttons and activated the new ghost shield over the entire house.

"Well let you know Mom." Danny promised.

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