Disclaimer: I own nothing

The Master Plan

Uric Igi Shelps

Chapter 6

Reunited

Danny awoke to the sound of his cell door slamming open and clanging against the inside wall loudly. He opened his eyes and looked up to find a thin, attractive feminine figure silhouetted against the light's of the outside corridor. Wondering who the heck this could possibly be, Danny sat up against the far side of his cell and squinted at the approaching figure.

"Hello Daniel," the figure said in a voice that he would recognize instantly. Danny was getting to his feet as she stepped fully into the cell, and even through the shadows, Danny recognized her immediately. He sat down again. Hard.

"No," he managed, and even though his back was already flush with the wall, Danny tried to push himself farther into it.

"Oh yes," Sam said, as she floated slightly above the ground in front of him, confirming what Danny had already feared. "You let me die, and now I'm here to return the favor,"

Sam's usually violet eyes glowed a horrible red, and her hands were suddenly engulfed in ectoplasmic flame. She raised her arms together and fired one, wide blast right at Danny, who was too shocked to move.

The blast's aim was true, and connected with Danny's chest. Had he not already been against the wall, he'd have been blown a good twenty feet, but as there was no where for him to go, his chest absorbed the full force, and his head whipped backwards and connected with the rough stone painfully.

Danny collapsed on the floor, disbelievingly. He felt Sam's ghost-empowered arms grab his shirt roughly and she pullled him up to look him in the eye. She grinned at him crazily, a smile that Danny would have never imagined he'd see on her pretty face. He saw, as if in slow motion, her fist rear back as far as it would go, before it swung at him, hitting him squarely in the jaw.

His head jerked back once more, and Danny's already injured jaw felt like it had been cleaved in two. He opened his eyes once more in time to see her fist connect with his head again, this time right between the eyes.

She dropped him, and he collapsed on the ground helplessly, his nose bleeding and his jaw throbbing. Still too shocked to do much more than wonder at how Sam was already such a powerful ghost, Danny only vaguely saw her heavy boot connect with his midsection and send him rolling away from her until he stopped at the wall, looking up through swollen eyes at his best friend's ghost.

Sam held up a hand in front of her, as if inspecting her palm, and a long, sharp, ectoplasmic-blade suddenly formed in her hand. The curved blade fit perfectly within her delicate hand, and she smiled her sadistic smile once again as she bent down on one knee and put the blade to his throat.

But as Danny looked into her blood red eyes, he saw a brief flicker, and then a grimace passed over her formerly determined face. For a moment, her eyes were their usual violet, and her face was contorted in fear, but then the calm, cold killer was back and her eyes became crimson once again.

"Any last words, Daniel?" She asked in a voice that was slightly deeper than before.

The blade was pushed up against his neck now, and Danny knew that this Sam would have no trouble killing him, despite the brief flash of the girl he knew.

Propping himself up on one arm, Danny looked her in the eye, set his jaw, and with great effort and pain in his inflamed jaw, spoke; "I — I love you, Sam, for what it's worth," he gasped out, as he let himself fall back to the ground.

When he opened his eyes again, the red blade in Sam's hand was gone, and Danny could clearly see an inner struggle of sorts playing out in front of him. Alternatively, Sam's face switched from the girl he knew and loved to the psychotic ghost bent on revenge. After a few moments, Sam leaned back, and settled on her knees. Her hands were clawing frantically at her stomach.

The red aura that had been around her since her entrance was gone, and Danny could here her muttering frantically, although it sounded like someone yelling from far away. Suddenly, Sam looked up at him, with an expression clearly showing fear and desperation. "Get out of me!" She suddenly shouted, in a voice that Danny knew well as Sam's.

And then it clicked, he finally understood. As the sweet relief washed over him, Danny summoned the little energy he had left, and reached out to Sam. Grabbing her shoulder to steady himself, Danny pulled himself up and cried out as he became intangible. Before he lost his nerve and his energy, Danny launched himself through Sam, and as he expected, he collided with someone midway through.

His forward momentum pushed both intangible ghosts from Sam's corporeal form, and Danny and the ghost flew past Sam and became tangible again as they hit the ground.

Danny was unconscious as soon as he hit the ground, having used up his last bit of energy to free Sam from being overshadowed. Sam held on to consciousness long enough to see a very amused Plasmius phase through Danny's unconscious body before she collapsed in he exhaustion.

Plasmius floated up and above the two teens and grinned. He hadn't really expected the girl to let him kill Daniel, it would have been nice, he'd admit, but it really wasn't important to the plan.

As for the boy knowing that his friends weren't dead, well that was fine, he'd have found out eventually anyway.

He laughed as he grabbed the remote from Sam's pocket and disappeared with a magenta flash. The cell door slammed shut behind him, echoing ominously and cutting off most of the light to the cell, plunging both unconscious teens into darkness.

By the time Tucker and Jazz made it downstairs, Maddie had already positioned the Specter Speeder in front of the Fenton Portal, and Jack was in the Fenton Weapons Vault, tossing out weapons of unknown purpose onto a pile at the vault threshold.

Vlad stood near Maddie, looking around and pretending to inspect the outside of the speeder as Maddie tested each weapon one at a time.

"Mom," Jazz called striding over to the older women and getting her attention. "What should Tucker and I do?"

"Activate the ghost-shield," Maddie said without looking at the two teens, "and then you can go upstairs and watch the news to see if there is any other paranormal activity,"

Tucker ran off to turn on the shield, but Jazz continued to stand there. "Mom!" She said in frustration, "I want to come and help get Danny,"

Maddie stopped her button pushing and looked through the speeder's windshield at her daughter. "Jazz," she started, "I always swore to myself that you and Danny would never get caught up in this ghost-hunting we do," she sighed, missing Vlad's amused snort, "And since Danny's already in too deep, I'm not going to let you get hurt for this as well, it's our fault,"

Jazz stared at her mother for a moment, before she sighed as well and went to help Tucker find the switch to activate the ghost-shield.

By the time they found the switch, turned on the shield and got back the adults, the speeder was already loaded up, and Jack, Maddie and Vlad were getting in. "Why is he going?" Jazz asked, pointing towards the billionaire between Jack and Maddie.

"Because I care for young Daniel as much as you do, Jasmine," Vlad said smoothly, "And I want to make sure we find him," Tucker and Jazz matched Vlad's sneer with glares.

"Good luck," Tucker said, pulling a furious Jazz away from the vehicle. "Bring them back,"

Maddie looked at Tucker questioningly, "Them?"

"Let's go!" Vlad said, hitting the throttle before Maddie could further inquire, and sending the three adults speeding into the portal, leaving Tucker and Jazz in the basement, wondering what to do while their friends, family and Vlad were in the Ghost-Zone.

Sam awoke to the clanging sound of the cell door opening. She immediately recognized Walker's floating form cross the threshold, with two guards on either side of him. He sure didn't take his security lightly.

"Ah," Walker said, upon seeing Sam sit up, "I've been expecting you, glad to see that Vlad held up his half of the bargain,"

He eyed the still unconscious Danny with contempt for a moment before he snapped his fingers and two guards put down a plate full of some of the most disgusting looking meat Sam had ever seen, and a pitcher of water.

Another ghost put down two empty glasses, and a dish with the same meal in front of Sam. Walker's face split into a large grin, "Enjoy," with that, they all left, the door slamming closed again.

Sam crawled past her meal and kneeled next to Danny. Rolling him onto his back, she gasped when she saw his face.

There was a line of dried blood leading from his nose and trailing over his lips and down his chin. He had a nasty looking black eye forming where she'd punched him, and his chin was already swelling.

"Danny," she whispered, shaking him slightly. "Danny, wake up,"

Danny groaned slightly and his eyes fluttered open. It took his tired eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness and find Sam. When he did, his eyes widened and he pushed himself away from her until he was sitting against the wall staring at her, terrified.

"Danny?" Sam asked, confused at his fear.

"No," Danny whispered, shaking his head, "No, you're — you — Vlad killed you,"

"What?" Sam nearly shouted in shock and confusion, "I'm right here Danny,"

Danny stared at her unnervingly, "You're — not dead?" He whispered desperately after a minute.

"Plasmius overshadowed me," Sam said in answer, "You got him out — remember?"

Danny looked at her for another moment or so, and then he reached one trembling hand out to her, and touched her cheek hesitantly before he pulled his arm back quickly. He looked at her again, and smiled, before he suddenly jumped forward and hugged her incredibly tightly and incredibly un-Danny-like.

"Danny?" Sam asked as he continued to embrace her just as tightly, and even though she was secretly thrilled with Danny's sudden interest in her, she knew this wasn't the time for romantic musings. Although he did say that he lov—

"I thought you were dead," Danny said suddenly, interrupting her train of thought as he pulled away from her so that he could meet her eye properly.

"I didn't get the memo," Sam drawled sarcastically. Danny's beaten face split into a grin, and Sam couldn't help but smile as well.

"You really are Sam, then," he said, still smiling. He glanced past her and suddenly noticed what Sam had assumed to be food. "Food," he exclaimed, dropping his arms from her shoulders and sliding towards the dish. He grimaced at the plate, but picked up a fork anyway.

"You're not actually going to eat that, are you?" Sam asked incredulous. The 'meal' was made up of a surprisingly large piece of moldy looking meat, surrounded by some brown looking vegetables and a rock hard piece of bread.

Danny looked at her seriously. "I haven't eaten since yesterday afternoon, since then I've gotten about two hours of sleep, been beaten by Walker, captured by first Valerie, than Plasmius, and went through the trauma of watching you and Tucker die — Tucker is alive right?"

Sam merely nodded as Danny visibly relaxed. "Besides," he said, cutting into the meat, "If we're gonna get out of here, I'll need some sort of energy," Sam watched, disgusted, as Danny devoured the meat with a grimace on his face. It was soon apparent just how hungry he was, and he quickly devoured everything on his plate, and was eyeing Sam's dish with desire.

"Go right ahead," she said quickly, not nearly hungry enough to eat that.

"Are you sure," Danny asked, looking from the food to Sam and back again. Sam just nodded.

As he ate the meal, slightly less ravenously this time, Danny suddenly thought of something. "What happened to my shackles? He asked Sam, looking at his free hands curiously.

Sam just shrugged, "I think Vlad cut them off by accident while—" she trailed off guiltily. "I'm sorry Danny," she said suddenly. "I almost killed you, and I would of if you hadn't—"

Danny put a finger to her lips to stop her. "You did everything you could and more," he said honestly, "Plasmius is powerful, and the fact that you could disrupt his control over you shows just how strong you are. You saved my life,"

Sam blushed and looked away from him as Danny finished his meal. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Sam spoke up, "Now what?"

Danny looked at her uncertainly. "I guess we try to escape the next time someone comes in," he slid her one of the plates. "Use this as a shield if they try to shoot you, but I should be able to hold them off,"

"How!" Sam asked, "You said yourself that you hardly have any energy left, how can you fight off Walker and his guards,"

Danny looked at her seriously for a minute, "I am exhausted," he admitted, but his determined expression never left. "But I'm also pissed,"

Vlad sighed as he saw Walker's prison looming ahead of them. The vehicle's detection of anything from the human world had lead them directly to the prison, as it detected the clothes that young Daniel and (although the Fenton's didn't know it) Samantha had been wearing. Jack stopped the speeder several dozen feet from the wall and quickly grabbed some weapons whose purpose Vlad could only guess at and jumped out.

Maddie and Vlad followed him, while Jack tossed Vlad a very large gun that he had no intention of using. Vlad also noticed that Maddie had put the Specter Deflector on, which, as strong as he was, would only hurt for a moment.

Jack armed himself with his Jack-A-Nine-Tails in one hand and his Fenton Fisher in the other, while Maddie activated the Fenton Ghost Peeler, and was soon encased in a suit of armor that fit itself to her body.

Vlad looked up, and right on cue, one of his duplicates flew up through the ground, followed closely by Skulker.

"The Wisconsin ghost!" Jack boomed, gripping the Fenton Fisher tighter in his left hand. Skulker cleared his throat, and Jack looked past Plasmius to the Ghost-Zone's greatest hunter. "And — that other ghost!" He added lamely.

Skulker narrowed his eyes, "I am Skulker!" He shouted characteristically, as both Vlad and his duplicate rolled their eyes in sync. "The Ghost-Zone's greatest hunter! You will soon rue the day you met me!"

With those dramatic words, Skulker fired one of his many cannons at Jack, whose dodge was surprisingly agile. Jack turned his dodge into offense as he rolled onto his feet and brandished the Jack-A-Nine-Tails. "You may be the Ghost-Zone's greatest hunter," Jack said as he whipped the Jack-A-Nine-Tails over his head, "But I'm Earth's greatest hunter!" With that, he flung the Jack-A-Nine-Tails forward at Skulker, who merely phased through it with a grin.

"Oh," Jack said in surprise, as Vlad stifled a laugh.

Danny and Sam sat against the wall opposite the door, waiting for their chance to escape. They'd been waiting in silence for nearly an hour now, Danny thought, and so far no one had even neared the door.

Sam had just dropped her head onto Danny's shoulder when the unmistakable sound of the key sliding in the door made her jump up. Danny stood up as well and stood in front of Sam.

Concentrating, there was a bright flash of light as two white rings appeared at his midsection and turned him into Danny Phantom once again. He grabbed Sam's hand and turned them both invisible just as the door swung open, revealing three of Walker's guards.

They peered inside the cell curiously, and finding it empty, floated fully inside. Then Sam flung one of the metal plates at the guard closest to her. The makeshift discus flew the short distance and connected with the guard right in the throat.

He collapsed, grabbing his throat in shock. The other two guards spun around just in time to be hit in the face with a pair of ectoplasmic blasts. Danny allowed himself to become visible once more and quickly zipped closer to the ghosts, punching the one closest to him square in the jaw.

The ghost sailed into the wall, where he collapsed to the ground, unmoving. Danny quickly elbowed the last ghost standing in the nose, then spun and kicked him in the chest sending the guard to join his comrade on the ground.

Sam was already at the door, peering down both sides of the hall, and motioning for Danny to hurry out. Danny flew out through the door as Sam slammed it behind him, locking the downed guards in the cell.

The lights in the corridor dazzled Danny's eyes, and he closed them for a few moments as he waited for his pupils to constrict and adjust to the lights. Blinking a few moments later, Danny nodded to Sam as he followed her down the hall.

The corridor was just as uninviting as the cell they'd just escaped from, with the only difference being the bright lights, which illuminated the red tinted stones and bland, nearly invisible doors.

"Do you remember how to get out?" Danny whispered to Sam as he floated slightly behind her.

"I think so," Sam replied after a moment, pausing as they reached a four-way intersection. She peered down both halls and thought for a moment. "I think it's this way," she said pointing down the hall to the right and looking at him in silent question.

Danny merely shrugged; he hadn't exactly paid any mind to his surroundings on the way in, and although Sam had been overshadowed upon her entrance, apparently she had gleaned some sense of direction. They followed the same corridor for several minutes before Sam suddenly turned to him. "I know where we are now," she whispered.

Danny arched an eyebrow and looked at the corridor they were in. He saw nothing to set this stretch of hall apart from the stretch of hall ten feet behind them. "If you say so," he said skeptically. Sam smiled.

She turned towards the wall on her right and eyed the rough ecto-stone for a moment. Smiling once again, she reached out and pushed at what looked to Danny as a completely random stone. Danny gaped as the stone she shuddered violently, before it suddenly stopped. Then every stone on either side of it disappeared before Danny's eyes, followed by every stone above and below it, and soon enough a five by five foot section of the wall was completely invisible.

Torches flared to life behind the invisible wall, revealing a long, curving passage that distantly disappeared into shadows. Sam reached for Danny's hand and pulled him through the nonexistent wall.

After walking in a confused silence for a few moments, Danny found his voice. "What was that?" He asked her finally, all to aware that she was still holding his hand.

"This is a secret passage that I — er — Vlad and I took on the way in," she said, "I'm actually amazed that I found it again,"

"I'm not surprised," Danny muttered under his breath, unaware of Sam's blush when she heard him. They continued to walk down the dimly lit passage, holding hands and taking pleasure in being together, despite the circumstances.