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The Master Plan

Uric Igi Shelps

Chapter 7

Encore

The passage ended up leading them out past the walls of the prison, as Sam knew it would. They emerged from the route in a secluded and shadowy corner in the prison's outer walls, and when they came out they were shocked to find both of Danny's parents fighting Skulker and Plasmius—with Vlad Masters of all people standing next to the ghost-hunting duo.

Despite himself, Danny couldn't help but be impressed that Vlad could duplicate his ghost half and remain human. That skill alone would solve so many of his identity problems, and it might even make a semi-normal teenage life possible. Knowing that those thoughts didn't help him at the moment whatsoever, Danny thought about why Vlad would need two of himself at the same spot.

Come to think of it, both Masters and Plasmius weren't doing much of anything, human-Vlad was standing near Maddie, and ghost-Vlad was just floating there, arms crossed, and eyes locked on Maddie…

Danny knew what Vlad was planning, and despite how pathetic it seemed, he knew that Vlad shouldn't be allowed to succeed. If he did, then he'd have his foot in the door, so to speak, and Danny wasn't going to let that happen.

During his musings, Danny had forgotten that Sam was still holding his hand, until she gave a muffled yelp suddenly and pulled it free. Confused, Danny saw that both his hands were glowing with green ectoplasm, ready to fire. "Sorry," he said, embarrassed, "Are you okay?"

Sam just rolled her eyes but grinned nonetheless. "Why are there two Vlad's?" She asked him, having obviously been thinking along the same lines.

"I think he wants to save my mom from himself and look like a hero," he said, surprised at how semi-normal that sounded. Sam made an agreeable sound as she watched his dad fight off Skulker with surprising effectiveness, the ghost-zone's greatest hunter was actually being held off by Jack's two weapons.

"Listen," Danny said moments later, "You stay here while I stop Vlad, once that's done I'll come back, go back to normal and we'll run out and make up some escape excuse, sound good?"

Sam merely nodded, "Be careful," she warned, smiling slightly, "Things are never what they seem when Vlad's around,"

Danny knew that all too well and smiled back. "See you in a few,"

He took off towards the fray, becoming invisible almost immediately. He watched from some distance as Plasmius drifted behind his mom, and as Masters slipped closer to her, Danny knew it was time.

Plasmius held out one arm, which soon glowed a soft blue, and fired it at Maddie. Danny was already near his mother, and closing fast, as he flew at full speed — even as human-Vlad got ready to dive tackle her.

It was a race between Vlad, the ectoblast and the speeding, now visible Danny.

Danny won.

He reached out and grabbed his oblivious mom around the waist and continued flying, as Vlad Masters flew right behind him, followed immediately by the weak ectoblast.

After Danny grabbed his mom, three things happened nearly at once. The first, was Vlad Masters screaming in rage and frustration at Danny. The second was Vlad Plasmius disappearing in a magenta flash, the light zipping into human-Vlad in the blink of an eye. Lastly, the Specter Deflector activated, sending an enormous amount of pain throug Danny's entire body.

He tried to fight it, but the pain became too much for him, and he had no choice but to let go of his mom. Fortunately, they'd been flying very low to the ground, only about a foot high. Unfortunately, they'd been flying incredibly fast.

Maddie hit the ground and the sheer weight of her armor stopped her from bouncing, and the force of her armored body created a large crater all around her. Danny wasn't so lucky, and he hit the ground and kept rolling and bouncing a good ten feet before he stopped. Groaning, Danny pushed himself up, and came face to face with the business end of the ghost Peeler.

He froze, having a good idea of what such a weapon could do to him in his weakened state. It would be bad enough when his energy gave out and he became Danny Fenton once more, in front of his mom no less, but he imagined the pain would be incredible. He heard the whirring noise as the peeler charged up, and although he wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of the way, his body wouldn't obey.

He saw, distantly, his mom's mocking face through the mask, she grinned victoriously, and Danny closed his eyes.

In doing so, he missed the look of surprise on Maddie's face as she was knocked aside by a soaring ghost net, which flew past the downed Maddie and engulfed a very surprised Danny. The net stopped and changed direction, dragging Danny back towards the open prison gates before anyone knew what had happened.

Once Danny was within the prison walls, half a dozen guards zoomed out through the gates, as Walker himself approached the three adults.

No one noticed Skulker fly off into the distance, satisfied that he'd done enough for the moment.

Even from where he was, Danny could hear Walker's superior voice, "Humans in the Ghost-Zone?" He paused dramatically, "That's against the rules,"

He snapped his fingers, and the guards who had encircled the Fentons and Vlad, snapped forward at once. Two grabbed Jack and Maddie each, and while two more guards tried to attack Vlad—he merely phased intangible, and once the guards realized their mistake — they backed off immediately, terrified at the expression on Vlad's face.

When the guards started dragging Maddie and Jack towards the prison, Danny snapped out of his daze. "No!" He yelled, becoming intangible and jumping up, ready to flyi through the net. The problem, was that the net didn't let Danny fly through it, instead it shocked him with the same voltage he'd felt from Valerie's net. It had the same effect, forcing Danny to give up as he became solid and slumped to the ground.

Two rings of light formed around his waist and started repelling from one another. Danny's eyes widened, he couldn't let this happen now! Screwing his eyes up in concentration, Danny put all of his mental strength into stopping those rings.

The light had been just up to Danny's armpits and knees and moving fast, but after a moment of intense concentration, they slowed down and then stopped completely. A second later, they started to move back together, slowly but surely.

After what felt like an agonizingly long time, the rings merged into one bright light, before completely disappearing a moment later, leaving Danny Phantom exhausted and gasping for breath.

By the time Danny had enough strength to look up, his dad was still being dragged toward the gates, but his mom and Vlad were free and fighting, though they continued to be pushed back towards the parked Specter Speeder.

Danny could only watch helplessly as his father was thrown through the gates, landing painfully, right next to Danny. A moment later, and by some signal Danny must have missed, all of Walker's guards pulled back. Once all of Walker's goons made it back past the threshold, the gates swung closed, cutting off Danny and his father from Maddie and Vlad.

Walker turned around and faced his two captives, sneering at them haughtily. "Well, well, well," he said as he floated closer to Danny. "The famous ghost-kid," he eyed Jack, "And the infamous Jack Fenton, together again,"

"Let me go ghost!" Jack yelled, "I don't care what you do with Inviso-bill here, but you'll regret kidnapping Jack Fenton!"

"It's Dan — Phantom! Just Phantom!" Danny yelled in frustration. Walker just laughed.

"Anything you'd like to say to your son, Mr. Fenton?" Walker asked, sneering at Danny's wide eyes.

"My son?" Jack asked, ironically staring right at Danny. "What have you done to Danny?"

Walker laughed, "Rest assured, Jack, I hold no grudge against Danny Fenton,"

"Then why did you take him, what's he ever done to you?"

Walker laughed again, "I expect even your meager mind will figure it out soon enough,"

From Jack's expression, Danny thought that was unlikely. "For now," Walker said then, starting to float away, "I bid you adieu, Jack Fenton," he snapped his fingers, and three of his guards picked up Danny's net. "But you can come with me…Phantom,"

Danny was carried away from his dad and into the main building. Deciding that there was no more reason to waste energy, Danny sighed and changed back to human, as soon as he did, he promptly phased right through the net and onto the ground painfully. "Ouch," Danny muttered, rubbing the shoulder he'd landed on.

Walker was studying him now. After a moment he shrugged and tossed one of his guards a pair of Ghost-Gauntlets. Once the guard put the gloves on, he roughly pulled Danny to his feet and pushed him forward, urging him to follow the procession, while keeping one hand securely on Danny's shoulder.

They continued walking and floating through the corridors. They'd only been walking for about five minutes when they stopped, and Danny was thrown through the closed door. He landed, and had just vaguely realized that the room seemed to be an office, when the door opened and Walker floated through, alone now, but wearing the Ghost-Gauntlets.

"Sit down, please," he said to Danny gesturing to the two chairs in front of his desk as he sat down behind it. Danny picked himself up and went to sit down, when he saw, with a sick feeling, Sam tied to the other chair.

"Hi Danny," she said dejectedly.

"No…" he groaned, dropping into the chair miserably. "What do you need with her?" He asked dejectedly, "She's got nothing to do with this,"

Walker leaned back in his chair leisurely. "Vlad instructed me to keep her here for a while," he admitted calmly, "It's part of some plan of his that I really don't care about, so I'll let her go once Vlad says I can,"

He turned and focused his gaze on Danny, "But you," he said with a colder tone, "Have become much more troubling than Plasmius said you'd be," Danny arched an eyebrow, "Regardless," he said standing up, "You need to be taught a lesson,"

Before Danny could react, Walker arched his fist and slammed it into Danny's chin, snapping his head back and flipping Danny from the overturning chair and knocking him to the ground.

Rubbing his jaw, Danny stood up just in time to hear Sam's scream, and to see another fist slam into his face, this time knocking him into the office wall, which he phased through, before he finally stopped in the hallway. Picking himself up again, Danny heard Sam's scream and felt his blood boil.

Danny went ghost, and blasted a whole in the wall. He flew through the cloud of ecto-smoke and dust and punched the unprepared Walker in the stomach. While he was winded, Danny grabbed him by his collar, reared back and punched him across the face, sending the ghost warden flying into a wall, which was very solid to ghosts.

Walker picked himself up and charged at Danny, his fists swinging. Danny ducked nimbly and swung his leg around in an attempt to trip his attacker. Walker's feet became a murky cloud as the leg passed through them, and Danny cursed his stupidity as a leg materialized from the cloud and kicked him squarely in the jaw, sending him reeling once again.

His back slammed into the wall, and he groaned in pain. He didn't see Walker's gloved fist coming until it was inches from his face. He braced for the impact, but it never came. He opened his eyes to see Walker cursing in frustration as he pulled his arm from Danny's unmarred face.

Danny watched in confusion as Walker ripped the Ghost-Gauntlets off and tossed them away. "Should have known they wouldn't work on a ghost," he said, and prepared to hit Danny again, but the half-ghost was already dodging, and Walker's fist hit the wall harmlessly.

Danny was behind him in a flash, and slammed the ghost's head into the wall, he jumped up, planted his feet on Walker's back and pushed off, propelling himself away even as he fired an ectoplasmic blast at Walker's recovering form.

The force of the explosion blasted Walker through the wall, creating a large hole in it as Walker hit the wall across the corridor. Seizing his chance, Danny spun to the unharmed Sam and turned her intangible as he dragged her to her feet, now free of the normal ropes. "Are you okay?" He asked, concerned.

"Just fine," Sam muttered, looking at Danny's bruised and battered face with sympathy. "Are you okay?" She asked, putting a hand to his cheek and wiping some green-tinted blood from a cut on his face. Danny smiled at her and had just lowered his head when he was blasted away, flying straight through yet another wall before hitting the next one, stopping and falling in a crumpled heap.

"Holy crap," he said, sitting up and rubbing his head a moment later, "What the heck was that?"

"That," Skulker said with a sneer, "Is a little something I designed just for you, whelp," he laughed when Danny rolled his eyes. "Just give it a minute to work,"

Danny jumped up and rocketed at Skulker, his green eyes flaring. "I don't think so!" He yelled lamely, slamming into the hunter's stomach, sending both of them into the office desk, which splintered into five pieces. Danny punched Skulker in the face, ducked a half-hearted counter punch and was just about to fire an ectoblast at him when he stopped.

He stumbled backwards on unsteady legs, and used the remaining chair to hold himself up. He put his hand to his forehead, looking as if he had a migraine. "Danny?" Sam asked uncertainly, walking over to him cautiously and wrapping an arm around his waist to steady him.

"I — feel like —"but Sam never found out what he felt like, because his waist suddenly lit up in a bright white light, which split into two divergent rings. Danny seemed only vaguely aware as he quickly became Danny Fenton once again, and the rings disappeared. Sam realized what Skulker's weapon had done grimly.

Meanwhile, Skulker had stood once again, and was laughing callously. "I would kill you now ghost-child," he said calmly, "But my employer needs me elsewhere, and I'm sure he'd rather kill you himself anyway, farewell,"

He strolled through a hole in the wall calmly, and Sam was left feeling completely confused as to what had just happened. "Come on Danny," she said after she recovered, "Let's get out of here,"

Danny shook his head, and he seemed to suddenly wake up. "What happened," he asked groggily, taking in his normal, jumpsuit-less appearance.

"Skulker did his job," Walker said, floating back into the room, having either found his Ghost-Gauntlets or obtained a new pair. "Now if you're done destroying my office, you can go to your cell, I'm afraid you'll find it a little more crowded than when you left it,"

More than a little worried, Sam and Danny had no choice but to follow Walker's guards — all of whom were armed with Ghost-Gauntlets — back to the cell.

It had taken a while, but Vlad had finally convinced Maddie that it'd be best if they went back to Fentonworks without Jack. A lesser man might have realized the extent of her feelings for her husband and concede the battle. But Vlad was no mere man, he was powerful, rich, good-looking, and charming, he'd have Maddie yet, he knew.

They made it back to the Fenton Portal without incident, most of the ghosts were aware of Vlad's presence, and generally chose to avoid him altogether. At this point, Vlad couldn't have cared either way.

Jazz had been extremely upset when they'd come home, not only Danny-less, but with Jack gone as well. She'd run off some time ago, with a suspicious looking Tucker following.

Maddie and Vlad had just sat down in the kitchen to talk about their next move when the phone rang, interrupting any weak plan they'd come up with. Maddie went to answer it, and although it had interrupted his time with Maddie, the side of the conversation he overheard made him smile.

She hung up and dashed over to him as she threw on a coat. "That was Mrs. Manson, Danny's friend Sam's mother," she explained what Vlad already knew; "She says that Sam's missing and she just found a ransom note on the inside of her front door. I told her we'd come over right away,"

Maddie took Vlad's hand and pulled him out of the chair, "Lead the way," he said playfully, following his love out the door.

To say that Danny was surprised to find Valerie and his father siting in their cell, talking like old friends would be an understatement. The fact that both ghost-hunters had been cursing out Danny Phantom and plotting his demise hadn't made him feel any better about their situation.

Valerie and his father had been just as surprised to see the two teens become their cellmates.

Sam and Danny quickly came up with an unconvincing story where they'd just happened to be in the lab when a ghost had come out, grabbed them and brought them here.

"What happened to your face?" Jack asked, noticing the numerous bruises, cuts and scratches on his son's face.

Sam and Danny exchanged nervous looks, "I — uh — hit my head on the portal as he dragged us in,"

Valerie looked skeptical, "What about the scratches?"

"He hit a light bulb," Sam supplied, looking at Danny sheepishly and shrugging.

Valerie eyed them both for a second before smiling. "You're both lying," she said grinning, "I bet you were fighting, weren't you?"

Danny looked at Sam again, "I — uh — yeah…" Danny said, unsure of how much she knew.

"Really?" Jack asked, looking at Danny with something akin to pride. "I knew you'd turn out just like your old man!" He jumped up and mimed something that looked like boxing. Danny could only assume he was 'boxing' a ghost. "Fighting to the end I bet," he boasted, still boxing the nonexistent ghost.

"Yep," Sam said with a grin at Danny and a slight blush, "He's my hero,"

Danny blushed as well, and looked away, seeing Valerie glare at Sam. "And what were you doing Sam?" Valerie asked coldly, "Hiding in a corner?"

Sam's smile turned into a glare, but her blush remained. "What would you have done?" Sam shot back, "His parents are ghost-hunters, so unless you have some sort of ghost-hunting gear, you'd have done the same thing!" Sam smiled, recognizing that Valerie would be in a tough position. She could either concede to Sam, or admit her ghost-hunting secret to all of them.

Valerie glanced back and forth from Danny to Sam, then Jack and finally back at Sam. "I do have ghost-hunting gear," she finally said, shocking both Danny and Sam, which had lucky effect of making it look like they hadn't already known. Jack even stopped his miming when he heard 'ghost-hunting.'

"I've been fighting ghosts ever since that ghost-kid, Phantom or whatever his name is, and his dog ruined my life," her voice became colder. "I hate that Danny Phantom!" She said fiercely, earning a hug from Jack and an eye roll from Sam. It went unnoticed in the dark cell.

"Danny," Jack said once he'd separated from Valerie, "I like this girl,"

Valerie and Jack then launched into an overly detailed description of what they would do to Phantom when they caught him. Danny tried not to listen too much, but it was hard with his father's booming voice.

Sam and Danny sat on one of the two ratty cot's positioned in one of the corners, while Valerie sat on the only other cot, talking to Jack eagerly.

After Jack described in bloody detail his plans to dissect Phantom to see if ghosts had hearts, Sam reached over and gripped Danny's hand and gave it a squeeze. He looked at her and she smiled, slightly.

Danny smiled back, relieved to know that one person, at least, didn't want to cut Danny Phantom to pieces. Sam yawned loudly, and with her hand still in Danny's, leaned her head against his shoulder uncertainly, and closed her eyes.

Suddenly realizing just how tired he was, Danny laid his head atop hers and closed his eyes as well, hoping that he'd get out of all this alive, and preferably without getting exposed or dissected.