Links in the Chain
By Lacey52
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
A note: Um…hi…burns hurt like all get out (I've had one before) and you'd cry too. You'll know what I'm talking about when you get there. Man….I just re-read what I wrote…and I am an evil, sadistic person to people I don't like…the rest of it…eh, it's pretty okay. There's some fan service in here too, muwahahaha…but not very much.
Oh, and I kinda' suck at writing action sequences, or so I think, so if it's a let down in this chapter, I'm really, really sorry!
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
Chapter Fifty Two: Retaliation
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
The past few days had been so peaceful and wonderful. It was everything that a Spring Break should be. Sunny and bright, birds singing and children laughing, people taking advantage of the warm weather, and multitudes of school children celebrating the joys of being out of school.
Swimming in the pool, hanging out at a busy mall, and enjoying time at the park with good friends and good food had been the order of the day for the trio…which had recently expanded to a quintet. The five Juniors had opted that this day should be devoted to the park and the mall, enjoying time in the park on the way there and the way back to Danny's house, enjoying the mall in between, and enjoying Danny's house and a number of movies later that night.
It was to be a most enjoyable and laid back day.
Danny, currently, was doing on of his most favorite past times…being with Sam. The pair were sitting on a bench near the back half of the park, chatting animatedly and watching as Dash and Tucker goofed off with a baseball that the blonde had decided to bring along. Valerie was also enjoying the show from the shade of the tree a few feet removed from the bench.
The past few wonderful, peaceful days had been much the same for the five. Food, fun, and sun. It had been fantastic and there was only more to come as far as they were concerned.
Boy was Mr. Murphy gonna' put on a show…
"Hey guys, I'm getting a little thirsty," Valerie said as she stood and brushed herself off, "I'm going to head over to where we saw that vendor and grab a soda, anyone want anything?"
"Oo! A soda, and I don't care what kind," Tucker smiled as he tossed the ball back to Dash and took out his wallet, "Here, I think I've got a couple of dollars."
Handing Valerie a five, Tucker winked and smiled charmingly, "Buy yourself something too, I mean you're going to all the work of walking over and buying it."
"I'll take your offer, Tucker Foley," Valerie snapped the money out of his hands and put it in her pocket, "and it's all mine as payment for walking back to the entrance to get them for us. Do you want anything Danny?"
"No thanks, Val," Danny gave a lopsided grin before turning to look at Sam, "How 'bout you? Soda, pickle, anything?"
Shaking her head, Sam looked to Dash to see if he was interested in anything, hiding her smirk when she noticed a tiny flash of jealousy from the boy beside her, "You Dash?"
"Nope," he wound up and threw the ball back to Tucker, who caught it and then began to furiously shaking his hand to alleviate the sting from catching the projectile. Dash could throw rather hard apparently.
As Valerie moved off, the boys continued their game, and Danny and Sam went back into their conversation for a moment, until the ball came their way and Sam caught it as it bounced off the ground, "Whatever happened to 'heads up'?"
"Figured one of you would see it," Dash shrugged, "Now toss it back so we can play. How 'bout it Fenton, you up for some catch?"
Taking a quick peek at Sam to see if she was fine with him leaving her to herself for a while, Danny bounce up when she rolled her eyes and handed him the ball, "I'm in!"
"And you're whipped," Tucker started laughing, and Dash followed up with a rather good impression of a whip cracking.
"Oh shut up and catch," Danny shook his head and managed to keep most of the blush from his cheeks.
Sam spent the next minute observing the passing of the ball from boy to boy to halfa, before deciding that she could meet Valerie halfway and at least have a bit of decent conversation. Standing up and sneaking away, she noticed Danny's eyes following her and sent him a smile. She received a shy smile and a happy wave of feelings in return.
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
When Sam stood up, Danny watched to see what she was up to. The smile sent his way made him a little giddy and the shy smile and rather goofy wave of feelings he sent her made him want to kick himself, 'God I am a loser. That was so un-smooth it wasn't even funny.'
The game continued on, with the others teasing him a bit about his obvious 'like' of the girl named Sam, which had him blushing a lot and denying very little. This definitely had Tucker intrigued as he tried to force Danny to admit to anything.
"You told her she was hot once right?" Tucker fixed his glasses right after catching the baseball.
"Yeah," Danny shrugged and tossed it to Dash, looking down and silently hoping for the girls to reappear quickly and end his torment, "but only as friends. She was having a bad day, and Paulina was ticking her off, and I told her that she was hot to make her feel better."
"When isn't Paulina pissing some girl off?" Dash frowned as he threw to Tucker, "Especially Sam…it's 'cause she likes you, you know."
"No," Danny shook his head, even as the hope began to well up, triggering Sam's curiosity, "she just really doesn't like Paulina and her 'shallow and fickle' attitude."
Laughing as Danny pulled a face and made air quotes, Dash shook his head and spoke up, "Sam does that all the time. You two rub off on each other way too much."
"I guess," Danny caught the ball before trying to rub the back of his neck, which didn't work too well with the baseball in his hand, "but we've been friends for forever…that's just how it works."
"No way," Tucker started laughingly, but stopped in mid-throw and mid-sentence when he noticed that particular look to Danny's eyes.
"Sam?" the panic began to overcome Danny as he felt absolute dread well up in his chest, making it hard for him to breath. A sudden, extremely hard tug on his mind had him spinning around and swallowing hard, 'What the hell is wrong? I'm coming!'
"I gotta' go," Danny looked Tucker right in the eyes, "Something's really wrong."
As Danny took off like a shot towards the park entrance where Sam and Valerie had headed earlier, Dash was left standing in confusion, while Tucker shook his head, "At least he warned me before he took off this time."
"What?" Dash turned to the boy beside him, "Where did he have to go…and how did he know something's wrong?"
Tapping his head with a meaningful look that had Dash thinking very hard about a time long past, Tucker let out a sigh, "He just knows. Come on, we've got trouble."
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"Sam?" Danny rounded a grove of trees to see Sam standing on the path, no one around her, "Sam? What's wrong, I felt you call me and..."
"Danny!" Sam whirled around, "It's Vlad, he's…"
A deep chuckle cut off Sam as a blast hurtled the young man from the sky and had Danny jumping back and out of harm's way, "He's right here."
"Plasmius!"
"Temper, temper as always little badger," Vlad shook his finger as he floated down closer to Earth, "but I see that your eyes aren't glowing. I wonder perhaps if you've gotten your anger under control finally or perhaps if something else has happened…"
"Danny, get out of here," Sam turned her back to Vlad, giving Danny a wide and obvious wink, 'Please let him get it and play along…if Vlad doesn't suspect that he's alright then Danny will have more the upper hand in this…'
"No!" Danny had to quell his smile as he caught onto what Sam was thinking. Having similar lines of thought really paid off sometimes, "I won't leave you with him."
"Ah, young, futile love," Vlad shook his head in mock despair, "How truly noble of you, and yet, pathetic. Come now, Daniel, have I taught you nothing?"
"You've taught me how to not be a despicable creep like you are," the younger halfa's fists curled, and his eyes nearly flashed green. It took a monumental effort on Danny's part to not loose his cool and a certain girl was definitely helping him out as well, 'Note to self, thank Sam for the help with the not getting mad after this is done…'
"Such a retort," Vlad examined his nails, then looked down his nose at the boy on the ground, "I really don't have much time to give you. I have other, much more important, things to do you know."
"Danny, what's up?" Tucker and Dash came careening around the grove of trees, both boys nearly wiping out on the gravel of the path, "Where's Sam?"
"Samantha is right here, next to your very own Daniel," Vlad smiled widely, showing off his elongated eyeteeth, "And I see young Dash Baxter has joined your number. Perhaps since your recently discovered secret has been negated you've felt more free to try and gain more friends. A wise move, but one that will not help you."
"Shut up," Danny glared at the man floating over Sam, then looked to the two boys, "You two get out of here. Take Sam with you!"
"What the hell is that?" Dash stared wide eyed at the floating ghost above them, trying to figure out how in the world it knew Fenton and the rest of the trio that he had recently joined, 'That thing knows my name…'
"I, my dear boy, am Vlad Plasmius, soon to be ruler of the ghost zone and soon to be happily married man," Vlad turned his attention back onto Danny, letting Sam out of his sight. The girl quickly moved to Tucker's side, their number one objective quickly becoming to remove Dash from the area so the fight could commence.
"I'm sure you've figured it out by now, Daniel," Vlad floated closer to the ground, "The ghost hunter, so talented as she is, obviously utilized her weapon well. Have you been wondering why I haven't shown up sooner Daniel? Why I haven't sent any ghosts to destroy you?"
"Yeah," Danny nodded watching out of the corner of his eye as Sam and Tucker finally convinced Dash to leave with them and go find help, "I have."
"I've let you enjoy your time with your family," Plasmius chuckled evilly, "I'm not completely heartless after all. You're mother will miss you after they find you tragically murdered in the park by some random ghost. She'll be even more traumatized to find that the same ghost targeted her husband. Maddie will be needing the comfort of an old friend after all the horrors are over…"
"What?" Danny couldn't believe what he was hearing, "That's what you've been planning? You son of a…"
"You three will stay and watch to confirm what happened," Vlad had seen the two boys and girl trying to leave, "There will be no going for help or fetching ghost hunters or any such non-sense."
A purple ball of ectoplasm was sent towards the three, aimed to hit directly in front of them to scare them into stopping. Vlad though, wasn't worried about injuring others, and was careless in his aim. The purple ball of energy came down on Sam's left shin, she let out a half-chocked scream, and Danny erupted.
"Sam!" the teenager growled out, then turned glowing green eyes on Vlad, "What did you do?"
Now, Vlad Masters was not a man to know fear. He had power, and where he didn't have physical power, he had money. Financial prowess could easily buy physical prowess. This time, though, much like the time he faced the ghost king, an inkling of this strange emotion crept into the back of his mind, the icy coldness of his ghostly being easily outdone by the cold that gripped his heart. Murder was in the boy's eyes, and Vlad realized that he had sadly miscalculated the worth of the bystanders.
Danny didn't care. He didn't care that Vlad now knew he wasn't split. He didn't care that there could be other people in the park. He didn't care that Dash was standing less than ten feet away . He wanted to fight. He wanted to hurt. And nothing was going to stop him right then.
As a bright, whitish blue ring engulfed Danny's form, splitting sideways over his body, Dash found himself witnessing the transformation of Danny Fenton, better known in the form he was currently in as Danny Phantom, "Oh shit…"
"Oh shit's right," Tucker was looking frantically between a kneeling Sam and posturing Danny, "Danny, what are you doing?"
'Danny, why?' Sam thought, tears escaping her eyes from the pain of the burn, even as she tried her hardest to not cry, 'You shouldn't have done that.'
But even as she thought that, the pain was being pushed back by the absolute hate running through him and transferring to her. She had never in her life, ever, hated anyone so much as she hated Vlad Masters in that moment, and that was saying something. The feeling of dislike had already there for the elder halfa, but this was just insane. Danny truly hated this man.
"Don't you ever get anywhere near Sam again!" Danny leapt into the air and crashed into a slightly stunned Vlad.
"You've transformed!" Vlad was caught by the first punch on the chin, but managed to block Danny's second, "How is this possible? I sent Valerie Gray the Severance and Annihilation Ray!"
"Some name," Sam stuttered out haltingly, "If you get anymore original I might have to go hang myself."
Smirking to himself at Sam's sarcasm, Danny felt a small measure of relief even as he fought, 'She's alright. If she can make a crack at Vlad she's fine…but Vlad's never gonna' take another go at anyone…not if I can help it…I need Valerie though…'
Sending a prayer towards heaven and picture of Valerie in full hunting gear towards Sam, Danny began a rather rough fight with the elder halfa. The were both pushing their limits and to both their surprise, finding themselves evenly matched.
"Tucker," Sam grabbed the young man's pant leg, "Get Valerie and tell her to get over here…Danny wants her to fight."
"Wha…a-alright Sam," Tucker swallowed hard as he saw that particular, 'you better do what I say' look in Sam's eyes, "I'll be right back…she shouldn't be that far."
As Tucker took off, Dash looked between Sam and the pair fighting fast and furious in the air in utter confusion, "How are they…and you knew that…but Valerie…"
"Danny is a halfa known as Danny Phantom, I knew that he wanted Valerie's help because we're linked, but you should know that, and Valerie is the ghost hunter that has been fighting ghosts around Amity the last couple of years," Sam ground her teeth as she gave a quick explanation, not even caring that Dash was about to blow a fuse from information overload.
"O…okay…"
"I can't believe you tried to hurt them!" Danny landed another anger fueled punch to Vlad's stomach, "I can't believe you hurt her."
"I can't believe you let me," Vlad tried to taunt the young man into making a mistake as he backpedaled and held his sore stomach, "You're incapable of protecting those close to you, always letting your guard down and helping your enemy gain the upper hand. I'll take your mother,get rid of your father, and then make sure that Sam is well taken care of. And the best part is I'll let you watch every bit of it before I put you out of your misery."
"I won't let you touch my family," Danny took a deep breath, steadying himself mid-air and letting all the pent up emotions that had been building while listening to Vlad speak come out in the loudest ghostly wail he'd ever given, "YOU WON'T TOUCH HER!"
Vlad was blasted backwards, bashing his head against one of the larger trees in the park that hadn't been knocked over by the shock wave from the young man. Plasmius hadn't had time to phase through it and was suffering a rather painful head injury because of it. He resorted to splitting himself into four, hoping that numbers would give him the upper hand.
Just as Danny cleared his head enough to gain his bearings, four separate Vlads came his way. Only one of them managed to land a hit, though, as Danny let himself go into a freefall, only pulling up at the last second to hover a few inches above the ground.
Valerie appeared with Tucker hot on her trail, only to witness Danny separating into four to match Vlad and hopefully beat him at his own game. The four on four suddenly turned nasty with rays firing and kicks and punches landing in most painful places. Danny giving the most damage, of course.
"Oh hell no," Valerie growled as she changed into her hunting regalia, "You aren't getting all the fun of beating Vlad Masters to a pulp. Hold up, Phantom, I want in on the fun too."
"Et tu, Valerie Gray?" Vlad sneered as his four forms melted back into one body and he began to sink in the air, Danny glowering at him from a few feet above, once again whole as well, "So pleasant to see you again. I see you've joined forces with your enemy. How very unusual of you, I certainly hadn't anticipated this."
"Yeah well," Valerie leveled a small, charged device at Vlad, enjoying the sight of his falling face, "I figured that he wasn't all bad, seeing as he was a friend of mine. You on the other hand…I've been wanting to test this out for a while, Mr. Masters."
'How could this have happened?' Vlad questioned himself as he watched his plots, plans, and carefully constructed schemes falling apart in the hands of two teenagers, 'They should be trembling before me, crying for mercy and instead I am being forced to turn tail and fun…this shall not go unpunished…'
"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I believe that we'll have to continue this at another time…"
"Oh no, Plasmius," Danny was behind him as soon as he looked like he was going to run, "We'll finish this now!"
Danny came down hard on Plasmius' back with his knee, driving him down and into the line of Valerie's gun. Danny pulled up at the last second as a brownish green light shot towards Vlad, arresting his fall and splitting his human half from his ghost half in an excruciatingly painful display.
It smelt like burning hair and flesh, and appeared as though the man were being electrocuted, as two separate entities were peeled apart from one body, flesh, bone, muscle, and sinew all pulling apart painfully slow.
'Oh dear God,' Valerie stood petrified as she watched the two creatures writhing in pain, the process lasting for a full two minutes, 'What if I had done this to Danny? Oh my God…'
'If Valerie had shot him with that…' Tucker couldn't even finish the thought as he watched Vlad scream one last time, Masters dropping to the ground holding his head, as Plasmius writhed in the air, looking as though he were having a seizure.
'That could have been me…'
'That could have been Danny…'
Danny and Sam met one another's gaze as the thought twisted through both their minds. The feelings jumping between the two were so strong, so rapid, that it was dizzying and had Sam leaning over a little further and Danny floated closer to the ground, hovering between Vlad the human and Vlad the ghost. Neither were going to be going anywhere soon.
"Valerie," Danny spoke firmly, causing her to rip her eyes away from the man cringing on the ground, "Thank you. For your help."
"No problem," she spoke shakily, "I…I can't believe I almost did that to you…"
"It's fine," Danny watched the ghostly Plasmius start to drift down towards Vlad, "but we need to finish this. There's a second part to that gun right?"
"Yeah," Valerie stated as she straightened herself and grew determined once again. She remembered every grievance against a ghost she had ever had, remembered how it felt to know she was being used, remembered how much pain this horrible creature had caused, "There most certainly is."
"Please," Vlad lifted his head, "I've learned my lesson, let me rejoin with my other half…I'll stay away from you all. Certainly that is what you were after."
"I don't think so," Danny crossed his arms and stared straight into Vlad's lying eyes, "You've had your chance."
Valerie watched the man turn his head her way. She enjoyed the sight of his horror-struck face as she aimed at his floating counterpart. He deserved that feeling more than he would ever know in Valerie's opinion. For trying to use her. For hurting her friends. For causing so much trouble. For trying to kill. For ruining Danny's life for the past few years. And with a smile, Valerie Gray pulled the trigger and destroyed the entity.
Vlad Masters was on his knees, at the mercy of Danny and Valerie.
Vlad Plasmius was no more.
Dash took everything in around him, not knowing if it was really happening or if he'd find himself waking at any moment, his mother yelling at him to get up and get ready for school and his father lecturing him about punctuality and the importance of school and sports. Unfortunately for the poor teen, he found the former was true.
"I've never hated anyone," Danny stood towering over Vlad, "like I hated you. It's over now."
"Daniel, little badger," Vlad tried to come up with anything that would keep him in the position of power…or at least give him something to bargain with, "we're nearly family…you're parents would be proud of you if you at least took me to your home to recover…"
"Shut up!" Danny's eyes once again blazed green as he delivered a power packed punch to the man's face, knocking him out completely.
Valerie and Tucker simply observed as Danny tried to calm himself, deep and heavy breaths escaping him in puffs. It wasn't until Sam spoke up that anyone moved. They honestly weren't sure how Danny would react.
"We need to get all this cleaned up," Sam shifted herself to stand, leaning most of her weight on her right leg and gingerly resting her left toes against the ground, "There're bound to be people coming this way soon, with the light show you two put on…"
"Clean up," Danny shook his head and reverted to his human form with a flash, "We've got to get all of this covered…"
"I can call my Dad to come and get Mr. Masters," Valerie held up her cell phone, "he does own Axion Labs after all and I'm sure they'd be more than willing to take care of him."
"We need more than that," Sam shook her head as she found Danny approaching her with a determined look, "What do you want?"
He didn't even spare her so much as a glance as he picked her up bridal style and marched to a nearby park bench. Setting her down carefully, Danny focused on making his hand colder, which was easily done. Placing the cold hand on her shin, Danny felt the heat from the burn rapidly dissipating, "Better?"
"Yeah," Sam nodded, giving him a watery smile, "still hurts though. That's something else we have to do."
"Alright," Tucker nodded as he finally thought over a plan that might actually work for them, "I've got it now. We were all in the park when this crazy ghost called Plasmius appeared and attacked us. It hit Sam, and we were busy keeping her safe, when Danny Phantom and the Ghost Hunter showed up and kicked the living daylights out of the ghost. All of a sudden, it split away from Vlad Masters. He was overshadowed by it, like Valerie thought Danny was."
"Alright," Danny nodded, "that explains the mess in the park and Vlad Masters being here, but what happens when he wakes up and tells everyone that I'm Danny Phantom?"
"That's easy," Valerie smiled wickedly, "Vlad Masters had been overshadowed for so long that he's been mentally damaged. When the two split, he started screaming when Danny tried to help him to safety. He thought he was another ghost…"
"Brilliant," Tucker smiled and pulled out his cell phone and PDA, "You call your Dad to come and pick up Vlad. Tell him about how weird he was acting and how you think something is wrong with his head. Give him the whole story. I'll call the Fentons to come and pick us up and give them the same story. Then I've got some work to do…"
As the two went into their own technologically concerned worlds, Dash stood and watched Danny fuss over Sam for a few more seconds, before Sam got fed up with the fussing and slapped Danny's hand away. Reaching into her cargo pant's side pocket, the girl drew out a small, red bag.
"Dash?" Sam looked over Danny's shoulder at the boy who was still rooted to the spot he had been standing in for the past seven minutes, "Can you come here and help me, please? I need to talk to you while I do this."
Nodding numbly, the young man found his feet obediently moving towards the dark haired young woman. He moved cautiously beside Danny, trying his hardest to not think about who he was kneeling beside as Sam instructed him on how to help her clean Danny up, talking all the while in the most serious voice he had ever heard her use. Danny filled in whenever Sam started to trail off, though neither really said much.
"Just put that gunk wherever he has a bad cut, Dash," Sam handed him the Neosporin, "He's a whiner, but he needs it."
"I am not a whiner," Danny frowned which caused Dash to remove his hand quickly from Danny's arm. Sam, who had the other arm, simply pinched him and continued on with what she was doing when a satisfying 'ow' came from the halfa.
"Chill out Dash," Danny frowned, not liking the fact that Sam had called him over to help her 'fix him up', "It's not like I'm going to go all maniac killer on you or anything."
"Danny," Sam frowned, then turned to split her attention between assisting Danny bandage her own leg and helping Dash understand what happened, "Listen Dash, I know you saw everything, and I know I gave you a kinda' short recap…"
"If you've got any questions, ask," Danny bit his lips as he concentrated on dressing Sam's burn, "I'm Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom, so don't think I'm overshadowed or anything. I was in an accident when I got my powers."
Dash continued to say nothing, as he simply knelt and handed Danny or Sam whatever they asked for out of the tiny first aid kit. He was in shock, to say the least and didn't know what to make of anything that had happened.
Noting his silence, Sam and Danny continued with their work, leaving him be for the moment. He obviously needed a few more minutes to take it all in, and a lot of what was going to happen was going to hinge upon Dash.
Dash, as he sat and helped Danny and Sam, observed the people he had come to call his friends as of late. The others were acting so coolly and calmly about everything that the teen forced himself to at least assist in anyway he could. Dash Baxter wasn't going to fall apart in front of these people.
'They called it 'cleaning up',' Dash looked around him, noticing how torn up the park had become from the fighting, 'It's like damage control. They've been doing this for years…'
The realization hit him then that they truly had been doing this for years. Danny Phantom had first appeared their Freshman year. For two years Dash had been tormenting and bullying the hero of Amity Park. The ghost that probably could have thrashed him without breaking a sweat, 'Do ghosts even sweat? Wow, that was really random…'
Danny had never retaliated more than the occasional prank, or even just dodging a punch and then mysteriously disappearing. It was no mystery now what happened all those times or how the teenager had been able to pull the elaborate pranks on Dash, 'He could have done so much more to me…he could have beaten the shit out of me, but he never did…'
Dash was lost. He didn't know what to think, and so simply allowed himself to go blank. He listened to Valerie as she talked hurriedly with her father about coming and picking up 'poor Mr. Masters' who had been 'overshadowed by a really nasty ghost' and had 'something really wrong with his head.' She added a rather convincing parting line when her conversation came to a close.
"Dad? Just…when you bring people to come and pick him up," she smirked even as she made her voice sound small and scared, "Be really careful, alright? He's acting really weird and keeps talking about Danny being a ghost….I know, isn't that dumb? Yeah, I will. Okay Dad…bye."
As she finished her conversation, Tucker got off the phone with the Fentons, "They'll be right over to check the area out. They're bringing their first aid kit to help patch Sam up some more. Now how are we gonna' explain Danny being covered with bruises and cuts?"
"He went to pull me out of the way when I got hit, and the ghost started kicking up rocks and sticks and stuff with his powers," Sam smiled, "Danny got beat up by all the little stuff…"
"Sound good to me," Danny winced as he shifted his weight and stood, "I guess I'll just have to act like I feel better than I do…"
"Big baby," Sam said as playfully as she could manage with her leg still feeling like it was on fire.
"Whatever," Danny sat beside her and placed his palm over the bandages, letting it sink in and cool her burn again, "I'll just keep it cool until Mom and Dad get here."
Valerie and Tucker migrated towards the pair and began to rework all the details, making sure everything was perfectly matched. It wasn't until Valerie's father pulled up with a few of the other Axion Lab workers that they shot Dash a worried look. The poor guy was still sitting in a nearly catatonic state.
Stories were quickly given with much animated chatter and recounting on each of their parts. Dash noticed that it was amazingly well acted out. It honestly seemed like the story they had concocted had happened, and if Dash hadn't seen the fight first hand, he too would have been fooled.
'But I know the truth now,' Dash stood up and brushed the dirt from his clothes, 'I can't believe it…but I saw it.'
"Are you sure you're all okay?" Mr. Gray was worriedly looking over the teenagers in his presence, "Sam, do you need anything?"
"No," Sam said tiredly from her bench, "The Fentons are coming to pick us up and have something for this burn."
She then put on a sickeningly sweet look and said in a sugary voice, "I'm sure glad that Danny Phantom and the Ghost Hunter were there to protect us."
The reaction from Danny was immediate and hilarious. The halfa turned around so quickly to stare disbelievingly at Sam that Dash was sure he had given himself whiplash. He also turned a rather nice color red, from the roots of his hair all the way down his neck. His ears were particularly bright. Mr. Gray, however, was far too focused on Sam and his daughter to notice.
"Alright," he nodded to Sam and then turned to Valerie, "Sweetie, I want you to ride back to the labs with me and tell me what happened again. You're sure that there's something wrong with Vlad Masters?"
"Yeah Dad," Valerie nodded her head innocently, moving towards the vehicles with him as the other men lifted Mr. Masters into the back seat of one of the vehicles, "I'll tell you about it on the way there."
As they pulled off, Sam burst into laughter, causing the fading blush on Danny's face to spring back into life, "I can't believe you blushed so much!"
"Ah shut up," Danny frowned as he huffily turned away from the girl and kicked a rock, "I can't believe you said that…'I'm sure glad that Danny Phantom was there to protect us'? Man Sam, you need acting lessons."
"Hey," she retorted and would have placed her hands on her hips if she had been standing up, "It sure seems to work for Paulina. Oh wait, I forgot to clasp my hands by my cheeks in a pathetic display of infatuation and futilely bat my eyes to attract your attention! Shoot, I knew I was doing something wrong…"
Tucker grinned and laughed as he began playing with his PDA, "You two need to take this somewhere else, there are people trying to concentrate over here…and I can't do that when you're being so darn entertaining!"
"What are you doing?" Sam asked, even as she shot the still silent Dash a worried glance as he sat back down on the ground. It was all a little much to take in.
"I'm hacking into Vlad Master's employee's files and inserting certain comments from recently 'missing' people about how strangely he was acting," Danny smiled as Tucker looked immensely proud of himself, "That way our story about him being overshadowed and mentally damaged is far more credible."
"You can really do all that on that little PDA?" Sam shook her head in amazement, "Remind me to never get on your bad side."
"Whatever, you'd just hire hit-men to off me if I ever messed with you."
"Nah," Sam laughed and winked at Tucker, "I'd just bribe Danny."
As the three stood and laughed, Dash had his second hard hitting realization of the day. The four people he had recently taken to hanging out with were all extremely dangerous in their own ways. He hadn't given any of them a second thought though, because they had never utilized what they had to seek out retribution.
Valerie was a ghost hunter, complete with weapons and other dangerous equipment. She was agile, athletic, and was extremely talented in her form of martial arts. Cross Valerie Gray and you could end up in the hospital.
Tucker, too, had his own ways of becoming a menace should he ever choose. He was incredibly intelligent when it came to technology, and if he could hack into Vlad Master's employee's records, who knew what else he could do. He could ruin anyone he didn't like with a few simple commands on a keyboard.
Sam. Since she had had her sweet sixteen at her mansion, everyone in school had come to know she had money. It was the talk of the school for a few weeks before they realized that Sam honest to God didn't care that she was rich. The comment about hiring a hit-man though…she probably could…
Then of course there was the teenager who could actually be her hit-man, and all she would have to do was ask nicely. Danny Fenton, the joke of the school was the most powerful ghost that currently resided in the town…no wait…hadn't Sam called him a halfa?
'So Danny's a 'halfa' who could probably kill me with no problems and never be caught, Sam's super rich and can buy off whoever she wants, Tucker can hack into anything and make major trouble, and Valerie could put me in a hospital,' Dash took a deep breath, then let it out slowly as he started laughing quietly to himself before letting it out and joining the others in their laughter, 'I'm either really lucky that they're my friends, or really in deep shit.'
As he started laughing, Sam and Danny smiled at one another as Tucker moved over closer to Dash, offering his hand to pull him up. Taking it shakily, Dash stood just as the Fentons pulled up in their RV, armed to the teeth with ghost hunting equipment.
The story was told for the third time, the number of Valerie's father was given, and the four teens were loaded into the vehicle.
"Well," Danny laughed to himself, rubbing his neck nervously as he tried to engage Dash in conversation, "It's shaping up to be a pretty normal day for me…this kinda' happens all the time. Sorry to ruin the day out, but it was bound to happen sooner or later."
As Dash simply nodded slowly, Sam jumped in to try and help Danny out, "Yeah, I was actually wondering when something ghost related was going to happen. The weird stuff always happens to us, you know?"
Dash nodded slowly once again, then turned to look at the pair sitting beside him, "Are you really psychic?"
Sam sat back in slight surprise and Danny's eyebrows shot up as he peeked worriedly over his shoulder at his parents, "Listen, Dash," Danny started as he turned back around, "We aren't psychic, alright? My parents don't like it when people talk about that, and they don't know about…well, you know. They don't know about who I am…"
Dash simply slid his gaze away from the surprised teens and resumed his contemplative state, 'I can't believe it…'
.o.O.o.o.O.o.
"Sam?"
They had long ago dropped Dash and Tucker off at their homes, and headed back to the Fentons at their insistence that Sam not stay at her house alone with a burn on her leg. She had tried to argue that her grandmother and the wait staff were present, but the Fentons wouldn't have any of it…Danny included.
"Yeah Danny?"
Danny himself had called her grandmother and gotten permission for her to stay in Jazz's room for the night, just to make sure that her leg was alright. Her grandmother had tried to offer Sam to Danny for him to keep for a few months, but a stuttered 'No thanks' ended that line of conversation quickly. Sam had heard her grandmother cackling at Danny's reply and had rolled her eyes.
"Do you think Dash is gonna' say anything? You know about…me…"
They had had an enjoyable evening, sitting in front of the television and watching classic cartoons and movies that they had liked when they were both young. Singing along with Disney tunes and laughing at comedy shows helped the afternoon and evening to pass. Dinner had been served in the living room as well, just so Sam wouldn't have to move. It had, for once, been cooked by Danny's mother and been completely safe to eat.
"I don't know…but I don't think you have to worry."
More movies had been in order after dinner for the entire family. Jack had complained about missing his 'Princess' but Jazz had had to go back to school the week before them. Her college's Spring Break was set during a different week than Casper High's. They remedied this with a solid 'Ghost Hunter' marathon on cable.
"He was really quiet."
After the marathon had ended at eleven, Maddie and Jack both decided to hit the pillows, remarking on their younger years and how much later they had been able to stay up when they were younger. Danny and Sam had snuggled themselves down into a pair of blankets and enjoyed a late night horror flick. Really it was more B grade slasher than anything, but it was enjoyed none-the-less and many remarks about how unrealistic the scenes were had been made. By the end they were seated side by side, sharing both blankets for extra warmth.
"He was just in shock, now shut up and go to sleep before I'm forced to get up and defenestrate you, you extra clingy person you!"
"Huh?"
"Never mind Danny, just go to sleep so I can…"
After the movie had ended it was upstairs, via a very considerate halfa, and Sam found herself tucked into Jazz's twin sized, puffy bed. It wasn't home, but it was comfortable and the teenaged boy floating above her with his legs crossed added a certain familiarity to it all. He had been stuck to her all evening, and the worry roiling just beneath his calm façade was like a beacon to Sam's sensitivity to his emotions.
"Oh, alright, uh…night Sam."
"Danny, I'll be fine. It's just a burn on my leg."
"But it was a ghost burn," Danny winced, "I've never seen a human be burnt by a ghost ray before. I mean, I fried Tucker a little once, but I didn't actually leave a mark."
Rolling her eyes, Sam rolled onto her back, finding herself face to face with Danny. The immediate reaction on Danny's part was to dart back out of the way, lest he suffer the wrath of a ticked off Sam. On her part, it was a quiet surprise at how truly worried Danny was about her. It was bordering on clingy, like she had told him, but it didn't really bother her.
"Danny," she caught his attention with her tone of voice, his eyes glowing slightly in the darkness of the room, "It's fine. I'm just sleepy from all the excitement and if anything was going to happen, it would have happened already. It's late, and I'm tired, and I can feel that you're pushing yourself too and need to rest. Go to bed, and I'll see you in the morning."
"You're sure you're alright?" Danny's green eyes came closer again and peered at her innocently.
"I'm fine," Sam reached up and grabbed his hand, "I promise."
"Good," Danny finally relented and smiled, leaning over and giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead, "I, uh...I was worried."
Then he faded out, leaving Sam to enjoy the quiet of the room and the tingly feeling his icy lips had left on her brow. The feelings swirling between the two had them both lulled into a gentle sleep, the worries of the coming days escaping their minds for a few hours of peaceful rest.
The week of Spring Break was coming to an end and school was quickly approaching. The only question now lingering was a loaded one and could make or break many friendships and bonds. The question?
What would Dash do?