Disclaimer: I don't own it.

Powerless

OOOOOOO

Danny was grateful that it was still dark as the Fenton Speeder flew over the Wisconsin skyline reaching speeds of 300mph. They had a better chance of making it into Vlad's mansion under the cover of night. Jazz and Tucker were both sleeping fitfully in the back and he felt both envious and angry with them for being able to relax enough to fall asleep. The only thought in his mind was Sam, if she was all right. He looked up as Tucker climbed into the passenger seat next to him. He knew that he needed to apologize, to tell Tucker that he didn't really blame him. Sam was like a sister to Tucker and Danny knew that if he had been there Tucker would have died to protect her. He glanced over again as Tucker spoke.

"Danny, I don't know what to say man, sorry doesn't even begin to cover it. You put your trust in me and I let you down and Sam…" Tucker's voice cracked a little and he stopped, clearing his throat. Danny sighed and put the speeder on autopilot before turning to face his best friend.

"Tucker, what I said before, I shouldn't have said those things to you. I know that if you could have been there you would have. None of this is your fault Tuck, I just…I'm nothing without her…" Danny let his eyes fall to his lap unable to speak. Tucker placed his hand on his shoulder.

"We'll get her Danny." Danny looked up at Tucker and gave him a weak smile as they shared a look of silent understanding, nothing else needing to be said between them. Jazz watched quietly from the back, relieved that the two men were okay with each other.

OOOOOOO

Sam had spent the last hour searching the suite of rooms for any escape. The doors were all locked and she had tried to pick them with no luck. Looking out the windows, all she could see was darkness, there was no way of knowing how far up she was. Tired and frustrated she decided to try to the doors one last time. Taking her last hairpin she slipped it into the keyhole and twisted it, giving an angry sob as the pin broke in half, useless. She slid down on the floor and leaned her head against the door, wanting to cry. Taking a deep breath she looked up and scanned the room again about to give up when a silver glint from the desk caught her eye. She stood up and walked over to see a thin elegant letter opener lying on top of the desk. Sam picked it up and looked back at the door. It can't hurt to try she thought to herself and holding the letter opener moved back to the door. Trying to be quiet, she slipped the sharp end into the key hole and moved it around hoping it would work. After about a minute, she felt it catch and she froze as the door unlocked with a loud click. When she didn't hear anyone, she took a deep breath and slowly opened the door. The hallway was dark and quiet and she felt a glimmer of hope as she slipped out the door and closed it silently. She crept down the hallway toward the staircase praying she would not bump into anyone. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she let out a quiet breath of relief. So far so good. Looking around she was debating which direction to go in when she heard a sound. She darted behind a large armchair and held her breath, listening hard before she heard a voice behind her.

OOOOOOO

Danny finally spotted the mansion and landed the speeder a short distance away. Tucker armed himself with a blaster, a thermos, and one of the walkie-talkies while Danny turned ghost and flew, invisible, up to have a better look around. Seeing that everything looked quiet, he flew back to Tucker and Jazz.

"It looks quiet, ready to go Tuck?"

"Danny, it may be quiet but you need to be careful, Vlad could be expecting you," Jazz pointed out. Danny nodded and looked over to Jazz and motioned her closer. When she stepped up to him, he surprised her by giving her a hug.

"Thanks Sis." Jazz returned the hug and smiled at him.

"Be careful you two."

It had already been agreed that Jazz would stay behind with the speeder and call for help if anything went wrong. Danny stepped over to Tucker and grabbed him under the arms, turning them both invisible and flying over the trees. Tucker shut his eyes tight. "I hate this part" he whined. Nearing the house Danny touched down by a side door and phased them both through into the house. Letting go of Tucker and turning visible again he looked around.

"Tuck I think we should split up, you take these back stairs and look around on the upper floor, and I'll look down here. And be quiet!" Tucker nodded and hurried toward the stairs while Danny started silently down the hall. Flinching as he heard a metallic thud he looked toward Tucker, who shrugged sheepishly as he picked the thermos up from the floor. Rolling his eyes, Danny continued down the hall and paused outside a large parlor as he heard voices.

"I must say that I am quite disappointed in you Samantha, I had hoped you would accept becoming my wife." Sam gasped and whirled around to face Vincent.

"Fat chance" she snarled before moving to put the chair between them.

"You don't really want to fight me now do you? After all, you do hold Daniel Fenton's life in your hands. Sam hesitated at that and Danny, having heard enough, suddenly flew into the room and landed in front of Sam.

"I'm the one you're going to fight." Danny noted with satisfaction that the man seemed surprised to see him and started forward, when a horrific pain shot through his body and crying out, he dropped to the floor as he suddenly changed back into human form.

"Danny!" Sam cried running to him and kneeling next to him. Shaking, he looked up at her and smiled reassuringly as he pulled her into a hug.

"Sam are you okay?" She nodded as she helped him to his feet.

"Well, my boy, I will say that you continue to surprise me, I didn't expect you until late this evening."

Danny and Sam turned to face Vlad Plasmius who had appeared next to Vincent holding a small control in his hand. Danny growled and stepped forward, letting go of Sam and trying to transform, but stopped, confused when he couldn't.

"Why can't I transform?"

"Oh, I think Samantha knows, don't you my dear?" Sam simply stared at Danny feeling sick as she realized that Plasmius had activated the chip. Danny just looked confused. Plasmius smirked at Sam as he said, "I do believe it is time to make that decision we spoke of earlier my dear." Vincent gave Danny a look of triumph as he stepped forward and held out his hand to Sam. She stood frozen as Danny frowned.

"Sam, what is he talking about? What decision?" Sam caught a movement from the stairway out of the corner of her eye and closed them, praying that Danny would realize what she was trying to do.

"Danny…I…I'm sorry, I have to" she whispered brokenly as she turned away from him and slowly walked over to stand next to Vincent, pointedly ignoring his hand. Danny stared at Sam in shock, what is she doing?

"Sam?" Danny turned to face Vlad and no one noticed Sam motioning frantically to Tucker who was standing in the shadows of the staircase, pointing to the control in Plasmius' hand. He nodded and slipped down the stairs while the men were talking.

"What did you tell her?" Danny yelled at Plasmius.

"We simply made Samantha an offer she couldn't refuse Daniel."

With a sudden war cry, Tucker jumped out from the shadows and shot a ray at Plasmius with his blaster. Caught off guard Plasmius was thrown against the wall and the control clattered out of his hand. Sam stomped hard on Vincent's foot and tore away from him diving for the control and grabbing it. Pressing the button, she yelled to Danny.

"Danny now! Go ghost!" Not fully understanding what was happening; Danny transformed and dove at Vincent who had grabbed Sam. Dropping the control accidentally when Danny plowed into Vincent, she watched as it slid across the floor toward Plasmius.

"Tucker! Shoot it! Destroy the control!" she shouted. Tucker fumbled, dropping the blaster and Plasmius laughed as he stood with the control in his hand. He flew forward and grabbed Sam, pulling her back against him and charging a powerful energy blast in his fist.

"STOP! Or she dies."

Danny, who had been clearly winning in a fight with Vincent stopped suddenly and dropped him, letting the man slump to the floor.

"Let her go!" he shouted.

Plasmius sneered at him. "I don't think you're in any position to make demands, Daniel." He pressed the button and Danny felt pain shoot through him again as he suddenly changed back and collapsed. Vlad looked up as there was a loud roaring noise and the house shook as the Fenton Assault Vehicle slammed through the wall and came to a screeching halt, the door opening to reveal Jack Fenton brandishing an ectocannon.

"NO ONE HURTS MY FAMILY!" he shouted firing wildly as everyone ducked for cover. Tucker crawled behind a chair covering his head with his arms as Plasmius spun around loosening his grip on Sam enough for her to wrench free and run to Danny. Plasmius turned himself invisible and reappeared directly behind Jack, catching him with a powerful blast in the back. Falling to the floor, the ectocannon smashed, useless, as Maddie jumped from the assault vehicle in her blue hazmat suit, skillfully whipping the Jack-o-nine tails toward Plasmius, wrapping around him and sending him crashing to the floor next to Tucker who, thinking quickly, grabbed his thermos and sucked the ghost into it before capping it.. Jazz, who had jumped out behind Maddie, ran over to Sam and Danny.

"Danny! Are you all right? Danny?"

Sam looked up at Jazz. "I think he's okay, just knocked out, but we have to…"

Without warning, Vincent grabbed Sam from behind. "You're mine Samantha," he growled in her ear as he started to drag her backward.

"Sam!" Jazz yelled starting to stand but Sam shook her head.

"No, Jazz! You have to get the microchip off Danny, he can't go gho..." She was cut off by Vincent, who had reached into his pocket and drawn out the handkerchief he had used earlier on her. He pressed it to her face with one hand, keeping the other arm around her waist as he continued to back up. Although there wasn't enough of the sedative left on the handkerchief to knock her out, Sam started feeling dizzy and her vision blurred. She felt herself lifted up and thrown over his shoulder as Vincent turned and ran out of the room.

"Mom! Dad! We need to find some sort of microchip on Danny that's cutting off his powers," Jazz yelled to where Maddie was helping Jack up off the floor. Tucker gave Jazz a shocked look that she ignored as he and the Fenton's ran to her side. Maddie pulled a sensor of some sort from her belt and turned it on, running it over Danny. "Ah, ha!" she yelled as the sensor detected something and made a loud pinging noise.

Danny groaned as he came to, opening his eyes to see his parents, Jazz, and Tucker all looking down on him. Confused for a second he could not figure out why everyone was looking at him, then memory kicked in and he looked around wildly.

"Sam? Where is she?" he yelled as he started to stand, only to be held down by Jack.

"Hold it, Danny boy." Maddie reached down behind Danny's left ear and pulled her hand back. In it was a tiny round chip.

"What is that?" Tucker asked.

Maddie answered. "It's a chip that Vlad must have somehow placed on Danny. I think it shorted out his ghost powers." Danny was aware of Tucker staring at his mom as if she had grown a second head and somewhere in his mind, he processed that his secret was out but he didn't care. Pushing his dad off him, he stood and turned ghost, ignoring the gasps from both of his parents.

"Where's Sam?"

Jazz pointed in the direction of an open door. "That guy grabbed her, he went that way." Danny took off in that direction, desperate to find her, leaving the others to follow.