Chapter 100!
It turns out that I haven't done anything special for it, though... Too much stuff going on...
Hope you have a good new year!
.
.
.
Chapter 100:
.
Vlad waited for the response to his letter.
Of course, he couldn't be sure when it would be read, so he did most of his waiting in his Amity Park mansion. He had things to do there, if he was to maintain his power. He had taken measures, however, to ensure that the GIW would not disturb him or any messenger that might come for him. His laboratory in the basement was triple-shielded, among other things.
If Vlad could convince Jack and Maddie that the best thing for Daniel was to stay with him, it would put him in a much better bargaining position. He had already convinced a large number of other interested parties to back him. His position was only logical, after all. He was the only one who could truly assume responsibility for the young half-ghost when he was on the material plane, and he had human law behind him on that front. Jack and Maddie's will had him as Daniel and Jasmine's guardian in case of Jack and Maddie's disappearance or death.
At the moment, however, Vlad was working on expelling the GIW from Amity Park. Having them still be here when the trial started would hurt his position significantly. He had to be able to provide a safe environment for Daniel. He was having trouble finding the proper angle, however. It hadn't been quite long enough to argue that the GIW had failed and were now using the tragedy as an excuse to expand their power, even though Vlad knew that the GIW agents who had gone into the Zone were either dead or about to suffer a far worse fate.
He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers. Everyone in Amity Park hated the GIW, but the hope that they would bring back the children was a strong motivator. But Vlad couldn't bring the children back until the trial was over, and it would be difficult for him to win unless he could get rid of the GIW. It wasn't quite a catch-22.
His mind drifted. He had half a dozen unworkable ideas jotted down in front of him. Perhaps something would come to him if he stepped back, unfocused his mind.
Inevitably, his thoughts returned to the trial. A surprisingly large number of people favored giving Daniel a Lethean drought, forcing him to forget his human life, and placing him with Clockwork. The proposal had a certain logic to it. It could be considered a kindness to give the child a clean slate. It would keep him from tearing himself apart over his Obsession, over the fates of his parents and his erstwhile haunt.
Vlad could easily argue against that, however. It was considered cruel to separate a ghost from their haunt. That bond was not dictated only by memory. It was more akin to the bond a ghost had with their lair than anything else. What had Daniel done, to deserve the pain its slow dissolution would cause?
Then there were the ghosts who would attempt to attain guardianship themselves. Those would be quickly dismissed. Vlad had, to his vast disappointment, discovered that Daniel already had a ghostly guardian. Although that ghost was not one who was allowed to leave the Ghost Zone often. That was the only reason Vlad had a chance of getting guardianship of Daniel in the human world.
On the other hand, he could make a separate ploy to get custody of Jack and Maddie. Or, if he was being honest, just Maddie. He didn't really want the complication of Jack. Not that he had told the two of them that in his letter.
A separate ploy...
Perhaps... Perhaps... He just had a thought. If he could get the surviving GIW agents to be destroyed in a manner that would be obvious to the remaining agents in Amity Park, and, more importantly, Amity Park's citizens, then perhaps Amity Park would rebel, chase off the GIW.
Or... He didn't necessarily have to bring Daniel back to Amity Park right away. He did have other holdings where Daniel would be safe, and in the human world, ready to return to Amity Park whenever it became safe. Yes. Yes. He would have to think on that, and on the disposition of Jasmine. As his only other human family, not counting Maddie's stepsister, Jazz would be an important-
The alarm on his portal went off, startling him from his thoughts. He turned eagerly to the portal. Had Maddie already responded to his letter?
A vulture winged its way out of the portal, wheezing. Vlad was never quite sure why they did that. They didn't need to breathe.
"Where's the letter?" he asked, before realizing that this was not the one who he had tasked to wait for a response, but the one who had been shadowing Daniel.
The vulture shook his head. "No letter. Elysium is under attack."
.
.
.
Tucker was looking for Danny. Actually, everyone was looking for Danny. He had been conspicuously absent during the battle. Even if it hadn't lasted a half an hour, with Pandora doing most of the work, Danny normally would have shown up to try and help. Even if all he was capable of was getting people out of the way of the fight, that was what he would have done. Danny was completely, fundamentally, incapable of ignoring this kind of thing.
But he hadn't been in his room, either.
Now, Tucker was making his way down to where Valerie and the others had been bunked. It was possible that Danny went to them first, to check that they were alright, and then they talked some sense into him. Or even physically restrained him. In Danny's current physical state that was possible, especially when Tucker considered Valerie. Or, maybe someone had freaked out and Danny had stayed to comfort them. That was possible, too. More possible, actually.
Tucker didn't quite believe it, though. He had a bad feeling. A really bad feeling. It wasn't like Valerie was exactly the kind of person to shy away from danger. She should have been out there, too, but she wasn't.
He opened the door to the guest dormitory. As expected, the room was empty.
Tucker sucked in a long, shaky breath. Well. Maybe the others had had more luck.
.
.
.
Mr Lancer woke up on something hard and lumpy. His back was very unhappy. Very, very unhappy. He was sure he hadn't fallen asleep on anything that had felt remotely like this. Where had he-?
He sat up, breathing heavily. Miss Gray had shot him. She had... He blinked. He was... He hadn't expected this. He wasn't sure what he had expected, waking up on the guest room floor, maybe, but not this, not waking up on the ground, outside, in the Ghost Zone. The sky above him was full of rocky islands impressed on a cloudy background of what looked like ever-shifting stairs. The ground that he was lying on was covered in something that was like crabgrass except that it was a dark, almost black, purple.
"Robinson Caruso..." Where- Where was he? Why had Miss Gray brought him here? Where were his other students?
A look around answered that last question. They were all strewn around him, unconscious. Well, maybe not all. He couldn't tell who all of them were from where he was sitting, but a quick count showed that he was three heads short. With some effort, Mr Lancer got to his feet.
He didn't know what to do. He knew some first aid, but first aid implied that second aid was on its way, and he didn't have anything to give first aid with. At least he could put them into recovery position.
God, some of them were burned, their clothing and hair singed. He didn't have anything to treat them with. At least everyone he checked was breathing, and didn't have any obvious bleeding. That meant that they would probably wake up. Right?
Then he found Danny.
Danny looked horrible. He was, much like Mr Lancer himself, and unlike the other students, still in his pajamas. He was covered in bruises and long, bleeding gashes. Even his face. Especially his face. Soot streaked his clothing and face. His ankle was tightly bandaged, and the skin around it was swollen and discolored.
Mr Lancer knelt down by him, his hand fluttering, hovering over Danny, afraid to touch him. Mr Lancer could hear him whimpering, sniffing and gasping. There were wet, shiny tracks through the grime on his face.
Well, he clearly wasn't having trouble breathing, but his ankle, and those cuts. They looked more like claw marks than anything else, and they looked like they might be infected. His ankle. There was something Mr Lancer could do about Danny's ankle. He could untie it, get blood flowing to the toes again. They were more than a little purple right now.
He exhaled slowly, shoulders shaking. First- First he had to go through the procedure. The proper first aid procedure. Yes. "Mr Fenton?" Danny flinched, but otherwise didn't respond. Mr Lancer sucked in another breath. "Daniel? Danny?" He touched Danny's shoulder. He felt hot. That was probably a bad thing, considering what Danny was supposed to be. He shook Danny lightly, hoping that the boy would wake up. He didn't. Alright. Okay.
Danny gasped when Mr Lancer first touched his ankle. It was a pathetic, little noise, somewhere between a squeak and a sob. The skin felt feverish, and Mr Lancer's fingers left pale prints on the swollen flesh. Mr Lancer ran his fingers along the bandages, trying to find their edge, occasionally glancing towards where Danny's fingers were digging into the soil and grass.
Eventually, he found it, tucked neatly through another. Mr Lancer slowly unwound it, trying not to notice how Danny's breathing hitched and grew more ragged each time he had to move the injured limb. But then Mr Lancer unwound the last layer, and Danny seemed to relax a little.
Mr Lancer leaned back, trying to look at anything but Daniel's leg. That only gave him more things to worry about, however. Like Danny's arm. It looked broken. Or like how no one else was awake yet. Or like how he was on a random island in the Ghost Zone with no help in sight and no idea how he got there, except that Miss Gray was somehow involved. The rest of his class, too, although it looked like Danny was as unwilling a participant as Mr Lancer himself. What was he going to do?
Danny reached out with one arm, still whimpering. Mr Lancer took his hand, rubbing it with his thumb, coming closer to the young boy again. Danny, showing considerable strength despite his obviously weakened state, pulled himself halfway up onto Mr Lancer's lap. His breathing evened out considerably. Mr Lancer could feel him vibrating (Trembling? Purring?) under his hands.
"What is this?"
Mr Lancer flinched, and looked up. A ghost was floating there in tattered medical scrubs.
"Humans?" continued the ghost, red eyes wide. "Here? Injured, too? Oh no, oh dear, no. We can't have that. I think that I do remember how to treat humans..." The ghost rubbed his chin and floated lower.
"You'll help us?" asked Mr Lancer, surprised and desperate.
"Hm? Oh. Oh yes, yes. I can't have you dying on me, now. There are so many of you, and it's been so long since I've had a proper control group," the ghost said, beaming. "We're going to have so much fun when you're all healthy."
It took Mr Lancer far too long to interpret the ghost's meaning. "No," he said. "No. Stay back!"
"And miss out on all the experiments I have planned?" asked the ghost, now almost to ground level. "Never!"
Very briefly, a lime green shield flickered into existence between Danny and Mr Lancer and the ghost. The ghost stopped, surprised, the smile melting off of his face. "Liminal?" he asked. Then the fragile shield guttered and died, while Danny groaned, and pushed closer to Mr Lancer. The ghost's smile returned full force. "Even better!"
Then the ghost was hit with a green bolt of energy that came from above and behind, plowing him into the ground. Mr Lancer traced the line of attack back up to where it had originated. That was the girl who had been in Daniel's lair, who looked so much like him, who introduced herself as Daniel's- as Phantom's- sister.
She looked furious. Her eyes glowed like tiny green suns, her hair streamed behind her, bright white vivid against the green.
"Even better?" she asked, acid in her tone, green light bubbling from both hands. "Then you'll love this!"
