Chapter 276: Changed Plans

.

"This was his plan? Really?" The papers in Danny's hand rustled as he gestured with them. "This?" He'd known Freakshow was delusional, but he couldn't think this would work.

Except… Could it work? Freakshow's plan had worked out for him so far, so why couldn't it keep going? Danny had to take the potential threat seriously.

"It makes a certain sort of sense," said Clockwork. He was slightly older than he usually was, and he stroked his beard pensively. "If one wishes to rule, one must have power. If this plan worked, he would certainly gain power."

Yes, he would. Enough power, perhaps, to take over the Earth, if he managed to funnel the power of his captives into whatever magics he was using to establish control. Not enough to take over the Infinite Realms, especially not if Sojourn and Nephthys shut down the portals, which they would, but…

It would still be bad. Allowing Freakshow to use his people like tools, like weapons, to further his sick fantasies would be an unmitigated failure, even ignoring the potential conquest of the planet Earth, which held the vast majority of the human race and from which many of the Dead hailed.

If it came to that, came to Freakshow truly threatening the existence of the United States, or any country, for that matter, Danny would act, whether or not he was given permission. Heck, if it came to Freakshow carving out his own country and setting himself up as a dictator, Danny would act.

Danny might decide to act before that, if Sam and Pamela didn't come back safely and soon. They were strong, he knew, and it was unfair of him on several levels to make Sam a higher priority than any of the other people Freakshow was hurting or threatening, but Sam was special. Sam was his best friend, along with Tucker, and the two of them were the first people his Obsession had latched onto.

Not giving them priority would be… He shouldn't say impossible. He wasn't sure he had ever really tried. Or wanted to try.

Obsessions were sort of like that.

Danny sighed. "His plan," he said out loud, again, checking to make sure he understood, "before he teamed up with 'Miss Forest,' was to slowly gain control of the ghosts in their tanks, with Lydia assisting him and serving as a… familiar." He frowned. "I hadn't realized that was even a thing."

"It is," said Nephthys, "and like many such things, it can be used for good or ill."

"Once he had enough, he'd break a few out and then have them overshadow people at the facility, slowly building up his power until he could remake his staff, then continue more openly until he had enough ghosts to actually take over somewhere, then make a move on Amity Park so he could get all the ghosts there. But he had to know it wouldn't work. He knew we were in discussions to get everyone back. He would have been found out. He wouldn't have been able to completely take over."

"He did, though, great one," said Frostbite. "With help, true, but he did take control of every ghost being held by the US government. That we are aware of."

That was true. "But still. He would have been found out… But by then he might have spirited himself and who knows how many other people away," said Danny, acknowledging the point. "I guess it wasn't as bad an idea as I thought at first."

"It was still flawed," said Clockwork. "The problem, however, is what he is doing now."

Danny nodded. Freakshow's plans had changed. "He'll still want to increase his power," he said, "and he lost a lot of people when Sojourn dropped them into the council chambers. Skulker, what do you think he'll do?"

"Why are you asking me?" demanded Skulker. "I've never even met this man."

"Yes, but you are First of Generals," said Danny.

"I didn't want to be."

"And you have experience with armies."

"One. One army."

"So, I guess I'm wondering what you'd do, if you were Freakshow."

Everyone stared at Skulker. Danny blinked a few times.

"I would hunt for my prey," said Skulker. "Find where it is, follow its tracks, not stop until it was in my grasp." He clenched one of his robotic fists in front of him, the fire of his faux hair briefly growing brighter.

Okay. Yeah. That made sense. Skulker was a hunter, after all. Freakshow wasn't, but… Freakshow had a goal, and he'd be working towards that. His goal being something along the lines of ruling the world and taking control of all ghosts.

"What could he do to make his control stronger, improve his spells?"

"Acquiring more artifacts would be the most straightforward way," said Clockwork, "but there are also a number of rituals he could undertake that would improve his control."

The Tiger coughed. "Ley lines are a possibility, although it has been many years since I visited the human world, and I no longer recall the nodes."

"Ley lines are a thing?" asked Danny, moderately surprised.

"They are not nearly as powerful as some people claim," said Clockwork, "but they do have some small influence. Enough that someone with talent, training, and a firm grasp of theory may be able to make use of them."

"And Freakshow has all of those," said Danny.

"He's good with artifacts," said Nephthys, "I will admit that, but from what I've seen of him thus far, he's more adept at scavenging from true sorcerers than using his own abilities. If there are places where he could locate artifacts, he will be found there."

"Alright," said Danny. "I agree. Do any of you know where something like that would be? Like, in the general location of the holding facility, or near Amity Park? Or between them?" Danny still felt that Amity Part would be Freakshow's ultimate destination. The man was arrogant enough.

Silence.

"Don't you?" asked Moneta. "None of us exactly make a habit of visiting there."

Danny pointed at Skulker.

"He doesn't count."

"Does that mean I can leave?" asked Skulker.

"You may not," said Clockwork.

"Actually, do we even know where the holding facility even was?" asked Moneta.

Mr. Lancer cleared his throat. "Our spring trip to Lake Eerie had a number of oddities. And there is the Arkwright House."

"Oh, yeah, that is on the list of places that… that Fentons are banned from," said Danny. "That was… A family of spiritualists, but the husband died young-ish, and the wife thought she was being haunted, so she kept remodeling the house? Made it so there weren't any straight lines in it or something? And it was huge?"

"Yes, I believe that's the backstory. It's quite a large building. A tourist destination."

"Okay, so he might be going there," said Danny. "And… that doesn't help all that much, when we can't go do anything, does it?"

"It helps a great deal, Daniel. We will be sending our thoughts to your sister. Perhaps it will help her convince the Americans to allow us to intervene."

"Hopefully, yeah," said Danny.

"And," said Nephthys, standing, "that's my cue."

"Cue for what?" asked Danny.

"I've got to pick up my kid. He's having some issues."

"Your… Your kid. Dan?"

"That's the one!" Nephthys opened a portal and stepped through. "See you in a bit!"

Somehow, Danny got the feeling that, despite her valuable input, Nephthys wasn't taking this as seriously as she could be.

"But he's supposed to be looking for Sam and Mrs. Manson," said Danny, weakly, "and he can make portals. Why does he need to be picked up?"

.

.

.

Dan was just about ready to abandon Johnny. Or throttle him. He was so angry that his hair had grown several inches in height and was hot enough to make his scalp tighten and itch. Not an easy feat.

He had made a portal back to where his stupid past self (who was no longer and never would be his past self in truth) was just a few hours ago. He should be able to do this.

He had put them back where Danny was, right? He'd only glanced through. If he'd somehow managed to lose the pair of them, he was going to-

Not commit murder. He was working on that. He was going to… do something violent and unpleasant. Probably to Johnny or Shadow, because he did blame them for this.

A portal opened up in front of them.

"Er, is that one of yours, dude?"

"No," said Dan, shortly. He recognized that portal.

Naturally, Nephthys, his… Whatever. His pain in the back lunatic wannabe babysitter that had chosen to set herself on Dan. She stepped through the portal.

"See you in a bit!" she called to whoever was on the other side.

"You!" shouted Dan.

"Really, is that any way to speak to your mother?"

"Wow, that's the Master of…" said Johnny, trailing off. Then, because he apparently hadn't reached the limits of his inanity, "You're sure related to some people."

"He sure is!"

"That's possibly the dumbest thing you've said, and you've said a lot of dumb things today," snapped Dan.

"Hey, just because you can't understand me, that doesn't mean anything."

"He's completely right," said Nephthys. "Now, I understand that you're having some portal trouble."

"Wait… Did you do this?"

"No," said Nephthys. She stepped over a chartreuse fern. "Change often begets some instability. Oscillations, as things return to a stable state. Little Shadow here, agent of entropy that he is, only accelerated that."

"Which means?"

"Which means, how you relate to your powers is changing, and this is the result. Of course, how you relate to everything about yourself has changed recently, so…" She made an open-handed shrugging motion. "Do you want to come back with me, or do you want to keep trying to get the portals right on your own?"

"I was tracking Freakshow," growled Dan. "I almost had him."

Nephthys tilted her head. "Ah, well. That must have been frustrating. I know you kids are all very excited about him, but he is only a temporary issue. Same with this peace treaty business, really. I mean, that president only has a couple years left on him."

"Oh my god," said Johnny. "You can tell when people are going to die? That's metal."

"Aren't you supposed to be punk?" asked Dan. "Or a greaser or something."

"I'm a complicated person and good music transcends fashion choices."

"I can tell when people are going to die," said Nephthys. "Usually. But I was talking about term limits. America has those, I'm pretty sure. Anyway, when he's gone, we can just try again with the next guy. That's how those things work."

Dan didn't know enough about politics to dispute that. Vlad had employed a stupidly massive number of lobbyists and political advisors in his life, but he himself hadn't really been involved.

However, he did know one thing. "Doesn't seem like what Danny would want."

"Oh, I won't deny that," said Nephthys.

Dan felt his eye twitch. "He had Sam," he said.

Nephthys paused. "That is a bit of a larger problem. Still. Will you be staying or coming? This is quite far out, compared to your usual haunts. We hardly in Earth equivalent space anymore."

Dan growled. "I'm coming with you."

"Excellent!" Nephthys opened a portal and stepped through. Dan dragged Johnny and Shadow with him.

.

.

.

They returned to a council chamber in disarray. At least, Dan assumed it was disarray. He wasn't exactly familiar with it, but it certainly gave Nephthys pause.

"I left you for five minutes," she said, dismayed. "What happened?"

"We have a potential solution," said Danny. "We just got a new message from the president. A potential solution."

Themis was standing up, arms crossed. "I do not consider such a wordplay to be valid. It goes against the spirit of the rules decided upon by the initial committee."

"But it isn't, really, is it? I mean, it's still a prisoner exchange."

"Barely. It lacks any true reciprocation."

"The important part is that we'll be able to get our people back," said Danny.

"The important part is that justice is attained," countered Themis.

Frostbite smacked the table with the hammer. "My apologies," he said, "but we seem to be…" He gestured rather helplessly.

"Right," said Nephthys. "I think this is something we'll have to talk about."

"I'm trying to talk about it," said Danny.

"I mean just the Regency Council," said Nephthys.

Danny opened his mouth, closed it, then said, "Isn't Frostbite supposed to be the chairman?"

Everyone looked at Frostbite. "Er. Yes. Motion recognized. All in favor?"

Dan didn't bother to count the ayes. It was a majority, anyway. Dan and Danny were summarily kicked out.

(For some reason, Johnny was allowed to stay.)