Youngblood: Let me go!
SS: Naw, I think I'll keep you.
Young blood blows a toy dart at shadow and it sticks to her forehead.
SS: Hey!
---
"Checka, I told you that you couldn't just capture him." Tomowashi sat in a tree in the woods just outside Amity Park. Checka was underneath, fixing her damaged bear.
"I'll get them for this. They broke my toys." the small girl said as she roughly pulled thread through the bear and a dead bird she was attaching onto its arm.
Tomowashi clicked on her radio, "What's our status report?"
A boy's voice replied, "The guard is doubled. The ghost king is in the burrow and the metal hunter is flying on patrol."
"Sounds like we've upped their defenses. That's just great, now we're never going to get the prince." the woman leaned back in her tree and sighed.
"I can stir up a little trouble, distract the guards, but you have to grab the brat. I'll beat him later." Checka spat out the words like venom.
"We have to wait. They suspect too much as is."
---
Danny tapped his pencil against his homework, contemplating his terrible luck. Once again, Vlad was downstairs, playing that stupid dice game with his parents. Danny still didn't know if he could fight or even if his cast would transfer over. The whole ordeal was bugging him.
His mom wouldn't let him go back to school yet, which was fine by him. It gave him time to finish homework. On the down side, Sam and Tucker hadn't been able to come over.
Down stairs, Maddie and Vlad sat in the living room with a fresh pot of tea set before them.
"So, Vlad, why exactly are you here in this small town of Amity Park?" Maddie asked as she poured out some tea.
Vlad knew what she really wanted to know, but wasn't inclined to tell her. "Axion labs is down here, I need to help with management. There are some changes in security I need to oversee. Especially since we lost the satellite to ghosts." half truths are some of the best cover-ups.
"I see." Maddie sat down next to him.
Jack was off getting more potato chips and other snacks. Sometimes he was such a glutton. She was a little nervous to be alone with Vlad, she still remembered the mountains incident, but she needed to know. Besides, Danny was upstairs, a good excuse if she got uncomfortable.
"What do you know of the attack on the school yesterday?" Maddie studied his expression as it seemed to solidify. It was like he built a wall of steal between them, an unusual expression for him to give her. Before, in their younger years, during college, he was always completely open with her. Now he it was as if he were part of another world.
"I heard that Daniel was the target, and that his arm was broken. Beyond that, the details were sketchy, all speculation and gossip." Vlad carefully took a sip of his tea. No secrets would escape his lips.
"It wasn't the first time he was attacked. I found blood on his clothes." her shoulders slumped. "I wish he would tell me about these things. He's getting hurt."
Opportunity is not something to waste. That was something Vlad learned early and well. "I could take him back with me to Wisconsin. Make sure he stays out of trouble, and get his grades up. Being the youngest in a home of ghost hunters is taking its toll; maybe a vacation would do him good." Vlad hated to use his power of suggestion on Maddie, but this once was an exception. A small sacrifice in morals was excusable in this much bigger game. Protecting Daniel was the priority.
For a moment she thought it over. "Vlad you know I can't do that. He doesn't like you much." Maddie paused, "Vlad what's really going on? Why do they want Danny, besides the obvious? This isn't just linage; it has something to do with him directly."
Vlad almost visibly twitched. Now he was getting the brunt of her strong mindedness. She truly could be stubborn sometimes. For a brief moment he wondered how Daniel managed to keep things from her.
What lies to spin? Keep things consistent. That way when things come to light, the important secrets stay secret. "Maddie, this is mostly my fault. You know that Daniel has one of the closest connections to me of anyone. They're using him to get at me. You understand why I can't do anything directly."
Maddie's eye's widened. She knew exactly what he was talking about, but, "You got us into a lot of trouble huh? Can't stay out of it, can you?"
"I'm rolling in gold, what do you expect?" he smiled, willing her to laugh.
She didn't. "Vlad, if anything happens to him, it'll be your head."
He grabbed her hands and made direct eye contact. "If anything happens due to my incompetence, I'll cut it off and give it to you myself."
---
"Why can't I! I'm fine; it's just a broken arm. I'm not going to trip over my own feet." Danny was fully dressed, backpack slung over his shoulder, and ready to go. Maddie was slightly surprised at his insistence to go to school, but passed it off as his dislike of being cooped up.
Jack backed her up, "Danny listen to your mother. She knows best after all."
"But Dad, I'm not a baby. Besides, I need to make my classes. Lancer is going to be upset as it is. If I'm gone much longer, he'll probably blow a gasket"
Maddie straitened up to Danny's height. "I appreciate your sudden interest in school, but after the last time, I'm keeping you home."
"But mom…"
"No buts! Now march yourself up to your room and put your backpack away. You're staying home."
For a moment she thought he wouldn't comply, but without further argument, he trudged up the stairs.
---
"This sucks." Danny kicked his backpack before slumping face down on his bed. "How am I supposed to fight these guys off when I'm here? Then again, they are after me so I'm the only one they're going to attack." he shuttered at the memory.
Rolling onto his back, he stared at model rockets on his shelf. "I'd like to know why they want me. Vlad doesn't wanted want them to have me, so does that mean they are good. No, that girl was scary."
The night before he had updated his files, placing them into their own folder on his computer. Still, he didn't know much about them and it was driving him crazy. He couldn't even toss them into the ghost zone like he did with most ghosts.
So intent on his thoughts, Danny didn't at first notice the tug on his mind. That was until a cold cloth clamped onto his face and wrapped it's self around his nose and mouth. Panic rose in his chest due to his sudden inability to breath and he flailed.
His hand hit something solid. It grunted and he heard a quiet whisper in his ear, "Hush young prince. I mean you no harm. I just don't want to have to contend with your mother. She is quite scary when she wants to be, don't you think?"
Dizziness and confusion swept over his mind. Something was humming giving off a lethargic, drifting feeling. Battle instincts kicked in and he found himself under the bed and away from the cause of his distress.
'So that's where that rocket went…' his mind struggled to center itself. Faintly he knew had to fight her, but that soft rhythm continued to gently push him toward sleep. 'She drugged me.' That thought brought him back to the world. From the center of his being he called upon his power, replacing his human body with light, almost buoyant, ectoplasma. He shot out from under his bed, caching her under the chin with his good hand, sending her into his dresser.
A small part of his mind noted that his left hand hung limply, uncasted. There was no pain, but he knew better than to use it. Another part of his mind saw that his opponent was Tomowashi. Beyond that, Danny had no clue as to how to fight her. He didn't even know what she was.
She pulled herself up and went through the action of dusting herself off. "So violent."
"What do you want?"
"The rings of life and death, you have them yet have no control over them. We can help you; we just need your cooperation."
"You're as crazy as the girl with the bear. I'm not going with you." Danny formed ectoplasma in his hands.
She dodged to the right of the first blast, rolled under the second, popped and wrapped her arms around him before he could fire a third. Like the skeletons from earlier, he couldn't phase out of her arms.
"Quit struggling. You're only making things harder." Tomowashi tried to get the cloth back over his mouth.
With the edge of his boot he scraped down her leg, trying to loosen her grip. That was when he found out that her cargo pants were made of very strong leather, she didn't even flinch.
That was when Danny went for plan B. "Mom! There's a ghost in the house!" A knee hit his stomach knocking the air out of his lungs. The deed was already done. Fast footsteps rushed up the stairs.
Not fast enough. The pain from his inability to breath turned off his brain for a short moment. A moment that his attacker took advantage of. The cloth once again warped around his mouth and the humming started back up. Darkness enclosed around his vision. The last thing he remembered was white rings and a distant door slamming open.