The Past is Present

Chapter 8: Heroics Have Consequences


"Okay, there's no way you're gonna win this time," Danny insisted as he stared intently at the ridiculously large tv.

"I think it's time you gave up," Jazz said, sounding disinterested from where was was slouched on the sofa.

"No way. This time, I'm gonna win!"

"You've lost five times in a row," his sister said.

"Exactly. So I know just how to win now," he said and she rolled her eyes.

A few minutes later, Vikki gave a triumphant laugh as her character in the game they were playing, obliterated Danny's. "I win! Hah ha!" she giggled.

"What?! No! But I…but you…oh man," Danny tossed aside the controller and sighed. "I suck," he grumbled and Vikki nodded in agreement.

He turned his attention to the almost empty plate of Russian doughnuts that Rosalyn had made and unceremoniously shoved one into his mouth. Vikki did the same, snatching the the last one and taking a large bite out of it.

She mumbled a quiet word in Russian and Danny blinked at her. "Huh?" he asked.

"I say, is very good," she explained with a mouthful of food. After a second, she sounded out the word for him again. "Vkus-nyy," she said emphasising each syllable. "Vkusnyy," she repeated.

When Danny attempted to say it she stared at him for a moment before she burst out laughing.

"That was very bad, very, very bad," Vikki chortled.

"It was a good first try," Rosalyn assured him, smiling.

"Yeah…err, thanks," he said, sheepishly.

"It's not easy to learn Russian if English is your first language, trust me," she told him.

"Is not easy to learn English, either," Valya scoffed.

"Stick to one language, Daniel, don't give yourself an aneurism," Vlad drawled, walking into the room.

"Jerk," Danny grumbled.

"Uncle Vlad. I beat Danny," Vikki said, proudly.

"At what?" he asked.

"Outer space fight," she replied, pointing at the tv and the games console.

"Really?" Vlad raised and eyebrow and turned to Danny. "How badly did you loose? Please tell me it was a complete and utter failure on your part," he said, quite seriously.

"It wasn't really like a total…"

"It was total failure," Vikki grinned.

"Oh, come on," Danny sighed.

"Wonderful," Vlad smirked back at her and she laughed.

"Fruitloop," the teenage hybrid muttered to him, but it didn't affect his smirk at all. It was only after a moment, that Danny noticed the empty bowl the older hybrid was carrying in his hand. "You ate all of 'em? Seriously?" Danny asked.

Vlad silently raised an eyebrow at the teenagers' easy berating, which, only a few months ago would have been laughable.

"Well, we ate all the doughnuts," Danny added.

"I'd expect nothing less from a trio of children," he said, stressing the word 'children' as though even saying the syllables was abhorrent to him.

"Everything's gotta be an insult, huh?"

"The juvenile retort would be, that you started it," Vlad said, dryly.

"Geez, you're in a good mood," Danny snorted.

"I am allowed."

"Nope, that's it, it's all over," Danny mocked. "Guys, quick, run for cover. He's never in a good mood," he said to the others. "Something really bad's gonna happen!"

"You are both children," Valya scoffed at them.

"I think I at least am well past being a child," Vlad said, crossing his arms.

"Sure, you're an old man," Danny shrugged. "Face it, dude, you're ancient. Happens to everyone, I guess. Not us though," he said glancing at his sister and Vikki. "You're old and we're not," he said, dismissively.

"What you are, is an immature, rude, below average intelligence, insensitive brat with borscht for brains," Vlad replied, just as seriously.

For a moment they simply stared at each other with narrowed eyes, then, without a word of warning they both bust out laughing. Danny bent over with an arm around his waist as he laughed uncontrollably while Vlad leaned on the fireplace.

Jazz sighed and rolled her eyes at their childishness while Rosalyn and Valya looked on in a mix of mild concern and bemusement.

"They both nuts, just go with it," Jazz muttered to them.

"She…she just called us 'nuts'," Danny said unable to stop laughing as he spoke.

"In your case, she's not wrong. It's genetic," Vlad chortled. Slowly, he managed to stop laughing and stood straight again. "I'm afraid it doesn't bode well for your future," he added, seriously.

"Hey!" Danny yelled.

"What does it say about mine, then?" Jazz asked.

"It says that fortunately for you, you inherited the brains of the family and you'll do much better than your brother, despite genetics," Vlad replied and she couldn't help but shoot her brother an immature grin.

"Oh, great, so you're on his side now?" Danny asked her when he saw her grin.

"Well, Vlad's pretty smart, y'know," she shrugged.

"But I'm your brother!"

"Meh," she shrugged.

"Traitor."

"Sorry, Danny," she said, not sounding at all apologetic.

"Sheesh, okay, I give up, you win, you stupid fruitloop," Danny groaned and flopped back onto the sofa.

"Music to my ears," Vlad said.

"If you're both quite finished," Rosalyn said, barely able to repress an amused smile.

"Yup," Danny grumbled and picked up the controller again.

"There's soup leftover in the kitchen," she told Vlad.


Early the next morning, Danny was woken by the quiet sound of his phone buzzing on the nightstand. He reached out a wavering hand, searching for it.

"Wha…what's going on?" he yawned after he'd managed to find and answer it.

"You better get over here quick, dude," Tucker said, quickly.

"Wha…why?" Danny asked, sleepily.

"The bridge is collapsing!" Sam yelled making the half asleep Danny, jump in shock.

"Wha… what bridge?" he exclaimed and glanced over at the alarm clock on his bedside table. "Guys…it's six am…"

"We'll just tell the bridge to wait till lunch time then," Sam scoffed. "It's the old one on the edge of town, the one that goes over the river. We were out checking for ghosts and…"

"At six in the morning?" Danny yawned again.

"Will you just forget about the time?!" the teenage goth said.

"Okay, fine, fine, I'm awake. I'm awake," Danny replied, scrubbing a hand through his hair. "How bad's the bridge?" he asked.

"Bad. Part of its just fell in the river and there's a bunch of cars stuck..."

"It's gonna take me time to get there…" Danny frowned as he jumped out of bed and 'went ghost.'

"They don't have that kinda time, can't you just…y'know teleport like Vlad does?" Tucker asked.

"I can't do that! I don't know how and…wait…Vlad…he can teleport me there! Great idea, Tuck, see you soon," Danny said and invisibility flew through the hotel suite looking for Vlad.

He found the older hybrid sitting in the living room with the television on quiet.

"Vlad!" Danny cried, appearing out of thin air.

The older hybrid glanced over at him, not startled in the least to see Danny hovering there as a ghost in his black hazmat suit.

"Good morning, Daniel," he drawled. "Are you turning over a new leaf?" he asked.

"I need…huh?"

"You're up early. Exceedingly early. And on a Saturday, no less. I wasn't aware that you were capable of…"

"You need to teleport me to Amity…like now," Danny interrupted him.

"Why?" Vlad asked, sounding completely disinterested.

"A bridge is collapsing and..."

"A bridge?"

"Yes! A bridge! Now can we just go already?!"

"I…"

"Please!" Danny begged. "I'll…I'll do whatever you want."

"Anything?"

"Anything except 'renouncing' my dad," Danny rolled his eyes.

"Then you have nothing to bargain with," Vlad turned his attention back to the tv screen.

"Please, Vlad! I'm actually begging you! I can't fly there fast enough and there's no ghost portal here!"

"How do you know for sure that this bridge is actually collapsing? It's very early. Perhaps you simply had a bad dream caused by the sugar filled, mountain of doughnuts you inhaled yesterday."

"Sam and Tucker just called me. They're there right now! And there's cars on the bridge and…" Danny emphasised.

"Don't you think I've done enough for you lately?"

"Huh?"

"I did as you and Clockwork demanded in attempting to not be an 'enemy'," Vlad drawled. "Anything else that I do, you can simply consider a courtesy," he said.

"Oh yeah…" Danny pursed his lip.

"And as a courtesy, I bought out an energy supplier I had absolutely no interest in, to save you and your sister from your parents financial ineptitude," Vlad replied.

"Oh right," Danny blinked. "Err…thanks for that, by the way," he added.

"As refreshing it is to hear you use your manners, it doesn't mean that I'm duty bound to do whatever you ask of me, whenever you ask it. Just because I'm trying to be - I don't want to use the word 'good'," he stopped and tried to think of an appropriate word and failed. "Whatever it is I'm doing, it doesn't make me your servant, Daniel," he said, sounding unimpressed.

"I know, I know, and I'm totally sorry," Danny said, quickly. "I wouldn't ask if it wasn't an emergency."

Vlad let out a dramatic sounding sigh and pursed his lip.

"Please, Vlad," Danny said again, staring right at the older hybrid and swallowing his pride. "I'll tell mom and dad you're like the best uncle ever and they'll make us spend like every holiday and every weekend here. I'll even stop complaining about you ratting me out to the school, I swear. They'll probably make you look after us all the time and you'll be sick of us, and…"

"Very well. Just stop prattling at me," Vlad interrupted him and Danny breathed a sigh of relief. "But teleporting you is where my assistance ends. Whatever mess you get yourself into after that is entirely your affair, not mine," he said, standing up and tossing aside the remote.

"Totally fine!" Danny nodded, eagerly.

"And I reserve the right to collect on this debt whenever I see fit," Vlad said.

"Uh-huh, sure, whatever," Danny nodded again.

Vlad quickly listened, searching for any signs of movement in the rooms of his sleeping family but, on hearing nothing but the sounds of their restful breathing, he too transformed.

Wearing his usual white suit and cape, Vlad grabbed Danny's upper arm and they vanished in a whirl of purple mist.


"Good morning," Vlad said with a fanged grin as he emerged through the purple mist, standing beside Sam and Tucker. The mist swirled around him and eerily dissipated like fog.

They were overlooking the bridge which was busy with early morning commuters and had several boats passing beneath it. It was a relatively small suspension bridge and several of the cables had already snapped while one of the foundations had a large crack through it. It was shaking in the wind and swaying visibly. A large chunk of the road had already fallen into the water and people were running from their cars in a panic to escape the cracking tarmac.

Danny flew away towards the bridge instantly while Vlad stayed where he was.

"Geez, give a guy a heart attack!" Tucker exclaimed.

"Did I?" Vlad asked dryly. "How wonderful. At least I achieved something useful," he added.

"Freak," Sam retorted but his smirk never faltered.


At the same time, Danny had flown right up to the bridge and could now see just how horrific the damage was. There were cars teetering right on the edge with terrified people still inside them so the first thing he did was to shove each car back onto the road. People wasted no time in either driving off the bridge at breakneck or running depending on how badly their cars were damaged.

It didn't take him long, but after he'd pushed the last car to safety, he could feel his muscles screaming in protest and he was rapidly out of breath. Cars were heavy. Who knew?

He quickly dodged in mid air when a large chunk of metal fell from one of the poles and it splashed into the water below.

Then a large chunk of the road fell and Danny caught it but struggled not to fall from the sky himself under its weight.

"Oh great," he grumbled, panting for air. "This is freaking heavy…"

Mustering all of his strength, Danny took a breath and pushed the chunk of steel and concrete as far away as he could and it fell to the ground, landing at the edge of the river, just barely. He was left feeling drained and tried as he stared at the bridge which was still shaking and cracking.

Before he could say anything further, a loud cracking noise erupted from the bridge as the damaged foundation finally gave way. The cables were torn from the towers and the road snapped in half.

"Oh boy…that can't be good," Danny gulped.

He flew closer and tried to freeze the two halves together with a smaller bridge of ice but he could feel the two halves moving even while he was creating the ice. He could feel his every muscle straining to keep the bridge from total collapse and it felt as though he was loosing.

And, sure enough, the ice cracked, shattering in every direction and he had to shield his eyes from the pointed shards.

So, Danny hit it again with another blast of ice, then another and then another. Then she stopped and floated there, listening to the ominous creaking and growing noises that the bridge made as it moved.

"Uh-oh," he muttered as he saw cracks begin to form in the ice again. "How'd you even fix a bridge…" he grumbled as the cracking sounds grew louder. "Not with ice I guess," he added.

Danny showered the creaking bridge with ice again and grit his teeth, shuddering at the sounds that we're growing increasingly louder.

Suddenly the ice shattered, sending shards flying everywhere in a violent exposition and before Danny had to chance to avoid them, they tore through his jumpsuit. He hissed in shock and flew forwards, propping his weight against the section of the collapsing bridge.

"Vlad! I could maybe use some help!" he yelled as loudly as he could, knowing that the older hybrid would be able to hear him.


Vlad's eye twitched and he pursed his lip in discomfort.

"Don't tell me the sight of people in danger actually means something to you?" Sam questioned at his expression.

"What? No, of course not," he hissed. "It's Daniel. He's shouting, knowing full well that I can hear, and he's going to give me a headache," Vlad scowled and rubbed at his forehead with a gloved hand.

"Uh-huh…while all those people over there could be dead in a few minutes," she retorted.

"Oh, do be quiet, boy!" Vlad yelled.

"What's…err…up with Danny?" Tucker asked.

"What am I? A phone?" Vlad snapped and growled as he looked out over at the bridge again. "This wasn't part of our deal," he hissed.

"Deal?" Sam asked.

"Danny probably can't hear you, y'know. He doesn't really have super hearing," Tucker said.

"I know that!"

"Okaaaaay," the teenager backed off with his hands up in mock surrender.


"ANII!" Danny yelled, blinking at his watch.

"Yes?"

"Can you like…call Vlad or…something Seriously, this is heavy! I know I said I wasn't gonna ask for help but…this is freaking heavy!" he yelled. "This thing's gonna go…"


A quiet beeping from Vlad's watch caught their attention and Vlad brought his wrist up.

"…This is freaking heavy, dude…" they heard Danny's strained voice.

"No. I made myself perfectly clear, and you agreed," Vlad replied, sounding bored.

"But I can't…hold this thing together…it's gonna go…"

"Then let it."

"Seriously?!" Danny yelled.

"Yes."

"But…there's people…and I tried holding it together with ice but it just broke and…it's freaking heavy and…"

"Unless you want to be crushed, I'd suggest you move out of the way," Vlad replied.

"And how am I even meant to fix a bridge anyway and…"

"Not with ice, stupid boy," Vlad scoffed.

"Yeah, I kinda figured that…not the stupid part but…oh man this thing weighs a freaking tonne…" Danny said, his voice strained.

"Mr. Fenton, I would suggest letting go of the bridge," ANNI's calm voice said. "You will only do further harm to yourself if you continue to hold its weight."

"What's she mean, 'further harm'?" Sam asked.

"Well…the ice kinda exploded and…oh geez…" Danny exclaimed.

"I knew I shouldn't have agreed to this," Vlad let out an exasperated sigh and vanished.

"Hey…where'd he go?" Tucker blinked.


Abandoned cars were tumbling from the bridge as Vlad emerged right in the middle of the chaos. He created enough duplicates to catch each one and lay it down safely on the ground. When he caught sight of Danny, he was trying and failing to hold together the broken foundation. His suit was torn and bloodied in several places where the sharp ecto ice had cut both suit and skin.

"Stupid boy, get out of my way," Vlad shoved him aside and took his place.

With one single push, the foundation was righted. Intense, pink light shot from Vlad's eyes, hearing up the torn metal so that it was glowing brightly enough that Danny had to shield his eyes and hover back away from the heat.

When he could open his eyes again, the huge foundation was stable again with a scar running right through it where Vlad had welded the metal.

Danny regarded the older hybrid in shock, lost for words while Vlad simply stared at the foundation, checking that it was secure before he moved his hands off it. Then, without a word, he looked up and held up his arms, catching a large chunk of the road which had fallen loose. It was around the size of a school bus and he caught it before it could crush the both of them. Then he tossed it aside into the ground as though it weighed nothing.

"Well, don't just float there, go and move those boats down there before more of the blasted road falls down!" Vlad snapped and Danny leapt into action.

"R…right…" he nodded and flew away.


"Are you quite finished now?" Vlad asked a few minutes later. He was floating just a few feet above the ground by the river.

Danny had moved the few boats that had been on the water and was talking to the people who had been on both them and on the bridge to see if they were alright. Some of them had even thanked him.

"Geez…don't sneak up on a guy like that," Danny recoiled in shock.

"Who's that?" a rather frightened little girl asked. She'd been in one of the cars that Danny had lifted from the bridge and she was standing by her mother.

"Err…a friend…right?" Danny replied and turned to Vlad.

"A fool, more like," Vlad rolled his eyes.

"That's Plasmius," Danny told the girl. "He's not so bad, most o' the time," he added.

"How flattering," Vlad drawled.

"You saved our lives. You both did," the girl's mother said. She looked rather fearful herself but she sounded genuine when she added, "Thank you," as she looked right at Vlad.

"Aren't you afraid?" Vlad said. "We're ghosts. Shouldn't you be running?"

The woman shrugged and managed a small smile. Then she took her daughters' hand and walked away. The little girl turned and waved at them. Stunned and all too accustomed to being public enemy number one, Danny blinked and slowly, waved back at her.

"Guess that all worked out," Tucker said as he and Sam made their way over to Danny and Vlad.

"We're leaving," Vlad declared. Then he snatched Danny's arm and they both vanished.

"Oh great…just…leave us here…" Sam sighed.

"Yup…last time I go ghost hunting at six in the morning…I'm goin' back to bed…" Tucker grumbled.


"Owww," Danny exclaimed as Vlad quite literally dropped him onto the floor of an empty room in his hotel suite.

"You stupid boy, you never learn, do you?" Vlad hissed as he transported back into his human form.

"Geez…I wrecked another suit…" the boy grumbled to himself as he looked at the bloodied rips and tears in his black jump suit.

"Daniel…"

"Err…I think I just got blood on your rug…is it expensive…" Danny blanched as he looked down at the soft rug onto which his blood was steadily dripping. "Guess it is, huh…" he added.

"Are you even listening to me?" Vlad snapped.

"Huh?" the teenager looked up at him. "Sorry…what'd you say?"

"That's the last time I 'help' with your ridiculous heroics," Vlad said. "I really don't know what I was thinking. I should've just let that bridge flatten you. You were the one who insisted on helping. I couldn't care less."

"Uh huh," Danny hummed. He tore off a piece of fabric off his already ruined suit to wipe some of the blood from the cuts on his arms. "How long you think these'll take to heal over?" he asked.

"I don't know!" Vlad snapped back.

"They're not like really bad so…"

"An hour or so, perhaps," Vlad said with a wave of a dismissive hand.

"'Cause someone's gonna notice…" Danny explained.

"Then don't do foolish things such as trying to weld metal with ice or trying to prop up a bridge by yourself!" Vlad yelled at him.

"But you did it!"

"I'm stronger than you!"

"No duh," Danny grumbled.

"You really have no sense of self preservation, do you?"

"That's not the point…"

"The point is, you would be dead if not for me…again!"

"Danny…is that you…are you okay?" they heard Jazz's voice as she knocked on the door.

"Oh great," Danny thew up his arms.

"Go away, Jasmine," Vlad ordered but of course, she did the opposite.

Jazz opened the door and quickly closed it behind her as she entered the room.

"Danny!" she exclaimed when she saw her brother. "Are you okay?" she asked, running over to him.

"I'm fine," he said, dismissively.

"It didn't look that bad on tv…" Jazz said. "Seriously, are you okay..."

"Jazz, in fine stop worrying and wait huh..." Danny furrowed his brow at her.

"I was watching the news," she said. "They were just talking about the bridge collapsing. You were both on tv…"

"It literally just happened, how'd they get there so quick?"

"I guess someone on that bridge had a camera," she shrugged.

"Obviously they were not as concerned for their own lives as you were," Vlad snapped at Danny.

"Oh great, so we made the news again?" Danny frowned. "They should start paying us," he grumbled to Vlad. "So, what'd they say? Are we still 'evil'?" he asked Jazz.

"Erm…jury's still out," she smiled. "People are still kinda worried but the polls are turning in your favour."

"Wait…there's a poll?"

"Can we please get back to the matter at hand?" Vlad said, exasperated.

"And…what was that?" Jazz asked.

"The fact that your brother clearly has a death wish," he said.

"Say what?" Jazz exclaimed. "Tell me he's joking," she turned to her brother and eyed all of the cuts across his skin.

"He's just being stupid, it's nothing," Danny tried to reassure her whilst glaring at Vlad. "Vlad helped me save people and fixed the bridge, it's fine…"

"It's not my problem, or my fault, if a bridge collapses. And neither is it yours," Vlad told him.

"But we can't just do nothing and you…"

"Bridges collapse if they are not maintained. This wasn't the first and it won't be the last. If the people in charge of this city did their jobs properly then it wouldn't have happened…"

"We don't know why it happened. It might not be their fault," Danny protested.

"So it simply collapsed by itself?" Vlad said, dryly.

"I don't know! But if we hadn't helped then people could've died!"

"Could?" Vlad scoffed. "They definitely would have died. Whoever was driving over it would be dead if I hadn't caught those cars…"

"I got some of them…" Danny muttered.

"You couldn't get all of them!"

"But…"

"It wouldn't only have been them. The people in the boats below would be dead. And possibly anyone near the waters edge when the shockwave of the bridge collapsing into the water caused a small tsunami to flood the city."

"See! We saved people! Lots of people! That's good!"

"Yes. And yet they still question your motives…and mine. At least in my case, they're right to do so," Vlad replied, waving a dismissive hand.

"So what?!" Danny threw up his arms in frustration. "At least we did something and didn't just let everyone die."

"Then what do 'we' do the next time something like this happens? If the city doesn't need to maintain its buildings or bridges for the safety of its people - because Danny Phantom and Plasmius - will always be there to save the day - then it won't. What do 'we' do when a building disintegrates, or another bridge fails, or a car slips in the ice because no one saw the need in winter, to take precautions, simply because the ghosts are always there to save the day? You can't solve every problem for them."

"But…"

"Daniel, you are a fifteen year old school child, it is not your responsibility to protect these people from their own stupidity."

"The freaking bridge collapsed!" Danny yelled.

"Then it was poorly constructed and badly maintained. Maybe the people in charge needed to learn that."

"They did! Everyone saw it fall! It was on TV! And no one died…"

"Exactly. There were no consequences…"

"I'd say having to rebuild the thing is a pretty bad 'consequence'."

"These things happen everyday, all over the world. Are you planning on stopping every bridge collapse?"

"Well…if I can stop it…"

"But you couldn't. You would have been flattened earlier if I hadn't helped you. You may be stronger than most teenagers, but even you cannot lift thousands of tonnes of steel and concrete. And this was a relatively small bridge with a small number of people on it. What if it had been larger with even more people involved? You wouldn't have been able to save them all. And you would have been blamed for their deaths rather than the people actually at fault. You would have seen them die, heard it happen."

"Yeah, but…"

"It didn't happen this time? No, because I was there. But if you continue down this 'hero' route, it will eventually. Things don't always go the way you would like in life. Just because you attempt to save everyone, it doesn't mean that it will happen. Unlike us, 'normal' people die very easily. They're fragile. But the world won't end because a bridge or two collapses."

"So you'd have been fine letting all those people die? Geez, Vlad, there was kids there! I could hear them and so you'd you!"

"That wasn't my point…"

"Kinda sounds like it!"

"Very well, then yes, I would have been 'fine'. I don't care about saving lives like you do."

"But you did," Jazz said, quietly. "You didn't have to, but you did. Danny could've been seriously hurt or worse if you hadn't..."

"No, I saved your brothers' life because he was seemingly intent on yelling a hole through my skull. Also, the thought of having to explain his untimely demise while he was in my care, was frankly was more effort than I am willing to expend."

"Okaaaay," Jazz rolled her eyes at his overly dramatic answer.

"But you fixed the bridge. Like properly fixed it. You didn't need to do that…" Danny said.

"Temporarily fixed," he corrected, petulantly. "I wouldn't recommend driving any heavy vehicles over it. If the idiots of the city decide to do so without properly repairing the structure, I assure you, I won't be repeating my generosity."

"I'm sure they won't do that," Jazz said, just as dryly.

"We'll see."

"I couldn't just…not help…okay…all those people would've died and…look…maybe it was dumb but…whatever," Danny stammered inelegantly and stood up. "I can't believe I'm saying this but…things have got really weird…Vlad…thanks…for helping…" he said, honestly, as he looked the older hybrid in the eyes.

Vlad looked genuinely shocked for a moment before he recovered and raised an eyebrow. "'Helping'?" he repeated, sarcastically.

"Okay, okay, thanks for…saving me…and all those other people. Happy now?" he asked.

"Ecstatic," Vlad replied just as dryly. "And now you owe me twice over," he added. He walked off and then returned holding a small towel. Then he threw it at Danny and it landed right on his head.

"Seriously?" Danny sighed, unimpressed. He reached up and grabbed the towel.

"Yes," Vlad said, nodding. "Now for god's sake, clean yourself up before someone sees you. And don't do any more stupid things today, at least before breakfast or I'll end you myself."

"Scary," Danny muttered sarcastically, wiping his arms and the side of his face where he could feel a trickle of blood dripping down his cheek.

"You need to be more careful, Danny," Jazz said to him, biting her lip. She took the towel of him and began to wipe away the wrist of the blood as gently as she could.

"Cool it, Jazz I'm fine it's just some little cuts and..."

"But it could've been worse!" she yelled. "If Vlad hadn't..."

"I know, okay, I get it," he snapped.

"Just...I don't want you to keep getting hurt. I know why you did it and I know you heal really fast, but...please just take better care of yourself," she begged.

Danny sighed and looked at her and saw the concerned clearly on her face. "Okay...I'll try," he said.

"Thanks," she said, gratefully.


A few hours later, when all of the shallow cuts had healed on his skin, Danny walked into the sitting room to find the others watching the tv and eating breakfast around a table.

"Mornin'," he yawned as he took the empty chair. "What's for breakfast?" he asked. "Urgh not fruit…" he grumbled when he saw his sisters' breakfast.

"Eating some healthy food for a change might do you some good," Jazz retorted

"Pass," he said.

"Pancakes!" Vikki declared, pointing to her own plate.

"Now that's more like it," Danny grinned.

"That's where you live, isn't it?" Rosalyn asked Danny and Jazz as she looked over at the tv report from Amity Park.

"Erm…yeah," he nodded. "Can I get one o' those Vik?" he asked, reaching over the table with a fork.

"Looks like a bridge collapsed earlier this morning," Rosalyn said.

"Oh…" Danny swallowed while Vikki gave him one of her pancakes.

"And it says that…two ghosts saved the day," Rosalyn said.

"Ghosts?" Valya repeated, confused.

"They're ghosts?" Vikki asked, pointing at the television. "They do not look like ghosts," she remarked.

"Inviso-bill, right?" Jazz said, quickly. "Everyone's heard of him back home," he said.

"He look like you," Vikki remarked to Danny as an image of Danny Phantom flashed on the screen.

Vlad almost choked on the mug of coffee he was drinking and Danny gave a nervous laugh.

"Hehehe…err yeah…I guess…maybe I just have one of those faces, right?" the teenager said. He shrugged when Vlad scowled at him and shot him a look that clearly screamed, 'what?!'.

"Things like this happen often, where you are from?" Valya asked.

"All the time…I mean…not the bridge thing…but, ghosts, sure," Danny replied.

"And your parents hunt ghosts," Rosalyn remarked.

"Yep," Danny nodded.

"Do you?" Vikki asked, excitedly.

"W…me? No, no way," Danny said, all too quickly. "Id err…I'd get my a…I'd get my butt kicked," he said.

"Sounds like a dangerous place," Rosalyn said.

"S' not so bad," Danny shrugged.

"If nothing else, the constant ghost appearances have frightened people away and made the land exceptionally cheap," Vlad remarked with a raised eyebrow. "I must've bought at least a third of the city's land for less than I've paid for my car."

"Which is kinda weird, 'cause you'd think that'd make land in Amity more expensive," Jazz replied, thoughtfully. "Y'know, with people wanting to hunt ghosts and all," she explained.

"Never thought about like that," Danny said to Jazz. "But things kinda get destroyed a lot so I guess no one wants to buy a house or something, thinking it's just gonna get trashed by ghosts. Also…I bet you buy like the worlds' most stupid expensive cars so…it sorta doesn't count," he added, looking at Vlad.

"True," the man shrugged, unashamed. "Either way, I'm set to make a fortune," Vlad said.

"You mean, another fortune?" Jazz asked, dryly.

"Obviously," he said.

"Does this mean I can buy more dresses?" Vikki asked.

"If you like," Vlad told her.

"Yay!" the little girl exclaimed, happily.

"You do not need more clothes," Valaya told her. "She doesn't need them," she muttered to Vlad.

"Rubbish. Let her have her fun," he replied and his cousin sighed, exasperated.

"Well…y'know, there's a new game out and I need money for the next Dumpty Humpty concert and…" Danny ventured.

"Unfortunately for you, my generosity has just reached its limit for the day," Vlad said with narrowed eyes.

"Rats," Danny grumbled and slouched in his chair.


Sometime later, Jazz was sitting on a cushion on the sofa with Vikki beside her and Danny was slouched, unusually, upside down on a sofa with his head on the ground and his legs draped over the seat. He was staring at his sister who was jotting things down on a note pad.

"What are you doing?" Vlad furrowed his brow at them.

"Jazz is trying to pick my brains," the boy answered with an upside down smile.

"If you keep sitting like that I'm sure she'll get some very interesting results," the man replied dryly.

"Hah hah," Danny rolled his eyes.

"It's for a project I'm working on," Jazz shot her brother a good natured scowl. "I'm doing an essay on Carl Jung's word association test," she explained.

"I think it's stupid," Danny muttered.

"You've said that ten times," she sighed.

"Whatever. Try picking Vlad's brain for a change, my brain's had enough," Danny grumbled.

"He's easily confused, clearly," Vlad said and the teenager flared at him.

Vlad then sat down in the arm chair opposite her. He crossed one leg over the other and tried to appear as calm as he could. "Personally I've never seen the point of psychology, nor do I understand your love for it. But it could be amusing and you'll certainly get more intelligent results from me than from your brother."

"Hey!" Danny cried and Vikki laughed.

"So, how does this work?" Vlad asked Jazz.

"Erm…basically," Jazz began, stunned that the older hybrid was playing along. "I say a word and you just say whatever word comes to mind," she explained.

"That's it?"

"That's it," she nodded.

"Very well," he shrugged.

"So...first word...flower?"

"Summer."

"House."

"Castle."

"Ridicule."

"Jack Fenton."

"Anxiety," she continued after taking a deep breath at Vlad's predictable jab at their father.

"..." Vlad pursed his lip as he thought.

"You're not supposed to think about this," Jazz told him.

"For some it's easier than others to stop thinking," Vlad replied.

"What're you looking at me for?!" Danny cried indignantly.

"Danny," the red head sighed and turned back to Vlad. "If you don't want to do this, Vlad..."

"Anxiety," Vlad repeated the word, "A pointless waste of time," he said.

"That's more than one word but okay," Jazz said. "Dear," she added.

"Hunting."

"I didn't mean that kind of dear…I meant…deer as in…never mind. Month."

"Billionaire of the month."

"Money."

"Me," he replied, looking calmer than he did at hearing the last few words.

"Books."

"Knowledge."

"Music," Jazz said, remembering Vlad's penchant for playing loud music.

"Loud," he said predictably and she gave a small, satisfied smile.

"...To fear," she ventured bravely.

"Pass," he snapped.

"Hey, he can't just skip a word, can he?" Danny asked quickly, "You never said I could, what gives?"

"You never asked," Jazz told her brother.

"So, do tell, Jasmine, what can you infer from all that?" Vlad asked her.

"Well..."

"Yes," he prompted her, impatiently with a raised eyebrow.

"You really don't like psychology, do you," she replied.

"No, I don't."

"No, I mean you really, really hate it," she said. "So, why'd you even bother with the test?"

"I suppose now you are even. I helped your bother with his school work and now I've helped you," Vlad replied after a moment and he pursed his lip in thought.

He was clearly lying, and badly, but Jazz bit her tongue and didn't question it.

"Well, thanks," she said instead of asking further questions. "It helped," she said.

He nodded and didn't offer another word about why he'd even answered her questions when he hated psychology so much.

"Err…okaaaaay?" Danny muttered.

Jazz simply shrugged wordlessly in a manner much as Vlad had just done.

"Can I try this test?" Vikki asked.

"Sure," the red headed teenager nodded, glad of the change of subject.


It was well past midday and the children had long since tired of sitting around so they had left the suite to explore the rest of the hotel.

Vlad was sitting with this mother and Valya in the living room.

"He sent me a text message," Roslyn said. Several messages," she explained holding her phone.

"Me too," Valya added. "I deleted them," she added.

"Did he send you any messages," Rosalyn asked Vlad.

"I don't know, I've not looked," he said.

His mother stared at him expectantly and he gave a dramatic sigh. Then he pulled out his very new, very shiny mobile phone from his pocket. "Yes, he's sent several messages. Some of them rather derogatory and some of them demanding that I go and visit him," he said and then put his phone back in his pocket.

"And? What do you suppose we should do?" Rosalyn asked.

"Ignore the old fool," Vlad said, quickly.

"He won't give up simply because we ignore him," his mother said.

"No, but if you're right and he actually is at death's door, it won't matter."

"I do wish you wouldn't be so glib about it," she sighed.

"I'm not being glib," he scoffed. "I'm being honest. Life will be much more tolerable once he's gone. I don't care how many messages he sends or how often he calls, I am not going to see him. I'll have his number blocked before he can bother us again."

"He'll get another one," Rosalyn said.

"Then I'll have it blocked too."

"He wouldn't…send such a message to Viktoria…would he?" Valya asked, conceded.

"Yes, he probably would," Vlad answered.

"He frightens her. The last thing she needs is…" Rosalyn said.

"He likes frightening people. You know that. Especially children," Vlad retorted.

"I'm going to find her to see if Uncle has sent her messages," Valya announced and left.

"What about Danny and Jazz? Would he contact them as well?" Rosalyn wondered.

"He must be fairly desperate, so yes, I wouldn't put it past him."

"Aren't you worried?"

"They don't frighten quite so easily," Vlad said, dismissively. "And after last time, I doubt they'd want to see him anyway," he added remembering when Vladislav had forced his way into Vlad castle and almost hit Danny.

"I suppose not," his mother agreed. "But perhaps we should find them and check with them, just in case."

"Fine," he relented.