(Don't) Say My Name – CHAPTER 8


Vlad takes his time arriving on the scene, no need to rush in head-first and get caught up in a blunder (like some OTHER halfa that comes to mind).

As ghost sense confirms the paranormal nature of the explosion, Vlad slows to a stop on the edge of a parking lot and observes the wreckage. The strip-mall is engulfed in the same curious green flames and there are large and strangely sweeping scorch marks in the pavement. It's still smoldering and giving off a slight sulfuric smell.

Vlad barely has time to puzzle out the meaning of all that when he hears a loud "Ah HAH!" followed by the sharp sting of a rock thrown to the side of his head. He turns sharply, fangs bared at the outrageous act, who would even DARE throw a –

Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley. Of course. Tucker stands with his arms crossed while Samantha scoops up another rock, tossing it up and down in her palm, both eyeing him crossly.

"I KNEW it!" She hollers to the heavens before turning to her companion, "I knew it was too good to be fucking true!" She gestures aggressively at Vlad, "He's obviously behind this!"

Tucker nods, eyes glued to the half-ghost, disappointment marring his face. Finally he sighs, "Yeah, I guess so. It's just too much of a coincidence."

Vlad begins to defend himself, claiming "This is all a large misunderstanding-" before abruptly clamping his mouth shut as Sam whips the second rock at Vlad's head. Everyone watches it disintegrate into a small pink puff inches before hitting its target straight between the eyes – remarkable aim on that girl.

Growling and now rock-less, she twists a decorative bangle on her wrist that seems vaguely familiar. "I even stood up for you!" She spits out, in disgust with herself.

Instantly a small ecto-pistol folds out of the dainty jewelry and starts warming up, humming with crackling power as she trains it on their floating adversary. Vlad realizes with a start it's one of the miniatures that Maddie brought to him a couple months ago as a prototype for the company.

"And I appreciated that immensely, Saman-"

"So what's the big plan, Plasmius?" She sneers, cutting him off without so much as a care for his obvious lies. Her finger rests on the trigger housing, itching to just put a hole in his forehead without preamble. But that's not what Danny and them represent, they don't get the luxury of 'Shoot first, ask questions later.'

Realizing the severity of the situation,Vlad holds his hands out in a placating gesture and lands on the ground, attempting to appear as non-threatening as possible. It doesn't work, everyone involved knows just how dangerous he is at all times. It was worth a shot.

"Peace, I have nothing to do with this." He quickly gets out, before he's cut off again.

"Bull-fucking-shit!" Sam roars harshly, she waves her non-weaponized hand towards the wreckage. "So a giant lion starts causing mayhem downtown and you just happen to be in the neighbourhood?" She scoffs and looks at her friend from the corner of her eye, no doubt seeking backup. "You live like an hour away, uptown."

"A giant lion…?" Vlad mouths to himself, alarmed.

Tucker merely scoffs and rolls his eyes but otherwise retreats from the confrontation. He has one hand on a weapon hanging from his belt, ever prepared, even subconsciously. He uses his free hand to poke a long slender device that Vlad didn't notice was hanging from the cuff of his ear.

Instantly a blue square of light hangs in front of his face, illuminating the black teen's features. That hand remains in the air, making typing motions now as his eyes scan the blue rapidly. Vlad realizes this is a portable, holographic computer. Genius. "Sam, I'm going back in." He mumbles, already engrossed in the screen.

Sam grunts and takes a step slightly in front of Tucker, weapon never once wavering from Vlad's forehead. Both know that it won't stop much if he really wanted to fight but the intended message is clear.

"Listen Miss Manson, I am not at fault for this…" He waves his hand vaguely towards the smoldering shops and overturned/crunched cars, "…mess. I realize it doesn't look good but you must underst-"

"You're right, it doesn't look good. You want a truce from Danny and at the same time a giant fucking ghost lion gets released into the downtown core and it just happens to have some weird armour that conveniently bounces ecto-blas-"

She cuts off as Danny zooms onto the scene, breathing harshly. He stops, eyes Vlad and points at him before jerking his thumb towards the wreckage, "This your doing?"

Vlad silently shakes his head, opening his mouth to further deny before Sam cuts in loudly, "He's full of shit!" She shakes the ecto-gun towards him aggressively, "Why else would he be here?!"

Danny pants, eyeing-up Vlad silently, calculating before suddenly waving the whole stand-off away, "Nah, he's good." He declares, slumping forward, hands on the knees.

Sam sputters in exasperation as Danny finally releases a large, weary breath. He tiredly holds a finger up to silence her, "Not now Sam, sorry." He takes a deep breath and straightens, finally addressing his other best friend, "I don't have much time, its trapped inside 6 domed layers of ice right now." He speaks quickly, "Tuck, its skin can't be pierced, and its claws cut into everything. I can't contain it! What do you have for me?" The desperation is loud and clear.

Tucker flicks and types away at his holographic computer, adding the new information into the system. The silence is awkward, everyone tries to ignore the long and obviously deep claw marks down Danny's arm and the glowing ectoplasm seeping through his shredded HAZMAT suit.

Vlad watches curiously before the information catches at his attention, "'Skin can't be pierced… claws cut everything…'" He hums thoughtfully, "Where have I heard that before…?"

Danny's eyes dart to Vlad, "Whatdoyouknow?" He rushes his words, clearly desperate for any and all information. Sam hisses from beside him, clearly not interested in anything Vlad has to offer.

Vlad fidgets, wishing he'd kept his silly observation to himself, "Well it just reminds me of an ancient Grecian myth… it's probably not related…"

"Vlad, please." Danny pleads, taking a step towards him. Vlad winces as the name falls from Danny's lips and rips through his system, bringing with it an immediate headache and pins and needles. Danny also winces, but because Sam has grabbed his arm in warning. This is the enemy, and probable cause for this incident. She doesn't need to voice her concerns. Danny stops advancing but doesn't turn away from Vlad's eyes, "If you know anything, anything then please tell us. It might help. Grecian myth? We've seen weirder. Just tell us what you're thinking."

His wide green eyes stare at him, imploring him, trusting him, and Vlad feels like he's the one trapped in 6 layers of ice. He gulps down his suddenly racing heart, blaming the spell for it. "Well It seems a tad bit silly, but I do recall Hercules fought such a lion for one of his trials," he cringes the name, waiting for the teens to tease him but quickly moving on when they instead listen intently, "It was enormous, had impervious skin, and claws that could rend the toughest armour."

Tucker begins typing furiously, "Worth a shot." he murmurs.

He pulls up a photo within seconds and turns the screen to his audience. There is a blown-up photo of a giant golden lion, locked in grim battle with assumedly a young Hercules. The teens stare in silence before Danny breathes out in wonder "That's it… That's it. Holy shit."

Sam moves closer to the screen, lowering her weapon without thinking about it, "OK, so how do we stop i-"

A deafening crack! Followed by a piercing, warbled roar fills the air. Tucker and Sam visibly pale while Danny jumps into the air, "Be right back!" He calls, attempting to sound cheerful but only coming off as frantic and tired.

"How did Hercules beat it?" Sam asks both men, looking between Tucker (who has turned the screen back and begun typing again) and Vlad (still rooted to the spot and staring tight-lipped in the direction Danny flew to).

"I'm on it. I'm on it." Tucker murmurs, scrolling and skimming through lore.

Vlad watches as one of the shop walls bows out like a cartoon joke before suddenly exploding. Danny and the lion are locked in a deadly embrace as they tumble through the twisting chunks of rubble and metal, framed in green flames.

And there it is, the exact image of Hercules and the lion from Tucker's screen but replaced instead with Danny, while the giant golden beast of legend is illuminated in the ghostly green of the dead.

Vlad sucks in a sharp breath, the ferocity in both combatants' eyes is truly the stuff of legends. But Danny isn't the only battle-hardened half-ghost in this town. Vlad notices some of the twisted burning shrapnel is headed directly for Danny's friends and both are too engrossed in the hologram or the battle to notice. Without thinking about it, Vlad raises an arm and conjures pink energy to envelope the two teens.

Shrieking in outrage, Sam sharply lifts her forgotten weapon before too late, the bright energy engulfs her and Tucker, solidifying. She lets off a shot at Vlad a split second too late, watching it burn away harmlessly in front of her as the pink turns opaque. Immediately after that the projectiles bounce off the hardened energy behind their heads. She turns around and takes in the metal and chunks of concrete at her feet. Sam looks up and touches the energy in front of her, finally realizing it's a shield.

Vlad's shield.

"You … protected us?"

Vlad let the shield melt away and rose into the air, carefully avoiding eye-contact, "I am not responsible for this lion, I assure you." He flew past them, putting himself between the tussle and the teens.

Concentrating, he splits himself into four. Vlad leaves one clone with Sam and Tucker, awaiting the precious answer on how to defeat the lion, simultaneously protecting the teens from any more slip-ups. The last two clones flank Vlad on either side as they finally join the fight. He doesn't normally make a habit of fighting with Danny, preferring to observe his adversary from afar. But today he just can't help himself; Danny seemed so tired when he gave his report moments ago. Vlad didn't like that one bit - the teen hardly tires. Just how hard has he been fighting this invincible lion?

The subject of his thoughts suddenly flew past, having been thrown back by a particularly heavy-handed swipe of one giant paw. Vlad sees Danny wince as he rolls the landing before launching himself back into action. Making quick eye-contact and nodding at each other, Vlad follows along behind the speeding teen and enters the fray. He doesn't comment on the relief shining in those glowing green eyes, or how it makes his gut twist sharply.

The two clones dog-pile the giant lion and attempt to hold it down. Vlad himself conjures his pink ecto-ropes and attempts to lash the beast to the asphalt of the parking lot below. Danny shakes his head and opens his mouth to explain the futility of such a basic action when a sudden swipe of one large paw slices cleanly through the ropes like spider's silk.

The claws also cut a clone in half, killing it instantly. Vlad and his remaining copies wince together as the clone's memories suddenly flood them, letting him know very intimately how it feels to be killed in such a way. Danny shoots him a frown in sympathy - clone deaths are never fun to feel.

"Nothing holds it down," the teen calls to him. Danny glides over to the two Vlads, automatically making eye contact with the original. "Trust me, I've tried everything." He laments, unaware of the older halfa's inner turmoil.

'He knew which one was me right away?' His brief moment of surprise was rudely interrupted by a sudden twisting spray of green fire splitting the heroes apart. 'Don't lose focus, Vladimir. Be impressed later.'

"Oh yeah, he can breathe fire too. Its fair. Totally fair." Danny adds, snorting.

The lion roars in frustration and turns to run towards the shopping district, clearly in search of easier prey. Danny quickly overtakes it and bars the way – "Oh, no you don't!" - eyes and fists glowing blue with an impressive, chilly aura licking at his form. The lion, understandably, steps back and growls, crouching low to weigh its options.

"Nemean Lion!" Tucker pants, suddenly standing directly under Vlad, Sam looking on the scene vigilantly.

"Pardon me?" Vlad changes places with his clone that was originally left to guard the kids. It joins the fray with the previous one, working on distracting the beast with Danny. They dodge and weave, doing their best to stay clear of the claws, teeth and fire. Nothing daring, just keeping the animal from laying its bloodthirsty gaze on the shopping plaza and innocent bystanders no doubt hiding within.

"It's the Lion of Nemea. It was a task for Hercules." The boy rushes out, loud enough so Danny can hear as well, "Impenetrable skin and claws that cut through anything. It's basically invincible!"

"Great. So how do we – urk" Danny grunts, taking a hard smack and landed roughly in a heap on the ground, "How did he defeat it?" He jumps up at the last possible moment, allowing the lion to pounce on empty space as he rejoins the clones in the sky. Vlad lets out the breath he didn't realize he was holding.

"Uhhh…" Danny's friend seems to blanch at the information on the screen, the girl looks over his shoulder and has a similar reaction. They seem distraught.

Curious.

"Uh… Danny?" She calls, worry colouring her tone.

"One sec!" He phases into the ground, disappearing for a few frightening seconds before rising up again on the other side of his friends. They jolt but otherwise seem used to this action. Vlad turns back to the lion to maintain their safety, hiding his amusement.

"So? Did you find out how to defeat it?"

"Yeahhh, about that..." Tucker trails off, pointing to the screen and biting his lip.

Vlad keeps his eyes on the escalating fight, watching the lion become increasingly irate but he keeps a pointed ear tuned in the teens' direction, unable to remember the lion's demise for himself.

"'Hercules eventually slayed the beast by knocking it on the head with his club to stun it and then he-'" He sucks in a small breath, "'-he strangled it to death?!'"

Vlad stiffens and quickly turns to catch Danny's reaction. 'Oh – he won't do that.'

The younger halfa stares at the lion, crestfallen. "I can't do that." He whispers. The look was so purely innocent and hopeless that it pulls at Vlad's heart. "There has to be another way!"

Tucker nods quickly and dives back into his research.

Sam kneels down and begins rummaging in her military-grade backpack - the silly purple thing she used to have a few years back long ago traded for something much more practical. Considering their growing arsenal of weapons, the change doesn't surprise Vlad in the least. He rather approves their preparedness, even if that damned backpack and its secrets have been his downfall a handful of times in the past few years.

She pulls out a sleek black Fenton Thermos, thinner yet stronger than the original product by nearly five times. Yet another item from the company. She tosses it to Danny and he catches it without barely looking. He turns to Vlad and grimaces a smile, "Let's try this?"

Vlad nods, watching the younger halfa warily. They take off and join the clones in battle. The clones have been playing 'keep away' to tire the great beast out, but it has only proven to add more scorch marks to the surrounding parking lot.

Danny stops behind the beast and aims the thermos, "Here goes nothing!"

The device emits a low beep and shuts itself off.

"Well, that was underwhelming." Vlad states, making a mental note about that abysmal display for the lab. "But tell me Daniel, why did you wait until now to try this? A few years back this was your favourite weapon."

Danny scrunches his nose and rubs his forehead before smiling sheepishly back at Vlad. 'I should probably use his name less in battle… for safety reasons.' The teen chuckles awkwardly and gently tosses the device back to Sam, "It's a… been a while? Ghost activity hasn't been too high this year… a-and we've been training so much, I just wanted to test out some new… techniques first."

Vlad sighs, he can't fault Danny for taking advantage of this opportunity. But his shredded uniform, his exhaustion - he should've chosen an easier target! Something he knew how to defeat when things got ugly…

"We'll have to weaken it, somehow." Danny interrupts Vlad's thoughts, frowning, and shoots ecto-blasts at the lion's feet and hind-quarters. "We won't be able to suck it up into the Thermos - even the newer model - unless it loses some of it's power first." His blasts, of course, bounce harmlessly off the hide of the beast.

Vlad watches as his clones nod and begin attacking the lion with renewed vigor. One shoots finger blasts, to annoy and distract, while the other charges up a larger beam. Both carefully angle their shots to face away from the shopping district.

Vlad flies in to help, blasting and dodging more aggressively than his counterparts. He aims for the interior of the ears, the mouth when it opens, the eyes… He isn't about to play fair and pussyfoot this situation. Let's get this over with.

The lion turns to him in fury and lashes out, claws extended. Vlad easily dances around the massive paw and rolls himself underneath the giant beast, blasting away at typical sensitive locations like the stomach, armpits and genitalia. Nothing seems to really hurt the lion, but it still feels everything, which apparently is enough to enrage it. It snarls and crouches low, latching on to Vlad with both front paws like a cat and a canary. The grip knocks the breath from his lungs instantly, causing disorientation.

Vlad struggles and groans, embarrassed for being caught so easily. If his mind weren't swimming he might've thought to just phase through the harsh grasp. His clones both snap their attention to the beast's face, attempting to dislodge their creator.

"VLAD!" Danny cries in shock.

His outburst costs Vlad dearly.

While the spell weaves its course through Vlad's body, he attempts to push down the affects, closing his eyes and stilling his struggles in concentration. He feels a flash of irritation towards the teen and then at himself for even being in this situation.

But he sure as hell doesn't want to let all this pumping adrenaline from the fight travel into new and exciting locations in his body. It takes everything in him to remain stoic.

Unfortunately, the lion uses this distraction as a chance to finally do some damage and quickly leans in, sinking its sharp fangs deep into shoulder tissue. Vlad cries out in anguish - the strength of the beast is staggering.

This is a creature that has never had to fear anything on the earth, except apparently Hercules himself. It tears into Vlad's flesh easily with a flick of its head. The blood that sprays out paints the ground a sickly, glowing green.

"NO!"

Vlad finds himself quickly released from the crushing pressure and being whisked away before his mind catches up with him. He watches in a daze as Danny deposits him on the grass next to his friends, ordering them to make sure he heals before rejoining the fight with a set jaw and angry glint in his eye.

"Uh, Vlad?"

"Vlad!"

"Helloooo?"

"Snap out of it, idiot!"

He realizes the two teens have been gently prodding him for his attention. He grits his teeth and makes to stand but two pairs of hands are holding him down firmly.

Tucker speaks first, "You need to concentrate! Like, right now!"

Vlad grunts and pushes the hands off of him.

"Stop it Vlad!" Samantha wastes no time getting right in his face, "You are seriously injured and missing a good chunk of your shoulder. You need to focus on healing that before anything else." Vlad looks over her head and watches Danny zoom around the lion's face, blasting ice at its eyes and nose (which is surprisingly effective) while angrily shouting stupid one-liners all the while.

Vlad snorts at the display, wincing immediately at the pull in his shoulder.

Sam snaps her fingers in his face, begrudgingly returning his attention to her, "You can't help like this. You're bleeding way too much. Hurry up and heal before you do something stupid and Danny has to save you, again."

That wakes him up, he ignores the silly girl in front of himself to look down at his shoulder and take in the damage.

The entire top muscle – the deltoid - and half of the bicep is missing. Gone. There's ectoplasm everywhere.

'That really is an awful lot of blood…' He muses. He can't even make out his nice blue skin under all that green. "Oh dear…" He breathes weakly.

Tucker snorts but returns his attention to the computer screen in his face, tapping away like mad. No doubt looking for a solution still. Vlad wishes he'd hurry up.

"I'm gonna heal this now." He mumbles sloppily, tiredly reaching inwards for his ghostly power. Sam sits back with a relieved sigh, casting a quick glance at the battle before gathering her weapons and putting her back to Vlad in a protective stance. He watches her in disbelief before gritting his teeth and stubbornly yanking on his personal signature, surrounding himself in his calming red and pink tones and focusing it on the fatal injury.

He aims his aura towards the arteries first, locating the torn edges and suffusing it with raw power from his core. The throbbing red tones slowly work to stitch him back together, weaving himself new muscle and skin in a very tedious, exhausting process.

He knows he can't do this for too long, he needs to preserve his energy to help these ridiculous teenagers protect some faceless people from the city. He stops as soon as the muscle is formed, leaving the skin and finesse for later looking in to. He tiredly stands, clenching his fist experimentally.

"You good, Vlad?" Tucker asks, sparing a moment to glance over the tops of his glasses at the older halfa.

Vlad huffs and looks away, focusing on the battle at hand.

Now it's Sam's turn to snort, never taking her eyes off the battle, "Oh don't be so embarrassed, everyone slips up. We've been fighting this thing for a while now, fatigue will be our biggest weakness." She pauses, "Besides like, not knowing how to stop it."

"I'm sorry! I'm not finding anything!" Tucker suddenly shouts in frustration, "The myth just keeps repeating itself: he tries arrows, they bounce off, he corners it into a cave, stuns it and then… you know." He fumbles the last point, unwilling to even say 'strangle' apparently.

Vlad resists the urge to roll his eyes at the three's goody-two-shoe-ness. Ridiculous.

He turns to watch the battle just as one of his clones gets harshly swatted to the ground. With morbid curiosity he watches himself cough up ectoplasm, too damaged to move out of the way as the lion slams the same paw down on the lower half of the broken body, smashing it to mush and ultimately halting any plans for escape. The clone turns and makes eye contact with its creator, eyes wide and face pale, mere seconds before the lion dips down to chomp of his head.

Just before impact, Danny swoops in and holds the teeth back, a hand on the upper and lower jaws each. Feet planted, chest puffed with exertion, his arms shake with the strength needed to keep the jaws from closing over the vulnerable clone. Glowing ectoplasmic blood seeps from his palms. Vlad is momentarily stunned at the bravery over a damned clone and curses Danny for his stupidity. He quickly releases the copy from existence, taking in the small amount of life energy and wincing as the wounds join his memories, but thankfully not a complete death. He clenches his fist at the unnecessary gamble of the young halfa's life.

Sam cries out in shock and protest but is quickly drowned out by Vlad furiously exploding at him.

"ARE YOU SERIOUSLY THAT STUPID?!" He roars out angrily, flying to the young idiot's side to help him out of his stuck position.

"I didn't – ugh – want you t-to – have to feel another death! Jesus! Just b-be thankful!" The moron gasps and strains at the lion's strength, it's tail thrashing irritatingly and shaking its head to try and dislodge the young hero. The shaking tears at his injured palms but he can't seem to let go without allowing the jaws clamp onto his own head now.

The throat glows threateningly with what Vlad has begun to associate with fire-breath and sneers at the giant beast. He seethes inwardly at the teen next to him before shooting multiple blood red ecto-blasts into the open mouth, rapid-fire. The beast cancels its fire breath, coughs and immediately steps back to shake its head and sputter.

"…Huh…" Danny watches thoughtfully, in an irritatingly calm voice.

"IT WAS JUST A CLONE!" Vlad explodes in his face, gripping his skinny arm with iron strength, phasing them both and hauling the idiot into the air and out of reach of the pesky lion.

Danny simply shrugs and grins, blowing the hair out of his eyes, "It wasn't that big a de-"

"Don't you DARE!" Vlad can't remember being this panicky in battle, his mind is spinning. Reeling. Picturing those jaws overcoming Danny's strength and snapping down- "You could've DIED over a CLONE, Daniel! You would have been lost over MILD DISCOMFORT! HOW could you be so-"

"It looked like you." Said a small, nonchalant voice. The sentiment pauses Vlad's tirade in its tracks, "I didn't want to see it-you- die… like that…" The young halfa avoids eye contact and studies his palms before experimentally closing and opening his fists a couple times.

Vlad falters, heart flickering before he clamps down on it and shoves those thoughts aside. "Now is not the time to be risky, Little Badger." He chastises quietly, breathing deep and reigning in his emotions. "Mr. Foley cannot find an alternative for us, what would you like to do?"

Danny cringes and finally looks back at Vlad, "I can't do what Hercules did, Vlad. It's not right."

Vlad closes his eyes and breathes deeply, feeling his heart accelerate and some blood stir so very inappropriately in his loins. He feels sweat bead down his spine and along his ribs. His heart hammers, attempting to help the infernal spell by pumping blood faster in his veins. After taking a moment to collect himself and calm the traitorous organ, he opens his eyes and calmly states, "I know, therefore I will do it."

Danny whips his whole body around to face Vlad, giving his undivided attention. His entire frame screams shock.

"V-"

"Ah!" Vlad quickly cuts him off with one finger up, trying to save some dignity in this situation. "I will save your poor little good-guy heart the trouble. This kind of act is not something that should ever taint your innocent soul. But mine is already ugly and dark, it won't bother me the same." Danny's eyes flick between Vlad's, back and forth, looking for… he doesn't know what. Maybe a trick? Would Danny trust him to do this? Would Danny trust him after offering something like this? He doesn't honestly know. This kind of thing goes against the teen's moral code.

But with no other options, they have little choice. There are innocents in the area, after all.

Vlad sighs, "Try anything else you have, so you'll feel better knowing you gave it your all. Be sure you have exhausted all of your ideas. If you still fail at the end of all possible plans, then I will do this deed for you."

"'If?'" Danny can't seem to help the slight lift in the corner of his mouth, "Don't you mean when?"

Vlad shakes his head and turns his face back to the growling lion below and his final remaining clone, "If. I have faith in you, Little Badger. Once your heart is set, nothing stands in your way… as annoying as that may have been in the past…" He grins over at the teen, "You always seem to pull miracles out of thin air. It's something I can't help but… admire." He dwindles off, mumbling the last word as he realizes he's actually complimenting the teen. Completely unintentional. Horrendously embarrassing.

Danny's entire face blooms into a radiant smile, and he flings himself into a backwards summersault and towards the lion with exuberance.

'Is my faith really so thrilling?'

Vlad lands near the two human teens, taking a protective stance and recalling his last clone to take in another breath of life energy. He may have come very close to it a moment ago, but he'll never purposefully admit how much he was looking forward to what miracle a nearly 18-year-old Daniel Fenton can pull from his pretty little head.

'Ugh, not the time.' Vlad rolls his red eyes at himself before focusing fully on said teen.

"Well this is a Greek mythology character, right? Sooo wasn't there something about music putting scary monsters to sleep?" Danny wonders aloud, looking to his friends for backup.

Sam slaps a palm onto her face, "That was Cerberus, Danny. I don't think that'll work here…"

"Worth a shot buddy!" Tucker hollers, pulling out a sleek-looking speaker from the backpack and facing it towards the lion.

Danny and him flash each other grins while Sam throws her hands in the air with exasperation, "Guys! Different myth! Different situation! Different fucking species! One is a dog and the other is a lion?"

Vlad hesitantly speaks up, "Miss Manson, as Mr. Fenton has pointed out earlier, stranger things have happened… Should we not at least try it?" 'Considering the futility of this situation?' He adds silently.

Sam whips her gaze to him, narrowing her eyes and silently trying to kill him with her look alone. At least, that is how Vlad interprets it. "I still don't know what to think about you, I don't like this," here she gestures between Vlad, herself and her friends, "It's too fishy," She takes a deep breath, "But I guess you aren't wrong." She steps close to him and roughly jabs one purple-tipped fingernail into his chest, "But if anything here goes bad then I'm going to blame you and act accordingly." She steps back, "Got it?" She doesn't even wait for him to answer, but turns to help Tucker set up the music.

The sparks in Sam's eyes and dark undertones in her voice leave Vlad surprisingly nervous. He gulps, unsure now if he wants to divulge his secrets with Danny about the spell. Because no doubt Danny will seek the advice of his two companions, and they most assuredly will want to kill him. Or at the very least maim him. And they happen to be some of the very few human beings in existence that know how to do just that.

He's spent many years doing unsavoury things for his power, making enemies disappear and overshadowing the competition. But never before has he felt more anxiety in a non-fatal situation, than watching the flames in this brave girl's eyes threaten to consume him without hesitation or remorse.

Vlad knows she would enjoy it. In another life, he may have tried to take her in and groom all this raw, violent potential on the world. But for now, he just silently watches her plug a power-pack into Tucker's speaker, then lean over his shoulder to help select the proper lullaby.

They grin at each other and shout to Danny, "Ready!"

Danny swoops low and leads the lion towards the other two teens, "Incoming!" He shouts back, looping backwards into a wide arc over the creature's spine. He ices the beast's back and belly before connecting either side to the ground, effectively tethering the lion in place. With it's face towards the two humans and midsection trapped in place, Tucker nods and clicks something on his holographic screen.

A gentle music wafts through the air. The harp strings plucking daintily as everyone holds their breath.

The lion's ear twitches towards the speaker. It tilts it's head in curiosity and waits. Everyone waits.

After only fifteen seconds the beast seems to grow bored with the sound and become more and more interested with it's bindings.

After thirty seconds the feline has completely ignored the music in favour of gnashing its teeth and growling, struggling hard against the ice. It raises a back leg and claws at the frosty trap, shredding a small portion into slush. The rest of the structure remains sound.

One minute into the song, the lion roars in frustration, impatient with its progress and sets fire to everything in the vicinity, the ice, the speaker system, even the twisted remains of an overturned car next to it.

The song cuts out as the speaker bursts into flames and melts down into a sad puddle. The ghostly cat flicks its tail and slinks towards the building again, ears flat and begins bathing itself aggressively.

"Ooookay." Tucker breaks the silence, "Um, the music was a good idea but definitely did not work." He flushes as everyone shoots him a dark look and hurriedly adds, "That ice was really strong though, he didn't seem to like that! Too bad those claws are so sharp…"

Danny hums in thoughtful agreement and informs the group he has another idea before dutifully taking off again. Vlad admires the tenacity but remains silent. He can't really think of anything to help. He feels so useless. He has never needed to come up with damage-control plans. What an impossible task! Poor Hercules.

Poor Danny.

Tucker looks around and quickly drops to his knees next to the puddle that once was his speaker, dramatically wailing to the skies above. Sam pats his shoulder and coos comforting words to him like, "Another one." - "Bigger and better." and the most amusing; "Heat-resistant."

Vlad scoffs at the undignified display and turns back to Danny. He observes the teen flying lower, slower and keeping his arms down at his sides instead of up and in a protective position. 'He seems very tired.' Vlad hopes Danny will find a solution soon. And true to his word, he honestly believes Danny will find a way. 'He always had such excellent problem-solving skills, even if it took a lot of trial-and-error in the beginning.'

The teen eggs the beast on, shouting stupid lines like "You feline ready to go home yet?" - "Why are you so purrsistent?" and "I'm not lion when I say I'm getting sick of your shit."

Everyone on the sidelines groan at the obvious, terrible puns Danny tiredly spits at the cat, blasting at its whiskers and tail, riling it up all over again.

Just as the giant spreads its paws out, head down and backside raised ready to pounce, Danny's eyes flash. He sucks in a deep breath and blows out a blast of freezing power over all four paws, completely encasing them in ice. The ice was just beginning to climb up the legs of the animal before he ran out of breath.

He settled back and crossed his arms, satisfied. "See?" He called down, "It's claws can cut through everything sure, but what happens when he can't even move them to try?" He smirks and gestures to the beast, watching at it yowls and tugs once more at its bindings.

"Uh Danny?" Sam calls, her voice sounding uncertain.

"Impressive right?" He responds, oblivious to her turmoil, and lands next to his companions.

Tucker looks between the two teens, worry pulling at his eyebrows. "Actually, Danny, I think Sam is –"

The young halfa finally tears his eyes away from their opponent and shoots a questioning gaze to his friends. "What's up guys?" He seems confused and a little disheartened at their lack of excitement.

"Well…"

Abruptly a bright green glow illuminates their faces and Danny's back. He feels the heat wave and closes his eyes a moment before sighing in resignation. He catches Vlad's eye and the man presses his lips together in a firm, sympathetic grimace.

He turns and sure enough, the lion has melted its front two bindings and is currently contorting itself to claw at the ice encasing its back legs.

"Arggghh!" He groans loudly, "Why are you so impossible!"

"I was trying to remind you about that part…" Sam mutters, arms crossed.

"It was a good idea, Little Badger." Vlad steps forward. "You seem to be very fatigued, are you about ready to call it?"

"No!" Danny straightens up sharply, "Not yet!" He catches the confused looks of his friends and waves a hand dismissively, "Later." He guesses they didn't hear about Vlad's offer.

"Let me try one more thing." He's watching the lion intently but speaking to Vlad. "I have one more thing we've been working on, but it takes a lot out of me."

Sam gasps, grasping his forearm, "Danny you can't! That tires you out on a good day."

Tucker agrees wholeheartedly, slinging a supportive arm over his shoulder, "We haven't fully explored how hard you can push that power, what if it hurts you? Let's not get too hasty, man."

Vlad lifts an eyebrow, watching the exchange. Danny shakes his friends off and drops into a couple stretches, "Just hand me a Fenton Pick-Me-Up. Besides, the last plan almost worked, I just need to make sure he can't use his fire too."

The two groan and Sam stomps over to the backpack, pulling out a glass pop-bottle. Vlad notices the drink has been replaced with a brightly glowing, swirling liquid. As the lid is removed, his nostrils flair at the familiar smell. "What in the devil…?"

"Don't ask questions you don't want answers to, Vlad." Danny says quietly, accepting the offered drink and downing it quickly.

Vlad sucks in a harsh breath, not prepared for another use of his name. The spell so carelessly thrown in his face causes him to immediately grow cold as a rather substantial flush of blood heads straight for his dick. He sits down, hard, and pulls his knees up close to his chest to hide the resulting erection and takes a couple desperate breaths through his mouth. The sudden heat all over his body has him sweating in strange places, like behind his knees and under his eyes. He resolutely ignores it all and works hard to mentally detach himself from the spell's clutches before anyone notices.

Danny quirks an eyebrow at him, having never before seen Vlad willingly sit on the ground. Vlad quickly flaps a hand towards the lion, "Well?" He quips impatiently, "Get on with it. Let's hope this one works, whatever it is."

Danny laughs and looks back to his friends. Tucker also seems occupied with Vlad sitting in the grass, arms holding his knees in an apparently casual manner and doesn't bother closing his mouth. Sam has moved on already and puts a hand on Danny's shoulder, "Please be careful, okay? You always get excited, take things too far and then just barely survive." She pulls him into a firm hug, "We will always be here to patch you up, just please leave something for us to work with."

Danny laughs and pats the girl's shoulder, "Thanks Sam. Seriously, both of you, thank you for always taking care of me. But we're a team and I need to do my part." He leans back in her arms to look in her eyes, "I'll be fine, the Pick-Me-Up helped a lot." He pinches her cheek and she shakily laughs it off.

Vlad hates the entire encounter. It feels intimate and like this is totally natural, like this kind of sappy shit happens all the time. It boils the blood in his heart, or at least what's left that's not already occupied in his nether regions. He's still battling to control his magical hormones. 'Stupid spell. Stupid Ember. Stupid Freakshow. Stupid Vlad.' He repeats this mantra to himself.

Danny nods to his friends and steps backwards, "Here we go!" before launching into the air.

Danny floats directly above the feline, throws his arms wide and lets his ice powers grow and pulse outward. It gradually bleeds from his eyes and fists before finally overflowing and coating his entire being. The teen gradually becomes encased in the beautiful, light blue power, hair whipping and glaringly white. He takes in a very deep, obvious breath and then points his face to the heavens, mouth fallen open and emitting a bright white glow to match his eyes. It's a dazzling and eerie sight to all who behold it.

Like Vlad. Vlad is definitely dazzled.

He watches in awe as Danny unexpectedly rushes upwards, spinning faster and faster, spewing icy gusts from his glowing, open mouth. The gale picks up speed and descends like a biting, arctic tornado, ripping towards the unsuspecting lion and swirling around it harshly. The sheer force of it all knocks the beast's legs out from under it, flattening the feline to the earth and battering it in strong, frosty waves. The vortex whines and growls in ferocity, slowly encasing both beings in a blinding display of snow, wind and light.

Vlad shields his eyes but does his best to not miss a single second, wonder clearly etched deep into his face, red eyes squinting.

The power crescendos into a tight column, the roar of the winds are so loud and strong that he wonders if the two teens behind him are even still standing. But they must have seen this before and knew to expect it. Vlad refuses to tear his attention away even for a second to see what state they are currently in. They can handle themselves.

Just as the noise and light becomes unbearable to even Vlad's super-senses, the power belches a deafening shock wave, blasting the three bystanders back before suddenly cutting out.

The instant silence is almost louder than the power before it. Vlad turns back, allowing his eyes to adjust to the regular lighting again as he takes in the strange sight.

The lion is completely encased in a column of ice. It's mouth open and front right paw lifted, comically frozen in time. Vlad's eyes follow the column upwards, seeing as it ends just below Danny's feet, the teen having a brightly glowing aura but otherwise returned to normal.

He floats, clearly exhausted but smiling happily as he crosses his arms and surveys his handiwork.

The pillar of ice is completely clear, only slightly distorted on the edges. A light snow settles around it and swirls as Danny settles to the ground in front of the creature. He taps the ice with a finger, seemingly satisfied.

Sam stands back up, brushing herself off and smiling in relief.

"Holy shit dude! That was next level!" Tucker whoops, brushing past Vlad to high-five the still glowing halfa and clapping him on the shoulder without a trace of fear. "That was way stronger than anything in our practice runs!"

Sam looks up to Vlad, gently pushes his mouth shut and lightly slaps his cheek before walking to join her friends without another word.

After such a magnificent display of power, Vlad half-expects the teens to be wary of their friend. Danny could so very easily kill them if he wished to, surely, they must feel nervous? But the girl just walks up and snakes an arm around each boy, leaning her head on the Danny's frigid shoulder as the three thoughtfully regard the lion-popsicle. Gentle words of praise and awe hushed between them.

He shakes his head in amazement and slowly joins them, standing a foot off to the side. He can feel Danny's ghost signature throb with excess power as he reigns it in, slowly, comfortably. Vlad can sense how exhausted he is, but content. It's a heady feeling that forces him to calm himself and bask in the second-hand glow.

"Plasmius!"

And just like that, the calm is shattered. Four heads whip to the source, all immediately recognizing the voice.

"…Skulker." Vlad sighs, "I should have suspected this."

Skulker lands beside him, appraising the ice sculpture with amusement, "You captured my quarry, whelp. How now will I enjoy my rest period?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Tucker shakes his head, "'Rest Period?'" he does a double-take, "And what's with the shirt?"

Skulker has a bright purple palm-tree patterned shirt hanging loosely over his metal frame. There are sunglasses clipped into the breast pocket which Vlad knows for a fact that are completely unnecessary with his recent upgrades, they are there simply for the look.

Sam narrows her eyes and hisses through clenched teeth, "You released the lion?"

Skulker hums affirmative as he traces a gloved palm over the smooth ice. "Wonderful planning, humans! The claws can pierce any armour in the world, but render them immobile? Genius! And the fire breath can't cause damage if the mouth can't move! Wonderful!" He laughs loudly, completely at ease.

Sam seems to be barely holding in her temper. It's become quite the volatile thing with her age. "I'm sorry, back up. Hold up. WHAT?! You took the most invincible creature in myth and legend and released it here? Why?" Her voice lowers dangerously, "And what do you mean by 'rest period?'

Skulker shrugs, "Let Plasmius explain, I grow bored of your drama." With that, the mecha-ghost lifts off and begins digitally scanning the ice block, poking and prodding with various instruments from his armour.

'He assumes I know how to calm these fools down, does he not realize I've been attempting that for nearly four years now?' Vlad internally frets. He coughs and gestures awkwardly to Skulker, "Well I gave him vacation time and I… assume… this is how he meant to… enjoy himself?" He didn't intend on making that statement such a weak question but watching Skulker operate in all seriousness while wearing a fucking Hawaiian button-up over his suit was just plain strange. And were those socks and sandals? How did he make new footwear to look like feet? And why socks? Does he assume that's standard human fashion?

"He usually hunts when I give him time off…" Vlad's explanation peeters out, the absurdity too much for him to continue.

"So he thought grabbing one of Hercules's labours from legend would be a great way to kill some time?" Tucker scoffs, surprise quickly being replaced with irritation. "Could he have at least done this elsewhere? Like away from civilians?"

Danny steps forward after watching the exchange unfold. He laughs. Honest to goodness laughs. Bless his soul. "So Skulk thinks vacation-time equals hunting legendary myths? Why does this not surprise me at all?" He laughs and shakes his head, grinning and watching the mecha-ghost unfurl a giant net and fit it over the ice column very seriously. Eyes glistening with humour, hand resting subconsciously on the bleeding rips in his sides.

"Uhh-" Vlad can't help watching the boy laugh, taken by the way Danny so easily dismisses the abnormal. Just how much bullshit can one child be exposed to to react like this? He's clearly been in more tussles with his little friends than Vlad has come to expect.

He corrects his throat loudly and calls to Skulker, watching the ghost land solidly beside him and cause the teens to stare in wary caution.

"What is it, Plasmius?"

"Are you taking your quarry back to the Ghost Zone?"

Skulker hums, "Yes, I have appreciated the whelp's insight on catching this prey, but I still haven't caught it for myself. I am yet unsatisfied with the hunt."

Tucker snorts and rolls his eyes at Sam, who huffs indignantly but keeps a hand loosely hovering at her bangle-gun. Good girl, stay suspicious.

"Then please take it now and do not dawdle."

Just as Skulker nods and readies to leap into the air, Danny grabs his arm, mirth gone. The ghost pauses curiously and waits, shooting Vlad a look before returning his attention to the teen.

"Skulker." He starts. "Before you go…"

Danny looks up, grip firm on the metal arm and green eyes flashing dangerously, "This better be your last warning."

The green-haired ghost scoffs and yanks his arm from the teen's grasp, "And how many times have you said that line, whelp? Your empty threats grow boring and pitiful." The ghost draws himself upright and puffs his chest out, "I will do as I please."

The reaction is instantaneous. Danny honest-to-goodness growls and lets off a frozen, rolling wave of warning and anger. Leftover energy from before nips painfully at the edges of the subconscious like the beginnings of frostbite. Skulker takes a step back and shoots a look towards Vlad.

"Plasmius?" He implores his boss, hoping for some backup.

Vlad ignores the looks he gets from the teens and crosses his arms, "Don't be a simpleton, Skulker. You just witnessed all of…" he waves a hand to encompass the frozen beast, "that, and you still hold stubborn to your hunt? You know full well the rules that which Phantom has set for all of you. I would suggest you make yourself and your prey scarce." Vlad turns his back on his underling, "And enjoy your hunts in the Ghost Zone from now on. I should think it safer for everyone involved."

Skulker pauses and then laughs, "Yes! Now this is exciting!"

Vlad whirls back to watch Skulker pop open a forearm and cock a deadly looking shotgun. Grimly, Vlad recognizes the weapon and dreads facing it, and all its explosive glory - especially tired. "Must we –" Vlad begins, quickly changing tracks at an attempt to be diplomatic.

Danny steps forward, a hand thrown out to cut Vlad off and gently push him back. "Allow me." He says, never taking his eyes from the ghost. Vlad steps back willingly, the chill still rolling off Danny is slightly painful anyway.

"Skulker, the deal we have is that no one causes mayhem in town and you won't be immediately sucked into a thermos and shot into the 'Zone. Did you forget that?"

"This is my vacation, whelp! I will do with it as I please, your rules don't apply here. Besides, the beast got sidetracked by civilians, an honest mistake."

"This isn't a mistake. You let a dangerous animal out to-"

"Call it what you will, I can't imagine you're going to punish me here ghost-child. Especially after expending such an enormous amount of energy." He leers at the teen, eyes flashing with challenge.

Danny pauses, Vlad knows that if he threatens him that'll only excite Skulker. He knows Danny knows this. He hopes Danny will just let this go.

"No. You're right, I won't punish you Skulker." Vlad lets out a breath of relief. Skulker smirks. "But!" He holds up a finger, "I will tell everyone that's in on this deal that you intentionally fucked it up and ruined it for them. You break it for everyone, not just you." Danny crosses his arms, "Imagine how happy they all would be to get revenge on you for that." He gets right up in Skulker's face, "You like the hunt? How about being hunted by everyone in the 'Zone for something so stupid?" His voice drops down to a deadly quiet, "Can you outrun and outlive everybody? Forever?"

Skulker's fire hair dies down a bit and his eyes widen. That would be disastrous. Gone would be his freedom and truces with the other ghosts. Clearly Plasmius wouldn't side with him either, so no more protection there. No one would dare help him and suffer the same fate.

He lowers his gaze in shame, it's absolute torture for him to admit defeat, no matter the benefit. "You are manipulative, whelp, I see now why Plasmius likes you so much."

The halfas stiffen and avoid eye contact while the humans snort and snicker in surprise, wiggling their eyebrows with wide grins. Skulker carries on like he didn't just deliver a distressing line so offhandedly, "By your leave?" He addresses Danny, never once looking Vlad's way. The ghost had never disregarded his boss like that before, Vlad definitely has some damage control to do later.

Danny gestures for him to carry on, "By all means Skulk, enjoy your vacation."

Skulker turns, picks up his netted ice-block and high-tails it out of there without another word.

Silence.

Then Tucker smiles and calls Danny back for a high-five. Danny loops backwards and delivers, ruffling Sam's hair in the process and pissing her off.

Vlad moves forward and watches the teens apprehensively, "Ah, I did not realize he would be so… stupid." He begins slowly.

Tucker and Sam cross their arms at the same time, which would've been funny in a different scenario. "He's kind of an idiot, but you obviously didn't tell him to do this." Tucker points out.

"Yes, my employee and his strange obsession is something I am quite intimate with. Expecting him to understand what a 'vacation' is seems to have been too trusting. I apologize."

All three stare at him in awe, clearly not used to him admitting guilt.

Vlad turns away to watch the first-responders arrive and work silently for a moment, wondering if he should just leave or if he has to have his talk with Danny now. He's committed himself to telling him but really, this night was already exhausting what with the fight, the clones and the powers. He's strong but that was all so sudden.

"Vlad?"

There's also that. Too many more of those and he will be put into quite the compromising situation.

The name shakes him to his core, and he shudders, keeping himself facing away from the teens as he aggressively wills himself to calm down. His head pounds and every surface on his body shines with perspiration. He clenches his jaw and imagines all the darkest, most horrible things he can to help control this stupid spell. 'Stupid Ember. Stupid Freakshow. Stupid Vlad.'

The nice moment he was enjoying has completely dwindled away and is replaced by shame and anxiety for the conversation to come. His shoulders hunch and he turns his head slightly to acknowledge the boy.

A pause, "Thank you for your help today."

Vlad's shoulders slacken in surprise and he breathes out a shaky laugh. "I've never done anything like that before. Usually I'm at the cause of the mayhem... to see it first hand in all it's confusion and hopelessness was… sobering."

He surveys the wreckage a moment longer and puts his hands in his pockets (to help hide the lingering physical answer to the spell) before turning to Danny, attention drifting to how his eyes seem to sparkle in the flashing blue and red lights. Those bright green iris's never seem to dull or lose their intensity. Vlad watches Danny watch him for a moment.

"He uh, shielded us too." Sam adds helpfully, hiding a smile when she startles both half-ghosts from their thoughts.

Danny sounds surprised to hear this and turns to his friends, "What really? When?"

After a brief explanation, Danny tuts, "You guys weren't paying attention during a fight? I'm surprised with both of you."

They sputter a bit before blaming Vlad for suddenly showing up and not trusting him, they were distracted! You have to admit it looked bad.

Danny hums and turns back to Vlad, watching him a moment. "Why did you show up?"

Vlad feels his cheeks prickle and coughs daintily into his fist before launching into an excuse, voice much higher than intended, "Oh, I was in the neighbourhood..." to talk to you about this insufferable spell, "I heard the explosion and felt compelled to investigate who would kick up a fuss in my town." That I haven't orchestrated in some way. "It's been a while since someone stepped out of line so spectacularly." That wasn't me.

Danny watches him and grins, it unnerves Vlad how much that little action speeds up his heart-rate. 'Stupid, stupid spell. This is just side affects from his verbal cue earlier.'

He ignores the little voice in his head saying anything otherwise.

"You were at my house." Danny announces happily.

"Ah well, you were rather adamant in class about the a-appointment... I assumed not showing up would be hurtful and or insulting."

He draws himself up and prepares to admit his shameful spell to the teens. He clears his throat and wrings his hands, unsure where to start. 'Jesus Christ I can come up with long-winded speeches on the fly but I can't admit one stupid thing to this ridiculous teenager?' He internally rages at himself and pinches the bridge of his nose. 'How do I even begin? Should I explain the plan first? He'll be so angry after hearing about the spell that he may not even bother to find out why I did it. Then again, the why is just as bad as the what...'

He looks past Danny to his two best friends, watching them slowly pack up their equipment, doing their best to eavesdrop without looking like they were. He gently pulls on Danny's elbow, "Come here a moment," and leads him away from his friends.

He steps away from Danny and crosses his arms, staring thoughtfully at the teen. 'If I were to tell him right now, I would lose any trust I may have gained here today. How can I word this gently? 'Oh yes, funny story, I paid criminals to bend your mind.' He'd think I'm crazy still. Call me a typical Fruitloop. Maybe even fight me.' Vlad looks away, realizing he's been staring silently for too long, battling with his thoughts. 'Honesty is his rule in this. He's said that much. He may appreciate how hard this is for me… What am I thinking, he'll appreciate my death once he finds out what I've done.' Vlad sighs, massaging his temples with his fingers and does his best to fight off the very real headache he's giving himself.

A hand on his good shoulder and a gentle voice at his side brings him out of his back-and-forth, "Vlad?"

Vlad plays the sudden jerk to attention his body gives off as being startled. Everything burns hot then cold. His body throbs with tingles of arousal in all his nerve endings and he savagely fights off a very real growl/moan. Even just the slightest whine would be picked up by Danny's super-hearing, it's bad enough he can probably hear Vlad's stuttering heartbeat. He can't have Danny say his name even once more, he's losing his goddamned mind trying to hold himself together. Almost afraid to look, he pulls his hand away from his face and peers over his shoulder.

Danny gives him such a gentle, encouraging smile that it breaks his heart. This, this young man right here, is the picture of innocence and trust. 'I'm a fucking monster.'

"We're gonna go." Danny points a thumb over his shoulder, taking a step backwards, towards his friends.

That definitely startles the man out of his self-deprecating spiral. "Huh?" He will deny for the rest of his days that he ever made such an undignified noise. "But I… I thought you…" He recovers himself and looks between Danny and his friends, "Isn't there something you wished to discuss?" He hesitantly asks, barely loud enough to be heard.

Danny just shakes his head. "I can see how hard this is for you. It doesn't need to happen tonight. Take your time. Please. I meant it when I said that things can change between us. And that offer doesn't have a time limit. Just… look you did great tonight. You helped us, you helped those people trapped in the mall. And you didn't have to, I really didn't expect it." Danny looks away, eyes moving as he thinks about his next words. "I know I kind of rush into everything I do without thinking ahead," He starts, sheepishly, "But you don't. You think everything through, plan every little detail. You and I work differently. I get that." He looks at his friends, they stare back at him wide eyed but slowly nod.

Danny turns back to Vlad and asks him very seriously, "This thing, this secret… does it hurt anyone?"

"Oh, erm, no." He fumbles, 'Not really…'

Danny tilts his head, "Will it hurt someone?"

"…No" Vlad confirms out loud, 'Not physically…'

Danny breathes out like he was holding it in. "Okay, that's good. Probably should've asked that first…" He mutters mostly to himself before straightening up, "Alright, then yeah. Don't stress about it. You can tell me when you're ready. Until then…" He walks to his friends and puts an arm around each waist.

Tucker looks back to Vlad uncertainly, "You think it's okay to just leave like this?"

"I think things will be okay now Tuck." Danny reassures, smile clear in his voice. Danny launches them into the air and flies away.

Vlad stares after him, face blank.

'He is much too forgiving.' Vlad thinks grimly, 'Well now, I guess it's time to celebrate…'

He finally has what he wants.

Danny trusts him. It may not be 100% but he has lowered his guard and is not pressing to know his plans. This is everything he dared hope for.

His stomach twists in confusion. He won, but he doesn't much feel like celebrating.