This assumes Danny got his powers in 2000 therefore the events of the show took place over a five year period with the exception of Phantom Planet which I am disregarding.
Vlad Master's Mansion, Five years Before Present…
Vlad Plasmius cried out in pain as he crashed through the wall of his mansion. He was so tired and out of it at this point he could not even stay focused enough to manage intangibility. It wasn't too surprising though, after all he was getting on in his years and this fight has been going on for the past four hours.
He groaned and pulled himself to his feet. He looked up at the blazing green eyes of his opponent as he floated towards the weakened halfa. Maybe he could still talk his way out of this. Of course talking hadn't managed much up to this point. Gone was the naive teenager making fast quips to his opponent, this was much worse.
"Look Daniel, I understand in the past that we've had our differences bu-" He was cut off as the other halfa's hand wrapped around his throat. "Oh butter biscuits." He choked out as his windpipe was all but crushed.
"Five years cheesehead." Danny Phantom said in an even tone as he lifted up his arch rival. "Five years I've had to put up with your bullshit, Plasmius."
Vlad let out a gagging sound as Daniel's hand tightened even harder around his esophagus. In their ghost forms halfa didn't necessarily have to breath but anyone would find quite a lot of difficulty speaking with their windpipe being crushed. Not to mention it hurt.
"You're not talking your way out of this one. I'm done." He glared at Vlad.
Vlad struggled against the incredibly strong grip. There had to be a way out of this! There was always something he could use against Daniel, but what?!
"Don't even bother trying to think of a way out of this one. I've bankrupted half of your companies, liquefied your assets, destroyed all your labs except the one here. All your minions are now either mine or ended. You have nothing left Plasmius. Nothing." Danny growled as he turned the two of them intangible and flew them through the ground towards the subterranean lab.
When they reached the room Danny allowed them to fade back into tangibility and threw Vlad to the ground hard enough to create a small crater and send cracks splitting across the floor. As he lay there in pain the familiar black rings appeared and he shifted back into Vlad Masters.
Danny glared down at his old rival without a hint of remorse. Not anymore. Not after everything he's gone through because of this bastard. This ended tonight.
He floated over to the control panel for the portal and started fiddling with it after landing on the ground. Danny decided to at least get some closure out of this and fulfil his own revenge on the bastard.
"I supposed I should thank you. I mean if it weren't for you I'd probably still be a stupid kid playing hero and dreaming of becoming an astronaut. If it weren't for all the shit you've put me through over the years, I'd still be so naive." He chuckled mirthlessly. "Oh and I supposed I should congratulate you for signing over everything you had left to your daughter. Who knew you had a heart in that cold void you call a body!" In truth he had just made a deal with Amorpho to disguise himself as Vlad and make some changes to his will naming one Danielle Masters as his heir.
"Daniel, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" Vlad started as he pulled his battered form to his feet.
"Shut up." Danny commanded. "You did exactly what you were trying to do. You just didn't expect my mom to get caught in it." He sneered at the old man. "Congratulations you managed to kill the "love of your life" and her husband due to your own selfishness. If you really loved her you should have let her be happy."
"You da-" Vlad began angrily, somehow managing to rouse himself momentarily at Danny's insinuation.
Danny teleported himself right in front of Vlad. While he had been small in his early teenage years, at nineteen he was now six and a half feet tall, dwarfing the aging man in front of him. He grabbed the hem of Vlad's shirt in his fist.
"Yes Vlad" He spat the name out like it was the foulest insult he could think of. "I dare. I dare because they were my parents. They may not have been the best parents but they still tried. Whatever they were to you, you lost the right to call them that years ago. Now because of you and all of your bullshit schemes they're both dead." Behind him the open ghost portal seemed to shift.
The swirling green vortex seemed to implode inwards then expand again. From the depths of the spiral gray began leaking into it. Soon the maelstrom of ectoplasmic energy was gone completely only to be replaced by a shimmering pool of gray that look almost glass like.
Vlad's eyes widened in recognition and fear. "Daniel is that…" He trailed off horror beginning to knot in his stomach.
Danny smiled without humor, "So you do recognize it. I was wondering if you knew what it was. Tucker, Sam and I found out about it by accident years ago. I nearly got caught in there permanently but they got me out."
His look hardened, "That was always the difference between the two of us. You only ever relied on yourself and those you paid off or manipulated. You always tried to use my friends and family against me, without any of your own to fear for. My friends will always stand by my side. If you had any left they would probably have stood by yours. But you're alone Vlad and now you will be forever."
"Daniel please!" Vlad begged as he struggled against the younger man's grip as he strode over to the portal. "Like you said, if it weren't for me you wouldn't be who you are! You need me! What are you without me?"
Danny paused and actually considered the man's words. What would he be without Vlad? Would he even still be alive without the man's occasional help? Then he thought deeper into it. Every time Vlad had helped him was because it was the older halfa's mess that he couldn't clean up alone. He had been cruel, harsh, merciless and manipulative.
But what had Danny done the past few days? Overshadowing numerous officials, asking Sam to use her parents' influence to help turn a few blind eyes and shift a few stocks. Having Tucker hack into security systems. Working to terminate contracts that could cause financial problems for families who had nothing to do with what Vlad really was. People who were just trying to make their way in the world.
Was he any better?
"You're right Vlad." He said setting the other man down. Much to the old man's relief. "If it weren't for you I wouldn't be who I am."
"See Daniel I knew we could settle this li- erk." He choked as Danny's fist once again wrapped around his larynx.
"You did make me who I am." Danny continued casually, "You made me like you." He glared at the other man directly in the eye with his so-called "scary eyes".The once proud eldest halfa struggled to pry the fingers off his throat as Danny lifted him up once again. "How's it feel to look in the mirror fruitloop?"
Vlad's eyes widened in horror as Danny drew his arm back and then shoved, releasing his grip on the old man's throat. With shadowed eyes he watched the man disappear into the No-world, the place in between earth and the Ghost Zone. Where one could not age, but could still tire. Where you could starve and thirst but never die. Where Vlad would be alone for all eternity.
Danny raised his hand and blasted the control panel of the portal closing it forever. He stood in the silence for a moment staring at the empty portal chamber. How many years had he wasted fighting Vlad? Was it really over?
The fight had certainly been difficult, the Fright Knight had not been an expected member opponent but Dani had stepped in to help deal with him, he was a bit worried but he was sure with Sam, Tucker and Jazz they could handle him. Vlad and him had instead unleashed everything they had at each other, heck at one point they had both been using four duplicates. No doubt they would need to find a way to explain why a large portion of Wisconsin forests had been basically vaporized.
But it was over.
It left a bitter taste in his mouth. He hadn't really expected to feel happy but the real question was if he was content. He stood there contemplating that, he was never really much for deep thought but he had a lot to think about.
A few minutes passed before Danny turned and walked out of the silent laboratory.
This wasn't just the end of an era.
It was the beginning of a new one.
Amity Park, Three Years Before Present…
Danny couldn't stop glancing over his shoulder.
This was an uncomfortable problem, not only did it make him feel paranoid, although the situation was already doing that, but it made him look suspicious. He hated looking suspicious, although he blamed that on a long career of hiding his ghostly identity from everyone around him.
Vlad's "death" had been quite the publicity storm. With superheroes and villains appearing in greater numbers sweeping the Wisconsin incident under the rug had been plausible, not simple but doable. Still, the disappearance of one of the most powerful businessmen on the planet had caused a significant amount of complications.
Managing to convince people that Vlad had been caught up in an attack on his mansion by the villainous Plasmius, who had destroyed a portion of the nearby forest in his attack, had taken time, effort and money. Thankfully Danny had plenty of the first (turns out ghost attacks were not a good reference for college applications, who knew?), was willing to put in the second and with Sam's help as well as Danielle's "inheritance" they had managed to pull off the third.
The next hard part was convincing the world that Danielle Masters was Vlad's legitimate daughter. The fact she was not made that even harder. The story they had managed to spin was that she was an orphan Vlad had taken pity on and taken into his home and under his wing. It was a tragedy that he had died before she reached adulthood but at least they had a good three years together.
Yeah. Right.
Still Danielle was quite the actor when she wanted to be, which was kind of unfair considering Danny had to really hone his lying talent. She had managed to convince the media at least and everyone else had fallen into place.
Well mostly.
Danny Phantom had been of mixed public opinion around the time other heroes started showing up. Some got just as much flak as he did and others little to none. Some of them were just as innocent as wrongdoing as he had once been, others he could kind of understand why people were skeptical of them.
Case and point, The Batman.
Tucker had been the one who had noticed someone had been hacking Vlad's old systems. Vlad had been doing a decent job of keeping him out but there had been a gap between Danny dumping Vlad in the deadlands and Tucker wiping the system clean in a panic before they got everything.
While they had never managed to get an exact location on the source of the hack they had a general location, Connecticut. There weren't many people who had the skill and the technology of managing to break the firewalls and systems of Vlad Masters and considering both Gotham and its most famous vigilante Danny had been tempted to have a stiff drink. No he had not been 21 yet but dammit Batman was supposedly an incredible detective. He did not need someone like that hunting him down.
When nothing happened after that they had started to calm down. It was still a bit tense, Dani had managed to dissolve Dalv co. for the most part. They had ended up liquefying most of the resources and using them to start growing Fentonworks. Ghosts may have become much less of a problem but Danny's grades left him in want when it came to potential college and university education so it looked like he would be picking up the family business in one way or another.
With what they got from Vlad's leftovers Fentonworks had a chance at perhaps not the big leagues but at least making something of itself.
And so it had, they'd had a lot of trouble in the initial months and Danny may have made use of his invisibility to sit in on a few business classes. That had been a mixed bag, depending on the day and how well he was able to focus, some of the information went over his head but it did give some helpful ideas.
With some creative booking and more than a little rebranding Fentonworks was a new energy company looking to find a way to spread affordable and potentially clean energy. Some old dirty ectoplasm covered laundry had needed to be swept under the rug but his parents ghost weapons had their own ectoplasm based energy sources that had a lot of different uses beyond ghost hunting.
Just needed to find a way to keep them from coming to life and attacking customers is all.
Things had been going well! Jazz was now in graduate school and all going well for her. Tucker was seeking his own college education but also "interned" for Fentonworks. Sam and he had started a relationship for a little while but as he got busier and she started looking into the political field to push some of her green agendas they had decided to take a break to focus and get more comfortable with more adult workloads. It definitely had not been a proper break-up and their friendship remained strong, alleviating one of Danny's old fears about them ever seeking a relationship.
Danielle and Valerie were two very different bags. Danielle was officially employed by Fentonworks as a "secretary", unofficially she was the one who cleaned up the problems any of the ghost tech might experience in the field. Dani Phantom sightings were few and in between but no one really knew who she was or where to find her.
Valerie on the other hand had been a bit of a hurdle. She had fortunately never made the Danny Fenton-Danny Phantom connection but he still thought she suspected some things. As ghost attacks became fewer the Red Huntress started to fade out, less because of any real change in her determination and more just lack of enemies to fight.
And how had they achieved the lack of ghosts?
It had been surprisingly simple. They put a ghost shield around the real world side of the portal and any ghosts who wanted to come through needed to prove they weren't going to cause trouble before being let out. It had been happily effective. Danny Phantom had all but hung up the jumpsuit.
Which brought him to tonight and why he was so nervous.
He'd found a note on his desk. No one had seen anyone, no one knew how it got there, and the worst part was who it was addressed to. "Mr. Phantom."
It had greeted him warmly and mentioned big plans, also an address. He was getting Vlad vibes the entire read through, just someone else looking to manipulate him to their own ends. That was more his job these days, although he liked to think he actually took people's emotions in regard when he did anything like that. He didn't want to screw anyone over, just help them help him.
So here he was, Danny Fenton, new up and coming business owner, walking down the streets of his home town at 2 AM.
His destination was an old house, he'd walked by it a hundred times when he was younger and he'd seen a couple families move in and out. Supposedly it was haunted but he'd never fought any ghosts there. More likely it was just old and creaked.
No ghost sense went off as he walked inside, but he didn't think he was alone. The floors were covered in a thick layer of dust from disuse and someone else's footprints led into what he presumed was the living room. Noting their large size, resisting the urge to go ghost right off the bat he followed them into the room.
Two chairs were set up; they didn't look new but they did lack a layer of dust at least, one of them was occupied already.
"Ah Mr. Phantom, or do you prefer Fenton these days? Please sit down, we have much to talk about." A large man with black hair and three scars across his face greeted him.
"You'll forgive me if I don't have a pleasant greeting given the circumstances." He sat down, forcing himself to keep from crossing his arms, it would just be a sign of petulance.
"Quite." The other man found this amusing apparently. "I do suppose I should introduce myself, my name is Vandal Savage. And I've been aware of you for quite some time."
"How long is that?" Danny asked, now he had a name at least to search for when he got back home after this. Tucker should be able to help.
"Well I took notice of "Danny Phantom" when you first started out but I didn't start paying attention until a few years ago, an old business associate of mine suddenly had a tragic death in a fire at his home." Savage explained folding his hands in front of him.
He gripped the chair arm and his knuckles turned white, preparing to defend himself from an apparent old accomplice of Vlad he was about to stand up before Vandal held a hand up in a placating motion.
"Please, there's no need for that, Mr. Masters was a useful ally, I had no real attachment to him and his disappearance simply encouraged me to investigate those around him. I found a family of ghost hunters and a son with noticeable similarities to this town's resident "hero."" There was something about the way he said hero that made Danny think he had his own thoughts for such a lifestyle.
"I don't do that anymore as I'm sure you know, I found another way to solve the ghost problem without throwing punches at anything green and seeking to destroy humanity."
"Yes, I was pleased to learn of your change of pace, might I ask what inspired it?"
Danny tapped his finger on the arm chair, feeling a bit annoyed but also stuck playing along for the time being, he didn't have any terms yet but this whole situation rang of blackmail. "Vlad had a thing for my mother, a bunch of psychotic schemes to get me on his side and kill my dad tormented my run as a hero. But I got better. I could deal with most if not all of the ghosts that came through, and Vlad was starting to fall on the backfoot in our fights. But he was tricky, he'd find other ways to make me suffer, socially, economically, educationally. I had to adapt, not everything could be solved with a fist, although I won't lie, dealing with him for good was very satisfying." He smiled as he remembered the horrified look on his old enemy's face.
Vandal said nothing yet as Danny continued. "After that I realized how much I had changed. I didn't have the same idea of being the big hero going to save everyone. I was tired of it. Tired of how much of my life it upended and for what? Some of the populace was on my side but others were never going to change their minds, so I sat down and thought about my options I found another way to deal with the ghosts, I took my parents business that was a laughing stock and turned it into something respectable, a way to help people on a greater whole, and with much less slander and libel thrown my way."
"But it hasn't been easy going has it? You've adapted well but you've made slip ups, some may have cost you everything. Most of which you've dealt with, using methods that run quite antithetical to some of the qualities you used to embody."
"What of it?" Danny asked. Hmm, bit more venom there than he meant to use, maybe he was a bit jaded.
"You've shown that you are willing to do what it takes to push ahead in life, to bring humanity to new heights. You've discarded your childish ideas unlike some others and now understand how the world really works and what it takes to get through it." Vandal complimented him.
"Jeez, I'm starting to feel like toast here with all this buttering." Danny quipped, he hadn't quite abandoned all his superhero habits.
Vandal actually chuckled at that. "I assure you, despite what you might think I have not come to rob or extort you, in fact I would like to extend an invitation to you that I think you'll see is mutually beneficial not just for us, but for the entire world."
"Mr. Fenton, I think it's time you step into the Light."
So this story started a long time ago.
Like somewhere around chapter 15 or so of my other Danny Phantom story Gone Ghost, speaking of which to my older Danny Phantom fans, hello me again, I'm updating consistently again.
The first part with Vlad was written years ago, I have made some touch ups and changes since its original inception though. The Deadlands were something Butch Hartman came up with in one of his Danny Phantom videos before he started making some… questionable decisions.
It saddens me a bit that the Danny Phantom fandom seems to have slowed down because of the creator's choices since the end of the show and not with a fault from the show itself.
Nothing to be done I suppose, but anyway this story started out with an idea, what if Danny was the villain but not in a "rah break everything and nothing can touch or stop me" kind of way but more in a "I have goals I want to achieve and I'll get them done one way or another" kind of way.
So he'll be strong but not OP able to curbstomp Superman and omg he's just so cool guys.
None of that nonsense.
Anyway, first chapter! Let me know what you think, I might continue this soon or it might come later, depends a bit on reception.
As for the 30 chapter elephant in the room that is Gone Ghost… I'll get to it. Eventually. There's a bit of pressure there considering how big the next chapter is supposed to be.
Until next week folks! Not sure what story it will be!
~FriTik
R&R
