Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.

AN: Sorry for the delay. Busy week. Here's part two.

Vacancy pt. 2: New Mayor

"The bylaws say we have to stay in-district," Shimmerman sighed.

"Then how did Masters get elected?" Ashbury asked.

"Yet another thing that was mysteriously overlooked in the last election," Wilkes said.

"Isn't there anyone in this benighted town that wasn't taken in by Vlad Masters, doesn't want to see us hang, and isn't likely to wreck it?" Pinkerton asked in despair.

"It was a landslide election. Masters was very popular," Margery Wilkosky said. "With the exception of some teenagers who were unhappy when he demolished their favorite fast food restaurant."

"Too bad they are under voting age," Connie Ashbury grumbled.

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"Actually, that technically doesn't make them ineligible," Frank said. He had his lap top out and was scrolling through the city's laws.

"What?" Connie asked in surprise.

Rodney pulled the lap top toward him and peered at the densely written legal text. "Well, I'll be… it says the appointee must be a resident but it doesn't say anything about being of legal age."

"Okay, so there's an amusing quirk in the law, but that doesn't help us," Richard Pinkerton's voice was bitter.

"Actually, it might," Franklin said thoughtfully.

"How?" Rodney asked.

Shimmerman picked up one of the newspapers. Naturally, the headline was about how the world had been saved from the Disasteroid. He turned the paper over. The bottom half showed the Amity Park crew with the ghost hero resting his hand on Tucker's shoulder.

"How about him?" Shimmerman suggested.

"Danny Phantom?" asked Margery.

"Is there anything in the bylaws about being human?" Wilkes snickered.

Shimmerman rolled his eyes, "Not the ghost. Tucker Foley."

"But you can't make a sixteen-year-old mayor!" exclaimed Margery. "He couldn't handle it."

"That is exactly the point," Richard Pinkerton said, "He will need us to advise him. We could be the 'power behind the throne'."

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"More to the point, will the citizens of Amity Park accept having a kid mayor?" Connie asked.

"He's best friends with the Ghost Boy and helped save the world. Of course they'll love him," said Margery.

"What about his other friends?" asked Rodney.

"The Manson girl has a history of political activism and the Fentons are crazy and unpredictable. We need someone we can control," said Richard.

"Are you so sure we can control him?" Ashbury asked. "He came up with a plan and led a massive international operation on a global scale with technology that hasn't been seen before."

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"Not to mention being the liaison with our ghost hero," Wilkosky added.

"During the Disasteroid, things were desperate," Pinkerton took on the smooth lecturing tone he used when unconsciously imitating Vlad, "Everyone was on his side. There's no point wrangling for your political goals if you, the whole Earth, and everyone on it, is going to be dust in a week. It will be a different story when he has real political opposition. Trust me, he will need us."

"His friends will influence him," Ashbury insisted.

"Of course they will. They may have causes but they don't know how to run a city. When it comes to the nuts and bolts, he will have to come to us," Pinkerton insisted.

"Besides, it's not necessarily a bad thing if his friends push him into some political blunder. We can be there to bail him out," Wilkes mused.

"And even more important, if things really go south, we would have someone to take the blame," Shimmerman added. "By the time his term is over, we will be in a much better position."

Rodney Wilkes chuckled bitterly, "I guess it is our job to deal with the black lining of the silver cloud."

AN: One of the problems I've had with Phantom Planet is how Tucker was made mayor. This helps explain how that could have come about.