(Sometimes I slip into writing OOC so)

"Look at him, walking around like he owns the place."

"Uh, he kind of does, Sam."

"Tucker! He does not!"

The teenage trio sat on a bench at the park, watching the Vlad Masters use his mayoral authority to plant mechanical ghost catchers around the park. The weapons seemed to be at least moderately dangerous, but if their theory of their origin of their creation was correct, it wouldn't be so implausible. The man was skilled with making advanced tools, after all, especially when they were of the spectral type.

Another blow to their political retaliation.

Sam brushed her hair out of her face and pulled a few papers out of her black satchel. "At least we've got a better idea of what they do. Here, Tuck."

Danny watched as she gave the papers to their friend. "What are those?"

"They're the mechanical blueprints of the anti ghost machines he's putting in the park," Tucker answered, scanning the listed details. "We'll know what they're made for so you can avoid them better."

The young halfa turned to his female friend. "How'd you get them?"

"I asked my parents to bribe the builders to hand over some copies," the goth informed him. "Gotta use that money right. And now, you have an advantage over Plasmius."

"That's weird," Tucker muttered. "These machines don't actually do any damage."

The closeted lovebirds raised their brows.

"Yeah, no, I'm serious," the boy went on. "They're only scanners, not assault weapons. And the strangest thing about them is their range. It goes up at least three miles in the sky."

"Three whole miles?" Sam repeated. "Even if ghosts are all the way up there, they're probably just passing by. That's really high up, and way too high for damage. Why is Vlad so concerned about that?"

Daniel frowned, recalling his encounter with the mayor last week. He'd refused to promise a lack of free flight, and it was clear that the man had decided to take extra precautions.

But no matter how important as it was, he didn't want to tell his friends. They'd become extra worried about his safety, and might even take Vlad's side. The one bit of freedom he'd achieved was something so controversial, and it was just his luck, too. If only they'd realized that he was well versed in finding his way around by using the constellations above- something he'd learned from his interest in astronomy.

But they wouldn't understand.

"Because Vlad's a fruitloop," Daniel responded. "Just even more loopier than usual. Plus, he's probably blowing up his whole mayor image just for show."

"To show domination?" Tucker asked, folding up the papers.

Danny shook his head. "Nah, just to make it look like he's doing things to help. We all know he's a fraud, though."

"Greetings from your fraud, Daniel."

The three jolted at the mayor's voice, unaware that he'd been walking towards them. Staring up at his tall figure, they instantly raised their guard, preparing for a heated altercation. The younger halfa's eyes flashed a bright green before reverting back to their original color, making the man chuckle.

"So on edge, aren't you?" Vlad noted. "And don't worry, Miss Manson. My workers told me exactly who asked to take an unauthorized preview of the blueprints. Whatever your parents can pay, I can pay ten times more."

"If you didn't want us to have the papers, how'd I get them?" Sam asked, pressing her hands against the bench. "You're not as persuasive as you think you are."

"Who said I didn't want you to have them? By all means, children, read through them as much as you like. It won't do anything against me. Daniel, however-"

The older halfa gave the boy a side glance.

"Might take up a few issues with the ranging capabilities of these machines. Little does he know, it's for his own good."

"Dude, what's he talking about?" Tucker asked his ghostly friend. "Is it a crackdown on your ghost powers?"

Danny frowned deeply. "Yeah, something like that."

Vlad raised a brow at his enemy's friends. "You mean he hasn't told you what he's done? What a strange thing to keep a secret."

Sam turned towards her crush. "What secret? We already know about your ghost powers."

"I know," Danny pointed out. "Just ignore him. He's just trying to confuse you guys. Fruitloop, remember?"

"Malicious mints, Daniel," Vlad huffed. "Stop using that name against me. If anything, you earned that title after your little stunt last week. You can't even think about your own safety when you're fighting ghosts, and now, it's escalated to plain tomfoolery with your powers."

"You've been messing around with your powers?" Tucker asked Danny, intrigued. "Why didn't you tell us? We could have had fun with that!"

Sam spun her head to face her friend. "Tucker!"

"Sorry! Just... sounded like a good time."

The goth shook her head, then turned back to the ghostly boy. "Danny, what happened? Did you hurt yourself? What's Vlad talking about?"

Danny crossed his arms, glaring at the mayor. "Sam, c'mon! He's just messing with you! I didn't do anything! Why are you believing him?"

"It doesn't matter whether you lie or not, Daniel," the older halfa pointed out. "These machines will keep you in check, should you dare fly close to outer space again."

Sam and Tucker's jaws dropped. "Outer space?"

Vlad nodded. "He almost left our orbit."

Danny's face turned pink. "You guys-"

"Danny, you can't go that far up!" Sam scolded, her safety instincts kicking in. "You could get lost! The Earth spins right underneath you super fast, so you might have landed somewhere in the middle of the desert! There are spying satellites up there who could alarm people because of you!"

"Yeah," Tucker chimed in. "Dude, what if your ghost form conked out and you turned human? You'd fall and die! Or you could accidentally fall so out of orbit you'd be too tired to chase the planet and accidentally convert in space- you'd die again!"

The silver haired halfa grinned. "Seems like your friends are on the right side of logic, Daniel. No wonder you didn't tell them."

Danny stood up and stared defiantly at the man. "Thanks a lot. I'm going home."

Tucker's face suddenly became much softer. "Wait, Danny-"

"Bye, Tuck," the raven haired teen cut him off. "I'll see you guys later. I'm gonna take some alone time. Thanks for listening to Vlad over me, by the way."

Sam watched silently as her close friend walked away, feeling guilt for lashing out so quickly. She then gave Vlad a side eyed glance, wary of the man.

"Those range machines are to... make sure Danny doesn't fly that high again, aren't they?" she muttered.

The mayor nodded. "You two had better knock some sense into him before I do. The machines are just for precautions, but I assure you, they don't have the ability to shoot him down. That's what I intend to do if he tries it again."

"Hey!" Tucker shot back. "Can't just shoot him! He's our best friend!"

"Well, then you need to convince Daniel to stay safe instead of risking his life. You could have lost him forever the other day, and you didn't even know it. It was only dumb luck he'd managed to make it back."

The three turned to watch the irritated boy's thin figure disappear into the distance, each wondering how to fix the situation.

"You know," Vlad finally spoke up, "I suppose I'll have to have another talk with him. He's probably not thinking straight due to stress."