I hope you all enjoy this. I'm not quite sure what the response will be to the action in this chapter. I tried really hard. Please give me your thoughts.

Chapter 4

The three bodies on the floor didn't move. Two were dead, the other was unconscious. They had just been left there after being searched. That had been hours ago.

The search had produced nothing. Daniel and his friend's had stripped the bodies clean of anything useful. Weapons, food, canisters….

The thought made Vlad Plasmius smile. He stood in his lab, watching a screen that showed the entire expanse of Apparition Cliffs. He'd been very patient with Daniel. The boy was the only reason Vlad bothered with the feeble resistance his group had been. Vlad's army was numbered in the thousands. From the reports he had received from his scouts, Daniel had about twenty. The boy's determination was admirable.

But Vlad was done playing games with the boy. The process was taking too long. After the necessary hours of preparation, his armies were ready. First, he would deal with Daniel, and then he would move on to Amity.

Vlad turned from the screen and left the room. He didn't bother hiding his other half from his soldiers. They realized that Vlad was one to be feared.

And soon, everyone else would realize that, too.



There was something crawling on her leg. As Sam roused she could feel the prickle of something move upwards along her calf. The instinct to shake her leg until whatever-it-was was gone was strong, but Sam forced it down. Her eyes cracked open and she craned her neck around to see what exactly was on her leg without disturbing.

A scorpion stared back at her. His pincers were raised as if daring her to move. Sam tensed. She cautiously moved her head to see what she could do.

Danny was still asleep beside her. He'd kept up a fast pace yesterday as they traveled to find the man who had been wounded. They'd only stopped to rest when the sun had already set. Sam wasn't sure what time it was now, but it was already bright out. Danny would probably want to get moving soon, but she couldn't move with the scorpion poised like that. It seemed to like her and took a few more steps up her leg.

"Danny?"

There was faint mumble from him, but nothing more.

"Danny, wake up."

Her voice was barely above a whisper as her eyes continually went to the scorpion. Danny moved, however, and his eyes opened a second later.

"Hey," he murmured. "Good morning."

"Danny, I have a problem."

His body tensed, but he didn't otherwise move. "What kind of problem?"

She jabbed her head in the scorpion's direction. "Look."

He stayed perfectly still. If the enemy was near then sound might alert them to their presence. His eyes moved down her legs-and what nice legs they were…but that was probably the sleepy haze his mind was still under talking-until he reached the scorpion. He relaxed, his fears now under control.

"Hit it away from you."

"With my hand?"

"If you want to die. Here." Danny sat up and Sam's eyes widened as a second later found Danny shirtless.

Her cheeks flushed when she realized she was staring. She'd never been one to be attracted to the soldiers who looked like they had balloons for muscles. Danny was leaner, but his muscles from fighting flexed as he took his shirt and quickly snatched the scorpion off her leg with it. He turned away from both of them and expertly flicked his shirt out. The scorpion was thrown a few feet away and angrily looked around for his assailant, but, seeing no one in range, scuttled off.

"All right, that's over. I…." Danny eyes met hers and his words died away. A similar blush started to form also as he realized why she was staring.

He had to admit she was attractive…okay, she was beautiful. But, whether she was beautiful or not, now was not the best time to suddenly get involved romantically. They were trying to prevent a war. Maybe when all this was over. She was kind of staring at him. That was a good sign, right?

He turned his head away and shyly put his shirt back on. "We need to get going if we want to get there this afternoon."

"R-right." She turned her face away from him. What exactly had she been thinking? She didn't go around gawking at guys! She got to her feet and quickly pulled down her skirt that had hiked up while she slept before dusting herself off. She glanced up at the sun as it crept across the sky. It was already so bright out. "So how far away is it?" She wasn't even sure where they were going, but Danny seemed sure of their destination.

"Depends on which way you take." Danny glanced around, checking to make sure they didn't forget anything. "You have the pack?"

Sam held up the small pack that held the first-aid supplies. "Right here."

"Good. Let's get going."

She followed him mutely, trying to remember their surroundings in case something happened and she got lost.

It was after noon when Danny suddenly stopped them.

"Do you hear that?"

She stilled and listened. There was a small, almost indistinguishable, sound of voices drifting over to them. Danny glanced around then pointed back behind them and to the right. "It's coming from over there."

Sam turned her eyes back on Danny to see him now walking ahead of her, slowly making his way along the rock wall as he looked for a place that wasn't as sheer. She hurried to catch up. His intent to climb up it obvious.

"But shouldn't we avoid any confrontation with whoever that is? We're here to find the guy that was injured, right?"

"One: We don't know if they've found Morgan yet. Going all the way there to find he's gone would be pointless. Two: I can hear a lot more voices than usual. Vlad doesn't usually attack with a large group of men at one time, and the fact that he's doing it now is peculiar. I need to see how many men are there so I can warn the others. And three: I'm not about to just willing let Vlad or his men step onto any part of this country. If I can deal with this quickly then I'm not going to let the chance pass me by." Danny had finally found a place in the wall suitable for climbing. He grasped the wall's edge and got ready to start climbing. Going up and over would be much faster than trying to find a path that actually led to where the men were.

"And what if you can't deal with it quickly? What about Morgan? We don't know how bad his injuries are."

Danny's face softened from the angry scowl he'd worn when talking about Vlad and he sighed. He turned towards her. "Let me just see what we're dealing with. I promise I won't try to fight them. Chal said he placed Morgan at the haven I set up in this region. It's not that far away, I promise."

She bit her lip as she glanced down at the first-aid kit, but nodded. "But I get to go with you. You can't just leave me here."

He nodded and climbed up and over before coming back and extending a hand for her. Climbing was a little hard in her skirt, but she tried not to complain. As soon as she was up, Danny, crouching low, moved swiftly along the rock.

They walked a little ways before reaching their destination. The rock ended at a sort of crossroads where a path intersected with another. A lot of voices floated up to them where they stopped, listening. Orders were being thrown this was and that. Slowly, Danny and Sam moved to the edge and looked down at the men congregated there.

Danny cursed and Sam gave a small gasp.

These weren't Vlad's men. This was the Royal Army.

Or, Sam reconsidered, at least part of the royal army. She estimated about forty men. Most of them lounged around lazily. Were they waiting for something? More Men? At forty men, they already outnumbered their small group. More men would not help them.

There was movement next to her and she looked to see Danny moving away from edge. She followed his lead, but stopped when she saw him take out his gun and stare at it.

"Don't tell me you're thinking of fighting them?"

He gaped at her. "Are you crazy? That's the Royal Army! You do realize, don't you, that I set up here in Apparition Cliffs because this was the one place they wouldn't go? No one else has set foot in this place except for us! Why in the world are they her anyway?" He crawled back over to look at them before turning back to her. "Even if there were only a few of them there like Vlad's men instead of a whole squadron I wouldn't be able to fight them. I can't…I'm not trained to fight against them."

"Trained? What makes fighting against Vlad's men any different then fighting any of the men down there?

Danny exploded. "The fact that they'll actually shoot at me!"

And then the sound of a weapon firing reached their ears, along with everyone else's, and the rock next to Danny's leg was blown away as the shot missed its intended target.



Kwan was very happy with his position. Not his location; the sun beat down just as it always did in Apparition Cliffs and he and his men were slowly baking under its rays. But at 18 years old, he was probably the youngest Captain ever.

And it felt really good. He didn't like to think of himself as prideful, but the thought that he had been good enough to get this far so fast was something anyone would be proud of, right? Right. He earned the post, why not enjoy it.

But he never would have guessed that being part of the Royal Army would mean that he would one day find himself in Apparition Cliffs looking for some rogue noble. Or that being Captain would mean watching as your men sat around all day until they suffered from heat stroke. He could understand General Lancer's order to stay together. Apparition Cliffs was vast and a person could easily get lost. It was everyone's suspicions that Lady Samantha had done just that, but it was a slim to none chance that she would just turn a corner and run into one of the army's squadrons.

Granted, they had come upon three of the members from the Resistance, but they had eventually gotten away. Kwan wasn't proud of the fact, and so it had accidentally been forgotten in his report to General Lancer.

He had actually seen the three from the same perch he was currently standing on. He'd climbed the rocks here the first Day the general had stationed his squadron here to get a better layout of the land around them. It'd been a good idea. After seeing the three he had plotted the best way to get to them. They had almost successfully ambushed them.

He was currently watching his men, frowning at their laziness, but moved his eyes upward to sweep the land again. His eyes narrowed when he spotted the two people crouched above his men. They were talking, but the guy had his gun out and Kwan immediately brought out his own. The girl beside him was unmistakable.

She didn't seem to be hurt which was good, but she was also with one of the members of the Resistance so it was still a possibility. Perhaps the Resistance was asking for some sort of ransom. The Mansons would pay it, but Kwan would rather prevent that from happening. He brought his gun up, took aim and fired.



All thoughts of stealth were gone. Grabbing Sam's hand, Danny hurtled to his feet and took off the way they had come. It didn't give Sam much time to react and she clumsily stumbled to her feet and tried to keep up with his pace. There were surprised yells from behind them and, a second later, weapons started to fire. Sam gave a yelp as the pack was almost ripped from her shoulder and she glanced back. All of the men were on their feet now and running after them. People were now yelling to cease fire and were pointing at her. She'd been spotted. Sam rolled her eyes. Wonderful.

"Jump!"

Danny had led them to the edge and Sam obeyed blindly, jumping down the eight or so feet to the ground. The impact jarred her, but fear was driving her now and she got to her feet quickly. Danny landed next to her and looked quickly around. The yells were growing louder and they lacked the confusion that had been there at first. The voices were now moving in two different directions. They had split up and were trying to close them in. Danny grimaced. These soldiers knew the terrain.

And if they were getting cut off from any means of escape then that meant that he would have to fight them. He glanced over at Sam. He could only think of one way he could fight these men, but Sam was going to have to leave for him to do that.

Sam stared at him. What was wrong? Why was he hesitating? "Come on," she urged.

"You go. I'll hold them off."

"What? You're not actually fighting them!"

"I have to. Look, run down there. Take the first path you come to on your right. It leads to a dead end and I want you to stay there and keep quiet. They're expecting us to run and try to escape, not hide.

"But-"

Danny played his trump card. "I'm your leader. Go. Now!"

Her eyes flashed with defiance at him telling her what to do, but she could hear the soldiers as they drew nearer and finally turned and took off.

Danny gave a sigh as he turned and headed in the other direction. There was a small gap in the rock wall up ahead. That would be where the soldiers would come from. He couldn't use his gun. The fact that Vlad's soldiers wouldn't shoot at him had become apparent awhile ago. At this point, he only carried with him the canisters that Tucker had modified to work on ghosts. And still, his gun was only used when someone else that didn't know about his powers was around.

But his powers also gave him an advantage against the Royal Army. The other good thing was that because the squadron had split up he was only fighting around twenty soldiers instead of forty. Of course, twenty to one wasn't the best of odds either. But he wouldn't have a choice.

As he neared the gap, the first soldier came around it at a run. His surprised look at seeing Danny was priceless, but Danny didn't pause to enjoy it. Danny grabbed his shirt and the man gave a small yell as he was slammed him against the rock wall. Swiftly. Danny found the pressure point and the man's gun clattered to the ground as he was forced to let go. More soldiers ran through the gap and Danny dragged the man through the air to use him as a shield when they opened fire. They gave a gasp when the man was dropped to the ground to find that no one was there behind him. Most of the soldiers were throught the gap now and some that had not seen the trick looked around confused as to why others were just standing around.

And then a man staggered back as a shot fired out and two more followed in quick succession. Danny had picked up the first man's gun from the ground. He gave a grin when one of the soldiers fired haphazardly in the direction he thought Danny was in and missed completely.

But Danny was more familiar with hand-to-hand and abandoned the gun as he ran forward into the mass of soldiers. Barely a second went by before a man cried out as Danny's boot made contact with the man's kneecap and shattered it. The soldiers stared until another gave a pained grunt and keeled over from being punched in the stomach. His face came in contact with very solid air which effectively broke his nose.

Danny humorously jumped back towards the gap as a soldier gave a desperate attempt to punch him. Danny reeled his arm back to give his own punch.

A weapon fired and Danny cried out in pain as the shot grazed his outstretched forearm. Instinctively, Danny grabbed at the injured spot as his concentration disintegrated and he became visible once more. Most were still shocked by the phenomenon of his reappearance and it gave Danny the required second to drop like a stone to the ground and roll, shots littered the air above him and the ground was blasted away where he had just been.

Danny stopped and planted his hands firmly on the ground and then his body was launched into the air. How he was able to achieve enough leverage to go so high in the air was a mystery to the soldiers around, but a lot of things Danny had done in the last few minutes were unexplained also and they were learning not to question it.

Danny landed on the other side of the gap and quickly kicked the gun out of a soldier's hand before he could fire. It was then that Danny started to run. He scooped up the gun that had landed a foot away and blindly shot backwards as he took off. He knew he would have had to hit someone. The gap was a little too small for the crowd of people currently trying to get through to him. He couldn't keep fighting the soldiers the way he was. The other half of the squadron would be expecting to surprise Danny and Sam and when they didn't they would come back this way and join everyone else.

The best thing to do was run. Get Sam and in all the confusion get out of here and head towards the haven he'd set up. He weaved around outcropping of rock and then darted around a corner. Large boulders had fallen across the path and Danny jumped behind them. He turned around and started shooting as the soldiers that were pursuing him started to appear around the corner also. They jumped back and Danny smiled. He'd hold them off for a few seconds before mysteriously disappearing again.



Kwan frowned as he watched the guy that had been with Lady Samantha confront his men. His frowned deepened as he watched the fight from the birds-eye view he had. He had divided up his men in hopes that they would be able to retrieve Lady Samantha before the Resistance was able to escape with her. He was making his way on top of the rocks to view the small skirmish between the guy and his men.

It was not turning out that way. He counted at least seven dead or wounded. Not to mention that Kwan was having doubts about whether the guy was human. From his position, Kwan had watched as the guy disappeared and then had reappeared minutes later after disposing of some of his men. There just was no normal way to explain it.

Kwan followed him as the man fled and then took up refuge behind a pile of rocks. Kwan was not going to let another member of the Resistance get away, especially one that could cause so much of a threat. Gripping his gun firmly, Kwan jumped and landed squarely on the ground behind the man who turned around surprised.

Kwan's gun was already leveled on him and Danny noticeably stiffen. "Put your weapon down," he ordered.

Danny complied, but Kwan didn't let himself become relaxed. "Get up slowly. I've been watching you fight my men. I'm ready for your tricks."

He gave an unsettling smirk. "You know all my tricks?"

And then the guy disappeared again. Kwan immediately fired, but only ground was kicked up where he had been. Kwan didn't understand. He knew that the guy was invisible because of whatever reason, but he could still be shot at. He had seen it. The man wouldn't have enough time to move away before Kwan fired.

And then something flashed green in front of him and Kwan was thrown back by some peculiar force. Kwan reacted quickly and got to his feet as his men ran over to him to see what had happened. Kwan was as in the dark as they were.

General Lancer was going to receive a very interesting report and something told Kwan that he should personally deliver it.



Danny had not gone invisible, he'd gone intangible. He'd then hit the soldier with an ectoplasmic beam to give him a few seconds while his men were focused on their ranking officer. That the officer had more authority than the rest had been clear to Danny when he'd first turned around to face the man.

He was still intangible and was fazing through the rocks on a direct route to Sam. The battle had tired him out, but he couldn't stop until they were safe.

Sam had curled up against the back wall of the dead end, trying to make herself as small as possible. She was gripping the first-aid kit hard and had her eyes closed as the sounds of a fight and then more yelling filled her ears. What had happened to Danny? Was he hurt? Killed? There wasn't anyone else here to help her. They'd find her and then she'd just get sent back to the palace.

Danny appeared where she was and smiled. At least they hadn't found her. He let himself become visible and quickly got her attention.

"Miss me?"

"Danny!" He hadn't expected her to have such an enthusiastic response as she flung herself at him and enveloped him in a relieved hug. That was a yes then?

He gently pushed her away. "Come on, we have to hurry. They'll be searching for us."

Sam was more concerned with something else. "You're hurt." She reached towards his arm and he drew away from her.

"I'm fine. I can't even feel the pain. Now we have to-"

Sam watched horrified as Danny gave a painful gasp, but, instead of clutching his arm, Danny grabbed at his chest. Pain rippled through his body in waves and Danny reached out a hand to support himself against the wall. Another wave of pain ran through him and Danny give a painful groan. This was worse than any of the other times he'd over-exerted himself.

Sam gaped as she watched Danny arch his body in pain. She wasn't sure how to help. What was happening? And then she watched almost in awe as first Danny's body gave a convulsion as a last fierce wave struck him, and Danny changed. For a second, she watched as his hair turned white and his eyes flashed a bright green.

Danny wasn't aware of the change and he turned to Sam, trying to say something. "Sam…."

But as he turned to look at her, his vision blurred and then it went black as he fell unconscious.

And the sounds of the soldiers as they searched the area could still be heard in the background.

You know what's weird? My spellcheck keeps telling me that Vlad isn't a word, but spellcheck has no problem with Kwan's name. –shrugs- One of Life's mysteries, I suppose.

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