You guys should thank my English professor for this update. We had a paper that was due on Monday, then it was pulled back to today and then to next Monday. I'm a horrible procrastinator.

Disclaimer: I'm not Butch Hartman. That's pretty insulting if you think I'm a guy.

Chapter 7

They landed a mile away from where they lived as a safety precaution. Danny was silent as he set her down on the ground and then turned and walked away, not looking to see if she was following. Sam hurried after him. She wanted to fix things between them somehow. There had to be some way for Danny to forgive her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"I know."

She fumed inside. She'd admit to being one of the first people to carry a grudge, but it was rather infuriating when you were on the receiving end.

"I know I should have told you, but you're acting like my parents did something personally to you. They may have made it more difficult for all of you, but I didn't do it. I never supported what they did. I came here to help and it backfired. I'm sorry!"

He finally turned to face her. "And you aren't lying to me about anything else?"

"No. Please," she pleaded. "I don't want to lose you because of this."

His face softened a little. "You haven't lost me, I just need to think. Let me think."

He turned away again and Sam stayed quiet. She could still tell he was upset even if he wouldn't say it. He'd said to let her think. She'd let him, but how long would it take? The very thought that he was upset with her was depressing.

It was silent the rest of the way there. When the two stepped through the cave's entrance, Danny was immediately swarmed by others, all of them talking at once.

"I know about the Royal Army." Danny's voice broke through the chatter. "I had a small confrontation with them myself. No one is allowed to leave at the moment. This will make it harder to fight Vlad, but we can't take the risk of our numbers decreasing anymore than they already are."

"If we're stuck here, what's to stop Vlad from attacking the capital? The entire army is here, that leaves it wide open!" This was just one of the protests that Danny received from his small speech.

"What are they doing here anyway?" Another person yelled, and Sam cringed inwardly.

"Looking for us obviously," came the retort from someone else.

"Stop it!" Everyone settled down at Danny's voice. "We can't fight amongst ourselves. The Royal Army's reasons aren't important. I'll think up something, guys. Just give me a little time to think."

"Where's Tucker?" Danny turned toward the voice, eyebrows knit in confusion. Jazz had been the one to speak; she had just come up from taking care of those that were still injured after hearing the commotion.

"Tucker," Danny asked. "What do you mean? I didn't take Tucker with me, only Sam."

"He went looking for you yesterday. He was worried when you didn't come back. He didn't tell any of us that he was leaving or I would have stopped him." Jazz stated.

"He went alone? How stupid!" Danny turned around to head back out and break his own rule about not leaving, but he was grabbed by both Sam and Jazz.

"You can't go, Danny. He could still come back, but I won't let you go out there and risk meeting up with the Royal Army again." Danny glared at Jazz.

"I've fought them before. And I won't need to fight them if they don't see me."

"You can't over-exert yourself!" This came from both Jazz and Sam and Jazz gave the other girl a questioning look.

"Danny?" Danny turned around, only slightly more aware that they were having this conversation in front of an audience. Chal had maneuvered to the front and Danny found a large lump in his throat. "Where's Morgan?"

Danny's shoulders slumped as he sighed. "We didn't make it to him in time, Chal."

"Oh." Chal looked down at his feet.

"I'm sorry," Danny tried to console.

"It's all right. I'll go tell Will." Danny watched Chal turn and leave. He shrugged out of Sam and Jazz grips.

"I-I need to think about this, about what to do," he stuttered out. Everyone watched as he quickly moved past and headed to his room, the curtain pulled shut behind him.



"Where is the rest of the Resistance?"

Tucker yawned. He hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. His interrogation has started as soon as they reached the castle. The capital hadn't changed at all since the last time he had been here. He bet the dungeons looked exactly the same, too.

"You guys must think I'm stupid. Why would tell you that?"

Kwan observed him. He hadn't gotten any sleep either and he would rather do this interrogation later. But knowing General Lancer, he would want a report and any useful information as soon as possible.

"It could lessen your sentence. Your execution could be reconsidered if you help us find your friends."

"I'd probably just rot in jail instead, right? You guys think I'm scared of death? We risk our lives everyday."

Kwan didn't look convinced. "Let's try something else. What are you planning on doing with Lady Samantha?"

"Who?"

"Lady Samantha. The young woman you're currently holding captive."

"We're holding someone captive? Is that why you guys are there? I'm sorry to tell you guys this, but we aren't holding anyone. Unless Danny's not telling me something. Where would he keep her?"

"Would he happen to have black hair and blue eyes? Abut six feet tall and your age?"

"Um, yeah. Yeah, he would. How did you know?"

"It's worse than I thought," Kwan murmured. He turned to another soldier in the room. "Make note of that. One of the members of the Resistance is using Lady Samantha for his own devices. Perhaps just for ransom, but we can't rule out that he may be raping her. The Mansons should be notified."

"No way! Danny wouldn't do that! Besides, he likes Sam."

"My men fought your friend and Lady Samantha was with him before the fight started. Whether you will admit it or not, he has Lady Samantha."

"You fought him? Is Danny all right? What about Sam?"

Kwan frowned. "Your friend got away and the only person he was with was Lady Samantha." A hunch was starting to form in Kwan's mind. "Your friend Sam, does she have black hair and violet eyes? Does she wear a lot of dark clothing?'

"Yeah. What are you getting at?"

Kwan turned to make sure the soldier was getting this down. "Your friend Sam and Lady Samantha are one in the same. You aren't holding her captive?"

Tucker gaped at him. "You're joking. Sam isn't a noble. She doesn't act like one at all."

Kwan shook his head. He wasn't going to argue about it. It was better to go on to a different topic. "I have a few questions regarding your friend Danny. What technology does the Resistance use to turn people invisible?"

Tucker opened his mouth and shut it. Whatever he had expected, that had obviously not been it.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

Kwan smirked at Tucker's nervousness. Something he remembered floated to the surface of his mind and the smile melted away to a look of curiosity. "What's he done? What did he do to be known and wanted by General Lancer? No one ever mentioned him until now."

Tucker smirked. "I suppose the ones at the top wouldn't want that getting out. Too embarrassing."

"What is it?" Kwan stopped to lean towards Tucker eagerly.

"Just probably the biggest prison break ever. I'm pretty sure that breaking out of jail with almost everyone after being inside for only one night is some sort of record."

"He broke out of prison?" Kwan tried to think back. He hadn't heard anything about this. "How did he-"

"I'm saying anything else," Tucker grew serious. Kwan raised an eyebrow. He gave a sigh. He couldn't think of anything else that General Lancer might want to know. He really was very tired, too. He'd like to finish this. Maybe he would have more questions later.

"That's it, I suppose." He pointed to the solider who had temporarily recorded the interrogation's important points. "Get that to General Lancer immediately. I'll go tell the Mansons about their daughter's situation. I'll be back to personally escort him down to prison."

Tucker glanced around as Kwan left the room. He was cuffed to the chair and he had been stripped of any tools that might have helped him. He couldn't see any way of getting out of this.

Did they really think that Sam was some sort of noble? There was no way. Danny had said she was very vague when it came to her past, but so was Danny. There were other reasons why someone wouldn't feel like talking about their past.

Manson? He knew who the Mansons were. How could you possibly think that they would be Sam's parents? They were the last people Tucker would pick. They were looking for a Samantha, but the name was common. The captain obviously had a few screws loose.

The door opened and Tucker glanced up as a young woman came in. He sat up a little straighter as the guards stood at attention. She walked towards him, her eyes narrowed at him.

"Hi," he greeted, his voice hopefully sounding charming. So what if she was a noble, she was pretty and he'd be going off to prison soon anyway.

"So your one of the scumbags that has been giving my father so much grief?"

His smile faltered, but he fixed it back in place. "I don't believe I've ever met your father. He's probably a great man. We got off on the wrong foot. I'm Tucker. What's your name?"

"Valerie." She scowled at him. "Princess Valerie."

Tucker gave a nervous chuckle. "Princess? That would make your father…."

"King Damon," she remarked.

"Well, they do say that the princess is very beautiful." Tucker sighed when the compliment got no reaction. "Look, I'm sorry. This is all because of some huge misunderstanding."

"Yeah. The one where you thought you could make my father look like a fool with your lies. Admit it, there is no impending war."

"There is a war. We're fighting it right now! What do you think we do out there in Apparition's Cliffs?"

Hide your lying butts away until you think it's time to ruin even more lives. You've making my life a living Hell! Happy?"

"No. That's not what we wanted at all. If you had only listened to us-"

"There's nothing worth listening to! You're already under arrest. Why keep this charade up?"

Tucker sighed and shook his head. "You just want someone to blame. If you want peace so bad then why won't you listen to us? You're just creating more tension by refusing to back down. You're splitting your country apart."

"It started because of your lies. We had peace before you decided to have a little fun with us. Are you enjoying the murmurs against my father? This is exactly what you wanted."

"This is not what we wanted!" Tucker tried to calm himself down. "If you came here looking for some kind of confession then you better leave because you're not getting one. I'm not apologizing for it either."

"Fine." Valerie turned and stormed back towards the door. "We'll see what kind of coward you are when they're taking you up to be executed. You and every one of your two-faced friends"

The calmness in his voice made Valerie turn around. "The only thing we're scared about is how Amity is going to stay safe when its protectors are being hunted down."

Valerie stared at him. The door opened and Kwan stepped back in. Valerie's face contorted in stubborn resolve and she hurried past him out of the room.



The curtain was pulled aside and Danny opened his eyes as someone stepped in.

"You're the last one I thought would break the privacy rule."

"There's a big sister exception is the leader abuses it. You've been in here for the entire day. What's wrong?"

"I'm not feeling good, okay? And I have a lot to think about."

Jazz sat down on the edge of the bed. Danny was lying down on it, facing the wall. "Maybe it would help if you had someone else to think with. What's wrong?"

"Tucker hasn't come back, has he?" The question was rhetorical and Jazz knew it.

"What happened between you and Sam?'

Danny finally turned to face her. "What are you talking about? I'm worried about Tucker and about the Royal Army."

Yes, but you've never locked yourself away in your room before when other obstacles came up. I knew there had to be something else." She gave him a wry smile. "And I hit the jackpot, didn't I?"

"You're too perceptive," he grumbled. He'd decided not to tell anyone about Sam's parents and her connection to the Royal Army. He didn't want tension rising against her. Finally, he decided on something. "Sam knows about my powers."

Jazz frowned. "Really? How?"

"It's a bit of a long story. But I told her everything."

"Well, she doesn't seem to be freaking out. And I haven't seen her proclaiming it to everyone. She's keeping your secret. What's the real problem, Danny?"

"She's a Manson," Danny blurted out. "She's a noble. That's why the Royal Army is here. She ran away and now they're searching for her. And because of that, Tucker has probably been found and captured and Vlad now has a wide open path to the castle. And now I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about her."

Jazz waited patiently. "She trusted you enough to tell you her secret. It's not her fault that the Royal Army is now here. She didn't invite them. And you can't judge her because of her parents."

"That's easier for you to say that. You weren't one of the people that had to watch them tear down everything you'd said as you were dragged away."

"Only because you wouldn't let me," she replied back hotly.

"It's a good thing, too." Danny sat up finally and turned to look at her. "What if you'd gone to prison and I hadn't been able to rescue you like some of the others. You do realize that some are still in prison because I wasn't able to get them out in time? You could have ended up like-" Danny stopped mid-sentence as the world went fuzzy and he almost blacked out.

"Danny!" Jazz caught him, unsure what had happened.

"I told you…I wasn't feeling good," he muttered. Jazz stared in horror as her brother's black locks started to slowly turn white, the color creeping up from his scalp. Danny went limp as he finally did pass out and Jazz quickly laid him down on the bed. His hair was still changing and Jazz looked around frantically. What had happened? This usually happened after he over-exerted himself, but to her knowledge he hadn't used his powers since coming back. And his hair had never turned white before. Something must have happened while he was away.

"Sam!" Jazz ran to the door, flinging it open and looked around for the girl.

And at the same time, someone appeared at the cave's entrance. "Vlad's army," he yelled for everyone to hear. "It's coming!"



Tucker turned around as soon as he was thrown roughly into the cell. The sound of the door slamming shut echoed off the metal and stone of the prison.

"You'll never find them! Don't bother even trying to look! And even if you do, Danny will just bust everyone out again like last time!"

"Tucker?"

Tucker turned around as a weak voice behind him uttered his name. He broke out into a grin when he saw who it was.

"Mr. Fenton!"

Who was wondering where Jack was:D

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