"Are you sure you know where you're going?"
"Of course I know where I'm going! I have an impeccable sense of direction!"
"Well that impeccable sense of direction of yours had us going around in circles for the past five hours! Maybe that impeccable sense of direction ought to direct us to somebody who knows where they're going!"
"Oi, if you two don't quit flapping your beaks, I'll direct you both straight into the nearest woodchipper!"
"And if all three of you don't get lost, I'll direct you all into the nearest Thermos."
The three fez-wearing ghost vultures immediately quit their argument in surprise and turned towards the newest member of their party, a white-haired ghost girl floating beside them with a severely unimpressed look on her face.
One vulture didn't take the hint and said, "Oh, don't you worry your pretty head none, missy. We're already lost." The comment only served to earn him a blow to the ribs from one of the others and a raised eyebrow from her.
"Hey, maybe we should ask her for directions. Don't women have an affinity for that sort of thing?" asked another, and the three of them turned to her with speculative expressions. Or, as speculative as a bird's face could get. Danny rolled her eyes.
"If it gets you out of here faster," she said with gritted teeth, "fine. But hurry it up - I'm nearly late for curfew," she added, looking slightly pained at the large clock that was inching ever closer towards ten. She was so close to being on time tonight...
"Fine, fine," said one, who seemed to be the leader of the three. He floated closer reluctantly. "We are on a search-and-destroy mission," he said, and Danny raised her eyebrow again at the wording. Cliche much? "Can you help us find, and peck to death, this man here?" With a flourish she was presented with a rather old photo of...
"D-Dad?" What in the world are they doing with a photo of Dad?
"Ah-hah, see?" said one vulture to the leader, who had a rather sour look on his face. "I told you to ask for directions. Now we don't have to go flying around in any more circles!"
"I'll say," said Danny, snatching the photo away, "because you aren't getting anywhere near him!"
The three vultures turned towards her menacingly, flaring their talons. "Is that a challenge, girly?"
The speaker was immediately blasted backwards out of the air.
"No," Danny said with a smirk, fixing the remaining two with a poisonous green glare, her hand still smoking. "Not much of a challenge at all."
The vultures screeched and dive-bombed her, and Danny ducked while reaching up to grab one by the legs. The bird squawked indignantly, helpless as she swung him into his partner. They both tumbled away, and Danny had a split second's warning before turning intangible just in time to avoid an attack from the third.
Fixing all three of them with a blast to the rear, she flew back towards the city, cringing as she caught sight of the clock tower.
"Aw, heck, I'm gonna be late again, aren't I?" She couldn't give the thought any more attention as she was tackled from behind and knocked towards the clock face. She managed to turn intangible just before she collided, and righted herself within the gears of the tower.
Growling in irritation, Danny flew out of the tower, fists blazing. With a roar, she grabbed two vultures by the throat and knocked their heads together forcefully before flinging them directly into the third. They were propelled several feet up into the air before they managed to right themselves and flew off before she could get another chance to take out more of her frustration on them.
Snorting air from her nose like an irate bull, she took another look at the torn photo. I need to keep an eye out, she thought, narrowing her eyes. Whoever's trying to off Dad might keep trying.
She was interrupted in her thoughts by a loud bell. Turning back toward the clock, she cursed at the sight of the hands pointed directly at ten. Dejected, Danny slipped the photo into her pocket and prepared for yet another confrontation from her disappointed parents.
"Look, Mom, Dad, you don't get it!" said Danny the morning after, sitting before her parents as they lectured her again about how she was falling short of her responsibilities. The ones they knew of, anyway. "I'm going through a lot, right now. You have no idea what it's like to be a kid today."
Maddie simply scoffed. "Oh, please, Danny. You aren't going through anything that we didn't when we were your age."
Oh, I doubt you were a half-ghost girl trapped in a human boy's body when you were fourteen, Danny thought, repressing the urge to snort in disdain. Instead, she said nothing, letting her expression say what she couldn't.
Jazz, who was nearby pretending to read, chose this moment to step in. "Of course Danny doesn't think you can relate to him," she said, and only an age of practice kept Danny from flinching at the wrong pronoun. "You don't tell him anything about your childhood!"
Danny blinked. "Wait, what?"
Jazz ignored her completely. "You don't tell him about how you met, where you lived..."
Jack and Maddie turned towards Jazz, looking thoughtful. Danny only looked annoyed. "Jazz..."
"About your high school lives, your first date..."
"Jazz, stop helping."
"Where you went to college..." she trailed off suggestively, and Jack's face lit up.
Danny could only drop her head into her hands. "Why do I feel like this won't end well?"
"What do you mean, you couldn't find him?"
The three vultures gulped as they were brought to task by their boss. "Well, boss," said the leader, cringing when the red gaze fell entirely on him. "You see, we were... detained by the new ghost girl hanging about the place. I'm still trying to fix my tailfeathers," he added, looking disgustedly at his singed backside and far too easily forgetting who he was speaking to.
His priorities were straightened when the being gave a rather manacing growl of mixed anger and frustration. "That's not the first time that girl has ruined my plans," he said, turning away. He pretended not to notice the vultures' mass sigh of relief. "It will cease to matter soon enough. Much as I hate to let that buffoon step foot within twenty miles of my house, let alone set foot directly in it, it will be worth it to finally see the look on Maddie's face when she sees how useless he is compared to me..."
When he started cackling, the vultures wisely chose to leave the immediate vicinity.
"So... this is the place, huh?" Danny said mildly, ignoring the urge to squeal or drop her jaw at the sight of the large, pristine castle that loomed ahead of them. Who owns a castle, anyway!?
"Yup!" said Jack, who was all but bouncing on the balls of his feet. Maddie looked equal parts uncomfortable and impressed, and Jazz just looked flat out impressed. This was, after all, the home of Vladimir Masters - one of the richest tycoons in the world. "Ooh, I can't wait to see Vladdie again! It'll be like old times!"
One only had to look at Danny's face to see that she didn't agree the slightest bit. She would be the first to admit that she didn't know anything about Vlad Masters - nothing that Jazz hadn't spouted during the trip to Wisconsin in her attempt to recall everything she knew, anyway - but getting hospitalized and staying out of contact for twenty years didn't exactly invite the idea that all was forgiven.
Still, Danny thought, following behind as her family walked towards the castle led enthusiastically by Jack, I hope, for Dad's sake, that things turn out alright.
They reached the front door after a short walk, but before Jack could knock, the door was opened by a man who Danny knew could only be Vlad Masters. He practically screamed rich, wearing an expensive suit with slicked back hair held in a dignified pony tail. The color of his hair gave Danny pause. He can't be much older than forty, she thought. Why does he have gray hair?
Vlad, for his part, looked over the family on his doorstop with a very practiced smile of welcome. His eyes skimmed past the children of the ensemble - they weren't important at the moment. It took a great deal of effort to keep himself in check while addressing Jack, since he would never greet him in a million years. When his eyes landed on Maddie, however, his smile became much more genuine. "Maddie! How wonderful it is to see you! Come in, we'll get you settled in no time..."
He placed his hand on Maddie's shoulder, ushering her in with care. He waited for the children to follow after her and gladly shut the doors in Jack's face. He hid a satisfied smirk as he observed the others' reaction to his castle.
Maddie and her daughter Jasmine were, as expected, enamoured with the interior. They couldn't take their eyes off the spacious foyer or the green and gold decorations. What wasn't expected, however, was the slightly withdrawn demeanor displayed by Maddie's youngest, Daniel. The boy looked slightly nervous and kept looking between the room, the front door, and Vlad himself, though he looked away when he saw that he'd caught Vlad's attention. Vlad raised an eyebrow but dismissed it, turning his attention back to Maddie.
They mingled for a while, Vlad answering questions about his home and making observations about his guests in the meantime. Jasmine seemed malleable enough, her interest in his wealth and achievements enough to keep her occupied. Maddie still cared about Jack enough to let him in, unfortunately, but he supposed he couldn't leave the oaf outside the entire time, much as he wanted to.
Daniel... Vlad didn't quite know what to make of Daniel, for some reason. There was something about the boy, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Perhaps he was simply more perceptive than his family, though to be smarter than Jack was no large feat. He still seemed to care for Jack, however, so whatever the boy was hiding wouldn't be of much use to him. Or so he thought.
As the day waned, he led the family to another wing of the castle, where all of his guests for the reunion would be housed. He was tempted to try putting Jack and Maddie in separate rooms, for his own peace of mind, but Jack followed Maddie wherever she went, so that wouldn't work without making himself suspicious. Instead, he led the children to their rooms just down the hall.
"And this, young Daniel, will be your room," he said after ushering Jasmine to her own room. The chambers were quite spacious, larger than he was certain Jack could afford, and Vlad turned to see what was sure to be an impressed look on the boy's face. Instead, he found a quickly hidden grimace.
"Um, actually sir," he said, looking up at him, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't call me Daniel. I hate that."
Vlad raised an eyebrow. "Very well, son," he allowed, and wasn't it interesting that that incited an even bigger grimace than before? "I'll leave you to unpack." As he closed the door behind him, his thoughts quickly returned to plans for tomorrow night. Though the curiosity that was Daniel Fenton wasn't placed so far in the back of his head.
Well... that went... well.
Danny laid in bed, thinking back towards the events of the day. Vlad was all that she had imagined: rich, well-dressed, slightly snobbish. And he, unfortunately, didn't care as much for her dad as Jack would've liked to believe.
And cares a little too much for Mom, Danny thought, her eyes narrowing as she glared at the ceiling. It didn't escape her notice how Vlad would flirt with her mother any chance he got. It made her feel better that Maddie was so obviously not interested, but Vlad's attention seemed just this side of obsessed.
Just another thing to watch out for, she mused, before she was brought back to reality by a shuffling sound just outside her door. Blinking, Danny stood and walked to her door, opening it as softly as possible. She poked her head out just as her father passed by in a sort of half-and-half state, muttering about the bathroom every few feet.
Danny shook her head fondly. He did this at home, too, but in those cases the bathroom was just across the hall. Here, the place was so big that he'd get lost before he ever found one. Nodding to herself, she closed the door and then transformed, deciding to just phase him down to a bathroom before anything unfortunate happened.
Keeping quiet and taking advantage of Jack's exhausted mental state, she grabbed him just under his arms and phased him from room to room as quickly as she could without making him suspicious. Finally finding a restroom, she left him to do his thing and phased back outside to the hallway. Before she could even think of heading back to bed, however, a chill ran up her spine and she gasped reflexively, exhaling a blue burst of cold air.
Instantly alert, Danny righted herself in the air and looked around, all senses open. After several seconds of nothing, she paused, confused. Ghosts never waited to attack - they usually came right at her as soon as she sensed them.
"Something's not right," she murmured.
"Hm. Bright girl."
With a gasp, Danny twirled around quickly, coming face to face with a ghost she'd never seen before. He was muscular and menacing, dressed in a white outfit with black accents and a red-lined cape. His skin was blue and his eyes were red, he had black hair done up to look like some sort of devil horns and he smirked at her with pointed eyeteeth, making her shiver.
"Although," he continued, raising an eyebrow. "The time it took you to notice me was rather... lacking, to say the least. Perhaps you should quit the hero business while you're ahead."
Danny backed up a few inches in the air, eyeing him warily. "Y-You know me?"
"Oh, who doesn't?" said the vampire ghost, rolling his eyes dismissively. "The Phantom of Amity Park, who uses her powers for good. How... quaint."
Without warning, the ghost blasted her in the stomach, sending her flying into the wall hard enough to crack it. She slid down with a groan, looking up as he stood before her.
"Hmph. You certainly don't seem like much. Not against me, anyway."
Danny stood up shakily, looking at him with fear. "Who... who are you?"
The ghost smirked again. "Plasmius. And you, Phantom, are in my way."
And with that, her world went dark.
The ghost girl fell like a rag doll, or a puppet with its strings cut. He supposed he should feel guilty, attacking her so violently, but he never let anything so mild as chivalry get in the way of his goals.
His train of thought was derailed, however, when something entirely unexpected happened, heralded by a flash of white light.
Plasmius blinked, attempting to make the sight register properly. "The ghost girl... is Jack's... son...?" In his shock, he himself transformed back into the very familiar form of Vlad Masters.
"Well..." he said, voice filled with awe and no small amount of menacing satisfaction. "This changes so very much."
One Night Later...
Danny sighed as she swirled her cup in her hand, watching mildly as the punch she barely drank travelled in circles. This reunion was terrible. Jazz wasn't the least bit interested, judging by how she'd rather watch Packers' documentaries than stay, and Danny couldn't blame her.
She'd never had reason to think on it before, but her father just could not dance.
"Hello, son," came a voice, and Danny looked up to find Vlad smiling down at her. "I was wondering if you could do me a favor?"
"Uh, sure, Mr. Masters," said Danny cheerfully, willing to do anything just to get away from her parents for a while. "But, really, Danny's just fine. 'Son' is, uh," she chuckled self-depreciatingly. "It's what my dad calls me."
"I see," said the man, and his tone was so odd that it made Danny frown a little. "Anyway, if you could head up to my lab upstairs, I'd greatly appreciate it. I have a present for your father that I'd like you to bring down."
A present? Danny thought, deadpanned. Really? "Um... sure, Mr. Masters. I'll get right on that." And she would take her time doing it, too. Danny had the feeling that she really didn't want to be subjected to that calculating look any longer.
Finding Vlad's lab was simple enough. But, as she suspected, there was no sign of any sort of present anywhere. Vlad had not proved himself the kind of man who could hate Jack and still get him a gift.
But then, why does he want me here? Looking around the lab, her eyes fell on a framed picture with a piece torn out of it. In it was what looked to be younger versions of Vlad and her mother. And the torn bit...
"Oh, no," she whispered in realization.
"Oh, yes."
With a gasp, Danny whipped around and transformed, but she was already too late. A small cube was thrown at her feet and before she could even blink, she was trapped from the neck down in a large box-like containment device, which immediately shocked her senseless.
With a screech of pain, Danny instantly lost her grip on her ghost form and became human again. Groaning, she looked up and wasn't at all surprised to find Plasmius again. He chuckled at her glare.
"Do you like it? I received it from Skulker recently. He has a way with weapons and traps," he said, stroking the cube's edge idly.
Danny's eyes furrowed. "Skulker? You work with Skulker?"
"Oh, no, my dear girl," he said with a smirk, which got wider as Danny paled slightly. "Skulker works for me. In fact, nearly every ghost you've encountered in Amity Park over the last few months has been an attempt by me to test your father's fighting skills. Instead, I've been thwarted at every turn by your grating heroics."
The girl struggled to escape the box, all to aware of the ghost's amused eyes on her, but nothing gave. As she panted, she growled at him, "And what do you want so badly with my dad, huh? What'd he ever do to you!?"
This instantly turned Plasmius' smirk into a horrible frown, and Danny recoiled automatically. "What did he do?" he asked in a whisper, and Danny started to sweat nervously. "He ruined my life, that's what he did!"
And to her utter shock and horror, a set a glowing black rings formed around his waist and split into two, revealing Vlad Masters with his immaculate suit, his tied back silver hair, and the most frightening expression she had ever seen on anyone.
"Oh, my God," she whimpered looking up at him, and his return expression made everything just that much worse.
"Oh, trust me," he said, standing a couple steps back and Danny watched with both awe and fear as the man somehow duplicated himself. The second Vlad transformed back into Plasmius and vanished through the wall with a dark chuckle. "God has no say in what will happen to your father once I'm through with him."
"Don't you dare touch my father, you bastard!" Danny cried angrily, but she was violently cut off by Vlad's hand around her throat.
Vlad seemed to hum in thought, twisting Danny's head around this way and that as though examining her. The girl cringed violently, but couldn't move to get away.
"You know, I find it quite fascinating the way your ghost form has responded to your gender dysphoria," he said casually, making Danny flinch violently. Vlad ignored her. "I imagine you know very little about yourself. Have you ever even told anyone?" he asked, daring to actually sound concerned. Danny had an entirely understandable urge to spit in his face.
Instead of possibly risking her life by doing so, she remained silent. The answer was technically no, since she'd never needed to tell Sam and Tucker, but she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of an answer, nor did she want to bring a madman's attention over to her friends by accident. However, Vlad read enough of a conflict in her expression to feel satisfied on his own terms, and he smirked.
"I can help you, my dear," he said gently, shifting his punishing chokehold into a caress of her cheek. Danny leaned away from it, but could only move so far. "I can teach you how to use your powers, learn what you're capable of. You won't have to hide who you are anymore.
"And all you have to do is renounce your father," Vlad said with a smile, and Danny could only look at him as though he'd grown two extra heads. "You haven't even told him, I sure, because you are afraid. My sweet girl, I promise you you'll have no such reason to fear me..."
Danny'd had enough. Regardless of consequences, she gave an ugly snort in the back of her throat and spat the nastiest loogie she could straight into his eye. Vlad reared back in disguist, finally getting out of her personal space. She then glared at him as poisonously as she could without being able to turn her eyes green.
"I am not afraid of my parents," she growled. "They will love me no matter what. You, on the other hand, I want absolutely nothing to do with - I don't care what you think you can teach me. I will never give up on Dad. Not for someone like you."
Vlad glared daggers into her, and Danny gave back for everything she was worth, baring her teeth in a sub-vocal growl. After several seconds, Vlad sneered nastily and said, "You'll change your tune soon enough, little badger," walking back down the stairs in as dignified a manner as he could, leaving Danny alone in the lab and still trapped in the box.
And so continued one of the most stressful evenings of her life.
Later on, it would feel like a dream. Or a nightmare. All she had to do was open her eyes, however, and she'd see the holes in the wall of the castle, the superficial damage to the RV, and the bruised on her throat that she just barely managed to hide.
Looking out the window as she and her family finally began the trip back home, Danny made a valiant effort to keep her face carefully neutral. If anybody looked back at her now, they'd see a slightly bored teenaged boy. But inside... inside her head was a mess. All this time, thinking that she'd been alone, one of a kind... and she didn't need to be. Yes, her specific situation was still unique, but Vlad's offer was tempting, on one level.
She wanted to learn. She wanted to know that she didn't need to hide. But the cost was far too high and unreasonable. She couldn't dare.
Danny sighed near-silently, wishing with all her heart that they were home. She desperately needed someone she could trust.
Well, this one took a lot out of me. I very nearly didn't finish it. If it feels disjointed in places, I apologize - I didn't want to just retell the episode, but there's a reason I've never tried novelizations. I hope I got Vlad down well enough. I wanted him to be more menacing than he was in the episode, but let me know if he came off too OOC.
But, yes. Same requests as before - review to give me advice, prompts, or critiques. Be sure to tell me if I'm doing something wrong or unpalatable, so that I can take it into account next time. And continue to favor and follow, so I can see my blessed stats counter go up, and up, and up...
What else... oh! Brownies, for Remmy18, werestillflying, and GhostWriter267, my reviewers for last chapter. Keep 'em coming, folks, I got a limitless supply of virtual treats to share! ;P