Greetings all.

Umm...(hides) Sorry about the slight wait. I had a few logistic issues to work out to make this story work about eight chapters down the line. Fortunately, it will still work famously. Whew. So, I've figured out what Vlad's plotting, what the GIW are doing, and what various other parties I may or may not have mentioned before are up to. Now I just have to write it down and hope you don't figure it out too fast. The suspense is half the fun! (Trust me, I experienced it myself over the last few days)

Anywho, much love and adoration to all reviewers. And huzzah! Again! The e-mail is once more functional, at least for the moment. Let us all hope it stays up this time. Here's to: The Fluff Ghost, Epona Harper, BratCat, Sasia93, Unrealistic (Is Yami-chan also reading? I am under the impression you're two people, and want to give full credit), Queen S of Randomness 016, Tornada Silverwind, Sunshine Silverjojo, Meagainsttheworld, TexasDreamer01, hermie-the-frog, Diamond Raider, Pieling, acosta parez jose ramiro, Airgirl Phantom, fan-girls2.0, egyptianqueen777, kitain9, DP fan, The Only On3, BarnOwl93, Chaos Dragon, Horselvr4evr123, and cordia.

o.o

Needless to say I'm very happy with the number of reviews...And that's all for now, folks! Here's chapter 7! Please note two things: first, I do not own Star Wars or parodies thereof. Second, I will only be revealing things necessary for plot development because of the ungodly number of involved persons. If I don't say something happened, please do not assume it didn't.

Much love, y'all,

HiddenAuthor

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Chapter 7 – News

Vlad's computer had gone off hours ago, but the billionaire hadn't noticed. The old man simply sat at his desk sipping his empty teacup and stared off into space.

Maddie knew.

It wasn't like he hadn't planned on telling her. Oh no, he'd wanted to tell her since the day he finally realized he wasn't insane, but was something new, something great and powerful. She would have been so captivated, fascinated by his strange, majestic form. The two of them could have discovered its secrets together. He'd planned everything perfectly. References to the accident, a simple, quiet demonstration followed by the best explanation he had yet discovered. He wasn't sick after all, he was better than ever. Surely she would have seen that. But that was the day his two 'friends' had shown him their shiny new engagement rings.

And now Maddie knew.

His plans hadn't changed much since that day. He'd just had a few new pieces to clear off the board. Jack was a good man, but he was a fool, nowhere near good enough for dear Maddie's love. Even the oaf seemed to see that. Breaking them apart, by any means necessary, would be a favor to all of them. But on that fateful day, he knew he would have to be ready and worthy of Maddie's affections. So he had gone off alone, much to his partners' dismay. He lied, cheated, and stole to build himself a financial empire. He knew Maddie was still fascinated by ghosts, if a bit violent and prejudiced, so she would need all of the things about ghost hunting she had come to love, and more. So he had built them for her. Through his many front companies, he established his true business, Dalv, and developed paranormal and military technologies. He had gone into the Ghost Zone, at first to learn of these strange new enemies, and had found a virtual well-spring of servants and allies. He discovered to his surprise that he was somehow greater than almost all of them. He was no mere emperor. He was a god! In time, he knew, Maddie would be his. Gods were above such mortal things as doubt.

He'd been so wrapped up in his efforts that their two children's births had barely registered with him. Maddie was a good, caring woman; of course she would want children. The two were Jack's creatures, though, so they could be of no great significance.

And then Daniel had been born. Naturally Vlad would not deign to place such significance in a mere human birth. No, Daniel had been born as he had, in the cold fires of an awakening Ghost Portal. At the reunion, Vlad's plan to destroy and defame Jack had failed miserably, but he had been beside himself with joy. For through the oaf's bumbling, he had given him and Maddie something more precious than all the treasures he had amassed in his entire lifetime. He had given them a son, a young hybrid still new to his powers, and malleable. It would be decades before the child even approached Vlad's power, and by that time, the new little god would love and obey the old as a father. Humans and ghosts alike would bow to their awesome power.

Vlad had made a mistake. His reading through the night had made it all clear. Daniel was like him, but Daniel was a child. And children grew quickly. When Daniel's ownership of Amity became law, Vlad had thought his problems solved. The boy would be forced to call him father at last, and with the other Fentons firmly in his power, removing Jack and claiming Maddie would be a snap. And greater still, Daniel had been rendered temporarily powerless, unable to use his own abilities to stop him. But the child's power was too great. It had burst through the bindings Vlad's device had imposed on it in a raging flood, and Vlad had at last seen the truth. Decades ahead of his plans, his pawn had become a king. And the boy would never love or obey him. Despite his disappointment, his son was destined to destroy him, so now the game had changed again. He had already taken some steps, and now he must make his next move. This time he wouldn't be playing blind. And once all of the pieces fell into place: checkmate.

A hesitant smile making its way to his face, Vlad stretched and ambled over to his phone. His Colorado chalet was peaceful and had made an excellent alibi for his long absence, but for the next few moves, he would rather be home in his Wisconsin castle. Dialing his front office, he politely requested a helicopter to take him home.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S GONE?"

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Valerie stared at him, face empty and eyes ice cold. Sprawled on his back, Phantom looked up at her with wide eyes.

'Val, don't do this!' Danny shouted desperately. 'I'm human!' Backing up to dodge a red ecto-blast, the boy closed his eyes and focused. Silver rings ran along his body, leaving him unchanged. He wasn't human. Flipping to the left, he tried again, still without effect. Breathless, the ghost boy fell back and looked up as the familiar glider came in low.

'Sorry.' Val said calmly, aiming a charged ecto-cannon at his face. 'I'm not into dead people.'

I loud shot rang out, and Danny's vision went red.

"Ahh!" Danny sat up, breathless, and winced as his back cramped painfully. He'd been sleeping on cold, hard stone, though it had somehow melted to contour to his body anyway as he slept. All around him, his lair was ominously silent and ice cold. The normally gray stone had turned pitch black as far around as he could see, and his carvings had acquired a demonic aspect totally alien to everything outside his fear room. Winding amongst the dark aisles, his decorative rivers and waterfalls were frozen solid in their courses. Overhead, the moon shone blood red in a starless, black sky. Shivering, the ghost boy closed his eyes and concentrated, not daring to open them until a light trickling sound met his ears. Staring around to make sure nothing had stayed…wrong…he made his way slowly towards his door.

"Note to self," he muttered, "nightmares plus lair, bad." Still shaken by both his dream and his waking life, he slowly tried to rationalize his fears away. "Okay, Fenton. Get a grip. You were in her head, you know she doesn't want to kill you or spill to anyone. Sure, you don't know what she will do, but it won't be that bad. Right." Letting out a deep breath, Danny stepped into his room and checked his clock. It was already eight o'clock.

"Oh my gosh!" Flinging on some fresh clothes and grabbing his books, Danny quickly turned himself invisible and focused. Seconds later, he mentally thanked his parents for not coating his outer bedroom wall with Ethren as he stepped out from an alley by Casper High. He barely made it to Lancer's room on time.

"Mr. Fenton. So good of you to join us." Lancer said dryly. Fortunately, since Danny's attendance had been infinitely better with his parent's and Valerie's help, the comment was without its former bite. Taking his seat, Danny started as he turned to see…Paulina.

"Fenton." She said levelly. "It looks like Gray isn't going to show, so you'll have to do her share of the work." Surprised, Danny quickly scanned the room.

"Don't you mean 'we'?" he asked absently as he did a head count. The huntress was nowhere to be found, though Sam and Tucker were shooting him some major signals. He mimed that he'd talk to them at lunch. Paulina tittered.

"Ehehe. No." With a scowl, the preppy pink princess slammed a large chunk of paper onto his desk. "We need to work hard. Phantom's reputation is at stake." Danny's absent nod stopped abruptly, and the large paper gained his full and undivided attention. Leering off of the front page was his evil future self.

'Phantom Menace

Back in September, when this free and honest paper began, all local news media received a copy of a tape. This tape showed the fight between Phantom, the Red Huntress, and a powerful invading ghost. But it was obvious then that scenes on that tape had been cut. The second half of the fight was never shown. At the time, the Huntress claimed that blunt trauma to various key points on her suit disabled her recording equipment. But who really knows what truths were revealed in that fight? The Spook has the answer! While we have no more tape footage than before, our computer-savvy sleuths have been able to bring what we have into clearer focus. For example, the image shown above. The invading ghost is finally revealed in his awful splendor. But doesn't he seem familiar? The shape of his face, the outfit, the emblem? Phantom, I am your father! Could our own Phantom be the dark spawn of a powerful, evil ghost? Where do his loyalties really lie? What is he really? And what happened to the ghost? More on Page 7.'

"There's just no way that disgusting blue thing could be Phantom's papa." The girl blathered on as Danny stared down at the picture. "Just because they're becoming a daily paper now doesn't mean they have to spew such rubbish." Eyes widening, Danny quickly looked up.

"What? They're a daily paper now? That many people read this?" His partner scoffed.

"As if, Fenton. The people making the paper got a big start-up donation from someone; there was an article on page two. Happened just yesterday." Danny quickly shut his eyes and counted to ten, praying nobody noticed green light coming through the lids. A few pens on Lancer's desk spun around in their holder. Already well into her 'Phantom dearest' monologue, Paulina hadn't noticed.

"Hey, do you think we could talk to Phantom?" She asked suddenly. Danny's eyes popped open. "You know him, and it would help prove our report if we could quote him saying how big a loser Manson is."

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'Jack. Maddie. I'm sorry to catch you while you were out. I'm just calling to catch up. I suppose the two of you are quite angry with me, and that is understandable. But fear not, I hold young Daniel's privacy in the same respect that I trust you hold mine. I'll be in touch. Farewell.'

Jack and Maddie looked at each other on the living room couch as the message played for the third time. It was the perfect cap to an already awful day. They'd hit some sort of dead end with their work on Danielle, Damon was having 'political problems', whatever that meant, the 'Spook' was printing more trash, and their son had finally confessed to Valerie only to have her react with shock and fear. Not that Danny had said anything. Jazz had told them the whole story. Danny himself had fled into his lair and hadn't come out until he had to leave for school. And now this.

"Jack," Maddie finally whispered, "what should we do? Does Danny know?" Jack shrugged.

"I don't know." He answered. "But we'll have to tell him when he gets home, just to be sure. What else can we do?"

"Nothing." His wife sighed. "If we tell anyone Vlad's secret, he'll tell people about Danny. He all but said so in the message. And I am not letting my little boy become some government 'project'." She said coldly. "We'll just have to watch out for him."

Nodding, Jack turned on the TV. The worried couple settled down close together and tried to distract themselves with game shows and telethons. Minutes later, the message was playing again.

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"Valerie."

The quiet voice broke the silence of the dark bedroom, and the Red Huntress sat up with a start. Her eyes were red and puffy, what little makeup she wore running in dark lines down her cheeks. Tottering across the room, she went over to a small communications device hidden in her vanity.

"Valerie, are you there, child?" There was something about that voice. It had once been so comforting, understanding and helpful. So why did it now feel her with so much anger and fear? As she pulled out the small speaker, it clicked.

"Masters." She hissed, eyes narrowing dangerously. "I thought you were in jail. Good riddance, too." Tossing the small machine back into the cubby, she ambled back towards her bed for another few quiet hours of coping.

"Is that what they told you?" The voice called out, filled with cynical humor. Val stopped in her tracks, eyes going wide. Turning back, she let her gaze fall back on the drawer.

"W-what do you mean?" She asked quietly. The room filled with dry laughter.

"My dear girl, I would think it obvious. You know of Daniel's…unique condition now. His parents are obviously deluded, believing him to be good and true. But before I disappeared I learned the truth, and in trying to protect your city, I was incapacitated for these last several months. All at Daniel's hands."

"That's a lie!" Valerie retorted, horrified. "Danny's…he's…"

"A ghost." Vlad said flatly. "A ghost who's lied to you for all this time. Who's manipulated you, who's-"

"You're the one who lied!" She shouted back, glaring at the machine. "You're the one who manipulated me! I was just some pawn to you!"

"And now you're Daniel's pawn, is that it?" The voice asked smoothly. The girl bristled.

"No! Nobody controls me! I hunt ghosts because it's the right thing to do. You helped me get started, but I don't trust you! Danny helped me too, but I don't need him either! I'll make my own choices! Why don't you all just leave me alone?" The laughter returned.

"My dear, if you are not working with me, you are certainly working for him, whether you know it or not. Didn't he tell you? As Amity Park's resident ghost, your city and all of the innocent people in it belong to him. He's probably let it slip at least once. You're cattle to him, dear. Smart, useful cattle, but just as disposable. All I want is to help you. Free you."

"He did say that." She whispered. Eyes narrowing, she turned back towards the machine. "Danny may have lied to me, but he's always done the right thing. You've only put innocent people in danger. I might not be able to like Danny, I might even hate him for all the lies, but I respect him. And I definitely don't trust you." Vlad's sigh was audible even from the drawer.

"If that's how you feel Valerie." He said sadly. "I won't try to control you, even if Danny certainly will. If you change your mind, you know how to contact me. And please, for your sake, don't tell anyone we talked. I'd hate for something to happen to you, my dear. I know from experience how horrible Daniel's anger can be."

The signal dissolved into static and finally went dead. Shaking with rage and fear, Valerie stalked back to her bed and threw herself down to sleep some more. Of course Vlad was lying. Danny had said he couldn't be trusted, that he was evil. But Danny had lied, too.

"What should I do?" The confused girl moaned into her pillow. Eventually, her agitated breathing steadied once more into the regular patterns of sleep. Her intense expression melted into a calm, almost happy serenity that few had seen on her face. Only a slight downward turn of her mouth betrayed that the poor huntress was not happy at all.

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"So Clockwork's locked up, Vlad's loose, Valerie knows and reacted badly, the 'Spook' paper got a 'convenient' bonus, and now there's an article about you and evil future you as your father." Sam grimaced distastefully. "You know, that's actually one of the grossest things I've ever seen printed." Tucker nodded absently in agreement as he moodily punched in another string of numbers on his phone. Finally, after about the tenth ring, he flipped it shut with a sigh.

"Well, I tried Val's house and her cell, but she won't pick up." Groaning, the boy plopped his head down in his hands, his meat filled tray untouched. "Why did I want you to tell her? Why? Now she won't even talk to me!" Staring down, he absently poked a mystery meat steak with his fork. "Doesn't she know how worried I am?" Sam rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Tuck. You took her to a hospital last year. From you, that's like an ultimate expression of love or something! Of course she knows. Still," she added bitterly, "you're right about one thing. We shouldn't have told her."

Danny, who had been silent since telling the whole, long story to his friends, finally looked back up.

"Sam, there's no use complaining about it now. She almost knew anyway." The ghost boy shrugged morosely. "I figured she'd have taken it better. Maybe she'll come around." His girlfriend snorted.

"Danny, you're a great person with the whole 'no judgement' thing, but you might be giving Val a bit too much credit. She's not exactly the understanding type." Across the table, Tucker's eyes shot up and narrowed.

"Oh really? Sam, don't even try to put Val down like that. You've hated her ever since she and Danny dated. And you think she's not understanding?" The third member of the trio pushed back from the table and picked up his tray. "I think I'm done." With that, Tucker walked away. Danny watched with a neutral expression.

"I think that's just about the perfect way to finish off this week." He said hollowly. "Oh, and for the record Sam, you forgot that Dani's still a puddle. No big deal, it's just one more thing."

Sam wrapped an arm around her boyfriend's shoulders and played with her salad. Sure, she had problems, too, but Danny needed her. The news about the party could wait.

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'To the esteemed Dr. Henry T. Lambaste:

It is with great pleasure that we extend to you this invitation to our Annual Partners' and Patrons' Spring Formal Ball. As is custom these last several years, the affair will be held two weeks hence, on the final Saturday of April. Your immediate family is also invited to attend. Kindly RSVP.

Our sincere affections,

The Manson Family'

Pausing to massage his aching hand, Jonathan eyed the stack of unwritten cards ruefully. If those two aristocrats wanted hand-penned invitations with an old-world goose quill pen, that was fine. But couldn't they do it?

Groaning both from his tired, strained eyes and his aching hand, the exhausted man addressed and filled the matching envelope, setting it gently into the 'out' pile. With a slight smile, he reached over and grabbed another cookie from a small tin the daughter had brought down for him when no one was looking. Those parents might be a pair of stuck-up hoity-toity bluebloods, but that girl was something else. And she could cook, too. Feeling considerably better, John checked off another name from his depressingly long list and began penning his next letter.

'To the esteemed Mr. Vlad Masters, CEO:'