Chapter 4
Vlad dropped back into his kitchen, changing back into his human half as soon as his feet hit solid ground. The girl, Samantha, was digging through his fridge.
"I'm back," Vlad said.
"Yeah, hi, Vlad," Sam said, distracted. A second later, she groaned, pulling her head out of Vlad's fridge. "Do you have anything to drink that isn't alcohol?"
"Tap water," Vlad offered.
"Forget it," Sam said, slamming the fridge shut.
Spoiled brat, Vlad thought. I'll be glad to dispose of her once she's completed her task.
Samantha hoisted herself up onto one of Vlad's kitchen counters. She began to drum her fingers against cool marble and hum loudly after a few minutes of sitting there in silence. Vlad could tell the girl was trying very hard not to think about Daniel. No doubt she just wanted to forget about the boy entirely.
Vlad almost smiled at how easily Samantha had fallen for his ruse. But why wouldn't she? She was only a teenager. He was not only years wiser than her, but also a diabolical super villain and expert liar.
Vlad was confident his plan would work. The other ghosts doubted him, but he knew that this would be the easiest way to take down Daniel.
Everything was going exactly as intended. The girl had bought his lies. She really believed young Daniel hated her… that he'd never cared for her. Soon the girl's sadness would be replaced with anger, and her need for comfort would be replaced with a need for revenge…
It would only take so much as a push from Vlad to get her to destroy the boy for him.
Daniel is done for, Vlad thought, again having to hide the smile that tugged on the corners of his lips.
"So, Vlad," Sam said, snapping Vlad out of his thoughts. "What do you have planned for us today?"
"Well, I was thinking first we should head down to the lab, do a few tests…" Vlad began.
"All right," Sam said, hopping off of the countertop. "Let's go."
Vlad was a bit taken aback by her eagerness, but quickly recovered himself.
"Very well," Vlad said, taking the girl by the arm before changing into Plasmius and flying both of them to his lab.
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"I thought you already had my DNA," Sam said nervously as she sat in an office chair in the middle of Vlad's lab. Vlad stood over her, needle drawn. "You know, from that time when you kidnapped me."
"Well, yes, I did. But as you remember, that lab, along with all the samples and data I had collected, were destroyed in the explosion you caused," Vlad said bitterly as he poked the needle into Sam's arm. Sam cringed as he drew blood. Sam may have been a Goth who reveled in all things dark, but the sight of blood made her woozy…
"Try not to faint," Vlad said, noticing the girl paling.
"Easier said than done," Sam muttered.
Vlad finished drawing the blood and took the needle away. He brought back a Band-aid, which he placed gingerly on the part of Sam's arm where he had extracted blood.
"There," Vlad said. "Feel better?"
Sam rolled her eyes at Vlad's patronizing tone, but nodded. Vlad stepped over to his computer, drawing up an image of a sample of her DNA. He typed in a few things and it zoomed in.
"Goodness, you truly are something else, Samantha," Vlad said, still typing frantically on his keyboard.
"It's Sam," Sam reminded him again. "And what do you mean by that?"
"You can tell so much about a person just from their DNA," Vlad muttered, not really answering her question. "Tell me, Samantha, are your powers linked to your emotions?"
"Well, yeah," Sam said. "Like, when I took down the roof at that assembly, it was because I was really mad at you. I've managed to get my powers to function when I'm not emotionally worked up about something, but it's harder to use them, and they aren't as strong."
Vlad nodded absentmindedly, still studying the DNA on the computer screen. He pressed a few buttons, and the screen shut off.
"Come with me, Samantha," Vlad said.
"Where are we going?" Sam asked, eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"To my training room," Vlad said, walking over to Sam and taking her arm before going ghost and flying her across his home. Sam closed her eyes, still feeling sick from having her blood drawn. Being flown through walls at high speeds wasn't helping her feel any better…
Finally, they landed in a large empty white room, roughly the size of a football court.
"Stay here," Vlad instructed, going intangible and flying out of the room. Sam sighed, wondering how long she'd have to stay here alone. She didn't like being alone anymore. When she was alone there was nothing to distract her from her thoughts. Thoughts that always turned back to Danny.
Anger seeped through her as she thought of her ex-boyfriend. She hated him. She hated what he'd done to her. She hated that she could still care about him, even after what he'd done to her.
Suddenly, Vlad's voice filled the large room. Sam looked around, trying to find where the voice was coming from.
"Okay, Samantha," Vlad said. "We're just going to be doing some basic fighting today. Let me configure the room…"
The empty white room went completely dark for a moment, leaving Sam in total blackness. Out of nowhere, a green loading bar appeared on the wall in front of her. The bar filled quickly.
Suddenly, Sam was standing on a sidewalk in the middle of Amity Park. She walked across the street, reaching out to touch the nearest building. Its cool, bumpy surface felt so real…
"Everything you're seeing right now is an illusion created by the room," Vlad's voice boomed. "State-of-the-art technology."
Sam turned away from the building she'd just touched, her eyes darting across the cityscape around her. The sky above was so blue, so real… she could feel the wind brushing over her skin, the sun beating down on her from above… she never would have guessed it wasn't real.
"All right, Samantha," Vlad said. "Here comes your enemy."
Sam looked around anxiously, expecting the Box Ghost or Skulker to appear in front of her. She never would've guessed that Vlad would choose a rendering of Danny Phantom for her to fight.
But there he was, clad in his black and white jumpsuit, hovering a few feet off the ground, smiling irritatingly at her. Sam stepped over to the boy cautiously, tempted to reach out and touch him, just to see if he felt as real as the building…
"Surprised to see me?" the Danny Phantom said, smirking. The anger towards him that Sam had felt a few minutes ago returned, stronger than ever. Seeing him here… looking so happy, so smug… even if he was just a hologram or whatever… made her so angry.
Sam could feel a familiar throbbing icy feeling spreading through her body. She knew that this feeling was connected with her powers.
Sam raised her hand, and with a flick of her fingers she sent Danny flying backwards into the ground. He crashed into the street, cracking the cement where he'd fallen. He recovered after only a moment's hesitation.
"I was using you, Sam," the fake Danny said, grinning wickedly.
"Shut up!" Sam roared, sending Danny flying into the building to her right. She whipped him back to the left, sending him into another building. She did that for a few minutes, sending him back and forth, crashing into one building or the other, his body as limp as a rag doll. The fake Danny tried to fight back, sending a Ghost Ray her way once or twice, but in her anger she was far stronger than him.
Eventually, Danny lay on the ground in front of her, unconscious. There was a flash of light as Phantom gave way to Fenton.
Cautiously, Sam approached the boy. His body was mangled, his limbs jutting out in odd, unnatural directions. His face was bloody.
Sam was horrified. Not by the gruesome sight in front of her, but by what she'd just done. She'd just killed Danny. Or a rendering of him anyway.
So why did she feel so… happy?
Suddenly, Danny was gone, Amity Park was gone, the room pure and white once more. Plasmius flew in, applauding.
"Splendid, Samantha, just splendid! You really are very powerful!"
Sam nodded numbly, still staring at the spot on the ground where the fake Danny had been lying a few seconds ago.
"Cheer up, girl," Vlad said. "I thought fighting Phantom might be good for you… therapeutic, even."
Sam thought about this. She did feel a little less miserable. For the first time since Danny had broken up with her, she felt… content.
"Shall we try it again with a stronger Danny?" Vlad asked, smiling.
"Yeah," Sam said. "Okay."
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Vlad watched as Samantha fought the level nine rendering of Daniel.
Once again, she was easily defeating the faux-Daniel, her eyes squinted in concentration as she fought. She'd defeated eight Daniels already, and though Vlad set them to be harder to defeat each time, Samantha still defeated all of them with ease.
The real Daniel should be no problem for her.
Samantha took down this Daniel, panting. Vlad reset the room, turning it white and empty again, before flying in to meet Samantha.
"We should probably stop for today. I don't want you to strain yourself," Vlad said as he approached her. "You've done very well, Samantha."
"It's Sam," the girl said. "And… thanks."
"Not a problem," Vlad said. "I think you're well on your way to the mastery of your powers, Samantha. Let's go have some lunch and then we can talk more."
Samantha nodded, holding her arm out so Vlad could fly her out of the room.
She already trusts me completely, Vlad mused. Three weeks will be more than enough time to complete my plan. And then, once she's played her part in my plot, I can kill her. Soon both she and Daniel Fenton will be dead.