Chapter 11:

Tony POV-

Later that evening, Dani, Pepper, and I all sat down at dinner.

"So how was your day Dani?" Pepper asked.

Danielle shrugged, "Fine, I guess, it's just school." I smirked to myself, such a typical teenage or, in her case, preteen, answer. Pepper nodded, frowning because she was less than content with this answer.

Suddenly, I had an idea.

"So, Pepper? Did you set up the meeting? He said it was at the end of the month right?" I asked, already knowing that she had. The date was set for the 29th, giving us exactly 21 days until his arrival.

"Meeting with who?" Danielle asked, as I assumed she would, not because she really cares who we are meeting with, but because she doesn't want to be left out of the conversation. Pepper shot me a warning look, like she was afraid that I would say something like "Vlad Masters! And we know he has something to do with you so you better confess what it is that you're hiding from us!"

But instead, I simply stated, "Vlad Masters." Danielle froze, every ounce of color draining from her already pale face, she looked like she had no idea what to say and she started to play with the ends of her hair. I almost felt bad, it seems that with two words I put way too much stress on her, but, at the same time this did confirm, without any doubt, that she was somehow involved in this. And, however she is involved, Vlad Masters absolutely terrifies her.

"Um…I'm not really hungry anymore, can I be excused," she muttered finally.

"Sure Danielle," Pepper told her, "What's wrong?"

"I just remembered that I have some homework I haven't done yet," she said, quickly standing up from the table and going down the hall to her room.

Pepper glared at me, "Are you happy now? She looks completely terrified!"

"I know, I feel bad, but I had to be absolutely sure that she was involved, I just didn't expect her to react like that," I said, focusing on my food and refusing to meet her gaze.

"What do you think that Masters did to her to make her so afraid of him?" Pepper wondered. I thought for a minute. That puzzled me too. As far as I know, Vlad Masters is just a lonely, bitter, mayor/billionaire of a small town, what would he have to do with an orphaned girl.

But then I thought, 'Maybe she's not an orphan, she never actually said that either of her parents were dead…' But, even still, what does that have to do with anything? She said she had to do her dad's dirty work and billionaire politicians definitely have a lot…she also said her dad pretends to be nice to everyone but her and that was definitely the first impression I got from Vlad…

'Wait, what am I thinking? That Vlad is Danielle's father? Vlad doesn't even have any children,' And, yet, as I continued to think this, the more that I felt like it was the truth. She did say her father thought of her as a mistake so maybe he kept her hidden…

"What if…Vlad is Danielle's father?" I asked.

"No…that can't be right…can it?" Pepper asked. Thinking it over for herself, "…although, it would make sense…"

I nodded. "And if that's true…what the hell have we gotten Danielle into?"

"Maybe I should go talk to her," Pepper announced, standing up and walking down the hall. I barely heard her because I was still piecing things together in my mind.

'Then, what does that have to do with that Daniel Fenton kid?' I wondered, then I remembered that Danielle said something to her friend about her cousin Danny.

'No wonder they look alike, he is her cousin.' But that still doesn't explain why her cousin's friend hacked my system.

'Maybe it was to warn her about her father?' I thought. But why would she need to be warned, I am the biggest weapons distributer in the county. I decided that there must be something I don't know about Vlad Masters too.

At this moment, Pepper came from the hallway, a look of confusion on her face.

"She wasn't in there…" Pepper said.

I shrugged, "She probably just went for a walk on the beach. You can confront her when she gets back. Meanwhile, I have an entirely different search to do downstairs," I told her, standing up to go to the lab.

Dani POV-

Vlad is coming here. After I excused myself from dinner, I was practically shaking with anxiety. Tony said he didn't even like Vlad, but Vlad had contacted him to make an appointment. And because Tony doesn't know about me or Vlad, he doesn't know that there is probably some kind of evil scheme behind him coming here, one that probably involves melting me down into ectoplasm.

I went into the bathroom, still shaking, transformed and flew out, needing the open air to clear my head. I floated above the clouds, scanning the busy city below me. For a second, I considered taking Iron Man up on his offer and telling him how to make ghost weapons, but I quickly reconsidered. For all I know, Iron Man could be working for Vlad (of course I thought it would be unlikely, but, anything's possible).

After a few hours, I decided to go back, floating down through the house and into my bathroom. Ghost, who had been asleep on the tile, his paws in the air, was suddenly startled awake. The drowsy puppy blinked at me, then growled, baring his teeth and stepping closer to me.

'He doesn't know my ghost form,' I thought, 'he thinks I'm a threat.' I quickly changed back.

"Ghost, look it's just me, it's okay," I told the dog, sticking out my hand. Ghost stopped, and cocked his head to the side, before finally running up to me and tackling me with slobbery kisses.

"Hey, yeah, that's a good boy," I told him, pushing him off of me.

There was a knock on my bedroom door.

"Danielle, sweetie can we talk to you?" I heard Pepper's voice.

"Okay, I'll be out in a minute," I replied. Preparing to lie my butt off, I came out of the bathroom and my bedroom and went down the hall to where Tony and Pepper were waiting for me in the living room.