Chapter 31:
Dani POV-
"Wait, WHAT?!" I exclaimed, having just found out that the plan included me acting as live bait.
"Come on Dani, you know this is the only way we can do it. Vlad wants you," Danny told me.
"And, he'll be heading right into our trap," Tony added, awkwardly sitting on the couch in the Iron Man suit with his face mask up.
"Okay, but remind me again why we just can't wait for him to break in..." I begged.
Danny shook his head, "By the time he does that, he'll recognize some of the Fenton technology we used and the element of surprise would be lost."
"Danielle, you can do this," Tony told me putting his hand on my shoulder.
"I know…" I whimpered. Ghost seemed to sense my emotions because he laid his fluffy head on my lap, looking up at me pleadingly. I stroked his ears, ruffling the fur on his head, before standing up and transforming, "Okay," I took a deep breath, "I'm ready. What else do I need to do?" I asked.
"Well," Tucker started, "You'll be wearing the Fenton Phones, so get him talking, see what he will tell you about his plan. We'll have it all recorded here."
"Okay…" I nodded slowly, knots forming in my stomach, "How long until he gets here."
"My guess would be a minute and thirty seconds," Tucker said watching the screen.
"I guess I better get out there then," I gulped.
"We'll be right there when you need us," Tony assured me, his mask coming down, as I flew out through the ceiling.
The night air was cool, but not cold. The sun had already gone down, the only light left was the blue glow on the horizon over the ocean and the light from the already-rising moon. The moon was full tonight, but wispy clouds moved in front of it, casting weird shadows around me. Every instinct I had was telling me to fly away, but I didn't. Everybody else was counting on me, so I stood firm.
My ghost sense went off. They were here.
"Hello Danielle," I heard Vlad's voice and then he appeared in front of me, "So nice of you to meet me out here. I was afraid I would have to disable the security system.
"What do you want Vlad?" I demanded, trying to hide the shake in my voice.
He tsked in false disappointment. "I don't like your attitude Danielle. Now, you know what I want, what I've always wanted."
"To destroy me," I supplied.
"Destroy is such a…harsh word, think of it this way: with you gone, I would be able to create new life," he sneered in a creepy smile.
"And if I say 'no'?" I asked. He laughed darkly, and floated closer to me.
"I think you and I both know that this decision is not up to you," he smiled at me creepily again, before shooting me with a ghost ray. I was knocked out of the spot where I was floating skidding onto the roof.
"What was the purpose of meeting Pepper and Tony? Why not just take me?" I asked, holding my arm that was sore from when he had blasted it.
"Why, as a way of getting you to cooperate of course," he floated down towards me.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH THEM!" I shrieked.
"Nothing, so long as you come with me, and do as I say," he said in a low tone, he grasped my sore arm yanking me off of the roof roughly.
"What will you do to them if I don't," I said quietly.
"Well, first, I will tell them your secret, in fact, considering how much you love them, I'm surprised you haven't told them already. Then one of two things will happen: they will either reject you, or they will foolishly try to help you, if they do that, you will watch them be killed, slowly and painfully, if you do not leave them," he said.
"You know. No matter what world you come from, kidnapping, child abuse, blackmail, and murder are illegal," I heard a voice above us, I smiled to myself knowing it was Tony. Vlad looked up surprised to see Iron Man. In his surprise, he loosened his grip on my arm just enough for me to slide out and shoot the back of his head with a ghost ray. I floated up next to Tony.
"You know Vlad. I have no intention of letting you hurt the people I care about, so, I got some back up," I told him with a smirk. At that moment, Tony fired a beam at Vlad too.
Vlad stood up, chuckling.
"Danielle, you should know better than to bring others into our family problems," He said and charged at Tony. Tony fired but Vlad turned intangible and simply left a hole through the roof, and continued towards Tony, probably with the intention of overshadowing him.
When Vlad laid his intangible hands on the Iron Man suit, he was immediately zapped by the built-in spector deflector, until he was writhing on the ground like he had been tazed.
"Really, Vlad," I heard Danny's voice this time, as he appeared, "Do you honestly think that Danielle would go into battle against you without contacting me? I see you've already met some of the advancements in the Iron Man suit. He has everything to be able to take you down, and a built-in spector deflector so he would not be overshadowed."
Vlad stood up, and whirled around only to be blasted by the three of us in unison, knocking him down again.
"Vlad, you seem outnumbered," I told him. But he only grinned, snapping his fingers. Suddenly, Vlad's three vulture minions emerged from the darkness, followed by Walker, warden of the Ghost Zone, and a lot of his goons.
"Well, now it seems like you're outnumbered," Vlad extended his arms to show his forces.
"Not, completely," I smirked, and Tucker, Sam, Pepper, emerged, all carrying weapons of their own. Vlad laughed.
"It was far-fetched to believe that one human could defeat me," he gestured to Tony, "But four? You don't have a prayer."
"I guess we'll see about that," I said, blasting Vlad with a ghost ray, and the battle had officially begun.
In the first five seconds, Tony had managed to take out the vultures with one missile, knocking them off of the roof. I knew they would be back, but it had bought us a little time.
Danny took on Walker.
"Fighting for humans, that's against the rules," he said before he took a blast to the chest.
"Shouldn't fighting against humans be against the rules?" Danny asked as he blasted him again. Vlad was engaged in battle with Tony, and now Walker's minions descended upon Pepper, Tucker, Sam, and Issa.
I blasted them, turning their attention on to me, and giving Sam and Pepper the opening they needed to pelt the goons with ecto bullets.
One made contact, "wounding" the ghost, but the others turned intangible before they could be hit.
Another group of goon, had now completely surrounded Tony, I flew towards him to help, but Vlad caught me, throwing me through the open whole in the roof so that we were now in my bedroom, separated from the fight.
"You've just sentenced them all to death for defending you," he told me, a trickle of reddish green blood trickled out of a cut on his cheek. Behind him, the door pushed open and I saw Ghost enter, his lips curled into a snarl. I needed to stall.
"What good will that do? How will killing them help you to get me. Tony will get you. He knows a lot of important people. He will ruin you if you take me," I told him.
"Tony wasn't even up on the roof to defend your worthless life. What makes you think he would do anything to save you?" he sneered, stepping closer to me. Now, I was at my desk, which, had been exactly what I wanted. I put my hand on a little black remote that activated the spector deflector built into Ghost's collar. From behind Vlad it glowed with green energy.
"Because," I told him, "Tony had done more for me and loved me more in the short time I've been here, than you did in the whole time I was with you."
"That's because all you are to Tony is someone to make him look good in front of the press, that's all you will ever matter to him," Vlad gripped the collar of my suit, hoisting me off of the ground.
"You know another thing Tony got me that you never did?" I asked, trying to remain collected.
"What?" he asked, glaring at me with his piercing red eyes.
"A dog. Ghost sic' um!" I shouted and my dog leapt at Vlad from behind ripping his clothes to shreds, and Zapping Vlad every time he touched him. Vlad had been so surprised he didn't even think to go intangible. He fired at Ghost, but Ghost managed to leap out of the way just in time, clamping his teeth into Vlad's shoulder blade. I knew next time Vlad fired that he wouldn't miss, so I flew over Vlad's battered body, picking Ghost up, and flying out of the house with him.
I set him down, and he started to attack all of the other ghosts on the roof. The now, distracted ghosts were made open targets now. Danny took out his thermos, sucking in the vultures and Walker's goons, leaving only Walker left on the roof, I had assumed Vlad had retreated when he had seen that he was loosing this battle. I flew over to Pepper, Sam, and Tucker, making sure they were alright. They were, with the exception of a few bumps and scratches. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that they would be okay.
Tony flew down to Walker's level with Danny.
"I'm Iron Man," Tony introduced himself, staking the stern warden ghost off guard, "I protect the human world, just like the Phantom's do. And, I'm afraid, you putting humans in danger is against the rules. Not only that, but it seems that Vlad has now left for you to take the entire blame."
The ghost was surprised and looked like he had nothing to say in reply.
"This is a high offense in the human world. However," Danny said, "We may have a deal for you."
Tony nodded, continuing, "Vlad is guilty of kidnapping, child abuse, blackmail, and threatening murder on humans."
"And if you help us to take him down and turn him into the observers, your involvement in this will be omitted," Danny finished laying the proposition on the table.
Walker seemed to think for a minute, before extending his hand. Tony turned down the intensity of the spector deflector before shaking the ghost's hand. Afterwards, Walker vanished, leaving us on the rooftop alone.
I fell to my knees, with the overwhelming sense of relief before standing back up to gave everyone a hug.
"You know this isn't over," Danny said.
I nodded, "Yeah, I know he'll come back soon to get me. But it's over for now, and that's all that matters."
"Come on," Tony said, putting up his face mask, "Let's go inside and get some rest."
We all agreed in relief, as we went back inside of the house.