Chapter 4

Danny's eyes shot wide open at the sound of his alarm clock. It was that dream again. He had been having it for the last two weeks, ever since Penny and the Titans had found out his secret. It started out him sleeping, and then suddenly he would be awoken by his dad knocking on the door. He would open it, then see his dad and either Robin or Penny standing next to him. He would try to fly away, but his powers wouldn't work. His dad would grab him and take him down to the laboratory, followed by some painful torture. He would scream for him to stop, scream in agony. Then, just as he would look up to find his dad, it would be an orange masked man with only one eye, staring down at him with a sadistic glee.

He sat up, his hair ruffled and bags under his eyes, and yawned popping a few of his joints. He had thought to himself that he would get more sleep, even if the ghosts had somehow gotten back into Amity. He had been wrong. Danny had been plagued by more and more ghosts every night, only being able to sleep no more than three hours a night. He thought it lucky that summer was just around the corner, only two weeks away, and that Sam and Tucker would come to Amity Park.

He groggily got up from his bed, and getting ready for school. A knock at the door caught his attention, and he listened as his mum opened it. Frowning, he got out of his bedroom and looked over the balcony and saw Penny sitting at the table, a cup of hot chocolate in her hand, talking happily to his mum. Eyebrows raised, he walked down the stairs from the landing, and into the kitchen.

Penny hadn't spoken to him in the two weeks after he had accidently shown his Phantom self to her. He had tried to find out where she lived, just to talk to her privately, but the school wouldn't supply the address to him. She normally sat away from him in class, never speaking up and just taking notes. He would try to follow her home, or meet her up at the school gates, but she had always seemed to avoid him. But now she just came to his house completely out of the blue?

"Oh Danny! You never told me you had a friend interested in ectoplasmic studies!" Maddie said enthusiastically, her goggles glinting slightly in the light of the sun. Penny gently sipped her cup, smiling at his mum and looked over to Danny

"It's only a hobby, but I find it fascinating!" Penny said happily. Danny frowned at her. She hadn't told him that she liked ghosts. Thoughts of her catching him turning from Phantom to Fenton flooded his mind, and his frown deepened. Did she only like him because of his powers, because he's a hafa?

"Oh, then I must show you what we've been working on. It's a ghost detector that matches onto the molecular infrastructure of the ghost and uses a GPS that tracks it anywhere in the known world! It's a prototype for work, but I'm sure I could give it a test run for you, so long as we can find a ghost." Maddie said, "That reminds me, I still have to calibrate the ectoplasmic sensors again. My husband programmed them wrong last night, and they're crucial to our work." She said, getting up and heading down the stairs.

"You two have a good day at school today!" She said calling down from the basement.

"You're lucky. She hardly comes up from that lab of hers." Danny said with a roll of his eyes, grumpy from waking up early.

"Well schools cancelled today; a villain attacked around the school district and knocked most of the science lab over. The contractors say it dangerous, and that it should take a week to fix, tops." Danny nodded, in a slightly better mood. Contractors in Jump were some of the best in the world, with buildings everyday being taken down and turned to rubble by villains or supernatural disasters.

Danny suddenly felt uncomfortable around the girl; the last time they had seen each other was when she had been running away from him, scared to find out he was some kind of freak. He looked down at her half empty cup, the brown liquid still steaming. Penny broke the awkward silence

"What I saw the other day... You're a meta-human, aren't you." She asked quietly, her eyes on her cup.

"Yeah, I am." He said simply

"So you're a shape shifter? You can turn into a different version of yourself and fly about?" Penny asked, still refusing to look at him.

"N-no. Not really. I'm, well, a half ghost. I can turn invisible, intangible, fire ecto blasts from my hands, and fly at ridiculous speeds." Danny said, sadly.

"So that guy I saw you with, that robot dude. He was a ghost too?" Penny asked

"Yeah, his name is Skulker. I've known him a while now. He hunts me down, and wants to kill me." He said with a shrug. Penny looked horrified

"Kill you? No evil scheme to take over the world?" She asked him, shocked.

"Yeah, he's the self proclaimed 'Best hunter in the world' and I'm just a rare species to him." He said like it wasn't a big deal. "He wants to 'hang my pelt on his bed' or so he's told me."

Penny was cut off from replying by the sound of an explosion, and a small earthquake rumbling through the house.

"Eureka!" Danny heard his dad call from down stairs, and saw smoke as it rose from the top of the stairs, coming from the laboratory. Danny yawned, used to the commotion, and stood up. "Want to see what my dad's blown up?" He asked, trying to get the conversation away from his powers. Penny looked alarmed, and slightly frightened, but followed him as he went down the stairs, waving off the smoke and coughing as they inhaled it.

The laboratory was suddenly cleared as his mother flipped on the ventilation system, and the smoke and dust particles were sucked into it.

"Jack, honey, we're created this before. You don't need to shout eureka every time we re-build this." Maddie said softly to Jack, putting a hand on his shoulder.

The basement was a mess of papers with graphs and calculation of them. More vials of stuff he had seen a million times lay scattered on the table tops. And the floor was littered with oil and spare metal parts that weren't needed. His eyes widened as his gaze fell upon what they had been working on.

"I know Maddie, but it's just so exciting; another portal to the Ghost Zone!" Jack said, a grin splitting across his face.

"Yes dear, but was the explosion really necessary? You probably scared Danny's friend half to death." She said, shaking her head. Jack only just seemed to notice that Danny and Penny had come down.

"Ah! Danny's found a friend!" He said, happily, striding over to Danny and putting a hand on his shoulder

"Yeah dad, this is Penny, she's a friend from school." Danny told him, shrugging like it wasn't a big deal.

"Ah, great! Oh, and she looks like Sam too! Have you got another Tucker hidden around here too?" Jack asked, half serious. Danny rolled his eyes and shrugged him off.

"We had some money left over from the grant we got from work, and we decided to build this again. I know you got a shock the first time you turned it on, but we've made sure that it won't happen again." He said happily

'A shock? Bit of an understatement dad.' Danny thought bitterly.

"Yup! We've wired it up to one big switch!" He said, and bounded over to a big novelty switch, labelled with two bold words 'on and off'.

"What is it?" Asked Penny, confused.

"It's a portal to the Ghost dimension, commonly known as the Ghost Zone." Maddie said proudly. It was a big, deep hole in the back of the lab. It was made of a shiny metal alloy, it was full of blue electrical wires, all connected to the main hub at the back of it. It stood at ten feet tall, and was around that wide too. Penny gawked at it, wondering how it worked.

"Does your friend want to turn it on?" He asked, excitedly. Penny looked at Danny sceptically, but he smiled and she moved forward.

"This version of the portal has the ghost filter, right?" Danny asked, slightly nervous in case his parents had forgotten.

"Yup! Just like you asked. Ghosts can go in, but can't come out into our dimension. But that means you'll have to change it once a week, or it'll break." Jack said happily. Danny let out a small sigh of relief. He didn't want to have to break it if it didn't have too; it was his parent's pride and joy after all.

"So when is this going to be operational?" He asked his parents.

"It can be turned on now!" Jack said, a little impatiently.

Penny flicked the overly sized switch quickly and a sudden hum of electricity sounded through the room. A small ball of green energy began to form in the centre of the great iron circle. It began to expand slowly, dark green and black swirls began to form with it, swimming in the energy. The ball grew and grew until it began to fill most of the circle, and doors of different shapes and sizes could be seen in the distance, floating and suspended in the air. A spectre floated past the growing portal, unaware it was being watched, and flew into the distance, its white trail following it along. The portal was suddenly complete, showing the strange and weird world with a green sky and no land.

"This, Penny, is the Ghost Zone!" Jack said, smiling at her, or where she used to be. Jack looked around, and couldn't see Penny, only an equally confused Danny and Maddie. "Where did she go?" He asked, confused. Danny looked concerned, and ignored his dad, bounding up the stairs and heading towards the kitchen. She wasn't there.

Confused and a little more concerned, he walked up the stairs and headed to his room. His door was opened, and as he was about to enter it, he came face to face with a red-faced Penny. They were suddenly inches from each other, so he stepped back, quickly.

"Why were you in my room?" He asked, slightly accusingly.

"I-I-I was looking for the toilet." She explained, stuttering. Danny frowned, and pointed down the hall to the opened door a toilet and a mirror visible. "T-thanks." She said, seeming apologetic. Danny shrugged, but the doubt was sitting in his mind. What had she been doing in his bedroom anyway? Snooping about, trying to find something of his? He looked into his room and saw the Titans communicator he had left sitting there. She had probably been freaked out by that, he realised. He would have to tell her about his encounter with the titans.

Penny was quickly finished on the toilet, and came out with a smile.

"So as we've got the day to ourselves, do you want to grab some lunch or something? Maybe hang out at the arcade or something?" Penny asked quickly. Danny was slightly sceptical, especially as she seemed like it was an everyday occurrence that you found out a friend of yours had crazy parents, and was half ghost.

"Sure. I'll go grab my wallet." He said, and grabbed it, as well as his communicator, and left with her, worried about what she may think or know about him.

.~.~.~.~.

Sam felt a pang of guilt as she turned her computer on. She had skipped school today, only because she didn't want to see 'him' again. 'Ugh,' she thought 'I wish Danny was here, he would sort things out.' It seemed that Tucker was lost without Danny, he was constantly trying to get in touch with her, trying to find her online, and just so he had someone to talk to. It was funny at first. He seemed to always follow her around school. They would meet up after class and talk about technology or have a casual debate about meat vs. veg. She enjoyed it.

But then he just began to become clingy. He would not leave her alone. With Danny out of the picture, it seemed that she was his only friend at school. She didn't mind that he was trying to be friends with her, but it seemed obsessive to constantly be on the phone with her. It seemed like their relationship only really worked with Danny there in the middle. She would talk Goth/protest with him, and Tucker would talk games/girls with him. And they would talk about random things, as well as have the meat vs. veg debate. That relationship worked.

Sam turned her attention to her computer, and opened her e-mail up, as she usually did. She went through the junk mail, until she came across something strange. It was a message with her e-mail as the sender. But she hadn't sent an e-mail to herself in ages. The send time was blank, and so was the subject header. She clicked on it wearily, first scanning it for a virus, but saw that it just had text. It was a message.

'Dear Samantha.

Come to my mansion

Alone."

Sam looked confused. She only knew one person who would have interest in her, and own a mansion. Vlad was summoning her. She frowned, and re-read it. There wasn't much to it. Why did Vlad want to see her so badly? Sam thought that he would forget about her, now that Danny was out of Amity Park, and their lives. And why alone? She shook her head. There was no reason not to go, it might be interesting and she might get an update on Danny. She hadn't heard from him in a while, and Vlad would no doubt be tracking him.

She hurriedly put her combat boots on, and found her moped in the garage. She quickly found Vlad's new mansion, just outside Amity Park. She parked her transport outside and locked it. Thinking it not wise to try and sneak in, she knocked on the door. After the third knock the door opened mysteriously. She glanced inside, taking in the view of the entrance hall.

"Oh, I see you've cone to join me." said a voice. She looked up to see the big face of Vladimir Masters looming on a monitor. "Well don't dawdle, I'm on the third floor, in my study. I've called you here because or Daniel, I wish to speak to you about him." He said. Sam's thoughts became thick and fast as they contemplated all the possibilities this conversation would turn out. She made her way to the third floor study and opened the door without knocking. She was greeted with Vlad Plasmius sitting down in a red dyed leather chair and smiled, showing all his pointed white teeth.

"So, down to business, shall we?" He said.

"What do you want Vlad?" She scowled.

"Why, to talk about Daniel. Have I not made this clear?" He said patronizingly. "Now, is it my understanding that you are visiting him in the next few weeks?" He asked. She nodded.

"Good! Then you won't mind telling him this. 'The Titans you can trust, but Slade has an informer keeping an eye on you. Do not trust anyone.'" He said cryptically. Sam was confused. Why did he need to know that? She knew about the Teen Titans, but why would Danny care about the Teen Titans. There were no ghosts in Jump City... Were there?

"Why did I need to come all the way here to find out that?" She asked.

"Ah, that's a different matter. I wanted to show you something; something I've been developing this especially for you. This man, Slade, is one of the craftiest crime lords I have had the displeasure of meeting, and unfortunately he will use you against Danny in any way you can."

"Wait, so why are you so interested in keeping me safe?" She asked him.

"Simple; if Slade gets to you, and inadvertently Danny, he will have a new apprentice and I will have no adopted son. But by helping you, there is still a hope that Daniel will turn to me and become the Daniel Masters he's destined to be." Vlad said with a smile. Sam just rolled her eyes.

"So what is it then, fruitloop?" She asked using his nickname. He simply ignored the comment and simply reached for a little black box sitting on the side of his desk. He removed the lid and produced a small silver bracelet. He handed it to her and she took it.

"Oh Vlad, you shouldn't have." Sam said, sarcasm dripping from her words.

"This device was made especially for you and will only work for your own DNA. I've been waiting for a while to give it to you." He said plainly.

"You know how of a stalker that makes you sound? Then again," Sam said thoughtfully "You do have a cat named after the woman you want to widow, and re-marry.". Vlad's smile faltered for a second before composing itself again.

"This little device mimics Danny's ghost powers. It can't let you fly, posses someone or make you go intangible, but it can make you invisible and able to fire ecto-beams from your hand.

"It was created from the cloning technology I was hoping to clone Daniel from, but, obviously, I had varying results. This technology works like a bubble of power around you. It isn't armour, but it'll help in battle. Oh, and it also wipes you from any nearby CCTV footage and tracking bugs."

"Wow, Vlad. You've really outdone yourself." Sam said as she splayed her hand opens and pushed her arm forward. A green beam erupted from her hand and hit a book shelf. Books and pages exploded from the blast. Vlad simply just glared at her.

"This'll come in handy. So tell me this, Vlad, is there anything else I should know about this Slade person before I go to Jump?" She asked.

"Only that you should go before the end of summer, otherwise, from what I've heard, he will have a great ally at his disposal." He said. Sam just shrugged, and left his house without thanking him.