Danny and Sam were taken to a high-tech futuristic prison. Exactly where it was they couldn't say. Once they arrived at the prison, Danny and Sam were separated and each taken to separate cells. Danny's cell was a cold, metallic room with a shimmering green energy field to keep him trapped instead of bars. Mechanical shackles were fastened to his hands and feet, leaving him suspended by the ceiling. He was hanging there for who knows how long before Walker arrived to interrogate him.
"Now listen here, punk, and listen good because I'm only going to say this once… I'm going to ask you a few questions and you're going to tell me everything I want to know. Otherwise, I will make your sentence very unpleasant. During your stay here, I will be your judge, executioner, jury, executioner, jailer, and, if necessary, your executioner!"
"Wow. That really is your favorite part of the job."
Walker shrugged his shoulders. "A job has to have some perks, don't it?
"Now, you're going to tell me what you were doing in Amity Park and why you were helping that Manson girl or I'll—"
"That's quite enough, Walker. I'll take it from here," a familiar voice called out.
From out of the shadows stepped Vlad Masters, a sinister smirk on his face. Begrudgingly, Walker did as he was told and left, leaving Danny alone with Vlad.
"Well, well, Daniel. Here we are again. You, trapped, powerless, completely at my mercy. How many times have we been here before, hmm?"
"As I recall, it ends with you losing. Every. Single. Time."
"That might have been true in the past, but not this time. I've fixed everything in my favor."
He pulled a golden amulet out from under his shirt. "Funny the power contained in such an unassuming little trinket, eh Daniel? All I needed to do was make one slight edit in the timeline and I was able to get everything I ever wanted. It was so easy too. All I had to do was go back and overshadow you and ensure you never stepped foot into that portal. With you without your powers, there was no one to stop me from taking over!"
"But Sam got ghost powers, and there's no way she'd let you get away with this!"
"True, but there wasn't really anything she could have done to stop me know, now was there? Afterall, she had her hands full with ghosts in Amity Park and she'd never even met me. How could she possibly have known what I was planning? By the time I made my move it was too late! I was too powerful for her to be any sort of threat. Now she's nothing more than a nuisance. A nuisance, I'm happy to say, that will soon be eliminated. And that is all thanks to you, dear boy!
"What's the matter? You're so quiet, Daniel. That's so unlike you," Vlad gloated. "Aren't you going to make some irksome remark? Some witty banter? Call me a fruit loop?"
"Oh, we're way past that, Vlad. At this point, you're a whole box of fruit loops!"
"Ah, there it is. That same uninspired, unintelligent wit we all know and love. I swear, you must get it from your father." Suddenly, a malicious grin spread across his face. "Who, by the way, is right here in this very prison. Oh yes, he's been rotting here for two months now. He hasn't been having an easy go of it either, I'm afraid. Unfortunately, his health has been declining and his mind… Well, let's just say that his mind has been damaged more than anything else. But not to worry! I got him the best psychologist money can buy…"
Meanwhile, in another cell…
Jack sat alone on the beat-up old cot in his cell. He was thinking about his family and how he'd let them down. He hoped they were alright. Certainly, they had to be doing better than he was. For Jack was in a very sad state. Weak, exhausted, and physically ill, life in prison had exacted a toll on him.
He could hear someone approaching and knew that his psychologist was on her way for their daily therapy session. Honestly, he didn't know why he even bothered. He knew these sessions were supposed to help him cope and improve, but he always found himself feeling worse after each meeting.
"Good afternoon, Jack" he heard her singsong voice. "Are we ready to start on the path of healing today?
Jack sighed. "Yes… Miss Spectra."
Back to Danny…
"Do you know what the best part is, Daniel? The best part is that I really have you to thank for all of this! You see, without your help, I would never have been able to accomplish this."
"You're lying. I would never help you!"
"Directly? No, I seriously doubt that you would. But indirectly? Indirectly, you made all the difference. You see this timeline's version of you still had the ability to contact Sam and warn her about me, but you didn't. You didn't see it. I'm sure you could have, had you really tried, but you didn't want to see it. Why would you? Afterall, you were having such a great time with Uncy Vlad!"
Danny stifled a laugh. "Do you actually expect me to believe that? We both know you're a lying piece of cheese."
"I may be a lying piece of cheese, but I think you already know that in this instance I am actually telling the truth. After all, telling a lie that will hurt you is nowhere near as gratifying as telling a truth that will break you!"
Danny hung his head in defeat. As much as he didn't want to accept it, he could sense that Vlad was telling the truth.
"And thanks to your efforts, from both timelines, I can now finally eliminate that meddlesome friend of yours. I believe you're already familiar with the Plasmius Maximus? Well, I've made a few improvements. It can now remove ghost powers for an entire day. Which will be more than enough time to dispose of her. You see, while I was looking for the skeleton key, I had the misfortune of being eaten by a certain four-armed behemoth. Thanks to my ghost powers I, of course, survived. Unfortunately, I seriously doubt a teenage girl with no ghost powers would be quite so lucky…"
"No! I will get out of here Plasmius! And when I do…"
"Not this time, dear boy. This time, I dare say, you are well and truly beaten. You will remain here until I find a way to bring back this timeline's Danny. In the meantime, you can sit here and think about how friend is about to get eaten and how its all your fault!"
With that, he stepped out of the cell and turned into his ghost form. "Farewell, little badger." Laughing maniacally, he flew off to parts unknown, leaving Danny alone with his thoughts.
He couldn't believe that he had abandoned his friends for Vlad. Worse still, he actually seemed to have enjoyed spending time with him. He couldn't imagine how losing his powers would completely change his perception of his archnemesis. And yet… When he first met Vlad, he actually thought the billionaire was kind of cool. A little odd, sure, but he liked him nevertheless. The only thing that changed that opinion was his discovery that Vlad and Plasmius were one and the same… a discovery he only made because of his ghost powers.
Still, he should have been able to figure out that the two were actually one eventually, especially after he possessed his father. All the clues were there. The evidence was obvious. Of course, he'd missed the obvious before. Dr. Bert Rand, M. Bersback Cruise Lines… He'd had the obvious staring him in the face several times before and still managed to miss it. And if he had actually been enjoying his time with Vlad on top of it… He hated to say it, but he was now convinced that Vlad was telling the truth and that he was partly responsible for all this.
He soon found his thoughts drifting towards his father. How could he have left his dad to rot in jail and not have done anything to help him? He hoped his father was doing better than he was.
Back with Jack…
"So, tell me Jack, are you finally ready to admit to yourself why you're really here?" Spectra asked, a deceptively innocent smile on her face. "After all, the sooner you admit the truth the sooner we can begin your road to recovery!"
"But I'm telling it was ghost! That ectoplasmic creep took me over. I was framed I tell you! Framed!"
"Was there really a ghost, Jack? Or was the ghost nothing more than a psychological projection of your insecurity over your own inadequacies. I mean, let's face it, you have a lot of inadequacies. You're a screw-up Jack. You just can't do anything right, can you? The fact of the matter is, there's a reason everyone calls you the world's worst ghost hunter."
Jack looked down, unable to look her in the eyes. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I am just a screw-up…"
Spectra's sadistic smile grew as she felt herself becoming stronger and stronger as Jack felt more and more miserable. "I'm glad to hear you admit it, Jack. That's progress! Now do you understand why its so important that you're in here? Someone could have gotten hurt because of your own ineptitude. Truth is, you were putting your own family in danger every time you walked through the front door. You could have killed them Jack. You understand that, don't you? Someone as useless as you should never have been allowed to use high-powered energy weapons. Let's face it, they're better off without you. They're much safer now and probably happier too!
"But the good news is: it's okay to be a failure. Because a failure isn't really an ending, just a new beginning. With every failure you make, a new lesson can be learned!"
"I guess you're right…BUT I STILL SAY IT WAS A GHOST!"
Spectra sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "All right. I guess it's time to bring the ink blots back out…"
Meanwhile, in Danny's cell…
Danny remained suspended in his cell, miserable and alone. His girlfriend was about to be eaten by a giant monster and he was helpless to stop it. It was over. He'd lost. Vlad had finally beaten him. He had no powers, no allies, no hope…
He was interrupted from his self-pitying by a loud alarm. Outside his cell, the lights flashed red. Before his eyes, the energy field that kept him locked in blinked on and off a few times, before permanently going out. His manacles suddenly unclasped, dropping him to the floor. Picking himself up, Danny ran out of his cell. Looking around, he saw that all of the cells had been opened and that the prisoners were running amok. The guards were trying to get them back in line, but their own automated defenses had been turned against them and they had their hands full just trying to avoid their own turrets.
Someone must have hacked the prison, Danny reasoned. Tucker!
Suddenly, his attention was drawn towards a monitor on the far wall that was now displaying Sam's symbol. It soon began displaying a series of text which Danny read aloud: "Danny, I've hacked into the prison's system. I've released the prisoners and turned their own weapons against them, but that won't hold them forever. I need you to get to the armory, find something to defend yourself with, rescue Sam, and get to the roof so I can teleport us out of here. I estimate we have twenty minutes before they regain control of the prison, so you'll have to do all of that in that time. Otherwise, they'll likely recapture you. In which case, you're probably going to die. No pressure. Smiley face."
The screen then changed to display a map with a few red X's. Each X was labeled with one of the locations he wanted Danny to go to.
"Thank you Tucker…" a relieved Danny muttered, running off in the direction of the armory.
In Jack's cell…
"So, tell me, Jack." Spectra asked, holding up a card with an ink blot on it. "What do you see in this picture?"
"That's a ghost!"
"Uh-huh. And in this one?"
"Definitely a ghost!"
"And let's try this one…"
"That's a really blobby ghost!"
"Of course it is. Let's try this one."
"That's me…"
"Finally! Some progress for once—"
"…fighting a ghost!"
Spectra's hand slapped against her face with a cartoonish splat. "All right. One more try. Why don't we—"
She was interrupted by a bolt of green energy slamming against her midsection, sending her tumbling backwards. Both of them turned to see Danny standing with a large bazooka-like weapon he got from the armory, glowing green smoke emanating from its barrel.
"So, tell me, doc, how does that make you feel?" he taunted.
"Danny!" Jack shouted, excited to see his son again.
"Here, dad!" he called, tossing him the ghost bazooka before, strapping his wrist rays back on.
An enraged Spectra changed back into her shadowy black ghost form. "You're going to pay for that you little brat!" she screamed, charging at Danny.
"She's a ghost?" Jack observed. "Ha ha, I knew I wasn't crazy! I mean… I have to go help Danny!"
Danny fired a series of shots with the rays but none of them managed to connect. Spectra's hand closed around his throat and she pinned him to the wall. The fingers on her other hand grew and sharpened into lethal talons, which she poised, ready to strike.
"That was like, what? Twenty shots at close range… and you still couldn't hit me?" She mocked him. "You're an even bigger screw-up than he is!"
Suddenly she was hit with a massive bolt of green energy, blasting her through the wall and knocking her out cold.
"How's that for a screw-up?" Jack asked triumphantly. "Hmph. A danger to me family, indeed!"
He ran over and wrapped his son up in a great big bear hug. "It's great to see you, son. I never thought I'd see you again! You have no idea how awful its been here…"
"Being trapped in this cell?"
"No, the food here! It's terrible! There's no ham, no fudge… So, what are you doing here, anyway?"
"No time to explain, Dad. We have to go save Sam from being eaten by a giant ghost!"
"More ghosts? Well, why didn't you say so?! Let me at 'em…"
Meanwhile, in the execution wing…
Sam was still trapped in the spectral energy neutralizer. Above her head was a giant version of the Plasmius Maximus. In the far corner of the room was a massive cage containing the enraged four-armed behemoth. She was utterly beaten and at their mercy. For all intents and purposes, she should have been dead. The only reason she wasn't was because Walker and Skulker were too busy arguing to commence with the actual execution.
"The girl was supposed to be MY prize!" Skulker fumed. "He had no right to—"
"Are you questioning Plasmius' orders? Because that would be against the rules…"
"I-I…no." the ghostly hunter relented.
"Think about it this way: if that thing eats her, it will be the bigger prize. And since you captured and brought it here, that means you successfully hunted the biggest prize."
"You know… That actually works for me!"
Having settled the dispute, Walker moved over to the control panel and threw a switch. The giant device over her head suddenly sprang to life. It whirred and glowed as it began to charge.
"Now for a good old-fashioned execution." He towered over Sam, a sinister smirk on his face. "You know, this is my favorite part of the job!"
The giant Plasmius Maximus finished charging. The tip glowed neon green as it prepared to fire. Then, out of nowhere, it shut itself off… and then the lights went out. The cube suddenly opened and she felt her ghost powers return.
"Oh, this is going to be good…" she smirked to herself.
In no time at all, she had managed to beat the stuffing out of her two foes, leaving them both dazed and weakened.
"This isn't over, ghost child." A badly damaged Skulker pressed a button on the control console on his arm. The cage opened, releasing the behemoth. "Kill her!" he ordered it.
Instead, the creature slithered over, picked up Walker and Skulker, chucked them into its mouth, and swallowed them whole.
"Not us!" Walker called from inside the beast's stomach. "Her!"
Having devoured the two villains, the red monster turned its attention to Sam. Wasting no time, she created four additional duplicates of herself. The fists on all five Sams began to glow and the charged the ghostly beast. Immediately, it was able to swat one of the duplicates across the room, causing it to splat against the ground and dissipate. However, this left it open to attack and the remaining Sams each dealt it a powerful punch, dropping it to the ground. Weakened, but not defeated, the creature grabbed two more duplicates and ate them as well. Each of the two remaining Sams began flying around the ghost in a circle at rapid speed. Each one fired off a nonstop series of energy bolts at the monster, ensuring it was hit by an endless barrage of energy blasts from all angles. Acting fast, the creature slammed its tail down on the last duplicate, crushing her and causing her to dissipate as well, leaving only the real Sam behind. Sam phased through the ground and came up behind the behemoth. It turned around, just in time for Sam to punch it in the face with all her might, sending it flying across the room. As it picked itself up off the ground, she conjured a glowing blue snowflake and cast it at her opponent. It exploded into a brilliant blue flash of light, leaving the behemoth trapped in ice.
Sam landed back on the ground just as Danny and Jack arrived to "rescue her."
"Come on, dad. They're holding Sam in here. We have to…" he trailed off, seeing Sam grinning victoriously and the behemoth frozen in a block of ice. "…to bring her with us to go see Tucker, since she clearly already has this well in hand."
"You're darn right, I have this well in hand," she smirked at him.
For the first time, Jack really noticed Sam in her new ghost form. A stern look came over his face. He narrowed his eyes at her. "Sam… You look different… Wait! Don't tell me… You're not wearing that ridiculous goth outfit you wear every day!"
Danny and Sam both breathed a sigh of relief.
"Come to think of it, son, you wear the same outfit every day too!"
"So? You do too!"
"Oh man, you're right… Doesn't anyone in this town ever buy new clothes?"
Suddenly, they heard shouts from the ghostly prison guards coming from back in the cell block.
"Aww man, they've almost retaken the prison," Danny muttered. "We have to get out of here. Follow me!"
Using the map Tucker showed him, Danny led them through the prison and up to the roof, careful to avoid the guards. Sure enough, Tucker was waiting for them.
"Good to see you made it out, guys. I was beginning to get worried… Oh, hey Mr. Fenton. It's good to see you out and about again… Anyway, we gotta get out of here, but I don't know if I can teleport four people. I've only ever gone by myself before. The Modulus Chair wasn't built for that many people. It could kill us all!"
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," Sam retorted. "I'm sure once the guards get here, they'll take care of that for you!"
"Point taken. Alright everyone, stand next to me. Here hoes nothing…" he said, pressing a button on the arm of his chair. A shimmering yellow portal opened behind them, swallowing them and disappearing in a flash of light.
When the portal opened again, they found themselves in a small town in Wisconsin, just outside of Vlad's castle. They took shelter in a now abandoned motel to rest, recuperate, and go over a plan before they laid siege to Vlad's castle.
"So, are we all good with the plan?" Everyone nodded. "Good. Vlad might be stronger here than he is in my timeline, but he's no less a fruit loop, which means we can still beat him."
"I still can't believe Vladdie would do all this! We were always such great friends…" Jack slumped and looked sadly down at the ground. Then he straightened back up with a determined look on his face and slammed his fist down on the table. "But he's going to pay for messing with my family!"
"I'm definitely ready to take him down," Sam stated confidently. She switched into her ghost form and made a fist, which immediately became encapsulated in green energy.
"I still can't believe it!" Jack exclaimed. "There's finally a ghost in my presence and it's the one that I can't take apart, molecule by molecule!"
"I like my molecules the way they are, thank you!" Sam retorted.
"But you still blasted the heck out of Spectra!" Danny reminded him.
"You're right, I did!" he exclaimed proudly. "Because nobody messes with my son!"
He smiled at his son, who smiled back.
Vlad had messed with everyone here. He had taken something from each of them. Now, at last, it was time for payback!
Vlad's castle looked different from the last time he had been here, in that it was now like a fortress. Massive stone walls had been erected around the entire perimeter. The top of which was covered with barbed wire intertwined with electric fencing. At even intervals along the wall were heat-sensing, automated turrets with a full 360-degree rotation. On the other side of the fence, the entire property was crisscrossed by a red and green laser grid. The red lasers could detect humans while the green lasers would detect ghosts. Different weapons would be activated depending on which laser grid was tripped. On top of that, there were security cameras all over the place, leaving virtually no blind spots for them to sneak through.
Danny, Sam and Jack were all waiting on the outside of the castle, just out of reach of the security system's senses. Sam was in her ghost form and Danny and Jack were armed with Fenton Wrist Rays and a variation of the Fenton Foamer respectively. Tucker had stayed behind at the motel to hack the system and to teleport them to safety if things went south.
"Alright, Tucker. We're in position," Danny said through his Fenton Phones.
"OK. Shutting down the defenses in five… four… three… two… one…"
Suddenly, the cameras and turrets all powered down. The laser grid disappeared.
"You did it, Tuck! We're in!"
"Awesome! Let me know if there's anything else you need. Tucker signing off!"
Sam linked arms with Danny and Jack and phased them through the wall. To their relief, the defenses were completely off on that side of the wall too and they were able to just casually stroll through the front door. Once inside, Danny handed each of them a small GPS-like device that Tucker had invented.
"Ok. Plasmius will have the time medallion on him, so if we find him we find it. This place is huge so we'll have to split up. If you see Vlad, hit this button and it will transmit your location to the rest of us so we can find you. Do not, I repeat: NOT, fight him on your own!"
"Yeah, yeah. I hear you… but I still think I could take him," Sam replied, a confident smirk on her face.
"Sam, no heroics!"
"Relax. I was just joking."
"With that, she flew off on in one direction and Jack to run off in another, leaving Danny with only one direction left.
He went upstairs, going down the hallway, looking in every room. But he found that every room was empty, with no signs of life. Even more bizarre, was the lack of guards around the place. Danny had expected there to be at least some form of security in the place. They had planned to be overrun by guards shortly after they shut down the power but the place looked deserted.
Finally, he came to the last door and gasped when he saw inside. The entire room was decorated just like his room back home. Dumpty Humpty gear, space-themed decorations, and more adorned the walls and ceiling of the room. But the resemblance to his home ended there. The rest of the room resembled his room in the mansion they got after the Guys in White bought their house. It had a massive flat-screen TV, state-of-the-art home theater system, and cutting-edge video gaming equipment. Danny had no doubt that this was his room.
He walked in further and looked around, until something on his dresser caught his eye. What he saw disturbed him deeply. They were a pair of framed photographs. One photograph was of him and Vlad at a Packers game and the other was of him and Vlad meeting Buzz Aldrin. In each picture, he had a broad smile on his face. It was clear he was actually enjoying the time he was spending with Vlad. Perhaps even more disturbing was the look on Vlad's face; it was the first time Danny had seen him look honestly content, without the typical devious cunning or malice behind it. It was almost as though he was enjoying spending time with Danny and filling the role of father figure in Jack's absence… The thought of it sent shivers down Danny's spine.
He walked over and sat down on the ridiculously comfortable, luxurious king-sized bed and covered his face in his hands overwhelmed by his own thoughts. Danny had expected to see horrors when he learned that Plasmius had taken over the world… But nothing could have prepared him for this. There was nothing more unsettling than the notion that he was actually enjoying spending time with his archnemesis, so much so that he abandoned everyone he cared about and left them to suffer! But nothing could have cut deeper than the idea that Vlad could have actually been a good father and that they could have actually had a loving family together. The mere notion filled hm with confusion and uncertainty and he began to mentally tear himself apart.
Vlad was right, he thought brokenly. This is all my fault!
"Danny?" a familiar voice called.
He was pulled out of his own inner turmoil to see his sister enter the room.
"Jazz?"
Before he had a chance to say anything else, his sister came over and squeezed him tight in a big hug.
"I missed you, little brother… Where have you been? You've been missing for over two days! You can't just run off like that! It's dangerous—there are ghosts everywhere!"
"I missed you too… but I don't have time to explain right now. Where's Vlad?"
"Last I saw, he was in his study. You should definitely go tell him you're here. He's been worried sick about you! Mom too!"
"Yeah, I bet he has," Danny muttered under his breath.
Then those photographs popped back into his head. Wait, has he? Danny wondered. He quickly pushed the disturbing thoughts out of his mind and focused on the matter at hand.
He moved towards the door, but Jazz darted forward, closed the door, and stood in front of it, her arms crossed.
"Hold on! You're not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on. You can't just disappear for two days and then just show up and expect to not have to give an explanation!"
"I will explain, I promise! But first I need to find Vlad…"
"No! Where were you—"
"Darn it, Jazz you're in danger! We're all in danger!"
"Wait, what?"
Sighing, Danny relented and explained everything to Jazz. Not that he expected her to believe him of course. She had been skeptical of ghosts until she discovered his powers. If he never got them in this timeline, it stood to reason that she would still be skeptical. But to his surprise, he found her nodding in agreement.
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't suspect Vlad was hiding something from us," she agreed. "He tried to hide it, but it was obvious he hated dad and really liked mom. He told us that the half-ghost released the ghosts from the Ghost Zone and that he has been fighting to kick them out and save the world. That's why he's forbidden us from leaving the house, to keep us safe. I see now that he was really just trying to keep us from seeing the truth. Still, I can't believe Sam is half ghost! Though, I suppose it should have been obvious in hindsight. Her ponytail always did kind of float above her head…"
"Now do you see, why it's so important that I get to Vlad? I have to stop him and fix all of this!"
"Yes, follow me! I'll bring you to Vlad's study. With any luck, he's still there!"
She led him up another flight of stairs and through a pair of giant ornately carved wooden doors. Inside, was an extravagant study with all manner of fascinating knick-knacks… but not a sign of Vlad.
"Well he was here," she said, looking around, genuinely confused.
"Well he seems to be completely missing, just like the guards in this place. I'm still surprised he doesn't have any form of security in here."
"That's because I'm the only security I need, dear boy."
They both turned around to see Plasmius floating above them, the time medallion hanging from his neck. With a sinister grin, he split himself into over a dozen duplicates, surrounding them. Immediately, two more duplicates phased through the wall carrying an unconscious Sam and Jack with them.
"I mean honestly, did you really expect I wouldn't anticipate this. Did you really think it wouldn't be obvious that this would be your next move after breaking out of prison? I let your little tech geek friend shut down my defenses just so I could lure you all in and get you right where I want you."
Jack and Sam began to stir and raise to their feet. Sam immediately took in the situation and rushed toward Vlad but was intercepted by five of his duplicates and restrained. Before he could even move, Jack was tackled by another of Vlad's duplicates.
"You see, Danny? Your friends can't help you. You can't even help yourself! You're nothing without your powers. Danny Fenton was a little nobody. The only thing about you of any worth was your abilities, and now you don't even have those. What hope could you possibly have of defeating me?"
"I will stop you, Plasmius. I may not have my powers, but I still—Mom! Get out of here!"
"Maddie?" Vlad exclaimed, in shook whirling around. To his great frustration, he found that there was no one there and that he'd just fallen for the oldest trick in the book. He turned back around just in time to see Danny grab his time medallion.
"Dude, one timeline or another, you'll always be the same old fruit loop."
"Nooooo!" Vlad screamed as Danny ripped off the medallion, casting his nemesis back into his own timeline… Or at least, that's what it was supposed to do. Instead, Danny and his allies were horrified to see that Vlad remained exactly where he was, completely unaffected.
"I don't understand. Why are you still here? You don't have a medallion!"
"Neither do you, dear boy. Or have you failed to notice that, throughout this entire venture? The time medallions may have been the easiest method for me to achieve my goals, but there are other methods known only to the master of time himself. Or at least they were, until I discovered them. This time I've planned for everything—you can't stop me! I'm so many steps ahead of you, you can't even begin to comprehend what's going on!"
He fired a purple blast of energy from his hand, striking Danny in the chest and flinging him across the room. Jazz ran over to her weakened brother and helped him to his feet.
"Leave him alone, Vlad. Or I'll—"
"Or you'll do what, dear child? You're just as powerless as he is. You can't possibly help him. Now I suggest you back away and let me finish this once and for all!"
"Never going to happen. If you want him, you're going to have to go through me!"
Vlad shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, very well. I suppose I'll have to take you both out." Then a sinister grin returned to his face as he focused his attention back to Danny. His hand began to glow purple again as he charged up a far more powerful bolt of energy. "And now…For the last time… Good night, little badger!"
Suddenly, a Jack-O'-Nine Tails wrapped around Plasmius, shocking him. It flung him back and forth around the room, before ultimately slamming him into a bookcase, causing him to crash to the ground. The weapon retracted back to the staff, which was held in the capable hands of Maddie Fenton!
"Stay away from my family!"
"Maddie," Jack cheered, elated to see his wife again.
"I can't believe you! Framing my husband, enslaving the world, manipulating my family, and worst of all trying to hurt my kids! You despicable—"
"Let me guess…Lying piece of cheese?" Vlad retorted, picking himself off the floor and dusting himself off. "I'm sorry to say your son already beat you to that one, so I'm afraid you'll have to come up with something a little more original."
She fired the weapon at him again, but he was ready for it this time. With one well aimed bolt of energy, he blasted the weapon apart.
Suddenly, an enraged look crossed his face. "That does it! I've grown more than a little fed up with all of this nonsense! I sacrificed everything for you! I did everything in my power to keep you happy. I worked to ensure that I was the perfect husband, the perfect father… And yet, you're all still so…so…ungrateful! I'm afraid you'll have to be taught a lesson."
He quickly produced a small, silver metal cylinder from his sleeve. It had a tiny little red button on the top that Vlad pressed down.
Immediately, Jazz doubled over in pain before dropping to her knees. Glowing green veins spread across her face and hands. Her skin turned a sickly grayish-green color. Her hair grew duller and bags grew under eyes. She choked and sputtered as her breathing began to slow.
"Jazz!" Danny screamed in terror. He ran over and scooped her up in her arms. Tears began to cascade down his face.
"What did you do to her!" he screamed.
"It's ecto-poisoning, Daniel. It's what happens when pure ectoplasm is introduced directly into the blood stream. It's always fatal, I'm afraid. It's usually a slow and painful process, but she's been like a daughter to me so I gave her a large enough dose to make it quick and painless.
"No…" Danny mumbled, looking down at his dying sister. He could see her breathing slowing even further and here eyes grew less and less focused. "There has to be way to save her. There has to be!"
He felt her hand rub the side of his cheek. "Forget about me, little brother… It's too late now…You have to stop Vlad… I want you to promise me…Promise me you'll fix this… Promise me…"
With that, her head rolled to the side. The rise and fall of her chest ceased. Her hand fell limply to the ground. And Danny knew she was dead…