Disclaimer: I still do not own Danny Phantom.
Metanoia
Chapter 8
Samantha Manson paced the vast area of her bedroom in disbelief as she recalled the events that had just taken place. Sam could not remember the last time she had felt so confused. She was infatuated with two boys who seemed to be polar opposites. The Goth had always hoped that it would be only a matter of time before she and Danny got together. With the intervention of Phantom, now she wasn't so sure.
Phantom was mysterious, self assured and oddly dashing due to his role as Amity Park's newest hero. The way he had just handled the pack of spectral wolves, as though the powerful ghosts were nothing more than an annoyance. If he had been showing off for her expense, Sam had to admit that she had been impressed. He was an incredible fighter.
She was afraid of the power he displayed, yet his esoteric charm drew her to him, not unlike an ignorant moth to the flame. Perhaps it would be best to quell her infatuation before she was truly burned. Seeking a relationship with Phantom would be more dangerous than playing with fire. But why did she feel that she could trust him completely? Her relationship with her enigmatic savior was nowhere near as longstanding as her friendship with Danny.
She ran a hand through her dark hair. Perhaps that was just the problem between her and Danny. They had known each other for so long that Sam was afraid of destroying the familiar balance of their friendship. With Phantom, she could act however she chose. He knew nothing about her.
Sam collapsed on her bed, frustrated and lost in the raging torrent of her own emotions. This was ridiculous. She didn't even know his real name! He had saved her twice, carried her home, and they had never even had a proper conversation.
And that fleeting kiss on her balcony.
She felt herself flush at the memory, running her fingertips over her bottom lip as she recalled perhaps the primary cause of her confusion. Her lips were still cherry red and swollen from his earlier ministrations, and most of her purple lipstick had been smudged off. Placing a cool hand on her suddenly burning forehead, Sam drew a shuddering breath.
She could not fight the overwhelming feeling of emptiness at his sudden departure, suddenly overcome by an irrational urge to see his lips curve into that smirk that she had formerly perceived as excessively cocky. She longed to hear his voice, to look into those unnaturally green eyes that contributed so much to his arcane beauty. Her body ached for his touch.
Damn him.
She hardly knew him, and already he had her wrapped around his little finger. She felt violated, that the one small, yet incredibly seductive kiss he stole had completely enraptured her, making her his without any apparent effort on his part. Her eyelids fluttered shut, as she attempted to banish all thoughts of the charismatic ghost hunter from her mind.
However. She could not help but wonder -- the kiss had been simple, even chaste in some respects, and he had kept his hands almost completely to himself. Yet, the sensations she had experienced were unlike anything she had ever felt before, the immense euphoria that coursed through her being, more powerful than any drug. If they were to actually go further...
Sam felt as though she would incinerate on the spot as she considered the possibilities. She buried her face into her pillow, aware of the flushing heat accumulating in her cheeks.
And then there was Danny. One of her best friends since preschool. His occasional fits of clumsiness were oddly endearing, compared to the grace and self-assuredness of Phantom. The problem was, Phantom was hot and he knew it, his cocky demeanor something Sam had initially found unattractive. Danny Fenton was sensitive, if a little clueless. He genuinely cared for her wellbeing. He was a nice guy. Sam let a small smile touch her features. Danny was the only person who could merit the usage of such an offensively nondescript word. Although he did not flaunt his looks as Phantom did, his features were capable of matching the ghost hunter's in terms of attractiveness.
Sam could not help but wonder how serious the public defender was. Phantom probably hit on girls that he rescued all the time. Judging from his cocky demeanor, he had to be quite the player. After all, he had managed to charm Paulina. The beautiful Latina was completely infatuated with the mysterious ghost hunter, so much so that she had set up a mini shrine in her locker as a tribute to him.
She was not the only one. Dozens of other girls in Casper High were obsessed with him. If he was merely looking for another conquest, he had struck gold with Paulina. How was she to know he had not asked for similar 'payment' from the cheerleader when he had saved her from the dragon?
Sam frowned, playing with the oriental tassels on her pillow. She could be sure that her feelings were Danny were real, as opposed to the puppy love she felt for Phantom. Her desire for him was purely carnal, fueled by her fascination of the enigma that he was. As good a kisser as he was, Sam firmly told herself that some things were more important, such as the principle concept of trust.
However, Sam knew that however ordinary Danny might seem, there were things he was not telling her. According to the government, he didn't exist. There was no way an ordinary citizen would fail to be listed in the US Civilian Database.
He and Phantom were obviously somehow connected. Phantom's first appearance was merely days after Danny's arrival to Amity Park. Danny's guardian, Vlad Masters, was a leading expert in the field of parapsychology. Danny had once said that his foster father was affiliated with the Red Hunter. Question was, how were they linked? How involved was Danny with ghost hunting, if he was capable of contacting both Phantom and the Red Hunter?
Pushing her dark hair out of her face, Sam sighed. Between Gregor, Danny and Phantom, it seemed her relationships with the opposite sex would never be facile. She got up from her bed, grabbing a freshly laundered towel from her wardrobe. Despite the lateness of the hour, perhaps a hot shower was in order to calm her rampant emotions.
On the other side of the suburbs, Tucker Foley shook his head, disbelieving. Perhaps he had been too hasty in his decision to inform Sam about his discovery. Having Danny missed off the US Civilian Database, however improbable, was still possible. The fact that his file failed to be present on any other list Tucker cared to endeavor running a search on was another thing entirely.
According to the techno geek's infallible hacking skills, his friend had no residential status, no health records, nothing. But technological evidence was absolute. Tucker knew that his discovery was beyond the limits of human error. It was impossible for Danny's details to fail to be present on all official government databases. In fact, it was almost as though the authorities were trying to conceal the existence of his friend.
Finally in desperation, the techno geek endeavored to look Danny up on the Nasty Burger Membership list. The trio had signed up together for Membership cards in their freshman year. While his and Sam's memberships were still in tact, he was not surprised to discover yet another database that their friend had been deleted from. Danny loved the Nasty Burger. There was no way he would cancel his membership.
Tucker blinked to ease the smarting of his eyes from extensive hours of staring at the computer screen. He had not expected the search to take this long. The techno geek glanced at the clock beside his computer. It read 2.56 AM. He didn't bother suppressing a yawn. So much for getting any work done. Tucker had been researching Daniel Fenton for the past four and a half hours, and he had yet to find out a single thing about him apart from what he already knew. He took a huge gulp from the mug of coffee before him, and gaged. It was stone cold.
In a last ditch attempt, Tucker decided to try running a search through the Casper High Student Database. Lancer was far too conscientious to lose any student's details. With the amount of detentions Danny was receiving, the vice principal had to record his punishments somewhere. If this attempt failed, Sam's information could wait. He was going to bed.
The encryption surrounding the school's server was child's play to decipher, compared with the complexity of the government databases he had just succeeded hacking into. The techno geek could have laughed as he bypassed the school's pathetic security. He should have done this years ago.
Found him. Tucker's eyes widened, all traces of his previous tiredness immediately evaporating.
The techno geek scrolled through the document, narrowing his eyes to prevent himself missing any slight detail. Danny's records seemed congruent enough to be authentic. Danny Fenton, aged seventeen. He had been born in Amity Park, his parents were both deceased and he currently lived in Wisconsin as the adopted son and sole heir of multi billionaire Vlad Masters.
Tucker raised his eyebrows. Danny had failed to mention that he was the heir to such vast wealth. Could that be what he was hiding from them? Tucker shook his head. No. Danny's secrecy definitely involved Valerie. He was sure of it.
The techno geek continued checking the document for any inconsistencies. If this was forgery, it was seamless. Whoever had faked this file was good. He frowned, unable to find any flaw with Danny's records. He took another gulp of the coffee before him, no longer bothered about its unfavourable temperature. Caffeine was caffeine. And right now, he needed it.
As he drained the brown liquid from his mug, Tucker started. How could he have been so stupid? He berated himself, grateful to the mild drug for its caffeine induced inspiration.
All files included a creation date. If Danny's records had been forged, they would not include the same creation date as the rest of the students in their year who had joined Casper High as freshmen. The information concerning the file could be changed, but the actual date was embedded in the document as a component of the record itself. However good the hacker, the fundamental purpose of a database file could not be completely changed.
Silently congratulating himself on his stroke of genius, Tucker proceeded to perform what he sincerely hoped would be the final decryption of the night. He was not surprised to discover that his hunch had been correct.
The file had been created a month ago.
Danny had first started attending Casper high three years ago, and Tucker knew for a fact that the school kept records of old students for at least five years after they had left the school. Finally an inconsistency in the seemingly flawless record.
Tucker took a mental step backwards to fully appreciate the significance of his discovery. Whatever Danny was hiding, it was huge. What had Sam gotten him into? And how was all this related to Valerie?
Tucker frowned. He was out of coffee. But that didn't matter. He was running on adrenaline now.
Following his hunch, he ran a similar search for Valerie Gray on the Casper High Student Database. If Valerie was also involved in this rapidly growing mystery, her details would have also been modified. Hadn't it been Valerie that had first run off when the dragon specter had attacked? Danny's disappearance had not occurred until the Red Hunter had arrived to challenge the ghost.
Although creation date had also been altered, Valerie's new records had not been recreated as recently. While Danny's were still very recent, Valerie's had been forged since the middle of freshman year. He swiftly traced the IP number of both documents. As he had suspected, the records had been written by the same person, or at least by the same organisation. Sometimes, his brilliance surprised even himself.
He proceeded to look the dark haired girl up on the US Civilian Database. To his annoyance, his search was void. He tried again, looking her up on any database he could think of, government or otherwise, but all to no avail. According to the records, Valerie Gray was as much of a phantom as Danny Fenton. The state claimed that the pair just didn't exist.
Tucker massaged his forehead in exhaustion as he tried to connect the dots. What possibly could the pair be involved in that merited their deletion from the US Civilian Database? He needed more pieces of the puzzle before he could even have an idea of what exactly he was trying to figure out. The problem was, how was he to search for more clues when he did not even know what sort of information to be looking out for?
'Think, Tucker, think.' He willed himself. This was important to Sam, and increasingly significant to himself as well. He was starting to get seriously worried about Danny and Valerie. What if their government involvement put the pair into danger? What if Valerie got hurt?
He had never realised before yesterday, but Valerie wasn't actually half as mean as he had thought. She had been cold in the past, but now it seemed that she genuinely wanted to get along with him and Sam. Not to mention she had a hot figure. Maybe if he played his cards right... Despite the gravity of the situation, Tucker could not suppress a grin.
His eyes lit up as inspiration struck once again. Danny had said that Valerie was employed by his adopted father. Now it was time to find out if the Vlad Masters that had adopted Danny was the same as the Mister Masters the Red Hunter and her accomplice had mentioned. He cracked his knuckles before once again placing his hands back on the keyboard. Tucker Foley was on a roll.
By now, he was unsurprised when Vladimir Masters failed to show up on the US Civilian Database. But at least in the case of Vlad Masters, the reason was a valid one. How many multi billionaires were willing to risk their personal details being exploited by hackers around the world?
That still failed to explain the lack of information available on Daniel Fenton and Valerie Gray. What could a billionaire and two seventeen year old teenagers have in common that specified them for government obfuscation?
Tucker stretched, wincing as he felt his spine crack with stiffness. His essays could wait. He was just going to have to work himself to the ground over the rest weekend to finish them. Right now, looking into the unexpected coincidence was far more important. The techno geek rubbed a sour spot between his shoulder blades as he glanced once again at his clock. It now read 5.23 AM, its cheery fluorescent light an unkind comment on his tired eyes. Tucker sighed. It was going to be a long morning.
The rest of the weekend passed by in a relatively uneventful fashion, which Sam was not certain if she was relieved or disappointed by as Phantom made no further attempt to contact her. Perhaps her involvement with Phantom was a mistake that should never be repeated. He had probably forgotten all about her by now.
She was unsure as to whether she ought to tell Tucker about her unexpected kiss with the ghost hunter, but one thing was certain. Danny was never to find out, even if that made her just as secretive as he was. Especially since her kiss with Phantom made her feel as though she had betrayed him. As gorgeous as Phantom was, she still preferred Danny. Or so she hoped.
As much as she was attracted to Phantom, she highly doubted he had been thinking about her half as much as she had been of him. The kiss to him was probably just a source of amusement that he had initiated on a whim. Sam scowled, as she felt righteous anger flow through her. How could she not have realised before that he had just been toying with her?
"How was your weekend?" Danny asked, grinning as she passed him in the corridor, rupturing the slow rising of her fury.
"Uneventful." She shrugged. There was no point taking out her anger on Danny, although she silently wished she could be more honest with him. "How was yours?"
"Great." He quipped, withdrawing a heavy textbook from his locker. "Couldn't have been better."
"What happened?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.
"It's got something to do with the uh- lawsuit." He replied, looking slightly flustered. "You're not going to find it that interesting."
"Yeah, I believe you." His friend said, as she leaned against a nearby locker. "What really happened?"
"It's really not that big a deal." He insisted, not wanting to lie. He figured after that kiss his alias stole from her on Friday night, the least Sam deserved from him was some honesty. He already felt bad enough about the deception.
"What are you two talking about?" Tucker grinned, as he approached the pair outside one of the Chemistry labs.
"Nothing much." Danny replied, relieved to have escaped fabricating some ill conceived reason for his good mood.
What was he supposed to tell Sam? That he had kissed her as Phantom? Besides, she didn't look as though the impression Phantom had left on her a few nights ago had any lasting effects, Danny was disappointed to notice. While he had not expected her to become completely infatuated with his alias, he had expected something. She hadn't even told him about her encounter with Phantom. Had he been that bad a kisser?
Besides, what was he playing at? Asking her for a kiss? Sam probably thought Phantom was a huge jerk now. She knew absolutely nothing about him, and his alias allegedly knew nothing about her. At least she hadn't stopped him when he had kissed her. That had to count for something. Hopefully Phantom still had a chance with her, provided he could win over Sam before this mysterious other guy that she liked.
The shrill clangour of the morning bell once again snapped him out of his reverie.
"I'll see you guys in General Studies." He grinned, running to catch up with Valerie.
"Bye Danny." Sam smiled in return.
"Catch you later." Tucker yelled across the hall.
"Did you get my email?" The techno geek asked, immediately directing the conversation towards their enigmatic friend.
"Yeah." Sam replied. "Thanks for looking into it. I can't believe that Danny, Valerie and Vlad Masters are hiding something that huge."
"Me either." Her friend said, frowning as the pair made their way to the empty classroom that they often frequented on their Monday morning frees. "So what are we going to do about it? We can't just tell Danny what we know."
"What do we know?" Sam sighed. "Apart from the fact that Danny's actually heir to a billionaire's fortune and that he's hiding something from us."
"Not much." Tucker admitted. "But that's not going to stop us from trying."
"Do we really want to get involved?" Sam asked. "This is a massive cover up on the government's part."
Tucker blinked, taken aback by his best friend's change of heart. "What's wrong, Sam? You were so worried about Danny last Friday. Did you two get into a fight?" He asked, depositing himself haphazardly on a classroom chair.
"Not exactly." Sam winced as she followed suit, sitting herself down on a desk in the empty classroom. "But something happened on Friday night."
"What sort of something?" Tucker raised his eyebrows, and Sam could practically see the cogs turning in her friend's one track mind.
"Nothing happened between us." She denied, flushing as she remembered her kiss with Phantom. Why was she still thinking about him? That jerk probably couldn't even remember her name. She bit her lip, disgusted with herself as she attempted once again to banish all thoughts of the ghost hunter from her mind.
"I knew you two would get together." Her best friend grinned, incorrectly assuming the reason for her blush.
"I mean it." She insisted. "Nothing happened between me and Danny. It was... someone else." She finished lamely.
"Who?" Her best friend demanded, genuinely surprised.
Sam looked away, flushing a deeper shade of scarlet. She had already told Tucker this much. As obnoxious as he could be, Sam trusted him completely. If she couldn't confide in him, who else could she talk to?
Tucker could see that he had made Sam uncomfortable, abandoning any jokes he was about to attempt at her expense.
"Phantom." She finally managed, her voice barely making a sound.
"Who?" Tucker asked, confusion evident on his features.
Sam shook her head, silently berating herself. How could Tucker have known the alias of the Red Hunter's accomplice?
"The Red Hunter's partner." She whispered. "Invisio-Bill."
For one of the few times in his life, Tucker was stunned into silence.
How had that happened? He had been almost certain that his two best friends were going to end up together, but not anymore. Sam obviously did not want to discuss the matter, let alone let anyone else find out. Sam hated attention. His best friend was obviously not yet ready to deal with the confusion regarding the ghost hunter.
"Please don't tell Danny." Sam winced.
"The thought didn't even cross my mind." He replied, and Sam was glad to realise that he was being completely honest. "Have you any idea how many girls in this town would kill to be you right now?" He added, grinning.
"I don't want to know." She declared, groaning, and Tucker got the distinct impression that perhaps Sam knew that she was not the first girl that Phantom had picked up in the past week.
"We have to find out what's going on with Danny." He said, redirecting the conversation as Sam shot him a grateful look. "If he isn't even on the Nasty Burger membership list I checked, then something is very wrong."
"What do you have in mind?" Sam asked.
"The plan is simple." The techno geek replied, pausing dramatically for effect. "We raid his hotel room after school."
Danny was finding it increasingly difficult to enjoy Valerie's company when he still felt guilty about setting back his assignment by helping her capture the dragon specter. Perhaps he was a lot newer to the ghost hunting business than he liked to think. He had always thought that his alias' raw power made up for any lack of experience he had on the field, but maybe he was wrong. He had yet to learn the unspoken etiquette that transpired between ghost hunters on field operations, veteran or otherwise. No wonder Valerie had been annoyed by his presence. As much as he wanted to ask her what she thought about Phantom, he knew that Valerie was too smart to miss the hidden agenda behind even such a seemingly casual question. He sighed. His best friend knew him too well.
Another thing that was bothering him was what Valerie had said to their benefactor about the incident. Danny was certain that they had discussed the matter. The fact that his alias was Vlad's apprentice had never stopped the Red Hunter complaining about him in the past. While the Phantom's lax attitude towards procedure was a well known fact in their squadron, his best friend was the only one with enough guts to inform Vlad that she thought his apprentice's performance was not up to standard. He had initially thought the exchange between him and his partner after the capture of the dragon had been progressive, a step forward from her usual derogatory insults. But now, he wasn't so sure.
Danny sighed. It seemed that Phantom's relationships with girls, romantic or otherwise, left much to be desired.
As bad as he felt about keeping his identity secret from Valerie, the ghost hunter felt even worse about the way he had treated Sam on Friday night. Maybe Sam was right. He was a jerk. What kind of idiot went up to the girl he liked and demanded a kiss from her? Especially one as strong willed as Sam. He wouldn't be surprised if she refused to see his alias ever again.
'It's just as well.' He thought bitterly. 'There's no way Sam can distract me from the mission if she hates me.'
Over the weekend he had thought that the meeting between Sam and himself had gone well, but seeing Sam's reaction in school the week after had embedded the beginnings of doubt into his mind. Now, an hour later with nothing other than Mathematics to keep himself occupied, he was certain he had screwed things up between Phantom and the Goth.
Sam hadn't said anything about the incident. The more he thought about it, the worse the situation seemed. If something was upsetting Sam, she was sure to point it out to the person immediately. The Goth was always expressive with her anger. Danny would have given anything to see her visibly furious, rather than the silent ire she seemed to feel towards Phantom. Perhaps Phantom should apologise to her after school.
"You okay?" Valerie asked, frowning at her best friend in concern.
"Huh?" Danny replied, shaking his head to clear it.
He glanced at the permutation exercises before him. Valerie had already completed hers, and he had barely started.
"Is something bothering you, Danny?" She queried, worry evident on her features. "You've been pretty quiet all morning."
"Kind of." He sighed, wondering how much he could confide in Valerie without revealing his secret. "I think I've screwed things up with Sam."
Valerie Gray raised an eyebrow. "Already? You've only been in Casper High for a couple of weeks."
"Very funny Val." Danny said dejectedly, causing his best friend's eyes to soften. She had not realised how upset he was.
"What happened?" She asked.
"I think I rushed things between us." Danny winced. "She might hate me now."
The Red Hunter allowed a slight smile to grace her features. Danny's sensitivity was definitely one of his strong points. She could definitely see why she used to like him. Most guys their age were cocky and too full of themselves, but not Danny. Her best friend always put the needs of others before himself. Even though he had declared that he would never follow in his parents' footsteps, Valerie could not help but feel that if Danny were to take up ghost hunting, Amity Park would be a much safer place.
"Do you honestly think Sam would have let you do something without her approval?" She laughed. "She would have hit you. Besides, when we were dating, your idea of moving too fast was holding hands before our third date."
"We were fourteen." He protested. "And I remember in our relationship it used to be you that was doing all the rushing." He added, grinning.
Valerie Gray stuck her tongue out at her best friend in an almost uncharacteristic display of childishness.
"I know for a fact that Sam likes you." She supplied. "I asked her myself."
"W-what?" Danny's eyes widened. "When?"
He definitely had not expected Sam to be attracted to his human half. After all, Phantom was superior to Danny Fenton in almost every way.
"But I thought--"
"You think too much." The ghost hunter interjected, smirking.
Even though she had always told herself that the Red Hunter worked alone, her recent capture of the level five ghost dragon with Phantom had proven to her that teamwork was not only for the weak and the incompetent. If Danny ever changed his mind and decided to follow in his parent's and benefactor's footsteps and become a ghost hunter, Valerie Gray was prepared to do whatever it took to help get him there. Her best friend would be the perfect partner for her.
"Do you think I still have a chance with Sam?" Danny asked, worry still evident on his features.
"Definitely." Valerie grinned, lightly punching her best friend on the arm when she noticed the goofy smile on his face. "You two were made for each other."
Danny could not help but feel a rush of affection for his best friend. Valerie always knew what to say to make him feel better.
"Since we're on the subject of relationships, I heard you gave Tucker the Red Hunter's autograph." Danny said, smirking as he added emphasis on the ghost hunter's alias.
"It's not that big a deal." His best friend flushed. "Tucker's a nice guy. He deserved it."
"I never got an autograph." Danny said, and Valerie could not help but smile at the faux pout on his features.
"You never asked."
Danny cocked an eyebrow. "Valerie Gray likes Tucker Foley."
"I don't." She denied, subjecting Danny with a half hearted glare.
"What's wrong with admitting you like him?" He asked. "Tucker's ecstatic to be on the Red Hunter's radar."
"Quit reading into it." The ghost hunter sighed exasperatedly, elbowing Danny. "All I had to do was scribble something on a piece of paper. Hardly a grand romantic gesture. Besides, he likes the Red Hunter. Not me." She emphasized.
"What's the difference between the two of you?" He smirked, posing to her the question that had been bothering him about his alias since the kiss with Sam.
"Absolutely nothing." Valerie declared. "But you're the only one that sees me that way."
Danny blinked, surprised by her answer as the revelation hit him. It was all simply a matter of perception.
Valerie Gray acted no different from the Red Hunter because she was unashamed of what she was, while he was more confident as Phantom because he believed his ghost half to be superior to Danny Fenton. His alias was a ghost hunting prodigy, rising through the ranks at record breaking speed, with a multitude of high level captures under his belt. Danny Fenton had been a fourteen year old social outcast.
But just because he was regarded as two different people by the government did not change who he was.
He only wished that he could have had Valerie's strength of character from the very beginning. Then perhaps the mess he had gotten himself into with Sam could have been avoided.
"You still there?" Valerie laughed, waving a hand in front of his face in response to his blank, pensive expression.
"Sorry." Danny apologised, biting his lower lip. "I was thinking about what you just said."
The ghost hunter grinned as she extended a perfectly manicured hand towards her best friend's messy hair, ruffling it playfully in a manner that reminded Danny of Vlad Masters.
"I can give you the exact same piece of advice I gave Sam." Valerie offered, and Danny brightened considerably. If Sam liked him enough to ask Valerie for advice, perhaps there was still hope.
"What's that?" Danny asked, the optimism evident in his expressive blue eyes enough to make Valerie laugh.
"Just be yourself." His best friend grinned, and Danny could not help but feel that there was more truth in Valerie's statement than she would ever know.
Although his loyalty was primarily to the government, not his former field leader, Ethan Freeman could not quell the rising feelings of guilt and doubt as Caleb Jones outlined his true intentions regarding Agent Phantom's recent assignment.
"Perhaps we are making a mistake, sending the boy to his death. Vlad Masters was a huge asset to us when he was in the field." Ethan Freeman cautiously admonished. "Phantom has been said to be even more prodigious than his successor."
"Daniel Fenton is a danger to the public!" Caleb Jones snarled. "He's merely a child and already his abilities rival those of Masters'. That boy is more lethal than a nuclear warhead."
"He is fiercely loyal to Vlad Masters. Surely he will be just as loyal to us."
The spymaster shook with ire, clenching his fists so tight that his knuckles appeared white. After almost a decade in the field, how could his idiot deputy remain so ignorant?
Vlad Masters and his apprentice were abominations. It was imperative that they were destroyed. The pair were part ghost. Should they decide to throw in their lot with the rest of their kind, they would be unstoppable.
The mere thought of a pair of former agents betraying the state, with all the knowledge of government secrets at their fingertips was enough to send him into a fit of violent rage.
"We took a huge risk with Vlad Masters." The spymaster snarled. "If he had chosen to betray us, no technology we possessed could have stopped him."
"Surely you don't expect him to remain on our side after we kill his charge. He and the boy are close. If he finds out what we are planning, Vlad Masters will turn against us."
The spymaster's bloodless lips curved into a ruthless smirk.
"Let him. Masters has always been a disaster waiting to happen. An ally we kept close merely because we had no means of defeating him. But now, with the breakthroughs made by the Guys in White, we have finally found a means to destroy him."
Author's Notes: At long last, the plot is finally moving! I was surprised how many of you enjoyed the last chapter:) Thank you for all your lovely comments. They really do encourage me. I am very appreciative of the support all my amazing readers have shown me so far. Thank you!
If you have spotted any errors in the last two chapters, kindly do inform me. The wonderful BlueMyst19 is currently on holiday so I currently have no beta.
Thanks to the lovely: CharmedNightSkye, raven luvah, Sasia93, yuuki, Black January, Koccinelle, eternalLament43, twilightgal, Pterodactyl, Zilleniose, vladimir's disease, wushu, soaring-bright-flame and kia for their wonderful reviews and constructive criticism:)
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