Chapter Twenty Four - Amity in Jeopardy

It had taken two days for everything to be set into motion. Two days where Danny did nothing but store his energy and rest as his family and friends prepared for this night. The only part that no one would support was Danny being present. Ellie could sense with her core just as well as he. But Danny was not going to stay in the back as they tried to catch Vlad. His core would not stand the thought of what could happen.

So begrudgingly, his parents had let him be here. His core thrummed with excitement at the idea of protecting his town. Removing this threat once and for all. He had to contain his excitement as Mr. Lancer entered Town Hall.

Immediately, Danny saw Vlad Masters talking to some town official. "There he is," Danny whispered to Mr. Lancer's mind as his teacher walked in with Alicia, who had Ellie loosely overshadowing her as well. The weakened spectral deflectors masked the two halfas perfectly. Vlad barely looked at Mr. Lancer and Alicia as they entered the meeting hall.

"Is the other one here?" Mr. Lancer thought so as not to be heard. Danny wondered briefly if Ellie and Alicia were discussing the ghosts just the same beside them.

"Yes, he is staying on the roof," Danny felt the other ghost. "Hopefully, he doesn't spot the others."

Mr. Lancer and Alicia easily followed the crowd to approach the mayor. There was a picture of something on the table beside Vlad, and the crowd had gathered to look at it. Danny knew what the photo was and forced himself to ignore what he saw as Mr. Lancer took a brief glance at the image of his gray and water swollen hand. Of course, he would showcase the trophy that sat in the town morgue.

"Mr. Masters," Mr. Lancer called. "I was hoping to have a word."

Vlad turned and blinked at the two unlikely people patiently waiting to speak with him.

Danny snorted a laugh into his host's head as Mr. Lancer recognized the mayor. Memories of a cheer competition where both men lifted the lighter girls at the base of body pyramids left Danny silently guffawing.

Mr. Lancer cringed as he realized why Danny was laughing, "Not a word… to anyone."

"Who knew William Lancer was all about that base, that base, no pom poms?!" Danny laughed. "No wonder you told me it wasn't worth being the mascot to get near cheerleaders."

Mr. Lancer's normal book reference was replaced with a colorful swear word that Danny could hear only while overshadowing him. "Regardless of what any of you teenagers think, I too was once young."

"And how long ago was that?" Danny couldn't help asking as Vlad approached them.

"William and Alicia… it has been ages," Vlad gave a small friendly smile. "I'm so sorry to hear of your nephew Alicia. It truly is a shame to lose him. He showed such promise."

Alicia gritted her teeth and looked away. It was the only time Danny had ever seen his aunt prevent her anger from lashing out at someone.

"Young Mr. Fenton is still missing," Mr. Lancer said softly.

"I'm afraid that is not the case. I have shared video evidence of Daniel's death with the police department. Unfortunately, some of it was leaked to social media. My condolences Alicia, it was never my intention for the video to get out," the man bowed his head as Danny growled. How dare Vlad hurt his family like this!

"Can we discuss this somewhere else?" Mr. Lancer stepped in front of Alicia. "This meeting is supposed to plan a remembrance for my student and discuss the ghost problem. I'd like to discuss that personally before the meeting begins."

"I'm sorry, let's step outside," Vlad motioned.

"Don't!" Danny hissed to Mr. Lancer. "Use the art hall!"

"Why don't we stay where it is safe since it is dark. The art hall, perhaps? We only have a few minutes before the meeting, and I had an idea for Mr. Fenton's memorial," the teacher pressed.

It was too much, and Danny thought Vlad suspected, but the man nodded and led the way to the art hall anyways.

The second Mr. Lancer's hand shut the door. Alicia fired a shot at Masters as Danielle jumped from her body and latched an enhanced spectral belt that instantly shocked the ghost. In Danny's opinion, it was very anticlimactic.

Then Alicia pulled her fist back and began pummeling Vlad. That was not part of the plan, and neither Danielle nor Mr. Lancer made a move to stop her.

"We have Vlad," Mr. Lancer's voice echoed throughout the room.

"Shields up and in place," Tucker's voice called through Danny's Fenton phone, which he could hear echo through the other three sets in the room.

"Blaze is stuck between the shields on the roof," Valerie confirmed.

"We're starting to move in to evac. now," his Mom called.

"How dare ya' talk like ya' cared about my nephew. Ya' need to be beaten to an inch of your afterlife!" Alicia screeched as a tooth flew from Vlad mouth. "Ya' filthy heapin' piece of…"

"Auntie!" Danny interrupted as he left Mr. Lancer and grabbed her fist from hitting the fruitloop again.

"Daniel?!" Vlad hissed in shock. "There is no…"

Danny turned and glared, "I'm done fruitloop. I don't care about your obsession anymore. I'm not playing games."

Vlad sat up and grinned, "So you can learn after all."

"You're done playing mad scientist. You have us all working together now. Did you really think you wouldn't end up in a thermos? What I want to know is why you spread the blood blossoms? If you tell us, I can give you the deluxe size thermos. Otherwise," Danny shrugged, "I have a downgrade available in an extra small that can sit next to the frozen ectoplasmic turkey in our freezer." Danny held up the two thermoses, "Personally, I have no problem stuffing you in the bigger one and putting you in a cereal box."

"I thought the blood blossoms were your idiot father's doing," Vlad huffed.

"No, they aren't the same as my parents' seeds. They are infused with ectoenergy to make them affect humans that are exposed to ectoenergy and less potent to ghosts," Danny glared. "Trust me, I'm quite familiar with the blood blossoms my parents had."

"They aren't from me," Vlad hissed furiously.

Deciding he was getting nowhere, Danny's plasma hand lifted the thermos, but then Plasmius gave a blood curdling scream. Danny stared at the man whose suit bled red as a plasma ball shot through his torso. Danny pulled Alicia to the ground as the blast hit the wall they had just been in front of.

"You are just full of surprises," Danny jerked as he stared in shock at Blaze, who stood with Vlad's core clenched in his fist. "Though I must thank you for helping me get my 'Dad', he was beginning to suspect me of betraying him."

Somewhere, Danny heard Mr. Lancer use his Fenton Phone to say Blaze was trapped within the shield with them. It wouldn't matter, not if Blaze merged Vlad's core to his own. Ancients, there was no way Danielle and him were strong enough even if he didn't merge. He slid Alicia's gun closer and floated closer.

Ellie shot a series of blasts at Blaze, who instantly created a shield before shooting a flame blast at his clone. The energy literally burned through her shield before it hit her. She crumpled before Mr. Lancer leaned over her. Danny's core somersaulted in his chest, but he doubted he even had enough energy to shield them for long. The only thing he could do was stall and hopefully get the others out.

"So how about you flame brain? Care to tell me why you used the blood blossoms?" Danny signed a kind of flame as he said flame and then opened it like he was setting something down. To Blaze, he hoped it would look like a flame brain that he was, but he was actually telling everyone to leave.

"Why would I want a bunch of ghost hunters interrupting my plans? It did a great job of scaring all the ghosts back to the Zone, too. " Blaze didn't hesitate as he lifted the core towards his mouth.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Danny interrupted. "I've seen merges before. They hurt."

Blaze glared at Danny, "I already did it to Jade. It was worth it. Are you just scared because I'm going to get yours and that weak little clone next."

"And do what? We are stuck in a shield?" Danny moved away from the others. The core went into Blaze's mouth, and his chest glowed as he merged Vlad's large, fire core to his own. Completely perplexed, Danny continued, "How did you get to this side of the shield anyways?"

"You are totally clueless. I was able to mask my core to sneak up on you before. And now you only noticed my duplicate above us, not me right near the 'mayor' this whole time," Blaze chuckled darkly. "As for the shields. They did nothing for 'Dad's' or my teleportation if they were not a full dome like your house. Luckily, he thought it was beneath him to spy on the Fentons and sent me instead. Your little scheme worked perfectly for my plan. Three cores in one trap. So, who should I take next, the cripple or the clone?"

Danny didn't have time to move before Blaze had him by the neck as he appeared in a cloud of red mist, "Considering you have a tendency for coming back from the dead I best start with you. How's that throat of yours? Are you used to this by now?"

"Let them go," Danny gasped around Blaze's grip.

"No," Blaze frowned, "Your core will fuel mine, and then I'll help my duplicate go after every last one of those ghost hunters. Thank you for bringing them all to one spot."

No, they couldn't be gone. But the duplicate could probably teleport, too. What had he done!? As defeat made his core twist, a hand slid into Danny's chest and clawed fingers clenched around his core.

Alicia shot the blaster in her hands at Blaze, completely ignoring what Danny had asked her to do and leave. Danny gasped as the clawed hand pulled back. He swung up with his left fist and caught Blaze in the eye.

The new clone glared angrily, and Danny forced all of his energy into an ectoblast as the flaming haired ghost turned to him angrily to continue fighting. Just as Danny went to fire, he was forced to stop as a dark-haired man jumped at the ghost. Danny didn't have time to identify the person as the stranger latched onto Blaze's waist with the Spectral Deflector that had been on Vlad. Then the man was thrown off, and Danny didn't hesitate to fire his energy.

Immediately, his core gave a twang, signifying he had gone too far. It was always a danger with his obsession. When he went too far trying to protect someone and instead hurt whatever he was fighting. Still, he could not consider how badly Blaze had been hurt. Danny was still too weak, the man had not moved after hitting a wall, Ellie was not moving from under Mr. Lancer's arm. He grabbed the thermos and sucked whatever was left of the ghost inside.

Then he floated to the man and leaned over, trying to already access the damage before he could fully recognize Mr. Fowley, Tucker's dad. Mr. Lancer was asking for an ambulance into his Fenton Phone.

"Kiddo, are you okay?" Alicia asked, sitting beside him.

"I messed up," Danny murmured as his glowing green hand fizzled out. He had no energy to spend healing the head wound, but Maurice should be all right. "I thought everything was going to be perfect. Now…"

The door opened, and his mom was pulling him into her arms before he could fully register it.

"Sweety, look at me, it's going to be okay," she murmured, and he refused to look at her. Just like she had refused to look at him whenever he became Phantom. His dad completely accepted him, but he was not surprised that his own mother couldn't look at him. "Danny Phantom! You look at me right this instant!"

His green eyes turned and settled on her purple ones. He always thought the color of his mother's eyes reminded him of nebulae in space. As his green eyes started into her tear stained ones, he realized that couldn't be more accurate. He swore he could see hydrogen clouds and black holes because her gaze seemed to have a gravitational hold on him.

"It doesn't matter, Danny. You saved us. Sweety, you saved us," she pulled him against her. "You protected us. Only Vlad and Blaze got hurt."

Of course, she would know why his core was constricting in his chest. That it didn't matter that they were enemies. He had failed to protect Vlad and Blaze. Even as he lamented his weakness, he couldn't help feeling a peace settle over him. She accepted him, Danny Phantom, and his mother was helping him as a ghost and not just as a human.

"We need to get them out of here," Danny's eyes lifted to Valerie, who had Ellie laid down on her board. "Dad says the police just pulled up."

"Sweety," his mom pulled him from the ground. "Go home, we'll be there soon."

He gave a hiss as Valerie grabbed his plasma hand but gripped it back and stepped onto the board.

"I can't phase us out," he said as she pulled him against her and started flying. Danny leaned down against Valerie's hold and felt both Danielle's core and steady breathing. She was just unconscious.

"I kinda blew a hole in the side of the building, so it doesn't matter," Valerie murmured as the said side of the building came into sight.

"I thought the Red Huntress didn't 'do' property damage," Danny gave a grin as they flew through the wrecked town hall meeting. "Did you get his duplicate?"

"No, Danny, he is still floating up on top of the building," Valerie rolled her eyes. "I hit him as soon as the shield went up. Thought it was too much when he vanished. But I suppose…"

"You broke the plan and went after him yourself?" Danny blinked.

"I didn't break the plan, I just followed my own," Valerie corrected.

Danny laughed, "Val, he knew our whole strategy. If you hadn't caught his duplicate off guard. Ancients, your hot headedness probably saved everyone."

"Don't do that again!" she hissed. "I can't deal with you continuously, almost dying."

"You mean redying, right?" Danny gave a lopsided grin as Fenton Works came into sight.

"No one can get you… I have told you time and time again, Phantom. " she brought a finger up to his chest as he gave her a cheeky grin. Her helmet from her suit retracted, and he stared at her face as she gave him the same victorious grin he had seen dozens of times before, "You're mine Phantom…"

Her warm lips crashed into his ice-cold ones. Leaning down, he deepened the kiss when he realized she didn't mind his cold. His plasma hand tangled itself into hair.

"About time," they both jumped apart as Ellie grinned up at them cheerily.

Phic Phight Prompts

@KawaiiJohn

Vlad is surprised to see an old rival at a town meeting: he hasn't seen William (or other first name) Lancer since the big cheer competition in their senior year.

@Jellal Vespertine

What if Vlad has more than one clone.

What if Vlad has more than one clone.