Chapter 7:

Dan and Sam

Started:

October 4th 2012

Edited:

October 29th 2012

Uploaded:

Chapter Warnings:

None

Chapter Rating:

T

Dan's POV

I growled, my red eyes glaring in hatred at the once-was-a-home building we were currently spying on. I knew she was in there. Knew it like I knew my own name; she had to be in there, I thought, my hands crushing the rock under them with the power of my grip. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Tucker glancing at me, but I barely noticed it as I continued to glare at the house, a growl rumbling in the back of my throat.

"Dan," Tucker said gently, tapping some commands on his PDA. "Calm down, you'll give us away if you keep up that ruckus." I turned to him, transferring my glare to him and he cowered under it. Even after working together for weeks, he was still intimidated by me. It was laughable really, how they still thought I was going to tear them to shreds. I wasn't, but the thought was never too far from my mind. I wasn't tame.

Surely seeing Sam all grown up hadn't tamed me, had it? Sure I'd been more…docile around my former friends, but I wasn't tamed in the least. Sam had blossomed into a beautiful woman, and I'd like nothing more than for her to accept me and—

Wait, what was I thinking? I didn't want anything. I had everything I could ever want, and besides, I got rid of my human emotions- or so I thought. Sam was nothing but a companion. An increasingly annoying companion who I had an overwhelming urge to protect because of Danny's love for her, combined with Vlad's obsessive personality.

In short, she had become my ghostly obsession.

That was strange considering it had previously been to destroy everything that had an ounce of humanity and happiness in it. I hadn't realised that seeing her again after all this time—as an adult and not as the teenager I'd last seen—would cause my personality to do a complete flip. Sure, I still wanted to grab everyone's heads and rip them off, but that was beside the point. There was now this underlying urge to protect her. And because Tucker was always around her, I had to protect him, too. And that then transferred somehow to Valerie—though I still hated her with a burning passion that I doubt could be quelled any time soon.

She had been, after all, the one thing keeping me from completely eliminating and therefore ruling the world in my own time. Though she wouldn't remember that, since I didn't even know what time I was in currently.

Tucker had convinced me to help with their war effort, and Sam being in danger had solidified the deal. Though I planned to get her out, make sure she was healed, and then destroy the man who'd done this to her. Not only had he taken her from me, I'd failed to kill him back when I was a teenager.

And that will forever haunt me.

I had been too emotionally weak at that point. Too stressed from my recent conception to actually understand exactly what I was doing. And before I knew it, my previous, younger self was at my feet. Bleeding out. Dead.

And Vlad. He had just watched it happen with his mouth open. My fists shook in front of me as the edges of my vision became red, I was still staring at the house we were about to invade, but I was lost in memory. My older self was just standing there with his mouth agape, at a loss for words. Maybe if he'd stopped me, I wouldn't have become what I am now.

Murderer.

Monster.

The voices were back. Hissing at the corners of my mind and causing my fangs to hook over my lower lip, venom slowly collecting and dripping down my chin to hiss on the concrete below me. If Vlad had just done something to prevent me from becoming what I am now, maybe I could have changed my obsession earlier on; maybe I wouldn't have become the raving lunatic that I now am.

Maybe the people I actually cared about now wouldn't be afraid of me, then.

Tucker nudged my side and I turned to him with a barely audible hiss. He was ready to go but I had been too lost in my daydream—daymare to even notice his command.

But nodding, I turned invisible. I wasn't so naïve to think that Tucker's plan would actually work. He wanted me to send myself and clones through the abandoned building and find and rescue Sam. But I knew that that wouldn't work. This was Vlad we were talking about after all. He was sure to have guards and ghost-security systems set up—that of course would be calibrated to ignore his own signature—that would impede me from getting inside and getting to Sam.

So, I had changed Tucker's plans.

Not that the dweeb knew it yet.

In fact, no one did. I was the only one. The root was the same: Get in, kill who you have to, and get Sam out. But the methods were different. While he was trying to hack into any sort of security system the building might have to allow at the least humans in, we were supposed to get as far in as we could before we hit a snag and at the least scope out the place.

But I wasn't going to do that anymore.

So by turning myself invisible I was still following the start of his plan, but that's where it ended. For one, the little device on my wrist that he'd insisted I wear, some sort of communicator thing he thought I needed. I'd disabled it the instant I'd gotten away from him. I couldn't have him trying to contact me and compromising my position. Besides, I had no plans on withdrawing until I had Vlad's head on a pike and Sam in my arms.

There was no way I was going to leave her behind. This could be the first step in redeeming myself.

Feh.

Yeah, right, like I'd ever be redeemed.

I stormed up to the facility as Tucker and our small attack force scattered and I phased in, black rings appearing around my waist and turning me into none other than Vlad Masters. I had to consciously suppress my ghost core though, but it wasn't hard to do. I'd had plenty of practice in my old time, so impersonating the old billionaire wasn't hard to do. I didn't set off any sensors or raise any alarms from the guards, so I seemed to be in the clear.

"Mr. Masters!"

I paused at the voice and turned around, the guard trotting up to me in full uniform. I narrowed my eyes slightly at the sight of him, wanting nothing more than to overshadow him and pick through his brain till I knew where Sam was, but of course I couldn't do that.

Yet.

"What is it?" I asked in my best Plasmius voice. I eyed the guard carefully. They wore an array of ghost hunting weapons along with two scabbards with swords for hand-to-hand combat. It led me to believe they were reasonably trained, and I didn't want to take any risks with them. But I knew I could beat them to the ground in a manner of seconds if I so chose.

The guard slowed his jog to a stop as he got close to me and he held up a clipboard. "The guards down in Cell block C are requesting you take care of Prisoner 1632B." He said, speaking fast as if sensing that I was too impatient to listen to him. "They've gotten pretty rowdy lately. Which is a little strange…"

But my ears perked up with the mention of a prisoner. Could it be..?

If it was where they were hiding Sam, then it went better than I could have ever imagined. I thought I would have had to break my way into the lower regions. Narrowing my eyes at the guard I nodded, still keeping my Vlad disguise up. "Take me to them." I commanded.

The guard hesitated, "But Sir, I—" He started, clearly too intimidated by me to want to take me down there.

"Did I ask for you to question me?" I interrupted with a snarl, allowing a bit of my oppressive aura to come out, making the guard shrink away from me.

"N-No Sir!" he stammered out, gripping his gun with slightly shaking hands. "O-Of course I'll take you down there, Sir!" He saluted, taking a step back and spinning on his heel to face the way he'd come. He started walking nervously down the hallway and I followed him without as much as a word. I raised an eyebrow for his nervous behavior, mentally stopping myself from chuckling.

The facility was larger than I would have expected from the outside. It went much deeper than we had thought, but it wasn't that big a deal. He was taking me to Sam, and that's what counted. I scanned the halls, noting how many halls branched off from this main one, and which direction we were going in. The man in front of me stopped at a locked door, inserting a key code, which I leaned over his shoulder to spy on.

Once the doors opened and we continued in, we started to descend again. The prisoners were obviously kept in the lowest area, where their cries wouldn't interrupt the work of the men here, or be a distraction to them.

Eventually, the pristine bricks and flooring changed to little more than carved rock. "Watch your step, Sir." The guard said over his shoulder as we stepped down the uneven terrain. "We're almost there."

I nodded but didn't reply as we continued down and he led me into a long hallway filled with cells. He frowned, taking the key ring from his belt and opening a heavy cell door. "Right in here, Sir." He said, opening the door and stepping aside. "I'll wait out here for you, Sir."

I nodded, and stepped into the cell.

Sam's POV.

Vlad's fingers curled around something that I couldn't see, his eyes, glazed in madness, looked up and locked on my own. His lips peeled back into a twisted grin as he turned fully towards me, holding up what looked like a juicer. As he pressed a button, it started to spin, making a mechanical hissing noise. I swallowed nervously as he brought it towards me. I knew what this meant.

"So, Samantha," Vlad hissed as he stepped ever closer, bringing the machine down so I could feel the air brush past my bare flesh. I'd long since gotten passed my embarrassment of being naked in front of him, since I didn't actually have a choice in the matter.

"There was a time where I wouldn't have wanted to do this to you," He said calmly, waving a hand to dismiss his intentions. "But since you just have to be the resistance to my total domination, I must get you out of my way." His eyes were glazed with pure madness and I knew that the old Fruitloop Danny used to fight was dead, and this…monster was in his place.

A soft knock at the door made Vlad pause, the instrument inches from my flesh and he turned around, growling. "Who dares interrupt me?" he snarled, spittle flinging out of his mouth to dot across the floor.

I strained my tired neck to peek at the door as it opened and a glowing ghost poked his head in, eyes locking on Vlad. "T-there's a disturbance, Sir." The little ghost mumbled, gripping the doorknob as if his life depended on it.

The muscles in Vlad's neck worked as he tried to figure out if this was a something he needed to waste precious energy wasting this ghost, or if he shouldn't bother. The maniacal dictator stalked over to the little ghost, grabbing his shirt and pulling him close. "Whatever it is, dispose of it." He growled. "You're a goddamned dragon ghost; you can kill whatever it is that has you so worried."

The ghost nodded fearfully and Vlad released it. "I-I just thought—since it seems to be the enemy and all—"

Vlad tensed at the words and his suddenly blazing red eyes bored into the terrified dragon ghost. "The enemy is here?" He snarled, black rings appearing at his waist and changing him into Plasmius. "Take me there!"

The child ghost turned, guiding Vlad out of the room, leaving me alone. I was grateful for it, because it meant that I could relax a little. I was in so much pain. The room was spinning and I was starving. But I couldn't give up. If the little ghost was right, then Tucker was in this building, here to save me, or to destroy Vlad, whatever came first.

But I didn't want him here. He'd get hurt. Sure, he had Dan to help him, but would that be enough? And who's to say that Dan wouldn't just turn against them? He had shown improvement in his insane demeanor but it didn't mean he was fully sane again.

And he probably never would be.

And that made me sad, though I didn't know why. Maybe it's because I've lost Danny, and Dan's all I've got left to remind me of him, but… that didn't make as much sense as I wanted it to.

Deciding that right now wasn't the right time to think about it, I had an opportunity to escape and I needed to take it. Clenching my fists, I looked from side to side, checking the binds. Pure steel strapped me to the table and made it impossible to escape. There had to be some sort of trigger somewhere, but I doubted Vlad would leave it out in the open where I'd need it, though.

The door opened again, however and I instantly snapped to attention. But it wasn't Vlad who came back into the room; it was the little ghost who led Vlad away. I frowned at his human guise, noticing he wore Aragon's amulet around his neck. "Um…" He said quietly, glancing at the door. "I wasn't supposed to be the one who found you, but…we all had instructions if we did." He carefully started to pick at the binds on my wrists.

"I didn't think we had any ghost help…" I mumbled quietly, watching the ceiling.

"My Lord Aragon sent some of his own out, after Mister Tucker …well, begged." The little ghost mumbled. He couldn't have been more than twelve or thirteen years old, but I knew that dragon ghosts ghost forms matured much faster than regular ones.

He got the binds off of my arm and I quickly undid my other arm before sitting up and working on the braces on my ankles. "But…other than that, there aren't a lot of ghosts assisting. They're mostly in hiding." The young ghost hesitated, looking as if he'd rather be off hiding, but his face hardened in pride. "But I'm glad to be with you guys." He nodded, stepping back as I swung my legs over the table.

"You're in bad shape…" he frowned, looking at me.

"Yeah, I know, Vlad banged me up pretty bad." I mumbled, rubbing my wrist as I looked around the room. We didn't have long before Vlad would come back.

As if sensing my thoughts, the dragon smiled, showing his elongated teeth. "Don't worry about Vlad, we've got him pretty distracted."

I nodded and tried to get to my feet but my knees buckled. The dragon quickly darted over and helped me stand, propping me up with his shoulder. I smiled gratefully and together we slowly limped out of the room.

"I'll be able to fly you out once we leave the building," the ghost promised, glancing up and down the hallway before letting me step out. "Until then, I'm worried about the ghost sensors. Mister Tucker said that he'd disabled them, but I'm not really willing to take the chance…"

I could understand that. It wasn't fair to force the little ghost to sacrifice more than he was already risking for me. "Where is Tucker?" I asked quietly.

"Probably confusing the ghosts in this place with his electronics," the ghost replied with a small shrug. "He said he'd meet us back at base in about an hour or so…"

I nodded, satisfied with the answer and instead decided to concentrate on walking. Each step was painful and sent spikes of pain up my spine. It wasn't easy to do, but we made slow progress. We were just about at the entrance when a guard stopped us.

"Hey." He growled, looking both my ghost companion and I over. "What are you doing with our prisoner?" He pulled a gun out, aiming it at the little ghost. "State your business."

"There's been a break in." The ghost drew himself up well, eyes locked squarely with the larger man's. "From the enemy and Mr. Masters is currently occupied. He personally commanded me to get her somewhere where the enemy can't find her." He was quite convincing for a little guy.

However, the guard wasn't buying it. His eyes narrowed behind his goggles and he aimed the gun at my friend's chest, taking aim. "Oh, really?" Sarcasm rang clear in his voice and he nodded slightly. "Well what's your ID number then?"

That stumped the kid and he stuttered, trying to think of something. "I…" But the young ghost wasn't able to think of anything.

That was all the encouragement the guard needed. His gun was already aimed at the young ghost's chest and he tightened his finger on the trigger, eyes never wavering from his target.

A/N:

In case you don't follow Inferno or Lockdown:

all stories are currently on Partial Hiatus. This does NOT mean that they are abandoned; it just means they're updated slower than normal due to school.

Thanks!

Also, wow, this chapter is the longest I've ever written I think. JEESUS. Sdklfs

Bye for now.