Alex awoke to find himself in a bed. His room was poorly lit, and had no windows.

"He stuck me in an underground room?" Alex grumbled, getting out of the bed and searching until he found the door. It was locked. Feeling under the doorknob, Alex realized that the lock was old fashioned. He dropped to his knees, peering through the large keyhole. He was able to see a little of the outside world. It consisted of a large window, offering a lush view of a blue sky, a wood table, and a rug. Pursing his lips, Alex got back to his feet, pulling the knife out of his belt and jamming it into the key hole. After a frustrating minute, he had somehow managed to unlock the door. He reclaimed the knife, and silently crept out. Seeing no one, he took off running.

His travels led him to a set of spiral staircases. There wasn't any other way down short of jumping out of the mocking window; a quick, but stupid escape. Running down the spiral staircase sent his stomach flying after a couple of minutes of descending, and he was only spared the reunion with his breakfast when he flung himself under the shadow of a small eave when the sound of footsteps met his ears. Heart pounding, he waited to see if he could hide from the new person.

"Nice try, little Alex," a voice drawled. A hand shot towards him, grabbing the spy by the front of his shirt and pulling him back to the stairs. "But you'll have to do better than that."

Alex slapped the hand away, glaring up at its owner. "You know, you could have just flown up there if you wanted to see me so badly. Now you've gone and made everything too dramatic."

"Not my intention, I assure you."

"Right." Alex couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Where's Danny?"

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Danny moaned softly when Sam and Tucker took him gently by his knees and shoulders to carry him upstairs. His face tightened.

"Sam, I think we're hurting him." Tucker said, frowning. Sam closed her eyes for a moment.

"We can't just leave him on the table, let's at least move him to the couch in the living room. It's softer than this table anyway, and that would be a better place for him to rest."

Sam began whispering to Danny, telling him where they were taking him, and that nothing was going to happen to him. Danny visibly relaxed at this, proving that he was only afraid of people taking him anywhere without him knowing, and not reacting as he did from pain. Sam and Tucker picked him up again, taking him out to the couch and covering him with a blanket. With another quick whisper to Danny that they'd be right back, the two friends ran into the kitchen to clean up the mess. There wasn't much of a mess, but it was clearly there, and The Fenton's would freak when they saw it in their kitchen.

The first aid kit was closed and put away, the blood was cleaned away and the area sanitized, and the bloody mess Danny's old shirt was thrown away. They scrubbed their hands, quickly drying them and rushing back to check on Danny. He was as they had left him, sleeping. Sam brushed a stray piece of raven hair from his eyes, kneeling down to sit next to him.

Tucker sat on the edge of a chair, smiling at the scene. How the two lovebirds could so easily deny their shared compassion was a mystery to him.

The sleeping halfa sighed at Sam's gentle touch, relaxing even more. He turned his face towards her as his hair was once again brushed from his face, unconsciously seeking comfort. Sam smirked softly, amused by his puppy-like actions. Her eyes widened seconds later and she leaned forward to hear again.

"S-sam…?" Danny whispered, half asleep. He was forcing himself to awaken fully; he had something very important to ask. His eyes fluttered, opening ever so slightly to allow his blue eyes to reveal themselves. "Sam, Tucker?"

His voice was a whisper. Sam nodded to him, saying that they were there. Danny opened his eyes fuller, awake enough to be aware.

"What happened?"

"We got you out of the book," Tucker said, leaning slightly towards his friend so he wouldn't have to talk too loudly. "Yassen helped. The three of us fixed you up."

"Yassen?"

"Yeah."

"How did you get the book back?"

"Alex and I went and got it. He's fine Danny, don't worry." Sam added hastily at the expression on the boy's face as he noted the spy's absence. Danny looked over her shoulder to the kitchen doorway and the stairs, expecting Alex to appear. Taking in the expression on Sam and Tuckers faces, Danny felt his own fall.

"He's not here, is he?" he asked, not receiving an answer. With a grunt, he pushed himself up and swung his legs over the side of the couch. Tucker held a hand out to stop him.

"Dude, he's safe, Yassen is with him." he half lied, hoping he was right. The lie seemed to satisfy the halfa for a moment, and he sank back against the couch. He stared up at his tech-savvy friend with a suspicious gaze.

"He's safe with a dead assassin?"

Tucker blinked. Danny did have a point with that comment though: Yassen was an assassin, and he was Skulker's hired help. Who were they to think that they could place their trust in the ghost?

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"You're still concerned with the 'little badger'?"

"Well, yeah."

"Why is he so important to you?"

Alex faltered, finally shrugging. "I don't know." He glared up at the man. "Why do you even care? Why are you here, anyway?"

Yassen stared down at the young spy. As his answer, he grabbed him by his arm, instantly taking them away in a cloud of smoke.

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Alex cried out, feeling his body vanish and then reappear. With another surprised cry, he fell the short distance to the solid surface of the Fenton's living room floor. The ghost hunting trio stared at him with shocked expressions, and Danny shivered as his ghost sense went off, announcing Yassen's invisible presence. Alex cursed under his breath, getting to his feet without really noticing who was watching him.

"Alex?"

The spy turned quickly at the sound of the voice. Danny was getting to his feet again, dropping the blanket behind him. His blue eyes were slightly narrowed in suspicion.

"That was Yassen who brought you here, wasn't it?" he asked. Alex nodded, not understanding why the halfa was so bothered. "The killer brought you here. He's still here too."

"What are you getting at?"

"How can we trust him? He was hired by Skulker! He's killed a lot of people! Sure, he's helped us a little, but what if he's just playing us, trying to catch us off our guard?"

"Danny, calm down." Sam said, getting to sit on the couch and forcing him to sit next to her. The boy was breathing heavily, eyes shut. Shakily, he covered his face with his hands. Sam patted his back, looking up at the other boys with a look. Tucker took the hint.

"Dude, uh…" he tried, his mini pep talk speech quickly expiring on his lips. He looked at Alex, passing him the baton.

"I've known Yassen for a while," the spy began, hiding his hands in his pockets. "He can be a bloody jerk at times, but he hasn't tried to kill me yet, and I know he won't."

"How do you know?" a muffled voice demanded.

"Danny, you are in shock." Yassen said, making his body visible. He walked up to stand just behind Alex. "Be quiet before you worry yourself sick."

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Danny refused to calm down. In fact, he became even more worked up when he saw the ghost through his fingers. At some point, Yassen had removed his sunglasses, and his red eyes gleamed. Danny had never really seen Yassen's eyes, and at that moment, he wished he never did. He covered his eyes again, his shoulders shaking. Sam put an arm around him, relaxing her head on his shoulder only when he had stopped shaking. With her other hand, she softly covered one of his hands. He slowly surrendered the hand, and she brought it down to rest between them.

"Danny, you need to take it easy," She whispered into the black fabric of his shirt. "All of this worrying will only wear you down. You have to trust some people, even if they seem like they're on the wrong side. If they are, we'll all deal with them later, together. We have to wait for that moment though, and give them a chance first."

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