Shatterglass
A Danny Phantom Fanfic by Quill N. Inque
I do not own Danny Phantom.
"Your anger gives you great power. But if you let it, it will destroy you."-Ras al Ghul, "Batman Begins," (2005)
Chapter 6: Vlad's Vengeance! The Final Battle Draws Near!
It was the throbbing, pulsing headache between his temples that finally roused Jack Fenton from the dark depths of unconsciousness. His eyes opened blearily to a world that was fuzzy and out of focus. Jack groaned softly, and tried to rub his aching head-
-But then realized, with a start, that his arms and legs were securely pinned to the metal table that now held him upright. The surface of the slab to which he was bound was cold and hard, and Jack struggled vainly for a few seconds until his memory returned to him.
The chiming sound of a doorbell rang through Jack's skull. He recalled a flash of light, Vlad's grinning face, and then…nothing.
What on earth is going on here? Jack wondered, his adrenaline beginning to pump while the last vestiges of sleep's fog disappeared. This doesn't look like Fentonworks…
Indeed it didn't. Jack's inner scientist ascertained instantly that this was a laboratory of some sort, but it was very different from the beloved workspace in which Jack and his wife had spent so many happy hours tinkering. Rather than the excited, vibrant feel of that hallowed place in Jack's heart, this subterranean lair felt…wrong. It was a place that would have been more suited to Dr. Frankenstein rather than a serious scientist. Large, metal globes, studded with metal protrusions, sent arcs of electricity buzzing and crackling in all directions while lending an eerie, intermittent illumination to the spectacle. Test tubes, flasks, beakers, and bottles, filled with liquids of every imaginable shade, bubbled and frothed and fizzed furiously until their contents ran onto the lab tables. Buttons and levers and switches of every imaginable variation glinted and glowed like a myriad of evilly staring eyes, and Jack felt his heart begin to beat just a little bit faster at the unnerving atmosphere.
"Are you okay, sweetie?" From his left, Maddie glanced at her husband with concern. "What happened?"
"I wish I knew," Jack muttered, his normally goofy demeanor replaced by grim urgency. "Where are we?"
Maddie glanced sadly at the unconscious forms of Sam, Tucker and Jazz. Inwardly, she envied how oblivious the teenagers were to the peril that had befallen them. "I wish I knew."
From somewhere in the shadows, a third voice answered Jack's inquiry, echoing in the hollow vastness of the underground lab.
"You're in the third circle of Hell, Jack Fenton," Vlad Plasmius snarled, his cape billowing behind him as he closed in on his captives. "And it only gets worse."
"You!" Jack cried, astonished. "You're the Wisconsin Ghost!"
Vlad's red eyes burned into Jack's as he stared balefully back at him, radiating hatred like heat from an oven. "Wrong, Jack," he spat. "You really are oblivious, aren't you? I'll bet you never gave me a moment's consideration when I lay bedridden in a hospital for ten years! Ten years of my life stolen because of you and your bungling! Ten years that I suffered for your mistakes, from your miscalculations and base idiocy! Watch, fool," he hissed. "And see what your stupidity had blinded you from."
No sooner had Vlad finished speaking than a pair of rings the color of scribe's ink moved over his body with a deliberate sluggishness, and the villain relished the shocked and appalled expression on Jack's stupid face as his black hair turned an icy white that mirrored his cold and frozen heart. Vlad's ember-colored eyes lost their luminescence as they were replaced by their human counterparts, and the swirling cloak and tunic was, inch by inch, reverted to Vlad's signature black suit.
He never took his eyes from Jack's the entire time.
Maddie gave a small gasp. "Oh, my God…"
"It can't be…" Jack said, stunned into momentarily denial. "Vladdie…how…?"
"YOU DON'T REMEMBER, DO YOU?" Vlad roared, his voice thunderous as years of pent-up rage and hatred coursed through his veins. "USE YOUR MALFORMED BRAIN, YOU SPINELESS MORON, AND SEE IF YOU CAN RECALL WHAT YOU DID TO ME ALL THOSE YEARS AGO!"
The truth hit Jack like a runaway truck. "You mean…"
"Now you're catching on," Vlad grinned bitterly, his level tone contrasting the unsettling light in his eyes. "It was the ghost portal experiment back during our college days, you know. You made some minor errors in the prototype's software, and I had the misfortune of leaning a little too close when you switched it on. I'm sure you're all too familiar with what happened after that, seeing as how I'm not the only half-ghost spawned by your foolishness.
"Unfortunately, my immune system reacted rather poorly to the sudden coating of ectoplasm that you so kindly furnished my DNA with," Vlad continued, "and the ecto-acne that resulted from the imbalances forced me to spend the next decade in a hospital wing, racked by pain and suffering the likes of which you could never understand."
"But even after I eventually regained my health, even after I became fabulously rich and powerful, I never forgot you, Jack," Vlad added, pausing momentarily. But just as the echoes of his speech faded away, Vlad raised his voice once more in such an abrupt fashion that both of his captives flinched. "HOW YOU RUINED ME! HOW YOU HUMILIATED ME! HOW YOU TURNED ME INTO A FREAK AND STOLE AWAY MADDIE, THE ONLY WOMAN I EVER LOVED! EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED IN THIS WORLD, YOU ABSCONDED WITH WHILE I LAY ON DEATH'S DOOR FOR TEN LONG YEARS! YOU HAD CHILDREN BY HER! YOU STARTED A FAMILY THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN MINE! NOW I HAVE NOTHING, AND IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU! I HATE YOU, JACK!" Vlad screamed, the retinas in his eyes bulging as he ranted and raved. "I HATE YOU FOR EVERYTHING THAT'S HAPPENED TO ME! YOUR INCOMPETENCE COST ME EVERTHING I EVER HOPED TO GAIN, EVERYTHING I STROVE TO ACHIEVE! I TRIED FOR YEARS TO GAIN MADDIE'S HEART, AND YOU TOOK HER AWAY FROM ME!"
Jack couldn't believe the monster his former friend had become. "I never meant for any of this to happen to you," he said softly, his eyes sad. "I'm your, friend, Vladdie! I've always been your friend!"
"A lot has happened since those days," Vlad hissed back, and his tone carried so much venom that Jack averted his eyes.
"This isn't about that-"
"IT'S ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT THAT!" Vlad roared, and Jack noticed that the corners of the villains eyes were rapidly moistening. "SHE CHOSE YOU INSTEAD OF ME! I WAS THE ONE WHO DESERVED MADDIE! I WAS THE ONE SHE SHOULD HAVE MARRIED! I WAS THE ONLY ONE WORTHY OF HER, AND YET SHE FELL FOR A MORON LIKE YOU!"
"I have waited for over ten years to make you pay, Jack Fenton," Vlad said, his voice at once ragged from overuse and colder than the howling winds of the Arctic Circle. "And I shall take great pleasure in the unbearable suffering and torment that lies ahead for you."
"And once you've killed me?" Jack asked flatly.
"Kill you?" Vlad sneered, his voice gleeful. "That would be far too easy. I'm not going to kill you, Jack! Perish the thought!" With a swift leap, the villain got right in the other man's face so that their noses were almost touching, and Jack could clearly see the unbridled, psychotic hatred reflected in his old classmate's eyes. When next he spoke, Vlad's voice was soft, almost a purr, and the words that spilled from his mouth were a snake's hiss laced with sickeningly sadistic pleasure. "I'm going to make you watch. Behold!"
With a grand gesture of his arm, Vlad signaled for his stoic servant, the Fright Knight, to pull a massive sheet of canvas cloth over a large portion of the lab that had until now remained hidden.
Maddie looked sick. "Are those…"
"Intercontinental ballistic missiles, dearest Maddie," Vlad confirmed. "Each carrying a potent dose of poetic justice in the form of a more refined and virulent strain of the ecto-acne that caused me so much suffering. And I am delighted to tell you, Jack, that the source material for these biological weapons was extracted from the agonizing boils that covered my face for all those years. I had the foresight to keep the sample in cold storage until I needed it. Just as your ignorance afflicted me, it shall now afflict the world.
"And, because I know you are going to ask me," Vlad added, "it is my unrestrained glee to tell you that it was I who framed young Daniel. I hate him almost as much as I hate you."
"Why make Danny and so many others suffer for my mistake?" Jack asked. "You have me, don't you? Isn't that enough?"
"No," Vlad answered simply. "And as for Daniel, he is the true focus of my plan. Framing and exposing him was merely the first step in the overall scheme. You, however, are merely a pleasurable distraction." Pausing, Vlad waved to the still-unconscious forms of Danny's friends and older sister. "As are they."
"And what 'scheme' is that?" Jack demanded.
"Oh, please," Vlad snorted. "What do you think this is, a 'James Bond' movie? I'm not about to tell you everything before all of the pieces have been moved into place."
Then Vlad stopped speaking and reached into his pocket. Turning away, the villain fished out and opened his phone so as to begin dialing, to the confusion and bewilderment of his captives.
Someone on the other end picked up, and the villain's heart soared with evil joy…
Somewhere…
It was a small, secluded French country town that saw our hero taking temporary refuge on his never-ending flight from the law. The quaint, picturesque little village would have looked right at home on a postcard or in a painting, what with its small cobblestone streets that even in this day and aged clacked and clicked under the wheels of horse-drawn carriages. Shepherds drove their flocks of bleeting sheep before them with nudges and the occasional shout as their ancestors had done for centuries, and the tiny marketplace through which Danny walked was packed with customers of contrasting number to its diminutive size. Mothers held wicker baskets under their arms whilst clutching their small children firmly by the hand, and the haggled and bartered in rapid French with the equally belligerent merchants. It was a good place for one to lay low, to be sure. Nestled quietly in the rolling hillside, virtually isolated from the major cities of concrete and steel, no one would look twice at the young man who now strode through their midst. To these genteel and kindly people, the boy was no different from the American tourists who showed up in town from time to time. Cable and internet were hard to come by in such a remote area too, and this only made the situation work more in Danny's favor.
But most importantly, Danny he was far from the emaciated, wounded wretch that had so narrowly eluded Agent Brody; the townsfolk had actually provided the hero with generous handouts of food. He was almost starting to believe that maybe everything would be all right, after all.
But as he passed the local butcher's table, Danny nearly jumped out of his skin when the streetcorner payphone began to ring shrilly. For a moment, Danny glanced about, thinking the call was meant for someone else, but there was no other person in the immediate vicinity. Apprehension made Danny's stomach clench, and he picked up the receiver with utmost reluctance.
"Hello?" Danny asked, keeping his voice down.
"Are you actually still alive?" the voice of his mortal enemy made Danny's blood turn to ice. "Most impressive, Daniel. You never cease to defy the odds."
"How did you find me?" Danny asked flatly.
"Now that would be telling, wouldn't it?" Vlad sneered. "A magician never reveals his secrets, after all."
"If you have something to say, then say it," Danny snarled.
"Why don't I let your idiot father say it for me?" Vlad retorted, and Danny could almost see the villain's smirk as his heart dropped into his innards. "Your mother, perhaps? Or your sister? Maybe I should let your little Goth friend deliver my message, eh? Or would you like me to have the geek in the beret email it to you?"
"You bastard!" Danny said hoarsely, for he could clearly make out the distressed cries in the background of Vlad's sinister tones. "They're not part of this!"
"Wrong," Vlad replied. "And they live only by my mercy, Daniel, which isn't going to last very much longer. Not unless you listen very carefully to what I tell you next."
"Get on with it," Danny grated, through clenched teeth.
"I give you two options, Daniel, but do not make the mistake of thinking that either one will be even remotely preferable to what you have experienced thus far," Vlad told him. "I have recently completed the construction of a rather lovely batch of missiles liberally laden with a genetically altered form of ecto-acne, one that renders me capable of wiping out an entire city with the push of a button."
"You're bluffing."
"Shall I send one your way, then?" Vlad asked casually. "Maybe when the entire population of France drops to zero, you'll see that I speak the truth."
"You're insane," Danny stated flatly.
"Sticks and stones, boy," Vlad riposted. "And let me tell you, I am quite willing to wipe out every major city on the face of the planet should you insult me like that again."
Danny went quiet instantly.
"Now that the peanut gallery has been silenced," Vlad continued, "I offer you two choices, Daniel. One, you choose to save yourself, and doom millions of people to annihilation. Two, you forfeit your own life to save the unwashed masses and be remembered as notorious scourge and a menace, with no one ever knowing of the sacrifice you made on their behalf. I wonder what you'll do," he added pensively. "It doesn't matter, though. No matter what happens, I shall emerge the winner.
"And let me warn you, boy," Vlad hissed. "If I find out that you even went near anyone with a badge, and I will, then I shall kill everyone who ever mattered in your miserable life. I will torture and execute your friends and family, one by one, and I'll make you watch.
"I think you're smart enough to figure out where to find me, once you've made up your mind," Vlad concluded. "You have exactly forty-eight hours, Daniel. Either you die, or everyone else will."
The connection ended with a loud click in Danny's ear, and the hero sagged against the glass panes as if weighed down by a cocoon of chains.
Vlad's vengeance, indeed, was swift and painful in its awful clarity. No matter where he turned, Danny was bound to lose.
But despite all of the villain's scheming, no one could have predicted the events that would follow…
A/N: Good God, even I'm feeling sad for him now…What's poor Danny to do? Has Vlad emerged triumphant once and for all? And will our hero ever clear his name? You'll find out soon enough, my friends. Chapter eight looms on the distant horizon, and in it Danny and Vlad are headed for one last, epic confrontation! And PLEASE REVIEW! I would LOVE to hear what YOU have to say!
And yes, I know you all are dying from suspense and are eager to get the whole picture of Vlad's insidious plot, but there's something that I REALLY want to do for Chapter seven first. ^^ Just be patient a little longer, okay?
After all, good things come to those who wait…
Your humble servant,
-Quill N. Inque
P.S. I apologize for the false Story Alert that may have drawn many of you back here; I was doing some editing and hit "New Chapter" instead of "Replace Chapter." My bad, guys. XD