Author's Note: Here's chapter 2 guys! It's a lot longer then the first chapter and I anticipate the next being even longer. Hope you guys enjoy it!
Disclaimer: Danny Phantom was created by Butch Hartman and thus falls under his copy write. I hold no claims to the cartoon. This story line was inspired by Frodo01228's story The Unborn so credit goes to her for the originality of the plot.
Chapter 2: Imprisionment
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
Danny watches the ground as roads snake below him, farm land blends from one to the other and a few cars zoom by, recognizable only by their twin lights guiding their way. The air is warm and with the wind rushing over his skin he isn't hot in the summer heat at all. The moon had long disappeared leaving a black sky dotted with thousands of stars above him. Normally he adored looking at the stars, feeling peaceful and at ease by their simple beauty; Sam had taught him how to enjoy them.
He smiles at a memory from years ago. One night, Danny was walking Sam home from his place. They had been watching movies and playing video games till after dark and Danny's parents insisted that he be a gentleman and walk her home. Sam had been the one defending her pride, saying how she didn't need a man to protect her and that if anyone could get past a few whacks from her steal toed boots she's bow to them. Danny on the other hand, had actually supported his parent's idea. After a harsh glare, Sam finally gave in and turned to leave at a quick pace.
The quickest way back to her house was through the park and they stopped at the top of one of the hills on the path. The trees had been cleared away for a small playground and gave an amazing view to the sky. Sam had pulled him off the trail and had lay down on the damp grass. After a look of confusion, he joined her. She pointed up at the stars and began talking animantly. Of course when given a topic she was interested in, She'd instantly begin chatting away, letting every ounce of enthusiasm shine through. She pointed to each set of stars, explaining story of how the constellation got its name and story. She started off easy, pointing out the zodiacs, big dipper, little dipper, Orion and Hercules. He could only picture a few of them easily and understood even less about how the stars had a story. He simply smiled and nodded, making Sam's smile grow and giving her speech momentum.
Danny looks to his left and sees Orion. It was one of the things he loved most about her, her passion.
She was so passionate for the things she loved and didn't hesitate to defend herself or her beliefs. He'd known he loved her for over a year. She didn't know though. As stupid of a reason as it was, he was terrified to tell her. He was afraid she'd turn him down, that she wouldn't feel the same and that their friendship would be ruined. Things would just be awkward and get worse until finally they couldn't take it and ended their friendship. Danny knew he could never handle that; he simply couldn't stand loosing having her by his side. He shakes his head. No, things are just fine the way they are. Sure it hurt that every embrace he wanted to hold on and never let go, that every time she smiled at him, just him his heart skipped a beat, that every time her hand lingered a second longer then necessary when getting his attention or being used as reassurance he wanted to grasp it in his own. Those actions only made him pour all his love into his own.
He looks over at Sam. Duct tape over her mouth, wrists bound at that small of her back, ankles taped together and now a rope wrapped around her waist allowed her to be carried by the ghost vulture. She had fought tooth and nail when Vlad summoned them and began tying her up to make it easier for her to be carried. One vulture had lost a few feathers in the process before Vlad finally squeezed a pressure point to make her loose consciousness. She had woken up not too long ago, and simply hung from the vulture's grasp. She didn't even focus on anything, her eyes just held a vacant look. That vacant look killed him inside…somehow this is his entire fault. He has no clue as to what Vlad wants, but still feels he is responsible for Sam being here and that she didn't deserve to be.
He looks over at Tucker and feels worse. Tucker was caught in the crossfire and he really didn't need or disserve to be here. He had been dragged back to where Sam and Danny had been laying. He was already unconsciousness and bound like Sam with duct tape. Right now he hangs limp from another vulture's grasp, his traditional red beret threatening to fall and be lost somewhere bellow.
The sun begins to rise off to his right. No surprise, he already knew they were heading north to Wisconsin. The vulture carrying him hisses when the first rays of sunlight hit him.
"Get over it." Vlad yells over his shoulder. He gives Danny a smirk before turning back to their flight path.
Danny growls from behind the ectoplasmic wrap. After using a ghostly wail to get him to drop Sam when he brought out the rope, he too had his mouth bound shut.
"Ah, here we are. Home sweet home." Vlad sickeningly sing song voice rings out loud and clear to Danny.
Sure enough, the Vlad Masters' mansion comes to view on the horizon, shinning like a beacon from all the glass windows. 'Beacon to hell…' Danny thinks. He looks over at Sam. She's focused on the growing building. He can't read her expression at all, but chooses that she's as unsure of what to expect as he is.
Vlad had never done anything like this before. Every time he carried out a plot it had the same layout. Have a pre-appearance performed by a lower ghost while performing a few things on his own, then he showed up and did his taunts, explained his whole plan, then got into a fight with Danny. Sure all his plans ranged in complexity, but it isn't like him to deviate from his strategy, especially since he had been doing this for the past 4 years.
The group arrives at the Masters' mansion and are taken immediately to the lab by turning intangible courtesy of the vultures. Tucker and Sam are dropped unceremoniously into a heap on the floor while the one holding Danny drops the container so he hits his cheek on the floor. Tucker jars awake from the impact. His eyes snap open and dart around the room before his chocolate colored eyes settle on Vlad.
"Ahwww mahm!" Comes from behind the duct tape around his mouth and the others assume that it's his phrase for "oh crap."
Sam just looks up at Vlad from the floor.
Twin rings appear at Plasmius's middle and move in opposite directions, seemingly slower then usual, to change him back to human. Vlad opens his now teal colored eyes and smiles wickedly at the group.
"So good to see you three lying in heaps on the ground for once." His smile widens causing a growl to escape from Danny.
"Now I'm sure you're all just confused as can be about what I have in mind." He pauses for dramatics, glancing between the three of them. "It's simple really." He turns towards his bench and walks towards it, each step measured and precise. "I still want a child, a little badger to call my own." He picks up what looks like a black ankle bracelet used during home arrests. Its chunky black frame is attached to a black leather band with a small silver lock. He pulls out another, but this one is smaller, the box is half the size of the other. "Since you, Danny, refuse to fill that roll and you are already 18, I have given up on you." He pulls out a silver remote-like device and presses it against the lock of each one and they snap open. "After realizing I can never convince you to switch sides, I looked into fathering my own child. After many tests, I found that my DNA for reproduction didn't have any ghost DNA in it. I assumed that this was because my exposure to the portal was centralized to my top half. You on the other hand Danny," he looks over his shoulder, "got a full dose to your entire body. Therefore, theoretically at least, all your cells have the ghost DNA and any heir you produce should yield a half ghost child with your powers."
Danny's face loose all color as his short-circuited mind slowly puts together what Vlad is saying. Him? Father a child? That is beyond crazy, even for Vlad! Even if he were to do as he said, who would the mother b-…Danny's thoughts hit a brick wall and his stomach threatens to empty its contents. Now he understands why Vlad wanted Sam…
Danny starts swearing and calling Vlad every name he can think of against the gag as his anger boils out of control. No way in hell will he simply cooperate!
"Now now Danny, such language will not be tolerated." Vlad takes the chunkier bracelet in his hand. He takes 4 long strides, almost materializing at Sam's side. She glares at him and swings her feet at him, catching him in the shin. Vlad flinches and groans for just a second as the sting of her steal-toed boots radiates up his leg. Danny smiles at Sam from beneath the ectoplasm. Vlad on the other hand, is not amused. He grabs Sam's right foot, slamming the bracelet around her ankle in one fluid motion. He then presses a button on the remote.
Sam's screams can be heard through the gag loud and clear. Her body twitches and writhes as every nerve in her body lights up. It lasts only a few seconds but to Danny, it feels like an hour. He stares in horror as Sam slumps onto her side, eyes closed with tears streaming down her cheeks. Her fingers and feet twitch a few times.
"This," he holds up the remote, "is a creation of my own, a spin off on the house arrest bracelet you could say. The shock Samantha received was the lowest setting. As soon as you are released to your wing of the house though, the power will be on max. That shock will last 10 minutes but will render whoever is shocked unconscious for hours and feel the effects for days. Once activated on the normal setting, Samantha here will only be allowed a certain area to wander in, but on top of that, it is linked to this one." He picks up the smaller bracelet. "This one will be attached to you Daniel. This one also works like hers in the sense you can move only in a certain area, but it also senses if you use your ghost powers or try to tamper with the devices. Your box offers no consequences, simply detects. However, if you set off your box, Sam's bracelet will send a shock to her. Same to if she violates any of the perimeters. On top of that though, there are wires that go through the leather of each bracelet. If any of those wires are split from attempting to cut the bracelet off, the one with the bracelet still in tack will be shocked. And don't think you can be quick enough to tamper with both at the same time; there is no delay between the signals." Vlad looks at the unexpected member of the team. "Tucker is it? Don't worry my boy, you'll have a bracelet too. It will act just like Sam's and if you violate any of the rules I just set, the other two will be shocked."
The plot Danny had been concocting shatters.
"You three are stuck here until the deed is done. As soon as Samantha is pregnant with Daniel's child, you all will be free to go. On the day of the birth, I will claim the child."
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
Tucker plops down on the leather couch. Ignoring the circumstances, he would have felt as though he were on vacation. The living room has a black leather wrap-around couch in one corner with a 52" flat screen against one of the walls it faces. Beneath it is a black oak media console with a blue-ray player, every gaming system known and the system for the surround sound. The other half of the couch faces a wall covered in movie posters ranging from Star Wars to Friday the 13th. The wall also had the archway to the kitchen. A full chef's kitchen is traced with grey granite and dark cabinets. There are 2 refrigerators. One is dedicated to Sam, filled with nothing but organic fruits, vegetables, tofu and juice. The other holds enough meat to feed a small army, or in Tucker's case, about a week. A panel next to the microwave slides open every Wednesday and Sunday to deliver new groceries. Between him and Sam they had been managing to make it. Sam had known how to cook because she ended up making her meals because her parents "didn't understand her lifestyle". Danny had been useless, his extent of cooking skills were bowls of cereal, instant noodles, and pop tarts.
Attached to the TV room is an alcove for a game room. There is a pool table, ping pong table, even a few old school arcade games including Pac Man, on which Tucker still held the high score. A door to an indoor pool is inside the alcove as well.
There are two bedrooms. The door to one is near the TV. That one was obviously meant for Sam and Danny. In the middle of the back wall is a king sized bed with red silk sheets. The décor had obviously been selected to cater to their tastes. Black candles, a shelf full of poems from authors such as Edgar Allen Poe, and a few posters of heavy rock groups show Sam's tastes while models of spaceships and satellites hang from the ceiling for Danny's tastes. Tucker's room was simple; obviously he had never been planned on seeing as it was initially an office. The simple white décor with full sized bed with red bedding and a desk with a lightning fast processor though, made everything fine. One wall is covered in books. Tucker hadn't touched them, but Sam had pulled a few to read.
They all share a bathroom attatched to Sam and Danny's room. It really was a nice bathroom. Stone floors, Jacuzzi tub, rainforest shower and a sound system in the walls to listen to music, it made getting clean seem like a trip to the spa.
To Tucker, yes, staying here was like being on vacation, to the rest, hell.
Tucker spent his time playing on the computer, keeping his distance from Sam and Danny. They had only been here for four days, but in those days, the three of them had spoken maybe 20 words to each other. All felt intense awkwardness and had no idea what to say to each other for once. Today, Tucker had decided to break that and begin the conversation.
Tucker pokes the foot sticking out from under the blue blanket. Danny yanks it back under and groans. He had been sleeping on the couch since they got there while Sam slept in the bedroom.
"Dude, wake up, we need to talk…" Tucker says in a hushed tone. He wanted to talk to Danny before Sam and as privately as possible in such close quarters.
Danny sits up and rubs his eyes. His black hair is a shaggy mess and his shirt a wrinkled mess. Vlad had provided clothes for them on the second day they were here, sending six bags worth of socks, underwear, jeans and t-shirts for all three. In the bottom of one bag though was a black silk nightgown clearly intended for Sam.
She shredded it as soon as she found it.
"Yeah Tuck?" Danny mumbles out.
Tucker sighs, readying himself for his speech. "Look dude, I'm not happy about being here either, but we need to at least talk to each other. We're still buds and we'll figure out something."
"There isn't anything." Danny deadpans, now wide awake. "I've been thinking for four days straight. I can't use my powers, try to short-circuit the bracelets, or even move past the perimeter without Sam and you getting hurt. I thought about everything from just making us intangible and flying us out, but those bracelets will turn intangible too and hurt you guys. There are wires in the leather so I can't cut them off. Sam wont let me cut her's off so she can escape because we'll get hurt and no one is going to find us. We're in a modified tornado shelter with a foot of concrete for walls and the door for it is under a rug under a table. Face it Tuck, we're stuck here." Danny's eyes hadn't moved from glaring holes into the blanket in his lap.
Tucker winces. "Then the only thing left to do is give him what he wants."
"Hell. No."
"Dude, you have no choice. Unless you want to die here that's going to have to happen."
"You don't understand."
"Try me! Look, I don't want that to happen either and I know it'll be hard to give up the kid-"
"It's not only that…" Danny interrupts.
Tucker waits patiently for him to continue.
This time Danny sighs before talking. "I can't do…that…to her." Every word drips in despair.
"What do you mean? Dude, I know you're madly in love with her."
"H-how did you know?" Danny looks at Tucker with wide eyes.
Tucker gives him a look. "Look man, every time you smile at her it's a little wider then what you give to others. Every time you guys touch, you blush. And every time you get to hold her, like in battle, you take just a couple extra seconds before letting go. Stuff like that makes it obvious."
"Fine so I admit I….love her." Danny's cheeks darken at that.
"So why is being with her so bad? I mean, if you love her, there's no way you haven't thought about sleeping with her."
Danny's blush darkens further. "N-no…but that's not it either…" Tucker gives a gesture for him to continue. "It's that…what if she doesn't feel the same way? It could ruin our friendsh-" Tucker smacks Danny upside the head. "WHAT THE HELL TUCKER?"
"DUDE, she's crazy about you too, how oblivious are you guys?"
Danny gives Tucker another glare. "That's only a small portion of it anyways. Vlad wants' me to get her PREGNANT. Sleeping with her until that happens wont be what she deserves, it wont be magical, romantic or anything she would want, just…dirty…" Danny shudders. "How can I make her go through that? Especially everything once it….happens. That's 9 months to go through. 9 months of watching her body change, feeling the baby movie…I know It'll be hard on me just watching, but to her…"
"She'll want to keep it, I'm sure…" Tucker mumbles.
"That's just it though! I'd want to keep it too!" Danny runs a hand through his hair.
"But you don't have a choice…"
"I know…but just don't say anything to Sam about all this, I want her to talk to me first, I don't want to push her into anything."
"You don't have to…" Comes a timid voice from the doorway.
Danny and Tucker jerk their heads up. Danny's eyes widen and his cheeks darken.
"H-how much did you hear?"
"Probably the second half of your rant about all the ways to possibly get out up till now. I was on my way to the bathroom when I heard you guys talking." Sam's right hand is holding onto her left elbow in a protective gesture.
"I'll leave to let you guys talk." Tucker get's up and walks to his room. He closes the door and immediately puts an ear to it.
Sam watches Tucker slip into his room before turning to Danny. He's still looking at her with wide eyes and a deep blush.
"Y-you heard what I said?" He stutters.
"Yeah…" Sam looks away with a blush.
Danny get's up and walks up to her. He lifts his arms a little, like he wants' to hug her but soon drops him. To his surprise, Sam immediately grabs him. Her arms wrap around his waist and her face is buried into his shoulder. He feels her shoulders shake a little and his shirt feels damp. Danny immediately holds onto her with all his might, afraid that the moment isn't real.
"I'm sorry Sam…I'm so sorry…" Danny can feel tears weld up in his own eyes. All the anger he had felt, all the hopelessness all coming out at once. 'How could this be happening to us?'
Author's Note: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Let me know please! A big thank you to everyone who reviewed chapter one, it made me feel so good knowing some people like where this is going :D Please review, not just put the story on watch or favorites!
Thanks! Love, MiLou