Ember Strikes Back

The punk/rock ghost girl continued to avoid the gunfire from the other 2 terrorists while shooting back with her own gun and Ectoplasm blasts, while being careful not to use them too much, as while she still could, it tired her out. But as she concentrated on the other 2, Karl slowly walked up to them from another direction until Ember backed up into a corner for cover. "Christ!" She said before she reloaded her gun.

She then saw a ventilation system and shot the lock to it off before quickly heading into it. But when Ember saw a spinning fan blocking her way, she concentrated very hard, slowly turning herself intangible and going through the fan despite it being very tiring, as she could not keep it up for more than a few minutes at best. And as she got past the fan, she turned tangible again and held her body for a few seconds before getting to the ladder and climbing down as Karl and the other 2 caught up to her, shooting at her but going the long way because of the fan.

When Ember got down the ladder and opened the next door, she saw that she was back where the dirty poster she'd burned was. "Hope Takagi fired the nasty asshole who put that damn thing in here." She said before going through the door she came from earlier and closing it. But she saw that the elevator was gone. "Shit! She cursed before seeing a grate and breaking it down with her gun before getting an idea and jamming her gun in the corners of the shaft, using its slag to climb down.

Meanwhile

Karl and the other 2 saw where they were and as he informed Vlad through the radio. "She's in the elevator shaft."

"Excellent. The elevators are locked off. The girl can't escape. Just seal her in there and come back down." Vlad ordered them, but Karl wasn't listening, as he was beginning to become obsessed with killing the girl who killed his brother. "Karl, the police are already on their way. Karl. I can stall them, but not if they hear gunshots! Karl!" Vlad told them, only for Karl to turn off the radio and keep moving forward to find the girl.

Back with Ember

The rock/punk ghost girl was getting in the shaft, using the slag as an anchor before she saw a small opening and tried to grab it. But the slag slipped off, making her fall. "Oh, fuck!" She cursed before she quickly grabbed an opening to prevent falling further before she crawled up into the small opening until she was inside. She then used her hair to see in front of her, making her a bit annoyed and frustrated. "Come out to the coast. We'll get together, have a few laughs." Before crawling forward, but was unknowingly seen by Karl. "So, this is what I flew 3,000 miles for? Running through an elevator shaft and crawling through tiny spaces running and getting into gun fights with terrorists? This is… bullshit. I should've been home with Danny and his parents by now… giving him a very early and sexy Christmas present. But that fuckin' junkie comes here and ruins it for me and him. Ohh…he'd better fuckin' pray that shit kills him 1st before I do."

And as she moved further, Ember saw a grate before seeing gunshots enter the shaft, making her slowly and quietly prepare her baretta and another Ectoplasm blast as Karl was pushing the shaft with his machine gun…before another man spoke to him in German, making him reluctantly follow them and making Ember sigh in relief.

And as she got out through the grate, Ember saw that she was back on the floor that Takagi was killed before going inside the room, seeing his blood on the glass door and the floor nearby, making her sad at the loss of a good man. But then, it was Danny's and his parents' loss, as well as his wife and 5 children, despite having just met him. "Ohhh…I swear I'm gonna bring that cocksuckin' junkie down to avenge Takagi. I was actually beginning to like him, and after seeing how kind he was to Danny, his folks and even me, he deserves nothing less." She vowed.

But as she mourned the good man, she also remembered the day that he 1st came to Danny's house and made them the offer that changed the Fenton family's lives forever.

Flashback, 4 years ago

Several days had passed since Jack and Maddie had used the Fenton Ghost-Eraser in their attempt to 'cure' Danny of the amount of Ectoplasm energy in his DNA which gave him ghost powers. But all the while, the ghost-rocker Ember, who now got stranded in the mortal world after Danny got helped, was slowly recovering from what happened to her along with every single ghost in the Ghost-Zone.

Ember, laying on Danny's bed. Despite being the very first ghost that Jack and Maddie had ever encountered after their years of researching all about ghosts and what they were capable of, it seemed that after Danny's accident and very painful process to get the ghost-powers out of his system had somehow made them less enthusiastic to take this opportunity to study Ember or do some tests on her.

Ember slowly opened her eyes, seeing Danny sitting next to her. "How are you feeling?" Danny asked, concerned.

Ember groaned while rubbing her head. "Feels like I'm having a bad fucking hangover." And as she tried to sit on the bed, she wasn't fully recovered yet. She then glanced at him and said. "Hey, uhm... I haven't yet... thanked you for saving me from being fried by your crazy parents."

Danny formed a little smile. "You're welcome. But, honestly... when you were weak and seemingly hurt when you came from the Fenton Portal after my..." Then he glanced at his hands, feeling himself indeed being weakened a bit after the whole procedure to get him cured. "...you know. I just couldn't let you leave like that."

Ember gave a small chuckle. "Though you're sounding like a little dork for being 'goody 2 shoes'... thanks." But then she wondered. "So... you got your powers after having an accident when opening the portal to the Ghost-Zone, but now you've suddenly decided not to have them? Why?"

Danny sighed as he stated. "I didn't know what went through my mind when I suddenly decided to go for it. I guess... I was scared that I didn't have any control over my powers, that the whole world would see what I'd become, and that maybe the government was going to use me as a test-subject or a weapon for the military for power, greed, or just general insanity. I just... want a normal life."

Ember rolled her eyes. "What's normal to you, anyway? You think my life was 'normal' before I became a ghost?"

Hearing that from Ember, surprised Danny a bit, as it confirmed what ghosts truly were: People who were once alive but their souls somehow got stuck in the Ghost-Zone and became ghosts themselves. "So, ghosts truly are, or at least 'were' people that once lived as a human but passed away?"

Though Danny sounded a bit dumb, which annoyed Ember, she felt somehow that he was the only one who she could talk to, feeling he was the only one trying to understand her more than the others, especially that goth girl named Sam. "Yeah, most of us are. About the other ghosts that have probably been in the Ghost-Zone for God knows how long... I don't know, probably ever since the dawn of the beginning of time." Then she asked him. "So, did that little invention from your parents work?"

Danny shrugged. "I don't know. I do feel a bit better, but... not entirely."

Then, there was a knock on the door before the door was slowly opened, revealing to be Maddie, who was showing a bit of a sad face while holding a file with numerous calculations and test results.

"Mom?" Danny wondered. "What's wrong?"

Maddie sighed and came in. "Danny, uhm..." As she looked at the results, before glancing at Ember. "You... don't have to be here if you don't want to, Ember."

But Ember shook her head. "No, it's fine, Mrs. Fenton. Whatever you gotta say to Danny, it's okay."

Maddie gave a small nod. "Alright, then." Before she sat at a different chair and told her son. "Danny, I think you should sit down."

Danny sat on the bed, but was concerned. "What's going on? Didn't the Fenton Ghost-Eraser work?"

Maddie shook her head. "No, it's not that. Of course it worked, but only... partly."

"Partly? What do you mean?" Danny asked with some shock.

Maddie again sighed and said. "Though the Fenton Ghost-Eraser did work, it didn't give the results despite the high chances to cure you, Danny. What I mean is... is that the invention had only... severed your powers. It got most of the Ectoplasmic energy out of your DNA... but not all of it."

This shocked Danny greatly. "You mean... I'm still a half-ghost?!"

"For a small part... yes. I'm sorry, Danny..." Maddie said with sadness, that despite her and Jack's best efforts, they couldn't fully cure their son of what they'd accidentally done to him.

Ember felt bad for Danny. 'Poor guy.'

Danny looked away, before saying with some determined look on his face. "Well, we'll just have to try it again! We can-"

"No!" Maddie immediately said, before telling him calmly while trying to hold back her tears. "If your father and I do it again, you won't survive the next procedure."

Danny sat back on his bed. "So... I'm gonna be this way... for the rest of my life?"

Maddie placed her hands on his shoulders. "Not like before. You can still... live a normal life, with only your powers greatly severed. It'll be like... you won't even tell the difference from before the accident, till now."

But then Danny asked, as he could tell that his mother wasn't telling the whole story and that the file was bigger than he thought. "Then what about Ember?"

Maddie paused. "What about her?"

Ember nodded and demanded "Yes, am I going to be alright? I mean... I feel shitty for days, and I don't feel the same anymore."

Danny added. "I've seen you and Dad in the lab not only testing my blood, but Ember's too."

Seeing she couldn't hold the truth from them, Maddie sat back and told Ember. "Yes... it's true, Ember. While me and my husband were checking Danny's blood, we too had taken a sample of your ecto-blood to see why you were powerless and weak when entering our world after helping Danny."

Ember didn't like to hear that they'd taken some of her blood without her concern, but listened while Maddie told further. "What Me and Jack found out is that... we'd found that your ectoplasmic energy in your DNA was not erased, but rather... weakened."

"Weakened? What the hell does that supposed to mean?"

Maddie showed the results of Ember, including Danny's showing that most data on it were nearly the same. "Like Danny... your powers are also... severed."

Ember almost jumped out of Danny's bed. "WHAT?!" Before she grabbed the results and looked at them. Most of the stuff she couldn't understand as it was like all 'nerd-talk' to her, but clearly enough for her to see that it was true and her powers were possibly also very severed as a result of using the Fenton Ghost-Eraser on Danny, which had also affected Ember as the shockwave was send into the ghost portal. Ember threw away the papers and tried to go fly by jumping high, but she fell hard back on the floor!

Worriedly, Danny ran to her. "Ember!"

But as he wanted to help, Ember pushed him aside. "No! This can't be happening!" Before she tried to fire a ghost-ray out of her frustration and anger, but only fired a small ray. "NO!" Then she reached for her guitar, putting it into shockwave-attack mode, but as she hit the strings hard, only a loud music sound came, but no shockwave...! Ember ran out of the room.

"Ember, wait!" Danny called while going after her, with Maddie running after her too.

Ember hit the wall. "No... I can't...! NO!" Then she ran to the stairs, jumping high, attempting to fly, but she again fell backwards, falling down the stairs, hurting her!

Jazz, who was at the dining table, gasped in shock. "Ember!"

Ember tried to get up, but was feeling even weaker as she couldn't use her powers the same way anymore. "NOOO!" She shouted before she began to cry as she dropped herself on the floor.

Danny ran down the stairs, sitting close to Ember, embracing her as she cried her tears out. "If you need anything at all, Ember, we're here for you. I promise."

Over the past week, Ember tried to get back to her old self, but nothing was the same anymore with her powers severely weakened and only weakened her more by using it too much. "Fuck! No matter what I try, I can barely use any of my powers anymore!" She yelled in frustration.

Danny too wasn't feeling the same anymore, but was there to comfort Ember and telling her. "I know you're hurting, Ember, probably more than you ever have before, but I promise that, however I can, I'll try to make up for what's happened to you. I'll even try to help you settle in this world, like how you were when you were alive. Maybe not as your life was before but probably closer to it, or maybe even better."

This came unexpectedly to Ember, but it warmed her heart. "Thanks…Danny." She said before leaning on his shoulder, making him smile before he embraced her.

But when Sam and Tucker visit Danny, they showed mixed feelings that Danny wanted to help Ember, now that she clearly couldn't go back to the Ghost-Zone and now basically had to live as a normal human despite being a ghost.

"Well, Ember obviously can't go back and she really doesn't wanna live out her afterlife as a prisoner in this house, so, we should at least make her feel at home and try to help make a life here." Tucker said, as he understood the need to help Ember make a life for yourself in the world.

But Sam was of course against this, thinking that Ember would never fit in the real world. "Oh, come on, Tucker, she is a ghost! There's no way she can fit in the real world anymore."

Ember didn't take that kind of answer well, and even threatened Sam. "Hey, you goth hippie! Despite the fact that my powers are severed, I really don't need them to kick your ass!"

"Oh, yeah? Try it, flame hair and see how far you can get!" Sam challenged, making Ember get into her face, about to test that.

But thankfully, Danny and Tucker managed to deescalate the situation before it became physical by separating the 2 girls. "Whoa, easy there, Ember. I know you're a big tough girl but right now, you can't get into fights in your condition."

"And besides, violence ain't gonna get us nowhere. Let's just have some sodas or something and we can talk about what to do." Tucker added after his best friend while Sam back.

Ember and Sam glared at each other before reluctantly sighing and calming down. "Fine. But tell this hippie she'd better watch herself around me."

"I was gonna say the same thing, Ember McLame." Sam countered.

An hour later, after they'd bought some soda's, which cooled things down a bit between Ember and Sam, though both were still glaring hostile at each other, Danny tried to see how they could help Ember settle down in the human world. Since Ember is shown to be a talented singer and a great guitar player, she has always dreamed of becoming a rockstar one day. Sam of course was skeptical about it as she thought humans wouldn't be that stupid to listen to some songs from a ghost from another dimension, but remained quiet for Danny's sake, but wouldn't bother to roll her eyes.

Walking in the park, Danny said with a smile. "I think that could be a great idea, Ember. You indeed have an amazing singing voice."

That made Ember blush. "Thanks, Danny." But then wondered with a suspicious raised eyebrow. "But, how do you know that I have an amazing singing voice? I don't remember ever singing for you."

Danny chuckled as he stated. "Well, I... actually heard you singing in the shower last week." He finished with an embarrassing blush, before he quickly ensured. "But I wasn't peeking at you, I swear!"

Tucker formed a sly smirk on his face, thinking that Danny was desperately denying he was peeking at Ember's naked body. "Sure you were, dude. Sure you were."

Danny glared at him. "I didn't!"

Tucker chuckled. "Relax, dude. It's only natural for a boy in the middle of puberty to act like a peeping tom and peek at girls."

"But I wasn't!"

Ember thought it was a bit cute for Danny to react like this, claiming he wasn't peeking at her while taking a shower, seeing he was telling the truth.

Sam then asked Ember with a bit of sarcasm. "And I suppose you can get really famous and afford your own place after writing only 1 song?"

Ember glared at Sam for doubting she was a good singer. But when seeing many people hanging around a bandstand, where some clarinet players were performing, with barely anybody paying attention to the musicians, Ember formed a smirk and got an idea. "You want to see how much of an effect 1 little song of mine has on the public?" She challenged Sam for doubting her. "Check this shit out." Before she ran with her guitar to the bandstand.

"What is she going to do?" Tucker wandered.

Sam rolled her eyes while crossing her arms "Probably embarrass herself, especially since she's as powerless as Danny."

Now Danny began to frown at Sam for saying those mean words, before looking at what Ember was about to do.

"Move it, shitheads!" Ember pushed the clarinet players of the bandstand and yelled after hitting the strings on her guitar hard, which caught everyone's attention. "HELLO AMITY PARK! Are you ready for some REAL music!?" And after hitting more strings, giving a great tune, she began singing her song.

Yeah! Oh!

It was, it was September

Winds blow, the dead leaves fall

To you, I did surrender

Two weeks, you didn't call

Your life goes on without me

My life, a losing game

But you should, you should not doubt me

You will remember my name

Oh, Ember, you will remember

Ember, one thing remains

Oh, Ember, so warm and tender

You will remember my name

Your heart, your heart has rendered

Your walls, now bear the shame.

Like dead trees, in cold December

Nothing but ashes remain

Oh, Ember, you will remember

Ember, one thing remains

Ember, so warm and tender

You will remember my name

Oh, woah, woah!

While Ember had the whole crowd watching her, it was Danny who's attention was most directed at her, as he couldn't believe what a beautiful singing voice she had. It seemed like she had a natural talent for singing and if she ever went pro, there was not a doubt in his mind that she'd be 1 of the music industry's top pop singers for years to come.

Ember's voice even shocked Sam and Tucker, as they realized just how very talented Ember really was, before Sam looked away because of obvious jealousy.

Ember, you will remember

Ember, one thing remains

Ember, so warm and tender

You will remember my name

Yeah! You will remember my name

And after Ember sang the last lyrics, the crowd cheered her name in chants. "Ember! Ember! Ember! Ember! Ember! Ember!"

And even though Ember didn't feel her powers increase with her name being chanted as they would have before, she gave a bow in appreciation before getting off the stage. After passing through the cheering crowd, Ember rejoined Danny, Tucker and Sam, saying with a smirk to Sam. "You were saying?"

Sam didn't say anything, other than crossing her arms and looking away. "Pff! Anyone can think of a song like that."

"Wanna prove me wrong, hippy goth?" Ember challenged her. "Then go ahead. The stage is all yours." Before she gestured to the bandstand, to see if Sam is more talented than her.

Sam looked with surprise. "What?!"

"You said it yourself. 'Anyone can think of a song like that'. So go ahead and let them hear your 'talented voice'."

Sam stood frozen for a moment, before she narrowed her eyes and left. "Urgh! You know what? I just realized that I have a lot of homework to do. See ya."

Ember chuckled. "Yeah, didn't think so."

Tucker then said with such enthusiasm. "Ember! That was... AMAZING!" Before he then told Danny. "Okay, you were definitely right that Ember has an amazing singing voice, 'peeping tom'."

"Oh, leave him be, Tuck." Ember said to him before turning to Danny, who gave her a smile, making her smile too, though she tried to hide a blush.

Later, while walking back to Fenton Works, Tucker then suggested. "You should maybe send your song over to a music studio? I'm sure they'll offer you a music contract in no time."

Ember however said while she shook her head "Nah. I rather prefer to be recognized the old fashioned way. And you know... I have the perfect place in mind, as it has been my ultimate dream to go there."

"To where?" Danny asked.

"New York City." Ember said without a doubt. "As the old phrase of New York says: If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere."

Being a bit worried that she was going to leave so soon. "So, does that mean you'll... leave for New York?"

Ember gave a shrug. "Well, yeah... but not right now." As she then formed a grin on her face. "I think I wanna hang around Amity Park for a little while longer." But then she reminded him. "And besides, your parents' invention technically brought me here and drained most of my powers, so you and the other Fentons kinda own me 1 cause I don't have anywhere else to go."

Danny felt some relief that Ember decided to stay in Amity Park longer, not to mention to stay with them, but then felt a bit of awkwardness that it's because of him and his parents that Ember is now technically homeless. "Yeah... guess you have a point."

But as they had the Fenton residence in sight, all 3 were surprised and confused why so many boxes were placed outside, in front of Fenton Works, with Jack carrying another big box, with in it some of his and his wife's ghost-inventions on the street.

Approaching him, Danny asked. "Hey, Dad. What are you doing? Starting a garage sale?"

Jack however shook his head. "No, son. I'm throwing these things away. And I mean 'everything'." He stated with a mixture of some sadness and determination before going back inside the house.

Danny, Tucker and Ember exchanged a glance before going inside, seeing to their surprise many more boxes filled with inventions, laboratory equipment and spare parts, with Maddie carrying a demolished invention out of the lab basement. But to Danny's bigger surprise, his mother wasn't even wearing her signature blue jumpsuit anymore, but now normal clothes.

"What is going on here?" Danny asked. "It's like we're moving out or something. And why aren't you wearing your blue jumpsuit, Mom?"

Maddie walked over to Danny and told him with a face of regret and some sadness. "Your father and I... We've decided to quit our research on ghosts. For good."

"Wait... what?"

That was when Jazz walked in from the kitchen, holding several of her notebooks or observing her family and their psychology as she was completely shocked and surprised that her parents were finally taking out everything that regards ghosts and stopping their pursuits on capturing ghosts. Though she was supposed to be happy that finally her parents gave up their unhealthy and ridiculous beliefs, she was blown away as all her data showed that her parents would never suddenly give up their dreams of capturing and studying ghosts.

"I just don't understand!" Jazz cried out. "All my research and my observations say that Mom and Dad would NEVER give up their science experiments and beliefs on ghosts!" She looked as if was on the brink of a mental breakdown and dropped all her notebooks.

Maddie sighed, and told Danny. "I know this is a big shock to you..." Then she was almost on the brink of crying again. "But after what happened to you... and what we've caused Ember... and possibly every single ghost..."

Jack, showing a bit of a sad but determined face. "Your mother and I decided to push away our pride... and turn our backs on ghosts." As he held another invention in his hand, which was a Fenton Thermos, before tossing it into another box with 'failed experiments' "Starting... with getting rid of all of this." And though it pained Jack so much to finally give up which he and Maddie have been working on nearly their whole lives, he was willing to make a big change for the better. "Our pursuits on ghosts may have caused some flaws," Jack stated. "but after recent events we knew that we've crossed the line."

Tucker and Ember exchanged a surprised glance.

Danny then asked. "So... this is it, right? You guys are finally putting your inventions and everything about capturing and studying ghosts aside?"

Maddie nodded and hugged her son. "Our family is way more important than ghosts, sweetheart." Then, after breaking the hug, she turned to Ember. "I don't know how long it'll take, but I promise you, Ember, we're gonna do everything in our power to at least help you feel at home now that you're here in the human world again."

Ember formed a small smile, and shared a hug with Maddie, which Maddie returned. "Thanks, Mrs Fenton."

Only seconds later, Maddie shockingly realized. "Can't believe I'm actually hugging a ghost."

Ember gave a small chuckle. "Life is full of surprises. Or... 'afterlife' in my case."

Then Jazz shouted out, throwing away a journal. "But this doesn't make any sense!" Before she called her parents. "You guys are way too obsessed with ghosts to even snap back into reality!"

Maddie tried to calm down her daughter. "Jasmine, I know this is kind of a shock, but-"

"All my work! ALL MY CALCULATIONS AND OBSERVATIONS! If I'm wrong about this, WHO KNOWS WHAT MORE MISTAKES I'VE MADE OVER THE YEARS!" Then she began to pant quickly, like she was on the brink to get a heart attack.

Ember marched over to her, grabbed her by the collar and slapped her face a few times! "JAZZ! Pull yourself together, will ya!" Ember yelled at her.

Jack, Maddie and Danny all looked shocked.

Jazz blinked her eyes, as if her panic attack had suddenly vanished. She rubbed her head. "Whoa... I-I-I I'm sorry. You're right, I... was probably overreacting." Bshe then sat down on the couch. "I think... I need to lay down for a minute."

Tucker was a bit surprised about both Ember's way of knocking some sense into Jazz, but also how obsessed Jazz was with her family's behavior as he glanced at the many filled journals and notebooks. "Geez. And I thought only Danny's parents were obsessed when it came to ghosts." He said while taking one of the journals.

Ember apologized to her as she sat next to her. "Sorry for that, Jazz."

Jazz shook her head. "No, no it's fine... I guess I needed that."

Just then, the doorbell rang. "I wonder who that could be." Jack said while Maddie walked over to the door.

Ember narrowed her eyes as she glared at the door. "I wouldn't be surprised if it's that hippy goth."

But as Maddie opened the door, she was surprised to see it was a Middle-aged Japanese man, wearing a business suit and was accompanied by two other guys wearing a business suit. "Hello. Are you perhaps Mrs. Madelline Fenton?" The Japanese man asked kindly.

Maddie nodded, but formed a suspicious face while crossing her arms. "Yes, I am. And who are you?"

The man offered his hand. "My apologies. My name is Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi, President of Nakatomi Corporation."

While Maddie shook hands with Takagi, Jack marched over to the front door. "And what do you want with my wife?" He asked with a threatening voice.

But Takagi took Jack's hand too and shook it. "Ah, and you must be Mr. Jack Fenton. It's a pleasure to meet you." He then stated. "My apologies once again for the sudden visit, but my assistant tried to call your house, but couldn't reach you every time, which is the reason why I am here now, hoping I would find you."

Maddie and Jack exchanged a raised eyebrow, before Jack asked "And what exactly do you want from us?" But then glanced at the boxes of his and his wife's ghost inventions. "If it's about many of our failed ghost experiments, I suppose we could give you a fair price for the stuff."

Takagi, however, chuckled. "Oh, no, no, no. I didn't come here for your inventions. I came here to make you a different kind of proposal."

Maddie thought this was kind of strange. "What kind of proposal?"

"Something that would be extraordinary for both you and the rest of the world." Takagi explained.

Again, Jack and Maddie exchanged a glance.

"May I come in?" Takagi asked. "It would be better to explain my proposal inside than standing here at your front door."

Though both doubted, they allowed him inside. "Uhm... sure. Come in, Mr. Takagi." Maddie said.

Takagi assured them. "Oh, please, you can just call me Joe. That's what my friends call me."

Jazz asked him as she stood up from the couch and walked over to him, while Takagi's assistants came inside too. "Wait, wait, wait. You're THE Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi? President of the biggest research development and trading companies in America?"

Takagi chuckled. "The one and only, Miss Fenton."

Maddie then told her children. "Uhm... why don't you kids go out or something while me and your father go and talk with Takagi?" Before she then followed her husband together with Takagi and his assistants to the dining room.

Tucker was baffled by what had happened. "Well this certainly takes the cake." He told Danny. "First your folks stop with ghost hunting and throw away all their inventions and stuff, and suddenly this Japanese bigshot stands in your house."

Danny too was baffled by this, but seeing that they could be doing something else while his parents go and have this sudden appearing to be business meeting with Mr. Takagi, he asked. "Maybe... we could go and catch a movie?"

Ember gave a shrug "Sure." But then stated while they walked to the door. "But only if you're paying, dipstick. Cause I'm kind of broke, as we don't use money back in the Ghost-Zone."

Danny shrugged. "Sure, no problem."

And as they got to the movie theater a while later and went inside to find a good movie to watch, Danny saw that the supernatural action movie Van Helsing was out and was free to view. "Hey! Van Helsing's out and it's free to watch. Wanna give that a try?"

Ember eyed the movie poster and shrugged. "Well, it looks good enough to interest me. So, I'll give it a go."

"Great! Let's go buy some popcorn and sodas. Perfect food for every theater movie." Tucker said eagerly before they went to the concession stand and bought 3 bowls of popcorn and for Danny, he had a Pepsi. For Tucker, it was Dr Pepper, and for Ember, she got a regular coke.

Once their snacks were ready, they went inside the theater that was playing Van Helsing and found seats that were close enough to see the movie but far enough to not attract any attention to Ember.

Apparently, the movie's plot revolved around famed monster slayer Gabriel Van Helsing, played by Hugh Jackman, being dispatched to Transylvania to assist the last of the Valerious bloodline in defeating Count Dracula, played by Richard Roxburgh. And a woman named Anna Valerious, the last descendant of an ancient Romanian family, played by Kate Beckinsale, revealed to him that Dracula had formed an unholy alliance with Dr. Frankenstein's monster, played by Shuler Hensley, was hell-bent on exacting a centuries-old curse on her family. And together, Anna and Van Helsing set out to destroy their common enemy, but uncovered some unsettling secrets along the way.

During the movie, while all 3 enjoyed it, and their snacks, even Ember, the ghost rock girl and Danny suddenly held hands, which made them blush. "Oh, you…don't mind, do you?"

Ember smiled. "Not at all, dipstick."

And after the 2 hour and 11 minute long movie, Ember told Danny as they walked out of the theater. "Well, I really enjoyed the movie."

"You did, Ember?" Danny asked with a smile.

"Yeah. It was great. A lot better than the movies I watched when I was alive." Ember answered, as she was amazed with how far TV and movies hnd advanced since her time decades ago.

"And there's so many other movies from the 80s and 90s we think you'll really enjoy. Trust me, I think you'll love 'em, Ember." Tucker added with eagerness to show Ember a few modern things she may like.

But suddenly, Dash and his friends suddenly appeared, with bad intentions for Danny and Tucker in mind. "Well, well, well, if it ain't the nerd duo." He said, trying to pick on Danny and Tucker again.

But Danny tried to tell him. "Back off, Dash. We are so not in the mood for you today."

But Dash just shoved Tucker aside and walked up to Danny threateningly. "What's that, Fen-toad?" He asked while insulting him and grabbing him by the shirt.

But Ember, not a really big fan of bullies, having been a bully victim when she was human, quickly stepped up to defend Danny. "You heard him, shitface! Get lost!"

Dash looked at Ember and, due to his jockey nature, became smitten with Ember as he let go of Danny and walked up to her. "Well, hello, beautiful." He flirted. "And how'd you get all that makeup on you? You a goth girl like Sam, or just doing your own thing? Cause if so, how about you ditch these losers and hang out with me and my buddies, and we'll really show you a great time?" He asked while eyeing her breasts, poking her left 1 with his finger.

But Ember, angry at being touched like that, as well as him bullying Danny, in an act of fast reflexes, spinned around and kicked him right in his nuts. "FUCKING PERVERTED COCKSUCKER!"

"OOWWWW…MY NUTS!" Dash screamed like a little girl as he fell on his right side while holding his private area.

Ember walked up to him and kicked him in the nuts again, making him squeal like a little girl before warning him. "Fuckballs! You ever touch me like that again, or ever try to pick on my friends again with your brainless little goins, I'm gonna do a hell of a lot worse than kill your offspring, so to speak! So here's some advice to you: stay the hell away from Danny and Tucker, or you're gonna be the 1 who'll be the laughing stock around the town school."

Danny and Tucker were shocked and surprised that Ember was a lot tougher than she looked to actually do that to Dash. "Whoa. Ember." They said together as Danny got up.

Ember walked up to them and said to her new friends. "Let's get outta here and leave Fuckballs here to piss out blood, shall we?"

Danny was eager to do that. "You don't need to tell us twice, Ember."

"Ya got that right." Tucker said eagerly before the 3 walked away from the area, leaving a weeping Dash and his shocked bully buddies behind.

Not long after, once they'd left the movie theater, Tucker decided to leave Danny and Ember and go home. "See you guys later."

"Bye Tuck." Danny said as his friend went into another street, heading home.

While Danny and Ember walked together back to Fenton Works, Danny told her. "That was actually really cool that you put Dash in his place." But then he felt a bit of worry. "but he's probably gonna kick my ass the next time he sees me again at school."

Ember elbowed him. "C'mon now, Dipstick! You're seriously just gonna allow him to bully you and beat you and Tucker up whenever that brainless jonk's got a chance?"

Danny sighed. "I know I shouldn't allow him or anyone to bully me. But whenever I try to stand up for myself, Dash always manages to beat me up and humiliate me. What's worse; because he's captain of the school's football team and football star, he and his friends are favorites of the teachers, they're been barely been dealt with or barely or never being punished for their crimes for whatever he does to me, Tucker or anyone at school they see as an easy prey."

Ember frowned after hearing this. "So, you just let him beat you up and not do anything about it?" She groaned while rolling her eyes. "If you start giving up standing up to yourself, despite the fact that he's seemingly protected by some teachers, he and others are gonna bully you for the rest of your life." She then sighed while she stopped and looked away, feeling uncomfortable to talk about it. "I know... Because I too was being bullied when I was still alive, and never having any friends."

Danny held her shoulder. "I... I'm sorry. I didn't know that."

Just then, Dash appeared, looking furious. "FENTOOOOON!" Danny and Ember looked, seeing Dash marching over to them. "I'm not done with you yet!"

Ember frowned to see that Dash doesn't know when to quit. "Oh, you ready for round 2, shithead?"

But before Ember stepped forward, Danny stopped her. "No." He glared at Dash, saying determined. "I'll handle this."

Ember was surprised to see this sudden chance, like Danny was ready to beat Dash up, even though the odds were against him. She wanted to say that she wasn't gonna let him be 'slaughtered' by him, but strangely... Danny's holding Ember back was stronger and his eyes glowed green for a short moment. Remembering that Danny's ghost powers were only severed, Ember gave him a nod, seeing if her theory was correct, and Danny maybe still had some ghost power strength left in him.

Danny marched over to Dash, standing right in front of him. "Even after being kicked in the balls and being humiliated by a girl, you just don't know when to quit, huh?"

Dash formed a smirk. "And what are you gonna do about it, loser? You know you don't stand a chance against me. Or have you forgotten how many times I beat you up whenever you tried?" He mocked him as anytime he tried to fight back, he was beaten back harder or being punished by the teachers back at school while he walked out free.

Danny then told him very seriously. "I think... You owe my girl an apology, Dash."

Ember gave a small gasp when Danny called her 'his girl', but formed a small blush.

Dash chuckled, finding it funny that Danny challenged him to force him to apologize. "Oh yeah?" Danny gave a nod while he frowned angrily at Dash. He leaned closer to Danny with a smirking face. "Why don't you... make me, Fentoast?"

Danny tightened his right fist, while a small green spark came from it.

And in a second, Danny suddenly delivered a fierce right uppercut against Dash's jaw, sending him flying backwards before hitting the ground!

Danny was surprised how powerful his punch was, never thinking it would actually work. "Wow. I honestly didn't think that was gonna work."

Ember too was surprised, but formed an impressed smile.

Dash, shocked that he was just beaten hard by Danny, tasted blood in mouth, and shockingly felt that he was missing 3 teeth "My... my teeth!" As he saw 3 of his teeth on the ground. This made his blood boil and stood up. "Fenton... YOU'RE DEAAAAD!" And this time, Dash wasn't gonna teach Danny a lesson of 'respect', this time he was ready to beat him into a coma. "AAAAARGH!" He yelled as he launched at Danny and tried to deliver a series of punches, but surprisingly, Danny avoided all his attacks before Danny delivered another punch, hitting Dash right in the stomach, hurting him greatly!

Dash held his belly with both hands, feeling an enormous pain as Danny had hit him so hard it felt his organs had turned upside down. "Uuuuuugh...! Aaaahh...!" He yelled in pain as he fell on his knees and even vomited. "Bleeeeergh!" he coughed, feeling too weak to stand up as the pain in his stomach hurt him badly "How... how did-"

Danny then kicked his face hard, sending Dash flying backwards!

Dash groaned as he was in so much pain, as he now had a black eye, a big bruise on his face and his nose was broken. "My eye… my nose, and… my beautiful face!"

Danny grabbed him by his hair and lifted him up, looking angrily at him, repeating what he'd just said very seriously. "Like I said, Dash. You owe my girl an apology!" Then he held him up, making him face Ember. "Well?"

Dash coughed a bit of blood, before trying to say as he looked at Ember. "I'm... sorry..."

"Sorry for what?" Danny asked again very seriously.

"I'm sorry for... poking you where I wasn't... supposed to touch you... I'm sorry for... picking on your friends..."

Ember gave a shrug while she smirked. "Apology accepted."

Dash then begged Danny. "Please... just let me go... I won't... bother you or your friends again... I swear, I won't... just... just don't hurt me... ple-e-ease..." He began crying like a baby.

However, Danny still looked at him seriously and said to him something he wouldn't forget. "Remember this night, Dash Baxter. Remember this night for the rest of your days, and that you'll remember this little advice I give you now; No matter what you will do with your life, no matter how many people you try to press under your boot, you will always be garbage."

Danny then threw Dash against several trash cans, leaving Dash there near-unconscious. Danny sighed while he gave a relieving smile that he'd finally put Dash Baxter in his place after so long.

Ember gave him a hug. "I'm so proud of you...!"

Danny smiled back as he and Ember walked away further. Along the way, Danny chuckled as he told Ember. "You know, in the end, Sam was wrong."

"About what?" Ember asked, though narrowed her eyes when he mentioned his goth-hippy friend.

"Vengeance DOES feel good…sometimes." Danny said, before giving a shrug. "Too bad Tucker wasn't there to see it. He would've made sure he got the whole event recorded on his PDA."

"Maybe." Ember gave a shrug.

When they entered Fenton Works, they saw Jack and Maddie sitting in the living room, drinking tea while they smiled. Mr. Takagi and his assistants were gone. "I think the kids will love to hear it." Jack told his wife, with Maddie giving a nod.

"Hear what?" Danny asked his parents as he and Ember joined them.

"Ah, there you are Danny." Maddie said. "Having enjoyed yourself?"

Danny nodded. "Yeah, me and Ember decided to go an see a movie together with Tucker." he then asked "So, what was this 'thing' you had going on with Joe Takagi?"

Jack put his tea down. "Well, now that you're finally home." He called Jazz to come down. "Jazz! Can you come down here for a sec?"

Jazz came down after a minute and sat down. "What is it? Is it about you guys are gonna sell your 'ghost-hunting' company to Mr. Takagi?" Jazz theorized.

Maddie, raising with a big smile, said. "Even better!"

Jack then stated. "In fact, Joe Takagi was here with such an amazing offer, that your mother and I couldn't refuse as to how much it would help both our research and possibly the world!"

Danny and Jazz exchanged a surprised and confused look "What do you guys mean?" Danny asked.

Ember was just standing there and listening, being curious to what Danny's parents had to say.

Jack put out a 'Fenton-laptop' and pressed a button, which turned on the screen "Let me tell you." The monitor showed a satellite image of Amity Park, with a dot in the middle, showing where Fenton Works was. "The moment when used the Fenton Eraser to help Danny with his ghost powers, and had sent that blastwave into the Ghost-Zone." The last part came awkwardly as what it did to Ember and the other ghosts, before forming a smile again as he continued. "The same blastwave had actually sent out so much energy combined with the powersurge from the Ghost-Zone, had resulted in nearly a quarter of Amity Park being out of power." Then the monitor showed how much of Amity Park went into darkness after using the Fenton-Eraser.

Jazz gave a shrug. "Yeah, several other of your and Mom's inventions cause blackouts across Amity Park." She said while narrowing her eyes, remembering how many complaints their family received whenever an invention of theirs caused many people to lose power the whole day, sometimes days. "But what has that to do with anything?"

Jack pressed another button, showing the data of how much energy the Fenton-Eraser, combined with Ecto-energy from the Ghost-Zone had produced. "Mr. Takagi showed us that the enormous energy we'd accidentally produced was enough power to at least power up 100 cities the size of Amity Park, which unfortunately caused a short circuit across town as none of our machines and electronics are able to handle such power."

Danny nodded. "Which is a lot I'm guessing."

Maddie showed with a smile. "If it was hooked up to a normal powerplant like that, it could've provided half of the Eastern Seaboard with power for a whole day. Do you get it, Danny? It's an energy source. A whole new kind of energy source that your father and I had accidentally discovered while we were trying to help you, and as how our data showed, including that of Takagi's, this new 'Ecto-energy' is far more safer for the environment and dozens of times stronger than nuclear-power."

Danny was amazed after hearing this. "Are you guys serious?"

Even Jazz was baffled after hearing this. "So... your research on 'hunting ghosts has actually made you guys discover... a whole new kind of energy source?"

Ember showed some interest while looking at the monitor. "Whoa. I never realized that the Ghost-Zone had a secret power source. That would be far safer than nuclear power, and far better for the environment than using all those other power sources that oil companies keep digging out of the earth."

Jack nodded. "That's right! And after Takagi showed us all of this, which caught me and your mother completely by surprise, instead of trying to bribe us to take the plans and data from us, he instead offered us something far better."

"Which is?" Danny asked.

"Mr. Takagi offered us to combine our ghost-science research together with his research development team of Nakatomi Corporation." Maddie explained. "Not to work for him, but that our teams work together, to help the world!"

Danny and Jazz couldn't believe what they were hearing. "So... you're saying that-"

"That's right!" Jack called. "Though it was a hard decision, but seeing how much our hard effort in ghost-hunting and research has brought us, your mother and I have decided that we're taking Mr. Takagi's offer of working together with him and Nakatomi Corporation at their headquarters. So pack your things, people! The Fentons are moving to Los Angeles!"

This however shocked Danny and Jazz, and even Ember. "Wait... we're moving?!" Danny asked.

"Los Angeles?!" Jazz asked, baffled.

But then Maddie assured them. "We're not going to move right now. We've told Takagi that it was best that we move during the summer, so we have all the time to look for a new place to buy and new schools for the both of you, which Takagi has offered to help us with, even financing the whole moving and buying a new house for us."

Danny didn't know what to say. At 1 side he felt he was proud that his parents were offering a big job with a big international company, but at the other side was also feeling a bit sad as moving to Los Angeles meant that he would have to leave his friends Sam and Tucker behind.

Jazz however was standing there frozen, not saying a word, as this whole revelation took a long time to take in.

Ember shook her shoulder. "Jazz? You okay?"

"I... I..." Jazz tried to say, before suddenly tears formed in her eyes and instantly hugged her parents. "Oooh, I'm so sorry!"

Surprised, Maddie and Jack embraced her. "Whoa, whoa, what's wrong? You're sorry for what?" Maddie asked her daughter.

Jazz sobbed. "That I was... giving you so much criticism of how... unhealthy this whole ghost-hunting was... but I never realized that... that..." Before she tried to say that in the end her parents' strange and unhealthy beliefs in ghosts and almost had possibly killed Danny had eventually led to the discovery of something wonderful. "I'm soooo SORRY!" Before she then shook her head. "Never... I'll never look down on anything you guys try to invent or anything! Ever!" As she continued to sob.

Maddie felt teary and embraced her daughter. "Oh, Jazz..."

Danny however sat for a moment, thinking that he was going to leave behind his life here in Amity Park.

Ember, though feeling happy for the Fentons, was feeling worried and a bit sad that this meant she was not gonna see Danny again, just as they'd become so close.

Later that night

Danny couldn't sleep and just rolled in his bed before a knock was on the door, which slowly opened, revealing to be Ember, wearing a nightgown. "Hey. You can't sleep?" She asked.

Danny sighed and sat straight. "No."

Ember sat next to him. "I know this is a lot to take in, but... It could be a good thing, right?" Then she asked with an unsure smile, before looking down sadly.

Danny shoved a bit closer, holding her hand. "Hey... I promise you, before I move to LA, that I'll help you settle down here in the human world. Heck, even help you to move to New York so you can finally live your dream of becoming a famous rockstar."

Ember looked at Danny with a surprised look, before she slowly smiled. "Really?"

Danny nodded. "I promise."

Ember hugged him. "Thank you, Dipstick."

Danny returned the hug. "You're welcome."

Flashback end

But knowing there wasn't any time to remember what happened then. She went to the window and saw a police car driving through the area. "It's about fucking time."

Meanwhile, outside

Sam had arrived with her police car in front of the Nakatomi Tower, driving in front of the entrance. But so far, she didn't see anything unusual. "No signs of disturbance, Dispatch." she said through her radio.

"8-L-30, roger. Possible crank call. Check the area again and confirm." The dispatch said.

Sam groaned with annoyance. "Ugh!" But contacted back the dispatch. "Roger, Dispatch." But as she broke contact, she said with some rising anger."Just what I needed; a fucking crank call on Christmas Eve." But knowing it was her job to double-check, she did as she was trained for.

Back inside

Ember, looking from above, saw the police car just driving in circles around the entrance, making her frown with confusion and anger. "C'mon. Who's driving thqt car, Stevie fucking Wonder?"

Back outside

Sam then noticed the man behind the reception desk, who was one of Vlad's men, Eddie, without her knowledge. She contacted the dispatch with her radio. "I do see a guard inside. I'm gonna go in for a closer look."

"8-L-30, roger. Use caution." Dispatch advised her.

As she parked her police car, Sam mentally thought while stepping out. 'I hope Danny is having a good time.' But thinking about him did sadden her, as they're friendship has been stranded for some years as she just couldn't accept Ember being Danny's friend, thinking she was stealing him away from her. Now, Danny had broken all contact with her, not having said a word to her for almost a year. 'Fuck!' She mentally cursed herself and got angry. 'If Ember fucking McLain just hadn't come to our world and just stayed in the Ghost Zone, then maybe...!' Then she got sad again. '...maybe me and Danny would've been together now.'

Sam approached the entrance. The fake guard Eddie saw her and opened the door, saying with a friendly smile. "Good evening, officer. What can I do for you?"

Sam gave him a nod and stated with a small smile. "Good evening. We've received a sort of message about some disturbance in this building."

Eddie allowed her in as he stated. "We had that false alarm, you know? Ask me, that goddamn computer sent you out on another wild goose chase." Before he sat back at his desk, continuing to watch the football game. "They've been chasing bugs in this system ever since they installed it." He then faked some frustration as the announcer on the football game said that Notre Dame had more points then USC. "Aw, shit! Come on. I got 50 bucks bet on them assholes."

Sam just chuckled and said as a joke. "It really hits hard when your favorite team loses when you need them the most, huh?"

"You tell me."

Meanwhile, on Ember's floor

Ember still didn't see any other cops coming, making her frustrated. "Come on. Come on! Where's the fucking cavalry?"

Then, thinking how to get the cop's attention, she grabbed a nearby chair and attempted to break the strong reinforced window, which was hard, even with her super-human strength. But unfortunately, her attempt to break the window caught the attention of the other German mercenaries.

Back at the ground level, Sam somehow got a bad feeling of what was going on, as she would've expected at least a few other employers of the Nakatomi Corporation to celebrate Christmas at the lobby. So, she asked the fake guard. "Hey, you mind if I take a look around?"

Eddie shook his head while still looking at his small tv-screen. "No, help yourself."

But as Sam was going in further, Eddie glanced at her while holding his machine gun tight in case the female cop would notice and realize that there was something going on.

Meanwhile

Ember was beginning to get annoyed that the window wouldn't break, even with her superhuman strength. "Come on! This fucking–" But then, 1 of them came running in and she quickly dropped the chair and pointed his gun at him. "Freeze, motherfucker! Drop the fuckin' gun!"

"Okay! Don't shoot!" The man begged.

"You have 3 seconds to drop the fucking gun, asshole!" Ember told him.

But then, another man came running in. "Marco, duck!" He said before the 1 named Marco did just that, but Ember quickly shot him multiple times, killing him before diving under the table as Marco began trying to shoot at her from on top of it.

Back in the lobby

Sam looked around, seeing nobody, not knowing that around the corner someone was standing and waited to kill her if she moved further.

But Sam stopped, thinking this all was nothing but a waste of her time "Nah, the hell with this. I should've been home by now and have my little movie-night." Before she then turned and left, wanting to just end her shift and have her own little Christmas celebration at home.

Back with Ember

As the punk/rock ghost girl crawled on her back to avoid the bullets, Marco yelled out. "Aaaaaahh! You are done. No more table. Where are you going, little girl?" He said with delight before reloading his machine gun while advising her. "Next time you have a chance to kill someone, don't ever hesitate."

But before he could shoot again, he was shot multiple times by Ember until he fell down on the table dead as Ember, with a grin on her face, said. "Thanks for the advice, shithead."

Back in the lobby

Sam waved to Eddie. "Sorry for wasting your time."

"No problem at all." Eddie said, hiding a smirk. "Merry Christmas."

Sam gave a shrug while going to the door without looking. "Yeah, Merry Christmas to you too."

Back with Ember

She got up and quickly went back to the window and saw that the cop was leaving peacefully. "OH, FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" Before she ran to Marco's dead body, getting an idea of how to finally get the incompetent LAPD's attention.

Back with Sam

The female goth police officer opened her police car and took her radio. "8-Lincoln-30 to Dispatch."

"8-L-30, go ahead."

"Yeah, it was nothing but a wild goose chase over here at Nakatomi Plaza. Everything here's okay. Over." Before she put her radio down and stepped inside, ignited the ignition and sang a Christmas song, trying to get a little bit back into the Christmas-mood after this waste of time. "But nobody has no place to go... Let it snow, let it-" But suddenly, a body was dropped right in front of her police car, shocking her completely. "HOLY SHIT! JESUS H. CHRIST!" She yelled and raced backwards with speed, just before others began to shoot her with machine guns, with Eddie doing the same, horrifying Sam beyond belief and raced out of the plaza backwards.

Seeing that her plan had worked, Ember called out with a grin. "WELCOME TO THE PARTY, YOU DUMBASS LITTLE SHITFACE!"

Still trying to avoid the bullets while racing fast backwards, Sam called out in shock. "Shit fucking shit shit shit!" While Tucker, still listening to his loud music in the limo and jamming to it, didn't hear anything that was happening. Sam tried to contact her dispatch with the radio, being in total panic. "DISPATCH, DISPATCH! SHOTS FIRED! SHOTS FIRED AT NAKATOMI PLAZA! POLICEMAN UNDER AUTOMATIC RIFLE FIRE AT NAKATOMI! I NEED BACKUP ASSISTANCE NOOOOOOW!" As she kept racing backwards, she crashed her police car out of the plaza! Sam tried to crawl out of the car, bleeding some out of her head while groaning. As she got out of it, she gasped while taking her gun. "Shit...! Fucking shit...!" But as she was still in shock that she was just being shot by lots of machine guns, having barely escaped with her life, her thoughts immediately were on Danny. "Shit...! If that call was real then..." Before she looked up the tower, realizing that Danny and his family were really in trouble. "Oh my God...! Danny!"

Meanwhile, minutes later

Vlad, seeing the police arriving down below, frowned before turning to his associates, ensuring them while forming a grin. "Now, now, all of you, relax. This is a matter of inconvenient timing. That's all. Besides, police action was in the end inevitable." Then he gave a shrug. "And, as it happens, necessary. So let the men and women in uniforms down there have their little charade, and stay calm. This is simply the beginning." He finished with a smirk.

Suddenly, some static was heard on Vlad's radio.

Vlad angrily grabbed the radio and called whoever of his hired men was trying to contact him. "I thought I told all of you I want radio silence until further-"

"Oh, I'm very sorry, Vladdy." It was Ember calling through the radio, mocking him. "I didn't get that message, since probably the guys named Tony and Marco and their buddy down here who knew about it I already shot fuckin' dead. Maybe next time you should put it on the bulletin board. And since I just permanently fucked up your little friends, I thought you, and Karl and Franco might be a little lonely. So I wanted to give ya a call."

Hearing it was the teenage girl who was causing them trouble, Karl demanded. "How does she know so much about-"

Vlad hushed him, wanting to talk to the teenager himself, saying with a fake kindly voice. "Well, that's very kind of you, my dear. I assume you are our mysterious party crasher. You are most troublesome for a little girl."

Meanwhile

Ember chuckled before making a buzzer sound. "Meeeeeh! Sorry, Vlad. Wrong guess. Would you like to go for double jeopardy where the scores can really change?" Ember checked the dead guy's inner pockets, finding an extra pack of cigarettes. "Mmmm. Thanks for the extra smokes, you dead sack of shit."

Vlad then demanded. "Who are you then?"

Ember wasn't going to give her real name to him and just said with a cigarette between her lips. "Just a fly in the ointment, Vlad. A monkey in the wrench. A real pain in the ass. And…a girl you and your bad guy buddies obviously don't know…who you're all FUCKIN' WITH!" Before she chuckled at that last joke." Then she found some C4 explosives in the dead guy's bag, which really caught her attention. "Whoa... fuckin' hell…"

Back on the office

Angry, Vlad turned to Karl and the others. "Check on all the others. Don't use the radio. See if she's lying about Marco, and find out if anyone else is missing." And while Karl and the others left, Vlad contacted Ember again, getting impatient. "Miss 'pain in the ass', are you still there?"

Back with Ember

Ember answered while using her hair to light up her cigarette, taking a drag and blowing out the smoke. "Yeah, I'm still here." Then she mocked him again. "Unless you wanna open the front door for me."

"No, I'm afraid not. But you have me at a loss. You know my name, but who are you?" Before he asked again. "Just another rebellious teenager who's seen too many action movies? Another orphan of a bankrupt culture who thinks she's the female version of John Wayne? Rambo? Marshall Dillon?"

Ember answered. "Never been a fan of action movies, Vladdy. However, if you start to really fear me, you might compare me to 'The Crow'."

"Do you really think you have a chance against us, Miss 'Crow'?"

When Ember heard the elevator coming, she said through the radio. "Prepare to eat flames, motherfucker." Before going into the staircase room to head back to the computer room.

A few minutes later, with Vlad

Karl and Fritz ran back into the office and reported to him. "She wasn't lying about Marco. He's down on the street. And the other man was Heinrich. And his bag is missing."

Vlad was in disbelief about that. "But…he had the detonators." Before he contacted Theo through the radio. "Theo. Theo!"

"YO!"

"We may have some problems. How's our schedule?"

"3 down, 4 to go!"

"Then don't waste time talking to me.

Meanwhile, outside of the building

Sam then called out on her radio while using a small towel to wipe the blood off her forehead. "This is Sergeant Samantha Manson of the Los Angeles Police Department. If the person who radioed for help can hear me on this channel, acknowledge this transmission." Sam signaled her coworkers to come over to her. "I say again, if the person who radioed for help on this channel can hear me, acknowledge this transmission."

Back up the building

When hearing it was Sam who was radioing her, not knowing that the others, including Vlad could hear them, Ember raised an eyebrow while keeping an eye out for any of Vlad's men. "That goth hippy? Geez, of all the cops here in LA it has to be her." She annoyingly said to herself, but called her back on her radio. "I read you, Manson. You the girl in the car?"

Sam sighed annoyingly. "Ugh! What's left of her." But then she thought 'Wait... that voice. She sounds familiar to me.' But wanting to know for sure, she contacted her back. "Can you identify yourself?"

Knowing from her experience working part time for the NYPD that it was too risky to tell her real name, Ember told on her radio. "Not now. Maybe later." And knowing they didn't have much time, Ember told her. "Listen fast, Manson. This is a party line, and the neighbors got itchy trigger fingers while keeping these people here hostage. So, here's the deal. There are around 30 or so hostages on the 30th floor. The leader, his name is Vlad Masters."

Back with Vlad

Karl angrily told his boss. "We have to find her and kill her! She's telling the cops everything!"

Vlad ensured him while raising his hand "Let her. I'm waiting for the FBI. Until then, that girl can waste as much time as she likes, but we must find the bag with the detonators." He angrily told Karl before turning to Fritz "Fritz, go help him."

Fritz nodded and left with Karl, while Vlad listened to the radio-call between Ember and Sam.

Back with Ember

"That multi-billionaire piece of shit has provided these assholes with a whole fucking arsenal of weapons, including missles and automatic weapons, and... I suspect they've modified their ammo with anti-ghost tech." Ember said through the radio. "Not to mention that they have enough explosives that would even impress Arnold Schwarzenegger. They're down to 9 now, countin' the skydiver you met. Vlad's men are mostly European, judging by their clothing labels and..." But she paused for a moment when thinking back to when she took a pack of cigarettes from Vlad's now dead henchmen. "...cigarettes. They're very well financed and very slick, which comes to no surprise as how wealthy Vlad Masters is."

Sam was now sure that it was Ember who was speaking. 'Oh for fuck's sake! Out of all the people I wanted to run into tonight, she is the last one after she stole Danny from me!' Sam angrily said mentally, but knowing that Danny was most likely among the hostages, she swallowed her pride and asked Ember through her radio. "I hear ya. But... how do you know all this?"

Ember chuckled as she took out one of the dead henchmen's ID's from her pocket. "Well, I've been around long enough to recognize a phony ID from a mile away. And judging how they've been made, these fake ID's must've cost a fortune." Before she slowly sat down somewhere, lightening herself a cigarette using her flaming hair to relieve herself of the stress, taking a drag and blowing out the smoke. "Add all that up, I don t know what the fuck it means, but you guys got some badass professionals on your hands, and they're here to stay for sure."

Sam understood it all, knowing how very serious these terrorists were, led by the former best friend of Danny's father, and knowing that their rivalry wouldn't do any good and they had to work together to save the hostages, including their dear Danny. "I hear you, partner. LA's finest are on it. So light 'em if you got 'em."

Ember chuckled as she inhaled the cigarette smoke and slowly breathed it out through her nose. "Waaaaay ahead of you, partner."

"So what do I call you?"

Ember rolled her eyes. 'Seriously, you goth hippy?' She annoyingly said mentally. But coming up with a name, she called back on her radio. "Call me... Penny."

Sam hid her chuckle as it was funny that Ember chose the nickname 'Penny' out of all names you could think of during a hostage crisis. 'Penny, seriously?' She mentally asked. But going along with this, Sam returned to being professional and called back to her. "Okay, listen up, 'Penny'. If you think of anything else you think we need to know, don't be shy, okay?" Another female cop came over to her, checking on her small wound on her head. "In the meantime, find a safe place to hold up and let us do our job. Understand?"

Ember didn't seem to mind that. "They're all yours, Sam."

Meanwhile, with Sam

The goth police woman saw a car speed up before a middle aged man in a suit stepped out of the back seat and showed a badge. "All right. Who's talkin' to 'em?"

"I am, sir. Sergeant Manson. Sam Manson." Sam answered.

The man walked up to her and asked. "Dwayne Robertson, Manson. What's the deal here? What do these pricks want?"

"Well, if you mean the terrorists, sir, we don't exactly know. We haven't heard a peep from them." Sam answered truthfully.

Then he asked. "Well, who in the hell you been talking to?"

"Well, I do know that at least. She won't give me her real name for an obvious reason." She said as she tapped on the radio. "But she was the 1 who phoned in the report. She's killed 1 terrorist for sure, cause his body's what fucked up my car, and she claims to have done in 2 more."

But Robertson didn't buy that. "She claims? Manson, has it occurred to you that she might be 1 of the terrorists pulling your chain? Or some nutcase in there?"

"Oh, nutcase, maybe. Terrorist, she's definitely not. I know who she is, but as I said, for a very obvious reason, I can't say her real name." Sam said, wanting to keep Ember's real name out of it for now due to wanting to keep Danny and his family safe for as long as possible. "But I do know that she's a cop. Not LAPD, but she's definitely a badge."

"Well, how do you know that?"

"Things she said to me, like being able to spot a bogus ID."

"Jesus Christ, Manson! She could be a fucking stripper for all we know." Robertson said with annoyance, still not believing her about Ember.

"Boss, TV's here." The other female cop informed him.

"Oh, shit." Sam and Robertson said together with annoyance as the nosey reporter, Richard Thornburg speeded up to the building.

Meanwhile, in Danny's office

As Fritz prepared a small TV for Vlad to watch, Danny walked up to him and said. "I have a request, Vlad."

Vlad looked at Danny and smirked. "Ah, dear Daniel. What a pleasant surprise. But, while I am pleased with this little face to face, what idiot put you in charge?"

"You did… when you murdered my boss and a very dear friend of mine and my family. Now, thanks to you, everybody's looking to me and my parents. But personally, I'd pass on the job, cause I don't enjoy being this close to someone like you, and my parents are obviously very angry and didn't even wanna look at you right now, or ever again for that matter." Danny answered with contempt for the 1 who murdered Takagi.

Vlad had an emotionless face, but reluctantly decided to hear him out. "Go on."

"We have a pregnant woman out there." Danny said, making Vlad give a look of annoyance. "Relax, she's not due for at least a couple more weeks. But sitting on that rock isn't doing her back any good. So, I would like permission to move her to 1 of the offices where there's a sofa."

Vlad thought for a second before giving his answer. "No. But I'll have a sofa brought out for her. Good enough?"

"That's fine." Danny said, accepting that answer.

"Now, dear Daniel, was there anything else?"

Danny eyed his PDA on the shelf behind his desk and wanted to ask if he could take it with him, due to there being selfies of him and Ember together on it, as well as pictures of Ember herself, on it which could reveal their connection to this murderer. But, thinking that he may get suspicious about the device and ask why he wanted it and what was on it, which could possibly endanger Ember as well, decided against asking for it, thinking it would be best to leave it where it was if it would keep Ember safe and their connection secret for as long as possible until this whole thing was over. "No, that's it." He answered.

Vlad smiled and complemented Danny for his negotiating skills, as hecwss actually a natural at it. "You're quite the natural born negotiator and businessman, young Daniel. I can clearly see why Mr. Takagi admired you."

Danny looked at him with a glare. "Did you tell him that before you killed him in cold blood, Vlad?" He asked sarcastically before his parents put a hand on his shoulders, calming him down.

Jack then asked his ex-best friend. "Why Vlad? Why are you doing this?! Huh?! I thought you and I were good bodies in college?"

That only resulted in Vlad furiously stating. It was all your fault for everything that's happened to me, Jack! you're the cause of that accident which gave me ecto-acne! While it granted me ghost powers, it nearly killed me as well! But that wasn't the worst thing you did! You stole Maddie from me and ruined any chance I ever could have had with her! So, while you mourn Takagi, remember that he's dead because of you!"

"Because of me?!" Jack almost shouted.

"Yes. But it was also because of you I started this whole business of stealing wealth for my own gain while using my powers. But when you used the Fenton-Eraser in the hope of helping young Daniel, it also resulted in my own powers being severely severed, you idiot!" Vlad revealed in anger.

But in his anger, Vlad had another Ecto-Acne attack, which forced him to use the syringe with Murïone, shocking Jack and Maddie, and even Danny, as he'd been told about that stuff and the effects it had on ghosts and humans. "Vlad…you're a Murïone user?" Maddie asked with shock.

"I can't believe it, Vlad! You should know what effects that stuff has on humans! You may still be half ghost, but your human half can still feel the effects!" Jack told him.

"Oh? And who's fault is it that I use this stuff, Jack?" Vlad asked with a smirk.

"Dad may have caused your accident, Vlad, but everything you've done after that was all your choices, your fault!" Danny told him.

Vlad pointed his gun at Danny's forehead and warned him. "Choose your next words carefully, young Daniel. We wouldn't want your sister to be without her little brother, now would we?"

Jack and Maddie pulled Danny back. "Stay away from our son, Vlad! You've hurt him enough tonight!" Jack told him.

"Keep him under control, Jack, and he'll have nothing else to worry about." Vlad said with a smirk.

Maddie pulled Danny out of the office. "Let's get outta here, Danny. I've gotten as close to him as I wanna be. And there's no way we're letting you near this…this…monster." Before they walked out of the office, leaving a smirking Vlad behind as he watched the news channel on the small mobile TV.

Meanwhile, with Tucker

As the best friend of Danny and Ember was still enjoying himself in his limo in the parking garage, waiting for Danny and Ember to finally call him again to inform him of their time together, he saw the report by Thornburg on the TV while eating a big bag of lays chips.

"This is Richard Thornburg, live from Century City. Tonight, Los Angeles has joined the sad and worldwide fraternity of cities…whose only membership requirement is to suffer the anguish of international terrorism. Approximately 2 hours ago, an unidentified group of men took control of the Nakatomi building, sealing all entrances and exits. All telephone lines have been cut. And the only communication available has been through the use of CB communicators…which the group apparently brought with them."

That made Tucker realize exactly why he'd lost contact with Ember earlier and he instantly dropped his bag of chips and went to the front seat, turning on the CB radio to listen in, worried about Danny, Ember and his parents and trying to think of anything he could do to try to help them. "Oh man, guys. I hope you guys are okay in there." He said before he started the car and tried to move to an entrance into the building, but found that they were all sealed up, making him frustrated as he realized there was nothing he could do for his friends. And trying to contact them through the radio would only put himself and them in more danger.

Meanwhile, with Sam

As the young goth police woman saw several officers moving, she became concerned and asked Robertson, who was talking with the SWAT commander. "What the hell is going on?"

Robertson looked at her and answered. "What does it look like? We're going in."

"Going in?! That's fucking crazy! There's hostages in there, including 1 of my best friends!" Sam objected, concerned about Danny and his family.

"We don't know that, Manson. If there are hostages, then how come nobody's come to us with ransom demands? If there's terrorists in there, where's their list of demands?" Robertson asked with disbelief. "All we know is that somebody shot your car up. And it's probably the same silly son of a bitch you've been talking to on that radio."

Sam looked at him in disbelief at his ignorance. "Excuse me, sir, but what about the body that fell outta the window?"

"Well, who knows? It was probably some stock broker who got depressed."

Captain Mitchell then said to him. "We're ready for you, Chief."

"All right. Light 'em up." Robertson said before searchlights began turning on.

Meanwhile, with Ember

As Ember was still smoking her cigarettes to pass the time, being careful not to use up all of them, she suddenly saw bright lights and got worried as she stood up with her cigarette between her lips. "Sam. Sam, you there? What the fuck's going on? Yo, Sam!"

"I'm here, 'Penny', but I'm busy right now. I'll talk to you later."

But Ember demanded to know what was happening down there. "What… the fuck…is going on?!"

"I said I'll talk to you later, 'Penny'! And if you are what and who I know you are, you'll listen to me for once. And I'm telling you right now: shut the hell up and… pray." Sam told her, while cryptically revealing that she knew who she was talking to while a big light turned on, making her extremely worried.

Hearing this, and seeing why the LAPD was aiming big flashlights at the Nakatomi building, Ember was shocked at what the cops were planning to do. "Jesus fucking Christ. You're coming in. That's it, isn't it? For fuck's sake, Sam, I told you what jund of people you're dealing with here."

Meanwhile

Vlad looked out the window and knew it was time for a little defensive action. "They're coming in. Everyone, get ready. Theo, you are the eyes now."

And while Theo kept an eye on the monitors to see what the cops were going to do, the rest of Vlad's men were preparing to ambush them, with Eddie and another man named Uli sealing the front doors and getting their machine guns ready.

Meanwhile, with Ember

The punk/rock ghost girl looked out the windows and saw that a few SWAT officers were running towards the lobby doors. "Shit! You fuckin' macho assholes! NO! NO!"

Meanwhile

Theo watched on the monitor and informed Vlad and the others of what the police were doing outside. "All right, listen up, guys. Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house…not a creature was stirring except…the 4 assholes coming in the rear in standard 2 by 2 cover formation."

Outside of the building

And when captain Mitchell was informed that they were ready, he told Robertson. "They're ready, Chief."

"Kick ass." Robertson said, giving them the go ahead, and making Sam very concerned. But a few seconds later, Vlad's men began shooting. "They're shooting at them!"

"Relax. It's panic fire. They can't see anything." Captain Mitchell assured him.

But Sam knew exactly what they were aiming for. "They're shooting at the lights."

And when the lights went out from the gunshots, Robertson called it out. "They're going after the lights! Pull 'em back!" Making Sam groan in annoyance at how incompetent her boss and the others were being. "Pull them back! They're sitting docks out there without lights!"

"No! They're almost in." Mitchell said before telling his other men. Send in the car. Send in the car."

Meanwhile, in Danny's office

"Don't be impatient. Just wound them." Vlad ordered his men, with Eddie and Uli doing just that, shooting the SWAT officers in non-lethal places when they were trying to get into the lobby.

Meanwhile

Theo then saw an armored SWAT vehicle advancing towards the building. "Whoa. Wait a minute, gentlemen. The police have themselves an RV. Southeast corner." He informed the others, making 2 of the other hired goons go to the location on the 2nd floor by using the elevator, which Ember saw from the computer room, with their missile launcher. "Get over there!"

But in the 2 men's rush, 1 of the cases with missiles in it dropped but due to time being short, they didn't bother picking it up, as they hurriedly set up the missile launcher and loaded it as the tank got stuck coming up the stairs, unknowingly leaving itself wide open to hit, which the men fired a missile from the 2nd floor, landing a direct hit!

"Oh, my God. The quarterback is toast!" Theo joked with delight.

Meanwhile, with Vlad

"Hit it again." He ordered his men.

Back with Ember

The punk/rock ghost girl got angry at hearing that and told Vlad through the radio. "Vlad, you cocksuckin' motherfucker! You made your point! Let 'em pull back, asshole!"

"Thank you, Ms. Crow. I'll take that under advisement. Hit it again!"

Ember knew she had to do something and quickly rolled a chair to the elevator and broke through a glass container to get a fire escape ax.

Meanwhile, with Vlad

"Fire!" He ordered, causing the 2 men to launch another missile at the armored SWAT vehicle, landing another direct hit and possibly killing the officers inside it while he watched in delight.

Back with Ember

As the rock ghost girl got the elevator opened using the ax to keep it that way, she looked down the shaft. "Fuck me." She said before getting the bag and getting out the C-4, beginning to prepare it by placing 3 detonators in it before preparing an Ectoplasm blast and deciding. "Oh, fuck it." And putting the blast in the plastic explosive while the 2 terrorists were trying to reload the launcher but they were out of missiles and 1 of them went to the dropped case to get more. Ember then got 1 of the computer screens and put it on the glowing explosive and wrapped the cord around it and the chair. "Let's see you take this under advisement, jerk-weed." She said with a grin before pushing it down the shaft and yelled out into it. "EAT SHIT, YOU NAZI MOTHERFUCKERS!" And as the C-4 went down before exploding when it landed, a massive blast spread through the entire 2nd floor, killing the 2 terrorists with the missile launcher and causing glass to explode outside as Ember saw that the blast was also coming up the shaft. "OH SHIT!" She said before quickly diving out of the way of the large part of the blast as the hostages heard it while the police and Sam saw it, causing them to take cover behind their cars.

Meanwhile

Vlad saw it as well as 1 of his men ran into the office. "They're using artillery on us!"

But Vlad knew otherwise as he sat down in anger. "You idiot! It's not the police! It's that teenage girl!"

Sam and Robertson stuck their heads up from behind the car, looking at the aftermath of the blast with surprise. "Holy shit!"

'What the fuck did you just do, McLain?!" Sam thought to herself.

The idiot reporter Thornburg also saw it. "Tell me you got that." He said to his cameraman.

"I got it. I got it."

"Eat your heart out, channel 5."

"Sam, Sam, do you copy?" Ember contacted Sam.

Feeling somewhat relieved to hear Ember's voice, Sam took out her radio "Are you alright?"

Ember coughed a bit before she chuckled. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"What the hell was that?" Sam asked, wanting to know what caused that huge explosion.

"Remember that plastic explosive I told you about?"

"Yeah."

Ember chuckled again. "There you go. Is the building on fire?"

Now Sam gave a small chuckle. "No, but because of that little stunt of yours, the building's gonna need a paint job and a shit load of new screen doors. Our spotters say you got 2 with that blast."

When Deputy chief Robinson heard Sam talking with the girl inside the Nakatomi tower. "Is that her?" As he walked over to her. "Is that her, Manson?" He demanded to know.

Sam nodded "Yes, sir."

"Give me that," Robinson snatched the radio forcefully out of Sam's hand and contacted Ember. "Now you listen to me, missy! I don't know who the hell you think you are or what you're doing, but you just destroyed a building!"

Meanwhile

Ember rolled her eyes at how incompetent this guy sounded. "What the fuck?"

"Now, we do not want your help. Is that clear? We don't want your help!" Robinson angrily said. "I got 100 people here, and because of what you just did, they're all covered with glass."

"Glass?" Ember asked with surprise, before asking angrily herself. "Who gives a shit about glass? Who the fuck is this?"

"This is Deputy Chief of Police, Dwayne T. Robinson, and I am in charge of the situation."

"Oh, you're in charge?" She then mocked this idiot police chief. "Well, I got some bad news for you, Dwayne. From up here it doesn't look like you're in charge of jack shit."

Robinson was not taking this insult lightly. "You listen to me, you little bitch. I'm-"

"You're calling me a bitch?" She mocked him again. "I'm not the 1 who just got fucked up the ass on national TV, Dwayne."

Meanwhile

Tucker, who'd been listening to their radio conversations the whole time, laughed out loud and clapped after hearing Ember having the balls to talk to a police chief that way. "Aahh! Hahahaha! Hahaha!

Back with Ember

Ember wasn't done with Robinson yet. "Now, you listen to me, jerk-off. If you're not part of the solution, the you're part of the fucking problem. So stop being part of the fucking problem and put the other cop back on!"

Robinson, seeing there was no talking to that teenage girl, handed back over the radio to Sam.

And when Robinson left, Sam gave a small chuckle, being somehow proud that Ember had such guts to finally tell her boss how much of a useless shit he obviously was. Sam contacted Ember. "Hey, Penny. How are you feeling?"

"Pretty fuckin' unappreciated, Sam." Ember answered with annoyance.

Sam calmed her down by saying. "Hey, look. Despite your rebellious nature, I think you're doing an amazing job, far better than any of us. And I love. So do a lot of the other guys. So you hang in there. You hear me? You hang in there."

Ember thought that was by so far the nicest thing Sam has ever said to her ever since they met. "Yeah, thanks, partner." And broke contact.

Meanwhile, on the 30th floor

Ellis snorted some of his cocaine while Danny glared and asked him. "What are you doing, Ellis?"

"I'm tired of sitting here waiting to see who's gonna get us killed 1st. Them or that little punk of a ghost girl." Ellis answered.

"So what do you think you're gonna do about it?" Maddie asked with her arms crossed.

"Hey, babe, I negotiate million-dollar deals for breakfast. I think I can handle this Eurotrash." Ellis answered arrogantly, thinking he could save his own skin. "Hey. Sprechen sietalk? Huh?"

Meanwhile, in Danny's office

After Vlad had taken another dose of Murïone, angry at Karl for not listening to his order to seal Ember in the elevator shaft. "If you'd listened to me, that brat would be neutralized already."

"I don't want her neutralized, I want her dead." Karl said with a glare.

But then, they heard knocking and saw Ellis. "Hope I'm not interrupting?"

"What does he want?" Vlad asked with annoyance.

"It's not what I want, it's what I can give you." Ellis said smugly.

Karl went for his gun, but Vlad gestured to him to wait and listened to what this idiot had to say. "Go on."

"Look, let's be straight, okay?" Ellis asked as he slowly walked into the office with another 1 of Vlad's men. "It's obvious that you're not some dumb schmuck up here to snatch a few purses. Am I right?"

"You're very perceptive." Vlad told him with annoyance.

"I watch 60 Minutes. I sat to myself: These guys are professional, they're motivated, they're happenin' i.e. They want something. Now, personally, I couldn't care less about your politics. Maybe you're pissed off at the camel jockeys. Maybe it's the Hebes, Northern Ireland. It's none of my business. I figured you're here to negotiate. Am I right?" Ellis arrogantly asked.

"You're amazing. You figured this all out already?"

"Business is business. You use a gun. I use a fountain pen. What's the difference? Let's put it in my terms: you're here in a hostile takeover, you grab us for some greenmail, but you didn't expect some poison ghost pill was gonna be running around the building and fuckin' things up for ya. Am I right? Vlad, bubbe, I'm your white knight."

Vlad seemed interested now. "I must have missed 60 Minutes. What are you saying?"

Ellis sat down in the chair and answered. "The girl who's upstairs fuckin' things up? Huh? I can give her to ya." Before grinning like an idiot.

Meanwhile

'Oh, fuckin' shit. Blaahhh!" Ember said through the radio before Sam contacted her.

"Penny. Penny, you alright?"

With Ember

"Just trying to fill up on a twinkie." Ember answered before spitting in a cooler. "The fuck do they put in these things anyway?"

"Sugar enriched flour, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, polysorbate 60 and yellow dye number 5. Just everything people our age need." Sam answered.

Ember, despite not liking Sam, became curious. "How's your love life going so far, Sam?"

Sam, despite not liking Ember, reluctantly answered just to make small talk. "Well, some guys at the station have tried but they were only interested in getting laid with me, but though it annoys me every single time, I've…been hoping that the guy I've liked for years would've notice me. But, anyway, he's…unfortunately fallen for somebody else. And, so you're not confused, it's a boy of a very successful family in my old city of Amity Park. But…as the years have passed, I've… come to realize that perhaps I don't have to put all my bets on only one guy I've known for years. There's still a lot of other great people in the world… and I hope that at least my former crush is happy with whoever he's chosen by now." But then she wanted to know the same thing. "How about you, cowgirl? Got a guy on your ranch?"

Ember of course answered. "Well, my love life is kinda… complicated. work and other stuff made things already difficult for me, which also kept me distracted, but I've always had hopes that the guy I'm in love with will work out. Before all this shit happened, he told me he does really love me and even wants their relationship to 'advance' the next level…after our 1st official date."

Though Sam was a bit saddened by this, hearing that Ember had never stolen Danny from her, but that he'd fallen in love with her on his own, she told Ember. "Well, he sure is a real lucky guy to have someone like you."

But then, they both heard Vlad's voice on their radios. "Touching, Ms. Crow. Very touching. Or…should I call you…Ms. McLain? Ms. Part time consultant Ember McLain of the New York police department?" He asked smugly, making Sam and Thornburg both tell the ones close to them to get ahold of dispatch and someone else in New York.

Back with Ember

"Only my enemies call me McLain. My friends call me Ember. And you're the former, shithead." Ember said with a glare, even though she couldn't see Vlad's face right now.

Meanwhile, in Danny's office

Vlad, with a smirk, told her. "I have someone who wants to talk to you. A very special friend who was with you at the party tonight."

He then gave the radio to Ellis and the sleazy businessman spoke. "Hey, ghost girl."

"Ellis?" Ember asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. Now listen, Ember. They're givin' me a few minutes to try to talk some sense into you. I know you think that you're doin' your job, and I can appreciate that, but you're just draggin' this out." Ellis said. "Now, look, no 1 gets outta here until these guys can talk to the L.A. police…and that just ain't gonna happen until you guys stop messing up the works. Capisce?"

Ember became really concerned now, as this sleazy idiot could have compromised her and Danny and his parents. "Ellis, what the fuck have you told them?"

"I told 'em that we were old friends, and you guys were my guest at the party." Ellis answered.

"You fuckin' sleazy asshole! What the fuck are you thinking?!" Ember demanded.

"I'm using my head unlike you." Ellis answered while giving Vlad a thumbs up while 1 of his men poured coke in a glass for him. "All right, Ember, listen. They want you to tell 'em where the detonators are. They know people are listening. They want the detonators or they're gonna kill me. Ember, didn't you hear me?"

"I heard you, asshole!"

"Ember, I think you can get with the program a little, huh? The police are here. It's their problem. Now tell these guys where the detonators are so nobody else gets hurt. You know I'm putting my life and the line for you, pal."

"Ellis, you dumbass!"

"Ember."

"Shut up, asshole. Just shut your damn mouth and put Vlad back on the line." Ember told him, making Ellis hold the radio close to Vlad. "Vlad, that dumb shit doesn't know what kind of creep you are, but I do."

"Good. Then you'll give us what we want and save your friend's life. You aren't part of this equation. It's time you realized that." Vlad warned her while holding his gun.

"Hey. What am I, a method actor, Vlad? Babe, put the gun down. This is radio, not television." Ellis said nervously.

Ember, despite not liking the sleazy idiot, tried 1 last time to stop what she knew was about to happen. "Vlad, this asshole isn't my friend! I just met him tonight! I don't know him! Jesus Christ, you sleazy shithead, he's gonna fuckin' kill you! TELL HIM YOU DON'T KNOW ME?!"

But Ellis chuckled at that. "Ember, how can you say that after all these years, huh?" He asked, getting no answer. "Ember. Ember?" He asked again before laughing a bit, beginning to sip his soda as Vlad picked up his gun and pointed it at Ellis' head with a smirk, pulling the trigger and killing him, making the other hostages save for Danny and his parents, screaming out in fear.

Vlad picked up the radio and held it up outside the office door so that Ember could hear the screaming before his men stopped them while he demanded of her. "Do you hear that? Talk to me, you teenage brat! Where are my detonators? Where are they, or shall I shoot another 1?! Sooner or later, I might get to someone you do care about."

Ember breathed out through her nose but didn't break, as her willpower to protect Danny and his parents was still strong despite what had happened. And so, knowing that they were still safe for now, gave her answer. "Go suck a cock, you junkie shitface."

Meanwhile, back outside

Robertson was angry at this development, as especially with Ember. "Did you hear that? She just let the guy die. She just gave him up." He said before talking to the other young female uniform. "Give me that headset." Then he looked at Sam again. "That's like pulling the trigger yourself."

"Christ. Sir, can't you see what's happening? Can't you read between the lines? She did everything they could to save him. It's his fault for being such a dumbass!" Sam said while a bit surprised that she was actually defending Ember. "If she'd given herself up, they'd both be dead right now!"

But Robertson didn't believe that. "No way, Manson, no way, they'd be talking to us." He said before warning her. "Listen. Since you obviously know her, you tell this partner of yours to stay out of this from now on, you got it? Because if she doesn't, I'm gonna nail that girl. I'm really gonna nail her now, believe me."

But Sam kept defending Ember. "I may not be her biggest fan, but right now, I'm with her all the way on this! She is hurting right now! She's all alone, tired and she hasn't seen anybody down here do shit to help other than be complete idiots who just got themselves hurt or killed by obvious pros because of you and your incompetence! And after all that's happened, you're gonna stand there and tell me that she's gonna give a damn about what you'll do to her if she actually makes it outta there alive?! Why don't you wake up and smell the shit you're shoveling?!"

But Robertson just got in her face and warned her. "You listen to me, Sargent. Anytime you wanna go home, you consider yourself dismissed."

"Fuck that! My best friend and his family are in that building! You can't so much as drag me away!" Sam said defiantly.

That was when Vlad contacted them. "Attention, police. Attention, police."

"This is Sargent Sam…" Sam tried to answer before Robertson took the radio.

"This is Deputy Chief of Police, Dwayne T. Robinson. Who am I speaking to?"

"This is Vlad Masters. I assume you already realize the futility of direct action against me. We have no wish for further loss of life."

"Well, what is it you do wish for, Mr. Masters?"

"There are very close and dear business partners of mine that are languishing in prison. The American State department enjoys rattling its saber for its own ends. Now it can rattle it for me." Vlad answered before stating his fake demands. "The following people are to be released from their captors: In Northern Ireland, Sean Ulster, head of the Tiger-killing Squad of the IRA. In Canada, the Palaver Brothers of the Quebec Crime Syndicate

Meanwhile, with Ember

The punk/rock ghost girl was smoking a cigarette to relieve her stress of what had just happened, taking a drag and blowing out the smoke as she heard Vlad's demands.

"In Sri Lanka, Suresh Premadasa of the Colombo Cobra Collectors."

"What the fuck?" Ember asked herself, as these demands didn't make sense to her.

Meanwhile, in Danny's office

"Suresh Premadasa of the Colombo Cobra Collectors?" Karl mouthed with confusion.

"I read about them in Time Magazine." Vlad explained before finishing his demands. "When these dear business brothers and sisters are free, the hostages in this building will be taken to the roof…and they will accompany us in helicopters to the Los Angeles airport, where they will be given further instructions. You have 2 hours to comply."

Back outside

Robertson tried to explain why that couldn't be possible. "Wait a minute. Mr. Masters, this is crazy. I-I-I don't have the authority. I can't authorize- 2 hours is not enough." Before Vlad cut him off. "Hello? Hello?" He asked before telling his driver. "Danny, did you get all that? Let's go, we gotta make some calls." He said before quickly walking away to comply with Vlad's demands.

Back in Danny's office

"Do you think they'll even try to do it?" Karl asked.

"Who cares?" Vlad answered before contacting Theo again. "Theo, how's our schedule?"

"1 more to go, then it's up to you." Theo answered while still drilling through the last seal. "And you better be right, 'cause it looks like this last one's gonna take a miracle."

"It's Christmas, Theo. It's the time of miracles. So be of good cheer, and call me when you hit the last lock." He told his employee before breaking contact and telling Karl. "Karl, hunt that girl down, kill her, and get those detonators."

Karl, eager for that, said to his leader while getting up. "Fritz is checking the explosives."

"I'll check the explosives. You just hunt down and kill that brat and get the detonators." Vlad told him before getting up and going to do just that.

Back with Ember

The ghost police girl, now knowing that her cover was blown, contacted Sam. "Sam, you still out there."

"I'm here, McLain. I'm here." Sam answered.

"I know you're the last person I can really trust right now, but you gotta believe me when I say that there was nothing I could do to save that sleazy dumbass."

"I believe you, McLain. But it's gonna be both our asses if you're wrong."

"I hear ya, but I don't give a shit about my own ass right now. And right now, neither do you, and we both know why." Ember said before taking a final drag from her cigarette and blowing out the smoke before flicking it away. "Do you catch all that bullshit Vlad was talking about? 'Cause it doesn't make sense, goth hippy."

"Don't ask me, McLame, I'm just a desk jockey who was about to go home for a marathon of Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, veggie pizzas and sodas when you rang."

Ember smirked. "Ah, so you're a geek too? Let me guess: you just like Batman on those shows, don't you?" She asked while walking out of the room to think about her next move. "And I'm really surprised you're a damn paper pusher.

"Hey, don't fucking judge me, McLain. I can watch whatever I want to and choose whatever job I want!" Sam told her, not wanting to reveal to Ember McLain of all people about what happened that caused her to choose having a desk job over field work.

There you go, my dear friends, part 3 is complete. I hope you all enjoyed everything in this chapter. And be sure to thank my dear friend, SreznoJIG, for the ideas he helped me with to complete the chapter. Part 4 will come soon after my Black Lagoon story is updated. Rate and review and I'll see you all next time, my dear friends.