Vlad graciously allowed Danny and Maddie free reign throughout his mansion. This was not nearly as liberating as he intended it to be.

Every green garnished hall and gold gilded room hid cameras, like little beady-eyed insects. Their evil lenses roved and tracked every step that Danny and Maddie took, and it was impossible to tell at any given moment if – or if not – Vlad was watching.

Worse, Vlad had slapped a modified version of Plasmius Maximus onto Danny's wrist, like some mechanical wristband that constantly reminded Danny of how screwed he was. This particular device completed inhibited his powers so long as it was on his wrist.

Naturally, Danny spent the morning trying everything within his abilities to remove the wristband. When these unsuccessful attempts drew questions from his mother – most particularly, why the device resembled anti-ghost paraphernalia – Danny decided to abandon the effort and search for escape routes in the manor.

Yet, every single lavish gold and green hall he passed through was under close surveillance.

"What a creep," Danny grumbled, eyeing yet another camera that eyed him right back. "If Tucker was here, he could disable this whole system…"

"What was that, little badger?"

"Ahh!" Danny whirled around – of course. Vlad.

The billionaire looked sly as a fox, hands folded behind his back. "Admiring the mansion?"

Danny scowled. "Has no one told you you're creepy? Seriously?"

Vlad forced a mournful expression. "I only seek to be accepted – to have a family, Daniel."

"For the record, kidnapping people is a terrible way to do that."

"Hmm. Walk with me, Daniel." Vlad gestured down the hall.

Oh look, the abrupt desire to get as far from Vlad as possible. "What are you gonna do, test out some new awful machine on me?"

"While that is tempting, I'm afraid my intentions are not so hostile. Come."

"Uh, do I have a choice?" This question became extraordinarily important when dealing with a person who yesterday earned Danny's obedience through electrocution.

Vlad smiled wanly. "No. Not at all."

"Great, glad to know everything's on the table." Danny fell in step beside Vlad. Silence fell between them, progressing long enough to become dull.

"You ever considered, y'know, redecorating?" Danny blurted as they approached a marble bust of Vlad himself.

"No." Vlad lifted his chin up. "Tell me about your mother, Danny."

"What?"

"It has been twenty long years since her and I were close. It's occurred to me that… I need to learn more about her. About how to – interest her, persay." Vlad tilted his head to the side. "In short, I wish to know how to court Madelyn."

Danny stopped. "You're kidding."

Vlad halted in place, directly beside the marble bust. His hands unfolded from behind his back; one stretched out towards the statue's cheek. "I'm very serious."

A laugh barked from Danny's throat at the sheer incredulity. "You think… you think you're going to win my mother over? After everything you've done!?"

Vlad's fingers halted, mid-reach. His rigid expression was stonier than the bust. "You're implying I can't, Daniel."

"Uh, yeah, not just implying." Typically he'd follow this with another smart-aleck comment, but Vlad hadn't moved an inch and that was scarier than Danny was willing to admit.

"Very well then. Consider a hypothetic situation. If I were to win your mother over…. How might I do it? What sort of things does she like?"

Vlad was completely nuts. Completely, irrevocably nuts. "Catching ghosts," Danny suggested pointedly. "Evil ghosts. Ghosts that would kidnap people, for example."

Vlad's eye twitched. "And other hobbies…?"

"Oh jeez, I dunno – maybe not being held hostage, how about that?"

"Don't antagonize me, Daniel."

Danny clenched his fists. Vlad kidnapped them, forced them into compliance, demanded to know how to win over his mother, and now he was complaining? "Vlad, there's nothing that will help you. My mom is never going to love you, no matter what you do. She loves my dad, and nothing will change that!"

Danny had precisely two seconds to regret his words before Vlad's fingers wrapped around his neck so tightly that Danny was struck with a paralyzing fear that something would be wrenched out of place.

Then his feet left the ground, and he worried a whole lot more about the fact he couldn't breathe.

"I would suggest…" Vlad growled. "Showing a little more deference…" Danny clawed uselessly at Vlad's fingers. "To your father!"

Electricity crackled along Vlad's arm, carrying with it a deep sinister buzzing noise that swelled louder and louder; the very air thickened like turgid clouds before a thunderstorm. Danny's hair began to raise, the current tickling his neck.

"P-luh-s -n-n-" Danny gurgled past his swelling tongue.

Vlad smiled ruefully. "What is that? A no?"

Danny beat Vlad's wrists furiously.

"Well, Daniel, I make the demands around here… and I say yes."

With that, the charge tore through Danny's body. His muscles seized violently; he clamped down on Vlad's wrists in a death grip, and his legs twitched and jerked like a puppet shaken on its string.

His vision whited out, his hair crackled, and the air in his shuddering lungs was brittle enough to snap.

Then the pain stopped.

He struck something hard.

Green carpet fibers brushed his cheek.

"What do you think you're doing to my son!?"

Mom? Danny thought dizzily.

"M-Maddie dear, why hello –"

Something bit his wrist.

With heavy limbs, Danny dragged the wrist in question before his eyes. Oh. The Plasmius Maximus wristband.

Little bluewhite sparks sputtered from the device, which was emitting a forlorn whine.

Huh, he thought, and then consciousness fled him.