So, Yeah, it's been a while since I've updated this story and I know a lot of you have been patient and I thank you for that. The reason for the delay, has been some personal issues that needed to be worked out along with starting a new job and in general having a lot on plate to deal with. Adulting sucks. Anyway, thank you all again for your patience. The plan from now on is to update the story on a biweekly basis. We are roughly at the halfway point. Thank you again and enjoy!
Danny Phantom Post Planet Chapter 15
"You were right Jazz. I don't like the plan." Danny said, glaring at his sister.
Jazz had just finished explaining her plan for luring Vlad out of hiding and to say that Danny didn't like it was an understatement.
"Danny, what other options do we really have?" Jazz asked him. "Do you really want to just patrol every night until you happen to come across him?"
Danny shook his head. "No, but there has to be some other way that doesn't involve you or Sam or someone I love getting hurt!"
Jazz spoke up again trying to keep her voice calmer than her little brother's. "Maybe there is Danny, but considering what's been going on, wouldn't you rather get him sooner rather than later?"
"What do you think about this?" Danny asked his girlfriend. Sam had listened to the whole conversation so she heard Jazz's plan but she hadn't given any indication to if she approved or disapproved of the plan.
Sam took a deep breath before answering. "I think the plan is solid." She said looking at Danny carefully trying to gauge his reaction. "But there is a lot that could go wrong with it if it's not done right Jazz."
"I realize that Sam. But again, what other options do we really have?"
Danny leaned back in his chair and folded his arms thinking about Jazz's plan. She had wanted to use herself and himself as bait at the old and ruined Nasty Burger as a way to bring Vlad out of hiding, giving Danny and his friends a chance to get the jump on him. He was the first to admit that it was genius in its simplicity but like Sam said, there was a LOT that could go wrong.
"There has to be some other way." Danny said staring at his sister. "The last thing I want is to see you in a hospital bed like Sam or worse. No offense Sam."
"None taken."
"I see your point. Both of you." Jazz said, turning her head from Danny to Sam and back again. "But living in fear of Vlad isn't going to do you or anyone else any good."
Danny leaned forward in his chair, glaring as hard as he possibly could at Jazz. "What did you say?"
Jazz stood to face her brother. It had been a couple years since she was more than a head taller than him, but she never backed down from her brother. "You heard what I said."
"Yeah, I did." Danny replied, clenching his fists. "And you really think I'm scared of him?"
"Danny calm down." Sam had reached out her hand to grab one of his but he ignored it.
Jazz crossed her arms over her chest, she was ignoring Sam too. "Based on what you and Sam have told me, I think that's exactly what you are. You spend half your time patrolling for him and when you do find him, you let him get the best of you."
"Jazz, I don't think that's fair." Sam said, sitting up straighter and crossing her own arms. "Danny has spent just as much time going to school and here with me."
"Stay out of this Sam." Danny snapped taking a step towards Jazz. "Let me make something clear. I have not, nor have I ever been scared of Vlad Masters."
"Danny," Sam said and he turned to face her. "Your eyes."
Danny looked past his girlfriend and saw his reflection in the hospital room window. His eyes had turned from blue to green, like they normally did when he got angry. It hadn't happened very often since he was usually in control of his emotions. Jazz must have really touched a nerve.
He took a deep breath and his eyes turned back to their normal shade of blue. "I'm gonna take a quick walk." He said. "I need to stretch my legs. I'll be back in a few minutes."
Before his sister or girlfriend could respond, Danny was already out the door and walking through the hallway with his hands in his pockets and staring down at the floor. He probably shouldn't have just left the room like that because he was upset with his sister. But that wasn't what was really bothering him. Was he really scared of Vlad?
He stopped walking and would up leaning his back against the wall next to some vending machines. Now that he actually thought about it, Jazz was partially right. But Danny wasn't scared of Vlad, he was scared of what Vlad represented. Vlad was a constant reminder of what Danny could become if he let himself lose control. Danny had developed his fair share of enemies since he got his powers. Skulker, Ember, Technus, the Fright Knight and God knows how many others. He could easily fight them because there was one huge difference between them and him: He was still human, they weren't.
Despite very loosely fitting the definition, Vlad was still human. It was something they had in common but unlike Danny, he used his powers to try and cheat his way into getting everything he wanted. Sure, Danny had used his powers to play the occasional prank or get revenge on Dash, but overall he just didn't think the way Vlad did. His parents had raised him better than that and he had people like Sam in his life to hit him over the head with a good sense of humility when he was close to the edge.
He bought a candy bar from the vending machine and made his way back to Sam's room, eating as he walked and trying not to think about Vlad. He tried to think about Sam, but even that led back to Vlad. She was going to be released soon and Vlad had already attacked him while Sam was nearby. The fruit loop already knew Sam was at least a close friend, what if he went after her when Danny wasn't there with her? He tossed the now empty candy bar wrapper into the trash and walked back into Sam's room.
Sam and Jazz were talking back and forth but stopped when they noticed that Danny had entered the room.
"Hey guys." He said, closing the door behind him. "Jazz, do you mind if I talk to Sam alone for a few minutes?"
His sister rose up from her seat. "Sure, I'll be in the cafeteria trying to track down a decent meal."
"Good luck, it doesn't exist." Sam called after her.
Danny waited until his sister left before he tried to address his girlfriend again.
"You want to talk about the plan?" She asked him.
He nodded and sat down next to her in his usual spot. "I'm honestly torn Sam. I really want to see Vlad behind bars before you get out of here but I don't want anyone to get hurt."
She reached out her hand and he grabbed it. "I see where you're coming from, it's not an easy choice to make."
"What do you think I should do?"
She sighed and looked at him. "What do you think is the right thing to do?"
"I think the right thing to do is stop him before someone gets hurt or worse."
"Then go forward with the plan. Jazz is really smart Danny, if you tell her to follow the plan to the letter, she'll do it."
He smiled. He sometimes forgot how well Sam knew him. There were so many times, even before they became a couple, that Sam seemed to know exactly what he was thinking and vice versa. She had always given him good advice even when, especially when, he didn't want to hear it.
"Thanks Sam."
She smiled. "You're welcome. What are you going to do?"
"I guess I'm going to have to go ahead with the plan no matter how much I don't agree with it. But if it gets Vlad behind bars before you get out of the hospital, I'm not gonna complain."
"Good man. I have to tell you, I'm starting to get a little tired."
"Maybe you should get some sleep."
"Sounds like a good plan." He kissed her good bye and she leaned back in her bed, Danny covering her with her blanket.
He went down to the cafeteria to find Jazz since she was his ride home. He found her sitting at one of the tables using a fork to poke at what looked like a piece of lasagna. The only difference was it was pale yellow and partially green.
"You gonna poke at it or actually eat it?" He asked as he sat down across from her.
"I want to determine if it really is edible before I even try to eat it." She replied, cutting off a tiny piece of the food and looking at it closely. After another minute, she put the piece in her mouth, only to immediately spit it out. Danny laughed. "Nope, definitely not edible." She said, putting down her fork and wiping her tongue and face with a napkin.
Danny kept laughing. "Yeah, although I could have told you that. You should be ok with the fruit though. I had some the other day and it wasn't completely terrible."
"To be honest, I never thought I would actually miss my school's cafeteria food."
"It's that bad?"
She shrugged. "Yes and no. Some of the food they cook is fine but the majority of it is terrible."
Danny laughed again and watched as his sister pushed aside the lasagna and dug into the small bowl of quote, unquote fresh fruit. He watched as she took a tentative bite and apparently satisfied, continued eating. He thought about how much their relationship improved since she found out about his powers. She trusted him enough to let him tell her about it in his own time, she covered for him with their parents, offered valuable advice and even fought side by side with him.
"Hey" He said, bringing her attention to him instead of the food. "Sorry for snapping at you earlier. I've been on edge since Sam's been in the hospital."
"I know," She said, throwing her trash in a nearby can. "I get it Danny, that's why I really want to help."
"Well I'm telling you now, we're going to rework the plan, and you'll need to follow it to the letter. As you know, the last thing I want is to put someone else in the hospital or worse."
"I got it. Have I ever not followed one of your plans?"
Danny stood and crossed his arms. "You really want me to remind you of the last time the two of us faced off against Vlad?"
Jazz grabbed her purse and started looking for her keys to the car. The last time they fought Vlad together, it took some time for her to get onboard with the plan and set it into motion. It did eventually work but Danny had honestly taken more bruises than he should have.
Jazz finally found her keys and they left for the parking lot. They finally reached her car before she said anything. "I know you're the ghost expert Danny. I just want to help."
"I don't doubt it Sis. That just means we do things my way. And that includes putting Mom and Dad in on this too. I made a promise and I want to keep it."
Jazz groaned. Danny knew what she was thinking. It was hard enough to get him onboard with her idea. He couldn't imagine how hard it was going to be to get his parents on board with it.
Danny and Jazz picked up a pizza on their way home and spent most of their Friday night brainstorming and reworking Jazz's plan. Valerie was eventually called in for her input and after several hours and another couple pizzas, managed to get the plan into a spot where everyone was happy.
"I still don't like the idea of using Dash, Kwon and Star for this." Danny said, reaching for one of the last pizza slices. They had discussed using his other friends as backup as a contingency plan in case something went south and Valerie and Jazz thought it was a good idea. Since Danny disagreed, they voted and he was outvoted.
"The thing I'm most worried about," Jazz said, finishing the last of her soda, "Is that whether or not Mom and Dad are going to agree with this."
"I think they will." Valerie said, clearly confident in the work that they did that night.
"And even if they don't," Danny said, wiping pizza grease off his face. "We're going to move forward with this." Jazz raised her eyebrow at him. "I said I was going to let them know what we were doing, I never said we were going to be asking for permission."
Valerie glanced at Danny's bedside clock. It was after midnight. "Either way, I think we should present it to them in the morning. I need to get home." She stood up and grabbed her book bag.
"I'll walk you out." Jazz said, standing up as well. "And you need to get some sleep Danny."
He wasn't about to argue. He had been up most of the day and was constantly moving around. He waited until the girls were out of the room before he cleaned up the leftover pizza and headed to his bedroom. He changed into pajamas and went to bed.
He woke up the next morning at around 8 am. He showered and dressed before waking up Jazz and telling her that they needed to speak with their parents about the plan. They found them in their lab, working on some data from their scans from the last fight he had with Vlad.
"Morning guys." Danny said, by way of greeting.
"Morning Danny. Morning Jazz." Their mother said, looking up from her screen and noticing them as they walked down the stairs.
"What's up kids?" Their dad asked, pulling away from his desk and standing up to stretch.
Danny looked at Jazz, then to his parents and back again. His sister nodded, letting him know that she was on his side. He took a deep breath and began to speak. He told them about Jazz's plan to lure out Vlad and stop him once and for all, how they spent most of last night reworking it and how he wanted to go through with the plan no matter what. After he was done, there was a lot of silence.
"That's quite a plan there son." His mother finally said.
"It's downright crazy." His father put in. "Vlad's not gonna fall for this. Absolutely No…"
"No offense Dad." Danny said cutting him off before his father went into a full on rant. "I've been fighting Vlad much longer than you. Jazz and I know how he thinks and we know this will work."
"Danny, you don't know Vlad." His father said, standing up to his full height.
"Clearly, you don't either!" Danny yelled. He and Jazz were afraid this was gonna happen. When Vlad had revealed himself as a supervillain, their father was the one who had taken it the hardest. He had always seen the guy as his old college buddy and learning that he was a raving egomaniac had been hard to swallow. Add to that the reveal of Danny's secret not long afterwards and it was not hard to see why his father spent much more time working in his lab these days.
Jazz grabbed her brother's shoulder and their mother put herself between Danny and his father to prevent a fight.
"Jack, Let me handle this. You need to calm down." His mother said, glaring at Danny and motioning for his father to sit down. She waited until he was seated before addressing her son. "Danny, we're grateful for you sharing your secret with us. I know you can take care of yourself and you're more than capable of fighting off ghosts, but this isn't an ordinary ghost."
"I know mom that's why…"
"Let me finish." Danny fell silent. "The point is that we want to catch Vlad just as much as you do and we want you you to be able to trust us."
"Mom, I do trust you. And Dad."
"Clearly not enough to let us help you in the planning stages of this whole thing."
Danny felt incredibly guilty. He hadn't thought of that. Vlad was their parents' best friend. Of course, they would want a say in how he should be brought in. Had he been wrong to deny them that? He turned to his sister. Based on the expression on her face, she was thinking along the same lines.
"Mom." Jazz said, drawing everyone's attention to her. "We're sorry for not including you and dad in on this. Like Danny said, we do trust you guys, that's why we wanted to get your input on this before we went forward."
There was another long silence before either of their parents answered. Finally their mother spoke up.
"I can't speak for your father, but I think that the plan you two came up with is solid."
Danny felt a small wave of relief hit over him. They were halfway through. Now they just needed their dad's approval.
"What do you think Dad?" Jazz asked, trying to break the silence that came up again after their mother spoke.
Jack Fenton stayed silent for a long time. He was clearly thinking everything over before coming to his final answer.
"I really wish you had included your mother and I in on this Danny. And you've clearly gotten to know Vlad better in a little over a year, than your mother and I have in almost 20. When did you want to go forward with this?"
"Tonight."
"What can we do to help?"