Previous Chapter:
Then several things happened nearly at once.
Spectra brought her hand to her heart to form a point there with two of her fingertips.
Nathaniel's wrist band broke, and the boy was instantly a ghost. Vlad's double picked him up, hugging him protectively.
And Bertrand, invisible and waiting for Spectra's signal, stabbed Vlad in the back.
Spectra's voice rang out just as he struck. "And you, Plasmius, won't be able to do anything about it!"
Chapter 25: More Adventures in the Ghost Zone
Vlad reacted before the pain fully registered by instantly gathering up ecto energy in his good arm, and letting it off directly behind him with an explosive blast.
Then he yelled as Bertrand was hurled backward, and whatever the ghost had stabbed him with was violently dislodged from his back. The pain, centered just above Vlad's right shoulder blade, overlapped in waves so intense it was all he could do to not curl into a ball of agony on the spot.
But his survival instincts had already kicked in and he kept moving instead, as adrenaline flooded his system.
Spectra was charging at him with ecto energy gathered in both hands, so Vlad lunged forward, meeting her halfway. He was much faster, and caught her in the face with a left back fist, deflecting the blast she got off with his good shoulder. She went flying backward to crash into the far wall.
Meanwhile Bertrand was already getting back up, leaving Vlad only a brief moment to gather his wits.
He took the time to merge back together with his double, who had already blasted his way out of the playpen, Nathaniel held close. When they merged, Vlad immediately felt the gaping wound in his chest shrink as the skin knitted back together. It was only a partial fix and he was still bleeding, but the damage was roughly cut in half, since he had split himself evenly earlier.
Now Vlad was left with a tiny boy in his arms, clinging to him fearfully. A powerful pang of empathy for Nathaniel swept through him suddenly, and for the first time, with a sense of shock, he realized just how emotionally unstable he was right now.
He had been snapped out of the worst of it, no doubt because of the intense pain. That ghost, that woman...what had she been doing to him? She had piqued his emotions, led him down into a haze of dark thoughts with all the right words, as if...
As if reading his mind.
Vlad didn't have to focus on the implications. He would flee now, and deal with this later, when he wasn't injured and juggling Nathaniel. He should still be able to out pace these two, injured or not...
Just as Vlad went invisible to make a quick escape, Spectra's voice screeched out.
"BERTRAND, the DOOR!" Bertrand's reaction was immediate, and unfortunately Vlad had thrown him close to the exit a moment ago. Vlad watched him press his back to the door, then disappear from sight as he too went invisible.
A fast, continuous stream of ecto blasts from Bertrand's direction started up immediately, seemingly randomly aimed. Vlad dodged one that came dangerously close, and switched Nathaniel entirely to his bad arm. The wound had damaged his right shoulder, so this was a definite strain, but Vlad needed his left arm for defense and attack. He rose toward the ceiling, approximately fifteen feet above.
This place was built into the middle of one of the Ghost Zone's many rocky islands, and thus was surrounded on all sides by meters upon meters of impenetrable rock. Vlad couldn't phase through it, so the only escape route available was the way he had come in. He needed to get through that door!
As Vlad reached the ceiling, he started to focus an invisible ecto blast. He couldn't punch his way through these walls, but he could break down that door, right along with the ghost blocking it.
Spectra yelled out again. "He's up toward the ceiling! He's going to attack!" Bertrand's ecto blasts shifted upward suddenly, and Vlad had to start dodging again.
Vlad's temper flared, and he changed targets to throw the ecto blast at Spectra instead, who was confirming his fears of mind reading with every word. At least Bertrand appeared unable to do so as well.
Vlad watched as Spectra reacted to the attack just in time, blocking it with an ecto shield. Her defense was far too weak, and she was knocked back into the far wall again.
Vlad, still invisible, lunged downward. He'd take her out first, then leave. She might be able to track him, which would be disastrous.
He saw the fear in Spectra's eyes an instant before she went invisible. He had gotten close enough to get one solid hit in, but then she slipped away. Butter biscuits. She had known he was coming, had read his intentions, even where he was in the room, invisible or not...
Vlad leaped back upward suddenly, barely avoiding an ecto blast from nearby that came too close to be a coincidence. He lashed out with a kick to gain distance, and his foot caught a glancing blow to what felt like Spectra's shoulder.
"Gehh." Vlad felt his own shoulder tear, and it was all he could do to suppress a scream.
His grip on Nathaniel slipped slightly. The front of Nathaniel's tiny pajamas was soaking with his ecto blood. Vlad fought off a sudden wave of dizziness as the recognition of his blood loss hit him. He didn't have any time to waste.
Nathaniel started to cry. It was the gasping of a child who was afraid to make noise, but couldn't keep from crying any longer. His high pitched sobs, with gibberish words interspersed that sounded suspiciously like Mommy and home, made Vlad's heart clench, even as he feared that the noise would lead Bertrand and Spectra right to them.
That fear and pain gave him another adrenaline rush.
Vlad clenched Nathaniel to him with his bad arm, holding back another yell of pain, and used his left arm to bombard the exit with ecto blasts. He also raised a partial ecto shield, curved around his back and right side, to protect himself and Nathaniel from another attack from Spectra.
Sheer force was the only way out now. It was a race against his own body, however; a deadly test determining just how long he could push himself like this. For the moment, Bertrand's strength didn't match up, and Vlad quickly blasted his way through the door. The force of his attack took Bertrand by surprise, and after smashing through the door he became briefly visible again, flipping through the air, surrounded by debris, to land on his head and skid several feet along the floor. Vlad zoomed forward, keeping to the top of what was left of the doorway. He was back in the sitting room again, the true exit to this place only a few dozen feet away now.
Vlad put on a burst of speed just as a female scream erupted from behind, followed by an ecto blast that hit the back of his head, and Vlad, temporarily stunned, flipped forward and down, carried by the blast's force and his own momentum.
And Nathaniel was suddenly gone, out of his arms.
Vlad righted himself frantically and saw the boy ahead.
Nathaniel was visible, and human again. He was falling toward the floor, carried by momentum, and his arms were still reaching for Vlad, who had effectively become intangible to him. His terrified eyes were filled with tears.
Shock ran through Vlad. No, no, no..!
There wasn't any time. Caution was thrown to the wind, and for the first time in years Vlad made a truly spontaneous decision.
He waited until the last possible instant, but there was no way Spectra, who was hot on his heels, could miss the distinctive black rings as they moved out from the center of Vlad's body just before he grabbed Nathaniel to him.
Then they fell through the floor together, and into total darkness.
Getting to the Ghost Zone had taken Danny minutes, but it had felt like a lifetime. Now he was streaking through it toward where he knew Spectra and Bertrand lived. An image of his older self was burned into the retina of his mind's eye, and a deep worry for Nathaniel was churning in his gut. Scenarios were playing out in his mind, each more horrible than the one before. Confusion twisted beneath it all, subtly camouflaging a growing sense of betrayal.
How could Jazz be that naive? That trusting? To actually believe his future self...! There was something more there, something she'd been hiding, and Danny could only pray he'd have the luxury to find out later. When Spectra and his older self were mentioned in the same sentence he couldn't help fear that some complicated scheme had already been set in motion.
Sam's face was there too, burning in his mind's eye, the way she had looked before he left, so beautiful and happy, for the first time in a long time.
Nathaniel, please, please be okay...
Spectra's home appeared in the distance, and in another minute Danny was floating in front of a deep burgundy door, set into dark gray rock. The last time he'd been here had been when he was looking for Sam. It hadn't been pleasant. Spectra had pushed her limits with him, and for once he'd pushed right back, no holds barred. But now, if she had Nathaniel, if his older self was here too...
Something here was wrong. His ghost sense had yet to go off.
Of course, this was the Ghost Zone, so his overall sensitivity was dulled by overexposure to the energy everywhere here. And Danny still carried the Box Ghost under his arm. The Box Ghost, for his part, had probably decided that getting carried around like an over sized football was better than getting kicked around like one, and was being very quiet for once.
Danny wasn't quite sure why he'd bothered to bring him along. Part of him did suspect, however, that there might be some vital thing the Box Ghost had neglected to mention. It would be just like him to forget the obvious, if it wasn't about something cubical or corrugated.
But that didn't matter right now. What did matter was that his Ghost Sense should have gone off again, if there was anyone behind that door, and it hadn't. He kicked the door in anyway, and as an afterthought he threw the Box Ghost inside to check things out. Danny was still a far cry from forgiving the guy for the level of stupidity he had displayed so far that night.
The Box Ghost obviously hadn't expected that. "WAAhh!!" There was a pregnant pause. "Beware!" Then the Box Ghost stuck his head back out. "Nobody home." They stared at each other for a moment, and Danny crossed his arms, trying to keep his growing desperation in check.
He had been expecting them to be here, waiting to ambush him, and he'd come anyway, knowing it was a trap. Then somehow he'd save the day anyway with sheer brute force and strength of will if nothing else. And he'd go home with Nathaniel...
How stupid! It sounded like something out of a freaking comic book! Why should he assume they wanted to be found now, or at all? Danny didn't know what they had planned, or even who was truly involved. This could even be some demented master plan of Vlad's! He wanted Nathaniel, didn't he?
"Oh crap..." Danny put his hands to his head and tried to think.
He should have taken the Specter Speeder. It seemed obvious now. He hadn't used it in years; it was always Jazz, Tucker, or Sam doing that part of things...but it had a Real World Item detector on board, which would be perfect for finding Nathaniel right now!
He needed to go back. It would waste another ten minutes, but what choice did he have?
Danny was about to take off when his ghost sense finally went off.
Someone was coming this way, fast. Danny went invisible instantly, and pulled the Box Ghost close. "Shh." It only took moments for Danny to recognize the stranger, as the ghost ate up the distance.
It was him. His future self. And he looked like he wanted a fight.
The older ghost stopped a good twenty yards away, caution temporarily overriding anger.
"Show yourself!" He was looking in Danny's direction, his own ghost sense having warned him that someone was there. His lips drew back in a silent snarl, and he came forward, a look of rage passing over his features. "I don't have time..."
"I'm here." Danny threw the Box Ghost behind him, and showed himself.
His older self drew back suddenly, eyes going briefly wide, and they locked eyes. Tension, almost visible, like ecto energy, rose between them.
Their last incredibly violent encounter hung over them, and the things Danny had been trying to deal with in the months since came back all at once. Electricity ran between them, like a lightning bolt on the cusp of manifestation.
Danny looked away, nostrils flaring as the familiar anger rose up in him. He wanted to pummel the bastard so hard...
His older self clearly noticed the look, and lowered his arms carefully in an attempt to look nonthreatening, though none of the tension left his body. He had better things to do than get beaten to a pulp right now, like finding Nathaniel.
"So you..."
"What do you...!"
They both stopped. Then Danny's older self tried again. "I don't want a fight. We need to find Nathaniel. Where have you looked so far?"
Danny stared at him as though he'd grown a second head. The nerve...
His older self went on, obviously impatient. "Spectra has too many holes to hide in; I've been all over the Ghost Zone. That includes..."
"What. Are you talking about?! Do you think I believe anything you're saying? You want to help? Tell me where Nathaniel is!!" Danny tore forward, the urge to punch the living daylights out of his future self finally winning out.
His fists only met air; the other ghost had transported himself. An instant later Danny's arms were behind him, twisted into a hold that hurt like hell, his future self's voice in his ear. "Stop. It!! Listen to me..." They grappled with one another for a few moments, and Danny nearly broke away twice before his future self shoved one of his knees into the middle of Danny's back, increasing the lock on his arms to the breaking point.
"I'm desperate right now, do you understand?!" Danny growled low, and twisted his head away from the voice yelling in his ear, but didn't try to break free again. Despite his better judgment, something in him wanted to listen.
"I don't know where Nathaniel is. I want to find him before Spectra does something sick to him, or just..." His older self's voice dropped off unexpectedly, and Danny felt his stomach drop out as a dark fear swept through him. Nathaniel couldn't be dead...
Suddenly the thought was much more real than it had been a moment ago.
Danny was shoved forward unexpectedly, the grip on his wrists released. He turned instantly, hovering a few feet away from his older self, rubbing his arms gingerly, eyes narrowed. He'd pay for that later...
But somehow the anger from a moment ago had nearly died away. A slow, creeping fear gnawed at his stomach instead. Danny's eyes met his older self's again, and they both looked away instantly.
It was mirrored there...
Danny couldn't work with him. He couldn't trust him! And he didn't have time to deal with this. But the thought crept up on him, hesitant, and with a sense of embarrassment; was there any way he could really be worried for Nathaniel...?
Danny looked down, gritting his teeth, and clenched his fists in frustration. His voice came out, strangled and vicious. "Why can't you just disappear?"
His future self's expression mirrored his, though Danny didn't see.
After a moment his older self spoke. "Just tell me your plans. I don't want either of us wasting time. Please." Danny heard him sigh. "I've only got one other place to look, but it's about fifteen minutes from here. It's the last place I remember Spectra living; naturally that would be where she was hiding away now- the last place I look." Danny felt the frustration rolling off him, too genuine to be faked.
Danny looked up, into his double's glowing red eyes. "I'm going to the Fenton Portal, to get the Specter Speeder. It can..."
"Detect 'real world items'!" His older self's hands flew to his head. "Of course, how stupid...how could I forget...?" He turned in a slow motion circle, gritting his teeth. Then he faced Danny again, focused and intense. "I'm going to check out this last location- it's across the Ghost Zone from the Fenton Portal, so it makes sense for us to split up. Either way, we'll be moving forward as fast as possible." He was already backing up again, and a nervous distrust twisted in Danny's gut. "Good lu..."
"No! I'm coming with you!" Danny leaped forward, only to stop abruptly as his future self screeched to a halt.
"No you're not. It doesn't make sense! Go get the Specter Sp...!"
They started talking over each other, both yelling.
"This is ridiculous! Like I could leave you alone to get Nathaniel! What if he was there...?"
"You idiot, use your brain, we don't have time to waste debating..."
"I, the Box Ghost..." The Box Ghost was still floating nearby, having remained invisible up until now. They both stopped to stare at him.
He looked like he was regretting saying anything.
Danny flew forward a few feet. "You go! Go get the Specter Speeder! In fact, you can meet the others and tell them what's going on! They're probably going to get there soon..." Danny hadn't thought of it before, but he knew he was right. The whole gang would be there: Jazz, Tucker, and Sam. How much time had passed since he'd left? Fifteen minutes at most? They'd be there any minute, probably...
"I can't believe...fine." Danny looked up to see his future self's deeply disgruntled face. His arms were crossed. His older self lunged forward suddenly, a dark look twisting his features, and latched onto the Box Ghost. He drew him back, like a football, and threw him as hard as he could. "Get...going then!" Danny watched wide eyed, as his older self stared after the squat blue ghost spinning through the air. "You can go faster than that!"
Then his future self turned around, shoulders hunched, and didn't bother with so much as a glance at Danny before taking off in the opposite direction. "Come on already."
Danny glowered at him. "You don't have to tell me."
What the devil is wrong with me?
Vlad had given away the fact that he was a halfa. Spectra wasn't stupid, there was no way she wouldn't put two and two together...only humans were intangible in the Ghost Zone after all!
And that aside, he was utterly helpless right now! The more ghostly energy Vlad accessed, the more tangible he became. Even using invisibility would slow his and Nathaniel's descent through the ghostly rock, and if Vlad were to attempt flying, he would likely trap them there! Thus they were forced to float slowly along, until their momentum naturally carried them through to the underside of the island.
Well...at least that could explain his leap after Nathaniel. The boy might well have gotten himself trapped, if left alone to go through the rock. All it would've taken was a few tries at "going ghost," as Daniel would put it.
Still, Vlad's decision to follow the boy, if anything, confirmed the true depth of his growing insanity! To give up such a secret, that Vlad Plasmius was a halfa...
And that witch of a woman, somehow reducing his usually clear, focused, logical self to a sentimental, easy to manipulate pile of mush in a matter of minutes..!
A cynical thought crossed Vlad's mind. Perhaps it was easier for her to do than he would care to admit. Perhaps he had been weakening for years, ever since he'd first discovered another like himself: a halfa in the form of young Daniel Fenton.
Vlad closed his eyes, though the complete blackness made the change negligible, and took a careful breath, trying to purge his roiling emotions. Anger. Regret. Fear.
Fudge buckets.
It didn't matter what his mind was spewing. He needed to focus, and work a way out of this mess.
Being stuck as a human was a problem, to put it lightly. The wound in his chest ached with every heartbeat, and though it was considerably smaller now, since this wasn't the form that had taken the attack, his human heart rate was much higher and thus pushed the blood out dangerously fast. Even now, his breaths were becoming shallow gasps. He could only hope this fall would end before his human body had time to go into complete shock.
And what would he do once outside again? Nathaniel would still be human.
Vlad could split his form. One copy could mostly transform, keeping only his hands in human form, and then grab onto Nathaniel and himself to fly them out of here as quickly as possible...
Vlad coughed suddenly, and tasted the metallic flavor of blood.
Fudge...buckets. Had Bertrand's attack pierced his lung? Vlad's hands had a subtle tremor, and his vision would likely be slightly tunneled, if there were anything to see.
Vlad doubted he had the strength to split his form, if it meant staying even partially human. His ghostly body was extremely durable; his human body, though exceptional by human standards, was not. Even in the best of circumstances, holding himself in the state between his ghost and human forms required continual, focused concentration.
And Spectra could sense him. How far did that ability reach? Could Vlad truly afford to invisibly slink away, when she and Bertrand might tail him back to his home? He was badly injured, but even so, in ghost form he could still deal out enough damage to keep them from follow...
Vlad's thought halted as a tiny hand reached fumblingly upward, feeling along the back of his neck. Then it found his ponytail and grabbed onto it, pulling lightly. A tiny voice sniffled in his ear.
Some of Vlad's tension drained away to be replaced with something more intense, and more...important.
Vlad slowly dropped his head until his left cheek brushed softly up against the top of Nathaniel's fuzzy head.
"It's all right little badger. You're safe." He spoke softly, and he hoped soothingly, though his voice was laced with pain. Vlad could only hold the boy with one arm, while the other, practically useless now, was held carefully still. The position was hardly comfortable for either of them, nor the pervasive smell of Vlad's blood.
Nathaniel tightened his grip ever so slightly, and sniffled again. Then he mumbled something quietly, and it took a second for Vlad to decipher the meaning.
Mommy. Vlad grimaced, a subtle ache welling up in him. All the months he had spent watching the child seemed to flash by in an instant.
The boy wanted Samantha, of course. Not him. Yet he had the audacity to feel disappointed, as though he ought to mean something to boy.
No. He meant nothing to the Nathaniel. And now, here of all places, Vlad was being forced to acknowledge his own ridiculous, predictable, yet somehow completely unforeseen mistake.
He had become attached in all the wrong ways, and now...he couldn't keep the child. Oh, perhaps he could. But he wouldn't.
Vlad hugged Nathaniel closer, his scowl deepening into anger. Damn his conscience!All the effort he had gone through over the past months, and now there was this ridiculous situat...
The surrounding darkness was unexpectedly replaced with the bright green backdrop of the Ghost Zone, causing Vlad's eyes to tear up. They were outside!
Spectra was in his face.
Vlad turned invisible almost instantly, but it was still too late. His momentum continued to carry him and Nathaniel slowly downward, away from the rocky island above them, and Spectra backed off, all too aware of where he was, invisible or not. Her eyes were wide with excitement.
For a long moment Vlad's mind froze up. He should have turned invisible sooner, and risked slowing their descent through the rock! Surely it wouldn't have stopped them completely! And now this scum had seen his face as they emerged, had seen Vlad Masters' face! In time, Spectra would surely figure out exactly who he was in the human world, if she hadn't already recognized him...!
Vlad's temper flared. They had badly injured him. They were intent on using Nathaniel as a tool for their sadistic revenge against Daniel. And if their plan became reality, they would keep Nathaniel in living conditions not fit for an animal for years, and then kill the child...
And now Spectra had just seen him, the real him, effectively stripping away something dearly precious to him in an instant: his human identity.
It was terrifying, and humiliating. It also gave him an enormous adrenaline rush, boosting his power and overriding the pain.
They had seen Masters at his most vulnerable. Now they would see Plasmius at his most vicious.
Vlad left Nathaniel. The boy was untouchable as a human, and no longer trapped in the underbelly of Spectra and Bertrand's rocky prison, after all. Vlad could leave him for a bit, then come back after the trash had been taken care of- and then he wouldn't have to worry about being followed. This was the best choice.
Vlad had transformed and was in front of Spectra in an instant, his fist connecting with her jaw with a satisfying crack. She was caught off guard, obviously still mulling gleefully over the revelation of Vlad's human identity.
He wasn't going to give her that time. She might sense his intent, but she was slow, and here in the Ghost Zone she couldn't phase out to avoid him. She was easy prey. He advanced and caught her across the face twice more with a double back fist. He was still reduced to one arm, adrenaline rush or not.
Then Bertrand appeared, attacking, and Vlad barely jolted back in time to miss a vicious swipe to his abdomen with a knife.
No, not a knife! Bertrand had manipulated his hands until they were stretched out into long, thin, sharp utensils. There were no visible fingers, just one double edged dagger of sorts attached to each wrist. It was disgusting.
Vlad's fury peaked again, and he threw an ecto blast with his good arm at Bertrand's face, knocking him several dozen feet away. Vlad teleported to just behind Bertrand and hit him with another powerful ecto blast to the back of his head, which sent him flying forward in an uncontrolled spin.
Vlad raced along with him, and even as the other ghost attempted to twist away, Vlad landed a solid kick to his temple. He didn't wait for Bertrand to recover before kneeing him in small of his back. A strangled yelp finally escaped the ghost, and Vlad found himself smirking.
I do believe that hurt.
Then Spectra came at him, broadcasting herself with a loud battle cry, and Vlad gave her a quick kick to the face, stopping her completely. He blasted her some distance away, before she had time to even register the kick, let alone react to it.
Vlad continued his attack on Bertrand, who was still reeling from the previous blows. Vlad clocked another solid kick to his temple, and then twisted to get him again with another kick on the other temple, knocking him back the way he had just come. It took a lot to knock a ghost cold, but Vlad was more than up to the job...
They had forgotten who he was, hadn't they? Even if Vlad was out to protect Nathaniel, he was not some fool's idea of a hero. He protected his own, and when you literally knifed him in the back, you could expect one thing:
Retribution!
So long as Vlad moved quickly, while the adrenaline was still on his side, these two didn't stand a chance against him.
Vlad threw another kick, this time at Bertrand's ribs, and the ghost managed an awkward block with his right arm at the last moment. There was a loud crack as the arm broke, and Vlad suppressed a grimace, backing off momentarily.
Fool.
Bertrand's arm would heal much more slowly than a few ribs, after all. But then, that wasn't Vlad's problem; it would even serve to take out the cretin faster. With that thought, Vlad advanced again, set to knock him cold no matter what this time.
"STOP! Or he GETS IT!" Vlad reared back, shock jolting through him at Spectra's shrill voice- and at what he knew she meant. He turned quickly, and the fear was confirmed.
Fudge buckets.
Author's Note: Bwaha...haha...ahahahahaaa! Okay, okay....I actually have the next chapter completely written. Not in the editing phase, not mulling it over...completely finished. So the next update will be fast, for once. :) Have a nice day.