Dani entered Vlad's mansion through the roof. She transformed into a human to avoid detection by whatever anti-ghost defense mechanisms he probably had in the house. The house was empty, which confirmed that Vlad had traveled to Wisconsin that night. She had lived in that place for the first year after he "adopted" her, so she was familiar with the layout of that place. The first place she decided to investigate was Vlad's room, but she found nothing.
Literally. Clothes, accessories, personal hygiene items... everything was gone. The room was neat but empty. "What's going on here?" She went into another room, but found no indication that anyone was there. Considering that Vlad lived alone, she decided to go downstairs to inspect his office. As she was going to cross the living room, she noticed a small mess in the kitchen.
She remained motionless for a few seconds, waiting for something to happen. Since nothing happened, she slowly approached and observed that all the drawers and cupboard doors were open. She entered the kitchen and peeked into a drawer: it looked like the place had been ransacked. She inspected all the drawers and saw that everything was in its place, except for anything that was edible. She stood up and walked over to the fridge, but when she opened it, she found it empty. She quickly leaned over the kitchen bar and saw that the huge television was still in the room.
"That rules out a robbery." She headed into Vlad's office and noticed that it was in a bit of a mess. She walked over to the desk and noticed that the drawers were open. She pulled out some papers from there and flipped through them. They were all things about the town hall or official government business. She put them down, back on the desk and looked around the room. She walked over to the wall where he hung a portrait of himself along with Jazz, his formerly deceased white cat. Making his head intangible, she shoved it through the wall and the safe hidden back there. She also reached in and used some energy to light up the interior. She found it empty.
Danielle stuck her head out and placed both hands on her waist. "What are you running from?" She thought to herself as she left the office. There was only one place of importance left in the mansion, a place that he could not empty and that could give her the answer she was looking for. But she wasn't prepared for what she found when she went down to the lab.
The place was in complete darkness, but when she used her powers to light up the room, she froze. The entire lab had been destroyed, reduced to just the memory of a high-tech facility. Black stains adorned all the objects that were in the direction of the ghost portal, or where there used to be a ghost portal. The structure was split in two, and the soot was evidence of the explosion that had consumed that place. She looked behind her and found marks that went through the metal plates of the walls, and these marks extended in a line along the entire wall. Out of caution, she turned into a ghost and approached the crack in the wall. There were some ghosts that were capable of leaving marks like that, Wolf, for example; but up close, she noticed that the metal had been melted before it was destroyed.
Prince Aragon and Dora came to her mind, but their fire breath couldn't cause a mark as thin as that. He thought of Skulker and some weapon he might have created or stole, but Skulker had never been after Vlad, which eliminated him. She returned to the main floor with more questions than answers. Someone had destroyed his lab. And then, someone had bombed his mansion in Wisconsin. Clearly, Vlad was under attacked... But who was attacking him?
She flew back to her apartment and once she got there, she took his cell phone and sent a message. She needed information.
It was 1 am when he arrived in Wisconsin. His driver took him to his mansion, which was surrounded by police cars. Vlad got out of the car and went to talk to the person in charge of the case, who gave him the report of what happened. According to the forensic report, the building hadn't suffered structural damage, but as a precaution, they preferred to leave the area closed until they were sure. Completely unnecessary, since he knew the real magnitude of the damage caused.
The conversation lasted until almost 3 in the morning, between interrogations about the reasons why someone would do that, the creation of a list of suspects and the taking of the mayor's statement. His driver took him to the nearest 5-star hotel so they could rest.
Vlad instructed him to return to Amity Park in the morning and said that he would stay behind to help the local authorities: a complete farce. He was coming out of the shower when he took his cell phone and again debated whether or not to warn Danielle about the imminent danger that was about to break free in Amity Park. But he couldn't. He turned off the phone and placed it on the nightstand next to his bed. He turned off the lights in the room and tried to get some sleep, although he doubted very much that he could do it.
Tucker was sitting on a bench in the park, both hands in the pockets of his jacket. He watched people walk through the park, others jogging, running or exercising before looking at the sky. The sky was clear, with sunlight illuminating the entire landscape and gracing the view with a warm golden color. It was close to 8 in the morning and everything predicted that it would be another warm summer day in Amity Park. Except for that dark cloud moving in from the north.
He looked back to the front and saw that Danny was walking towards him. He couldn't make out any gesture or emotion on the face of his best friend, although this could be due to the distance between them. He stood up and went out to meet the blue-eyed boy, who stopped when he was in front of him.
- Hey Tuck.
- Hi Danny.
They both looked at each other, serious. Danny was trying to figure out if Tucker was upset with him, while Tucker wanted to know if he was keeping something from him.
- Listen man, I'm sorry. - Danny spoke. – For yesterday. I didn't want to say that I didn't need you or something like that...
- Danny. Don't. – He interrupted him. - Look, not gonna lie here: Your comment did bother me a little … but after Sam dragged me out of your house, I had time to process everything and believe me when I tell you that I understand you.
- Really? – He asked.
- For real man. None of us was in there, but you were. – He placed his hand on his shoulder. – You know better than anyone how bad this is, so if you have reasons to think that it is better that we stay away from the portal for now, I'll trust you.
- Thanks Tuck. You're the best.
- So I've been told. – He smiled and put his hands back in his pockets. – So… what is it that we needed to talk about so early?
- Oh, right. – Danny took a USB from his pocket. – Jazz got the code for the first suit. According to my dad, they are a week away from starting building the suit, but I thought you could take a look at it in your spare time.
Tucker took the USB in his hand.
- Sure. – He put it in his pocket. - Why a week?
- The materials will take at least 5 days to arrive.
- Alright. – He said analyzing the situation. – Our plan is already in place, which is good. So, tell me: why are you worried?
Danny just scratched his head and sighed.
- I think we won't have enough time to finish the suit. I mean, Dan could…
- Danny… we cannot predict the future. We have to stick to our plan and if something fails, then we'll have to improvise our way forward.
- I wish I could be as optimistic as you are now.
- Well, you have to find a way to be. – He said smiling. – Because if Sam sees you like that again, she'll be mad at you.
- Again? - Danny smiled.
- Oh, don't even doubt it.
The friends began to walk towards the exit of the park, in the direction of Sam's house.
- By the way, where's your sister? She's not coming with us?
- She said someone had to stay behind to watch the portal. - Danny shrugged. – But I guess she didn't see the difference between all of us going to talk to Vlad or just the 3 of us.
- Nah, she just wanted to sleep late. - Tucker joked.
- You know? 11 out of 10 doctors don't recommend eating at the Nasty Burger for breakfast.
Danielle was at the back of the restaurant, her arms crossed and playing with a bottle she had found lying around. She was lost in thoughts of her until she heard Valerie's voice speaking to her.
- Thank God they're not open yet. – She joked.
- What's up Dani? Your text seemed urgent.
- Before I tell you… - She made a pause. - During your surveillance on Vlad, did you notice if there was something or someone who was… I don't know… stalking him?
- Stalking him as to... attack him? – She asked with an eyebrow raised by the curious question.
- Yes, as if he had some nemesis or something like that. – Dani bit her lip, but she kept her face serious.
- Someone besides us? – Valerie joked.
- A ghost… someone? - She inquired further.
- No, no one. Why do you ask? - She crossed her arms.
- Okay. What I am going to tell you is secret and you cannot tell anyone about this. – She paused. – Yesterday I accompanied Vlad to the inauguration of the new cultural center.
- I know, I saw the photos. By the way, nice dress. – She added with a smile.
- Thank you. – She replied happily. - Anyway… Vlad received some news. Apparently, there was an explosion at his mansion in Wisconsin.
- Wow. – She got serious. – Did someone get hurt?
- I don't know... the house is supposed to be empty since he now lives here, but that's not what worries me.
- No? Are you sure? – She said with some sarcasm.
- He barely reacted. The head security told him that his house had blown up and he acted like it was nothing. He didn't yell, he didn't get angry, he didn't threaten anyone…he didn't even say it in public to win supporters!
- Okay. That's weird... but back to the explosion...
- Yesterday at midnight I flew to his house and found it empty. Which makes sense since he said he would personally go to Wisconsin to "help" the police.
- So far so good. – Valerie answered briefly before being interrupted again.
- But while I inspected the house, I discovered that Vlad had evacuated it. All his documents and personal items were gone.
- Which is normal when one goes on a trip. – She said trying to calm the girl who kept talking.
- Yes, but you don't take your entire pantry and groceries when you do it, do you?
- What?
Dani looked at Valerie's face and smiled with satisfaction: she had piqued her interest and her curiosity.
- Everything valuable of the mansion is still there, but he took all the food. Now who does that? Especially when you're a millionaire.
- Ok, let's just back off a bit. Don't you think you're reading too much into this situation?
- I thought the same… until I saw his lab. - She said serious.
- What happened to his lab?
- That's something you have to see.
- So... - Sam broke the silence that existed among the 3 of them. - What are we going to tell Vlad?
- We will kindly ask him to give us the code he used for the suit. - Tucker commented.
- And if he refuses?
- I'll have to persuade him. - Danny added smiling.
- Oh. I thought that attacking a public servant was something stupid. – She ironized.
- And it is! – He defended himself. – But Danny Phantom will when he discovers that Plasmius, the ghost from Wisconsin, has possessed the mayor.
- See Sam? We already thought of everything. – Tucker and Danny bumped their fists.
- Of course you did, Bonnie and Clyde. – The girl said smiling.
- Hey! – They both answered at the same time.
- In that case, I'm Clyde. - Tucker said.
- Hey!
The 3 arrived at Amity Park City Hall. For official business and procedures, the offices were closed; however, they knew that some public servants were in the offices until noon on Saturdays, Vlad included. They managed to sneak into the offices and walked until they located Vlad's office. The 3 of them walked silently through the entire corridor and at the end of the hall they located his assistant's desk. Danny watched the surveillance cameras installed in the hallway, making it impossible for him to use his powers to enter the office. Which meant they would have to trick his assistant's.
- Good morning, miss… - Tucker moved closer to the desk to read the plate with the woman's name. - ... Sanders.
- Who are you and what are you doing here? - The woman said standing up. – These are government offices, not a public park… so get out of here if you don't want me to call security.
- Hey, don't worry. We are harmless. - Danny said. – We just want to talk to the mayor for a moment.
- Well, make an appointment and come back when you have it. Now, leave.
- But it is a very important issue! - Tucker intervened. – It's about… his daughter Danielle. – He whispered the latter.
The assistant narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.
- What about her?
- She is in danger, that's why we urgently need to talk to the mayor. We promise not to take too much time out of his very busy schedule.
Danny and Sam looked at each other, then back at the woman, who was scanning them with her eyes.
- Where do you know Danielle from? - She asked them.
- Umm…
- Well…
- We met her at Casper High School. – Sam answered aloud.
The woman looked at them seriously.
- That's it. I'm calling security. – She pressed a button on the phone that was on her desk.
- No! Wait! - Tucker yelled.
- What? – The woman said, starting to get irritated.
Tucker looked at Danny and flicked his eyes at the secretary. Danny gently shook his head and pointed to the camera on the ceiling. Tucker opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out of it. He was blank.
- Don't you know who I am!? - Sam said crossing her arms.
Danny and Tucker looked at her in surprise, but only Tucker understood what she wanted to do.
- Yes… - He said without much conviction. - You don't know who she is?
- Should I? – She said inspecting the girl.
- Only if you want to keep you job! – The goth yelled again. – My name is Samantha Manson.
- And? I have no idea who you are. – She raised her eyebrow.
- How about the names Jeremy and Pamela Manson? You're going to tell us that you don't know their daughter? - Tucker intervened.
The smile on the secretary's face faded and she turned serious. Of course she knew who the Manson's were. They were the main benefactors of the cultural center. She had tried to get the couple's support for his boss's political career, without success so far. She knew they had a daughter, but she had never seen her at any event. She fixed her gaze on the girl in front of her and, after a few seconds in silence, she burst out laughing.
The young ones in front of her looked at each other, open-mouthed and not understanding what was happening. A few seconds passed until the laughter stopped. The woman sat back in her chair and she carefully wiped away a few tears.
- My God. Thanks for that. – She smiled. – Now… Bob, Daryl: please escort these pranksters out of the building.
- What? – They said.
It was then that they felt someone grab them by the forearm. When they turned back, they noticed two large men, both in height and width.
- Let's go. – One of them said with a deep voice.
The assistant watched as the young adults were dragged through the corridors. She began to blow into her face with both hands to suppress the urge to start laughing again. "Daughter of the Manson's… Yeah, right. And I am the first lady."
Bob and Daryl tossed them out of the City Hall, before standing in front of the front door to make sure they didn't try to come back.
- Incredible. – Tucker complained rubbing his arm.
- She didn't believe the only truth we told her. - Sam said.
Before she had a chance to do so, Danny gently took her forearm and inspected it for a moment. When he didn't see any damage, he just stroked the area. The contact of Danny's fingers gave her goosebumps, making her to blush and her boyfriend noticed. When Danny released her, she cleared her throat.
- Well… I told you it was unnecessary to come and talk to him.
- We could always execute plan B. – Dany told him.
- Why? Tucker can do it.
- To get even? - Danny teased and Sam smiled at him.
- Or we could go with Plan S. – Tucker said without seeing them.
- Plan S? We didn't go that far into the alphabet with our planning. - Danny said looking at his friend.
Tucker smiled at them and pointed to the entrance of the building, where they saw Star talking to the guards who had kicked them out.
- I improvised it on our way out. – Tucker said.
Sam rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
- We don't need it, Tuck. – She reminded her.
- Hey, I'm the one who has to program that thing and if there's any way to find a shortcut, you can bet your ass I'll take it. – He returned his gaze to the girl, who was entering the building.
- You just want to flirt with her. - Danny pointed out.
- And you can do the same with Sam, so don't complain.
Tucker shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket and walked towards the entrance. Sam just sighed and looked at Danny, waiting for him to say something to him. When Danny noticed his girlfriend watching him, he raised an eyebrow.
- What? He's right.
Sam was about to say something, but Danny reached out and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him.
They phased through the ceiling and landed in the completely dark room. Dani broke away from Valerie and used her powers to light up the lab. When her eyes were able to capture the atmosphere of the place, she was speechless. She looked around the place, not knowing what to do or say. Very carefully, she began to walk through the ruins. She bent down and picked up a metal shard from the floor covered in black soot. After analyzing it for a few seconds, she tossed it to the ground and stood up to continue walking through the area. She approached a wall that was completely black, where she could see the relief of a destroyed metal structure.
- This looks like a scene from a horror Indi film. – Valerie said touching the metal.
- It gets worse.
Valerie turned to face her and saw her point to a far wall. When she followed the direction with her eyes, she saw the fracture that was in the wall and extended to almost all the walls. It was an irregularly patterned scratch that had managed to pierce the wainscoting on the wall. Careful not to trip, Valerie reached over and placed her hand inside the crack.
- This isn't the work of a normal ectoplasm beam. - She commented. – Let alone a weapon.
- I know… that's why I asked you. - Dani said.
- I don't know of any ghost that can do this. But it's not like I know all the ghosts out there either.
- Do you think there is a new player in town? - Dani asked.
- It's possible. What I don't understand is why go after Vlad. I mean…I know it's annoying, but he hasn't done anything in the last few years for someone to be after him.
- Maybe they're after his human half, not the ghost half. – The minor theorized.
- Maybe... - Valerie turned to the girl. - Why don't you ask your cousin if he knows something?
Her question caught Dani off guard and she turned to look at her in a panic.
- M-my cousin?
- Danny Phantom. The ghost boy. – She clarified, which relaxed her a bit. – I know he's back in Amity Park.
- Yes... I could ask Da... him.
- In the meantime, let's get out of here. This place gives me chills.
Dani just nodded and took the girl by the arm. She became intangible and flew through the ceiling. She continued flying with her apartment in mind.
Star left the city hall irritated and frustrated. She hated getting up early on Saturdays and today, her efforts had not paid off. She walked out the front door and said goodbye to Daryl, the only guard left outside. She kept her gaze on the floor and walked automatically, until a pair of red sneakers appeared in her vision field. She looked up to avoid colliding with the person in front of her and regretted it in that instant.
- Oh no. - She whispered tired.
- Good morning, Star. - Tucker said smiling. - How are you?
The girl stopped and rolled her eyes.
- Foley… move. I'm not in the mood. – She said, squeezing the bridge of her nose.
- I understand you... miss Sanders there can be very rude at times.
- You don't know anything about Molly. - She said seriously.
- And you do? – He said genuinely surprised.
- That's none of your business. - She crossed her arms. – Now step aside.
- Wait, look… I need your help.
- I'm not interested.
Star tried to get past Tucker, but the man was moving in the same direction as her, blocking her path.
- I'll scream if you don't let me through. – She threatened him.
- Easy. I'll let you pass. I want to let you pass! – Tucker tried to reassure her when he noticed Daryl watching the exchange from his position. – Just tell me something: you see, we want…
- I know what you want, Foley. – She interrupted him. – Molly told me that 3 idiots tried to enter the mayor's office.
- Okay. Then just tell me if Vlad is in his office or not.
- Vlad? Are you best friends with him to talk about Mayor Masters like that?
- That's a VERY long story, but just tell me if he's in the office or not.
- If I tell you, will you leave me alone?
- I promise you won't even see my shadow.
The girl looked Tucker in the eyes for a few seconds before sighing. In the square in front of the town hall, Danny and Sam were holding each other, she was resting her head on her boyfriend's chest and he, resting his head on hers. They both had their eyes closed, enjoying that brief moment together in peace.
- You forgive me? - Danny whispered in her ear.
- I already did. – She replied with a smile.
Danny pulled away from her and looked into her eyes.
- Really?
- Really. – She said caressing his face. – I thought you were overprotecting me and treating me as if I was made of glass… but after talking about it with my grandmother I realized that I was overreacting. Besides, you also acted like that with Tucker, so I couldn't take it personally. – She joked. – Right?
Danny just smiled at her.
- So… your grandma told you?
- Yes.
- She told you she winked at me when she saw us? – Danny joked.
- No. – She wrapped her arms around the boy's neck. – But it sounds like something she would do.
He didn't answer, just captured her girlfriend's lips with his and held her tighter. The girl returned the gesture, unconsciously seeking to cling closer to Danny. Taking advantage of the height difference, Danny deepened the kiss without any resistance from Sam, who seemed pleased that he did. He trailed one of her hands up Sam's back until it was close to the nape of her neck, and the other began to move down with painful slowness. When he reached her lower back, a scream forced them apart.
- Wow! You guys know we're in public, right?
Sam released Danny and stepped back, while the boy looked away and smoothed his hair. They both looked at his friend, who had his back to them and had a hand covering his eyes. Sam crossed her arms and called out to him.
- You can turn now, Tuck.
He turned around and removed his hand from his eyes to look at them.
- Jesus Danny, were you trying to devour her? - Tucker joked.
"Kind of". Danny thought before mentally berating himself for having those kinds of ideas.
- Did you find out anything? – The blue-eyed man changed the subject, approaching the dark-haired man and taking Sam by the hand.
- Actually, I did. – He smiled. – Our dear mayor is not here. And when I say here, I'm not talking about the building over there. – He pointed behind him. – He's not in Amity Park.
- Wait... Vlad ran away? – Sam asked.
- Yes and no. You see, according to his assistant, Vlad left town last night due to a "personal affair."
- But where would he go? – The girl asked again.
- I asked myself the same thing and, on a hunch, … - He took out his phone and showed the screen. - I googled it and found this.
Danny picked up the phone and noted a newspaper article from that day was on the screen.
- "An explosion was registered in a private home." – Danny read the headline.
- Now look at the location.
- "... a mansion in Wisconsin..." – Sam read and quickly looked up. – He did run away.
- And I'm not sure, but I think it wasn't an accident either.
- Of course, it wasn't. - Danny confirmed. – He did it to give himself an excuse and get out of Amity as soon as he could.
- That coward. – Tucker said taking his cell phone.
- Well... I guess we're back to the original plan. - Sam said.
- Can you do it by yourself?
- Yes... but I'm not going to do it all by myself. – He added with a smile.
Danny and Sam looked at him, not understanding what he was talking about.
On the outskirts of Amity Park, a white helicopter began its descent onto the helipad near the entrance to a secret military installation. Operative A and Operative T watched as the vehicle landed and the woman rushed to open the helicopter door. Operative Alpha observed the woman and got out of the vehicle.
- Welcome, Operative Alpha. – She yelled so that her voice could be heard over the noise of the propellers.
- I hope you don't disappoint me. - He told her as they walked towards Operative A.
- You're early sir. – A said when he was in front of them.
- I don't want to leave anything to chance today. – He fixed his suit.
- Let's go to my office. – A commented. - There we can talk in private and wait for the preparations to finish.
A held out his hand in front, and Alpha began to walk into the building, followed by the other two officers.
- Do you want to have something for breakfast? – Dani asked as she walked to the kitchen.
- Don't worry about me. – Valerie answered walking towards the living room. – I ate before meeting you.
- Alright. – The youngest opened her fridge and inspected the interior.
Valerie, for her part, took the young woman's laptop and turned it on.
- Have breakfast while I searched for information about a ghost capable of that.
- Deal. - She said taking out some vegetables.