"Do I want to know what happened here?" Jazz asked when she emerged from the pasture behind Alicia's rhubarb patch and into the aftermath of whatever had gone on while she'd been in the air.
"No," Alicia said as she stuffed a handkerchief into Vlad's mouth.
Jazz was pretty sure Vlad was unconscious, if only because he wasn't struggling. Then again, he'd have been in a tight spot without using his ghost powers even if he had been conscious. He was hogtied three feet from an empty metal chair over which Cujo currently loomed, watching the proceedings as if wondering when the best time was to interfere. The fact that he was a giant dog and not a little puppy told Jazz as much as the torn-up turf.
Danny hovered as Phantom nearby, which hopefully meant he'd known it was her coming and not that he'd been too wrapped up in whatever this was to think about safeguarding his secret against someone who didn't know. Regardless, it was another check in the Vlad's unconscious column, as Jazz doubted he'd be fussed about hiding his secret from Alicia when Danny had no such qualms. Assuming Alicia didn't know everything already; Jazz was beginning to think she must, even if she didn't look fazed by any of it.
At the very least, if Alicia was surprised by another family member turning up, she didn't show it. Then again, the Ops Centre wasn't as quiet as the Spectre Speeder. They'd probably heard her coming, and Danny—who also didn't look surprised to see her—might've recognized the sound for what it was.
Of course, if they'd been fighting, which they clearly had been, maybe they hadn't noticed. Or maybe they'd dismissed the sound after determining it wasn't something like one of Skulker's missiles headed right for them. She'd do that; up against someone like Vlad, focusing on something else—even for a split second—could be a mistake that cost the fight.
They'd won this one, clearly, but Jazz didn't know where it fell in importance between battle and war. If Sam and Tucker could only find Jack….
No.
They'd find him.
It was a matter of when, not if.
She had to believe that.
At Jazz's question, Danny looked over at her and pulled a face. "Let's just say it's not only Dad's inventions that need testing before going up against a ghost."
Jazz held up one of the thermoses she'd brought. "Will this help?"
"He's not going to be changing back for a while. Do you have a net-gun on you or just an ecto-gun?"
"Ecto-gun. I was anticipating fighting, not helping with containment after the fact. Do I go back for Fenton Cuffs?" Jazz jerked her thumb over her shoulder. "The Ops Centre is parked over there. Since you didn't ask."
Danny shrugged. "Didn't need to ask. If Dad's in the Ghost Zone, he's got the Spectre Speeder. I don't know how else you would've gotten here unless you coughed up money for a ticket, but there's no way Air Grits would get here as fast as the Ops Centre, and if you'd guessed enough to follow Vlad here, it's not really a choice." He moved close enough to Vlad to poke him with his foot. "I don't think he's faking, so we should be good for a bit, but…."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll go grab something in a minute." Jazz dropped the thermos onto the grass and unclipped the utility stick. "In the meantime, do you know all the settings for this?"
Danny smiled. "I don't, but Mom does."
"And you think she'll be comfortable using it on Vlad?" The others were, clearly, but Maddie wasn't here, which told its own story. Jazz really wasn't sure what else they could say to her at this point. "I told her the truth about him, but—"
"Danny told us more," cut in Alicia as she stood up and reached for the weapon. Jazz handed it over without a fuss. "Maddie might get too lost in her thoughts for her own good sometimes, but she's still got eyes and ears when she chooses to use 'em. I didn't hear everything he said and even I know he practically admitted to everything Danny told us."
Danny winced. "Yeah, Mom wasn't quite so sold on it, but she at least wasn't actively taking his side and trying to tell me it's all a big misunderstanding anymore." He chewed on his lip for a beat, then asked, "I'm guessing you don't have news about Dad because you didn't start with that?"
"I wish I did." Jazz told them about Sam's search and Tucker's upcoming plea for the Infi-Map and how it seemed like half the Ghost Zone had joined in the search, but despite that, she still didn't have answers, and that—
Hurt.
"Figures. Vlad still wouldn't admit it." Danny blew out his breath. "On the upside—only upside—Aunt Alicia has proved once again that she's the coolest aunt ever."
Jazz could see Alicia hiding her smile from here, though for all appearances she was focused on trying to find all the different settings on the utility stick. "Oh?"
"She clocked Vlad with a baseball bat. It was awesome. He never saw it coming."
"Too distracted by fighting you?"
"More trying to convince Mom that he's not the creep he obviously is."
The weapon in Alicia's hands suddenly lengthened, what looked like a campfire stick shooting out of one end and crackling with electricity. Jazz could feel the hairs on her arms rise even with the distance between them. "I knew my sister would include something like this."
She turned the weapon on Vlad without ceremony.
"Yeah," Danny said, "so basically, Aunt Alicia did that. The first time in the house was fine, it worked like it should, but then Vlad woke up, so she tried it again, and it kinda…exploded." He gestured vaguely at an iced-over patch of lawn.
"In hindsight, I flipped a switch I shouldn't have," Alicia said idly, and Jazz winced. That sounded like an understatement.
"Anyway," continued Danny, "Vlad was less keen on holding back when Mom wasn't around, which. Yeah. You've seen him fight, and he was desperate, so it was more an anything goes, no holds barred type thing."
"Wasn't the first time I've been stabbed," Alicia said, still holding the weapon to Vlad's side. "Just the first time it got cauterized before I had to worry too much about it."
There were a lot of things wrong with that statement, but Jazz had heard worse. Her parents and her brother weren't the only ones in the family who routinely decided self-treatment was better than hospitals. Of course, half the time, in their cases, they were right, but they were not always right, and she'd decided it was really only worth fighting the important battles.
Alicia didn't look too worse for the wear, and her colour was still good, so this wasn't one of those battles that needed fighting. Admittedly, the bar should be higher than that. Now that Jazz was looking for it, she could see a tear in Alicia's shirt on her left side. The edges were scorched, and the skin beneath it was red. From what Jazz could tell, stab wound was an exaggeration—it looked more like a graze than anything else—but it would still need to be looked after sooner rather than later.
Alicia had chosen later, though. She was fighting one of her own battles right now, and Jazz wasn't going to stop her. Clearly, they had all collectively decided to ignore the smell of burning cloth.
She could speak up when it turned into the smell of burning flesh.
Maybe.
It wasn't like Vlad didn't deserve it.
And he'd heal up just fine, anyway, if some of the injuries she'd seen Danny get in the past were any indication.
"I can check you over when we've got Vlad cuffed, too," Jazz offered, and Alicia hummed something that might be consent as she finally drew the weapon back and looked Vlad over with a critical eye. Jazz would know for sure what Alicia thought of that idea if the antiseptic came out with everything else once they were back inside.
Danny wasn't about to leave Vlad—for good reason—so Jazz ran back for the Fenton Cuffs. She found an extra spool for the Fenton Fisher stored beside it, so she grabbed that as well. Even if it turned into a tangled mess, if that tangled mess was around Vlad, she'd take it.
"Oh, that'll work," Danny said as she came back holding her findings aloft. He scooped up Vlad and deposited him in the chair, relying on Alicia to hold him in place as he snagged the cuffs from Jazz. He snapped one around Vlad's wrist and the other around the back of the chair before gesturing towards Vlad and saying to her, "You can do the honours."
Which meant he didn't want to risk getting tangled in the line while trying to tie Vlad up.
Jazz smirked as she stepped forward and started to unwind the line. Cujo shrunk and bounded forward with a yip, and she laughed as she reached forward to scratch him behind the ears. "Sorry, Cujo. It's not a ball for you. I've got to tie up Vlad because I'm better at knots than Danny and far less prone to tying myself up by mistake." Danny stuck out his tongue at her, so she added, "Love you, too."
"He gonna be safe to leave without a guard?" Alicia asked as Jazz started working. "Or do you two want me to keep watch while you handle things inside?"
Cujo barked again and moved to sit at Alicia's feet. She stepped back before kneeling and picking up where Jazz had left off with the ear scratching. "Oh, of course you'd do a good job of guarding," Alicia said to him. "I just thought the kids might want to talk to their mom without me. And a pair of hands to hold Maddie's ghost-focused equivalent of a cattle prod ain't gonna go amiss."
Jazz glanced at Danny, and he said, "Yeah, that might be a plan. We can switch off."
"You can take second watch," Jazz murmured to him, "so I can check over Aunt Alicia." Danny nodded, but she hadn't expected an argument on that front. Jazz went back to concentrating on the fishing line in her hands. It had an annoying tendency to tangle the moment she stopped paying full attention to it, and she was not about to find herself tied to Vlad because she'd been talking after teasing Danny about it.
"You have a plan for when he's conscious again?" asked Alicia as she tipped her head towards Vlad. "Other than the short-term solution?"
Jazz looked at Danny. She'd spent the flight here worrying about the fight. For once, she hadn't been thinking about what would come after—other than successfully getting Jack's location out of Vlad, but he'd never just tell them.
"Ghosts have laws, too," Danny said slowly. "I'm kinda hoping I can turn Vlad in for something without getting locked up myself."
Jazz raised an eyebrow. "You think that's going to work?"
"It should. If I can convince Walker of it, anyway. He's built some special cell to hold us; I heard some of his goons bragging about it last time I ran into them."
Bragging. Right. More like threatening. Not that Danny ever wanted to get into those kinds of details with her, let alone Aunt Alicia.
"Either way, it was smart of you to come when you did," Alicia said as she looked at Jazz. "Not sure Maddie would want to try to explaining Vlad's state to anyone on Air Grits, so you'll want the transport back."
Jazz hadn't thought of that.
Apparently, she was feeling the lack of sleep more than she'd realized.
"Right," she said as she tied off the line and stood up. "Well, this should hold him till we get back to Amity Park." She glanced at Danny. "Should that be sooner or later?"
He chewed on his lip. "I don't want to leave Dani yet. You guys could go without me, though. Sam and Tuck know where the prison is if you don't think you can find it with the map."
Jazz frowned. "She's not good enough to travel with us?"
Danny raised an eyebrow. "Do you think we should take her home even when she is?"
He had a point, one she'd have seen a mile away if she weren't preoccupied by the fact that getting Vlad to Walker was going to be next to impossible without the Spectre Speeder or Danny. "Sorry. I wasn't thinking. Not about that, anyway. Even if can keep him unconscious, I'm not sure any of us could carry Vlad's dead weight for that long when all we have are the Fenton Jet Packs."
Now Danny grimaced. "Yeah, Valerie probably isn't up for helping without a lot of explanation. She might have eased up on Phantom since she helped me with Dani last time, but I haven't figured out how to broach the whole Vlad subject with her yet, and you'd kinda have to."
"I thought you said she eased up on ghost hunting in general because her dad was on her case." At the very least, Jazz had barely seen Valerie out unless it looked like Danny needed help. Finding out that she knew about Danielle was an interest tidbit Jazz would need to keep in mind, though. When she finally got the rest of this story out of Danny, she'd have to make sure that little adventure with Valerie was included.
"That's what she told Phantom, but I haven't talked to her about it as me." Danny paused. "I think she's still digesting the whole Dani revelation. I mean, you know what Mom's going through, and Val's experience won't be a whole lot different even if she was on my side when we got to the lab—"
Okay, yes, Jazz needed to get this story out of Danny—for Valerie's sake if no one else's.
"—and she doesn't really have anyone to talk to because she's not going to talk to me, so her pulling back while she figures things out makes sense. I mean, I sincerely doubt she told Vlad why she wanted to step back, but even if she did, he'd have to agree with her or risk her wondering why he doesn't. I can't see her working through this with him."
Danny thought Valerie's stepping back was solely a sign of her taking care of herself, didn't he? He didn't realize it might be a sign of her struggling to come to terms with all of this. Jazz had gone through her own existential crisis when she'd found out the truth, and she highly doubted anyone—save perhaps Aunt Alicia, and maybe Jack if he didn't think about the implications of any of it—could roll with the punches without at least a minor freak out at some point.
"So Valerie's out unless you want to break, well, everything else to her. Maybe Dora can meet you at the portal, though. She won't have any trouble carrying anyone, and that'll be loads better than seeing how fast Mom can cobble together something else. I'm sure Dora can help you get the Spectre Speeder back to the portal, too, if it turns out that Dad crashed it or something."
Something in Danny's tone pulled Jazz's mind away from the matter of Valerie, and the implication of his final words set in. "Are you not planning on coming home any time soon?" This went beyond Danny seeing if he could get Vlad locked up in ghost jail without winding up as his cellmate. This was Danny not only confirming that he wasn't going to join the search for Jack—something she understood, given Danielle's condition and the fact that Danny understood it better than the rest of them combined—but also hinting that he wouldn't be there to help out in the aftermath.
Danny shot a nervous look at Alicia, who stopped petting Cujo and stood despite Cujo's whining. "I told him he and Danielle could stay as long as they liked."
That was great, and normally Jazz would be overjoyed, but— "Are you worried about how Dad's going to take it?"
Danny shrugged, but she doubted he'd want to hear her opinion on the matter yet again, so she'd refrain from giving it on this subject unless he asked.
Still.
Jazz was pretty sure Jack would take everything better than Maddie had, at least initially, if only because he'd be too excited about the fact that Danny was heavily invested in ghost hunting to realize why Danny always made excuses to be anywhere else whenever the conversation took a gleefully grim turn and became filled with descriptions of exactly what Jack would do once they had Phantom on their table.
Afterwards, Jack would need to work through everything, processing what it meant and what had changed and what hadn't, but Jazz couldn't see their father not accepting Danny for who and what he was.
"So you're staying?"
"I don't know. I have to for a bit, at least. I just…. I can't leave Dani right now."
Jazz believed that, believed that Danny wasn't about to (and shouldn't) leave Danielle, believed that he was torn up over what might come after, believed that the very prospect of the decision was making him uneasy—
—but she couldn't dispel the feeling of unease in her gut, either. Danny wasn't looking her in the eye. He wasn't saying he'd help look for Jack if he hadn't been found once Danielle was well on her way to recovery. He wasn't reassuring Jazz that, more likely than not, he'd be back before the Box Ghost could escape three more times.
He was telling her something that sounded like the truth but felt like a lie, and Jazz wasn't sure if any of them knew what the balance of his words truly was.
"I didn't bring any of the emergency paperwork with me," Maddie heard as she neared the rhubarb patch, and she realized with a start that it was Jazz speaking.
When had Jazz come here?
How had Jazz come here?
"I'll need to send it once I'm back," continued Jazz. "Maybe Cujo won't mind playing delivery dog?"
There was a bright, affirming bark as Maddie ducked through the trees and straightened up to see the others in the clearing. It looked worse for the wear. She could smell the faint stench of smoke—and not the pleasant kind—and enough other remaining signs of the fight that she understood why the others hadn't heard hers. Vlad was unconscious and looked to be contained for now, at least, but if Alicia got an unexpected visitor that wasn't a family member, Maddie knew they'd never be able to explain this away.
They'd cross that bridge if they came to it; no sense borrowing trouble. Right now, she could just be thankful that Vlad was contained.
"Danny?" Maddie called, drawing everyone's attention to her. "Danielle needs to talk to you."
All of them were looking at her with varying degrees of concern, but Alicia—of course—was the one to say, "You lose a fight with the stairs on your way down?"
Danny's brow was furrowed. "Dani's okay?"
"She's okay, I promise." She was better than okay, as far as Maddie could tell, but Maddie would be fooling herself if she didn't think Danny would have a far better idea than she of how well Danielle was actually doing. "Judging by the looks you're all giving me, she looks better than I do."
The words didn't seem to relieve Danny as much as Maddie had hoped. "No, seriously, what happened? Dani didn't do that to you, and there's no way Vlad had a duplicate running around after all that. He wouldn't have the concentration or the energy."
"It wasn't Vlad's duplicate." Maddie offered them all a weak smile, but judging by the expressions she got in return, it came out more like a grimace. "I'm sorry I questioned your judgement."
"Wha—?" Danny broke off as his eyes went wide. "Crud."
He was gone between one blink and the next.
"Want to fill us in a bit more?" asked Jazz, though it was less of a question or a suggestion than a not-so-subtle order. Maddie told them what she could regardless, figuring Danielle would fill in Danny, and it would be best if they could somewhat even out the playing field when it came to who knew what.
Maddie was brief, but Danny did not reappear before she was finished.
"I hate everything about this," Jazz muttered as she turned to glance at Vlad again. "I don't trust—" She cut off, and it took Maddie too long to realize why.
Vlad looked…stiffer than he should, for someone who was still unconscious.
Jazz cursed.
Maddie didn't correct her choice of words, as they really seemed to fit the situation.
Alicia grabbed the chair and pulled it backwards before shoving it level, and Vlad let out a groan Maddie could hear even above Cujo's growl as the dog grew in size once again.
"Let me guess," Jazz drawled, yanking the gag out of Vlad's mouth before readying a Fenton Wrist Ray while Alicia chose a setting on the Fenton Utility Stick she was holding, "Danny's half-formed plan exploded in your face, but your healing factor is still intact?"
Maddie winced. Her failure to successfully modify the cattle prod had done more than bruise her pride; it had endangered her family. She'd been working under a time crunch without the proper tools, true, but Jack would have found a way to complete the weapon before trying to use it.
Of course, that didn't necessarily make a weapon less likely to explode.
She had goggles for a reason. Many reasons, admittedly, but that was certainly one of them.
"I am difficult to kill," Vlad returned easily, as if he weren't tied to a chair in Alicia's back garden and being threatened with ghost hunting equipment that had passed the rigorous FentonWorks tests to become part of their standard line.
"What about everything else?" pressed Jazz, but Vlad ignored her, even when Alicia sent a brief jolt of electricity through his arm.
Maddie had no doubt Vlad was speaking to her as he said, "I'm sorry. I tried to warn you. I didn't anticipate this."
"What, us fighting back? Your plan failing?" Jazz's voice was light but sharp. "You should be used to that by now."
Maddie let out a slow breath. Did Vlad think Madeline wouldn't have talked about any of this? That Danielle wouldn't helpfully fill in the bits Maddie herself didn't understand? Did he really think, after every blind mistake and every regretted misstep, she was going to throw out the little progress she'd made with her kids?
Vlad shot Jazz an unamused look. "I didn't anticipate being too late for my warning to be effective. I didn't anticipate the violence Maddie's facsimile has clearly already shown. I didn't—"
"Think we'd beat you at your own game?"
There was a sigh from Vlad, but he looked back to Maddie as he said, "I don't think you fully understand what's going on, and I'm worried someone will end up hurt if you don't listen to what I have to say."
"Watch it," Alicia hissed in warning, and Vlad flinched.
Maddie couldn't tell if it was an act.
He'd been one of her best friends once, and she didn't know him well enough anymore.
When she'd thought she'd been able to read him, had that been skill on her part? Foolishness on his? Or had he simply been letting her see what she'd thought she might see?
"Don't," Jazz said, and it took a second for Maddie to realize the warning was for her, not for Vlad. "If there's actual trouble, Danny probably knows about it, and even if he doesn't, he's gotten a lot better at improvising. Besides, Sam and Tucker pretty much have every ghost we've ever met and more searching for Dad. They're not moving forward on some grand scheme right now."
"Please, Maddie."
She could hear him out. She could tell him to say it all, right here, right now, in front of Jazz and Alicia. She could tell him she wouldn't listen to anything he had to say until Danny was back. If there were even a smidgeon of truth to his words, that would be a fair compromise, wouldn't it?
Her children might not see it that way, though.
They might see it as an accommodation too far.
Until she could have a proper talk with them about all of this….
"Jazz is right," Maddie said, making her decision. "You should be talking to Danny, not me. I don't have enough power to influence anything. I certainly don't have the power to protect someone if they're in danger."
"Daniel won't listen to me," Vlad said. "He's made that abundantly clear. He won't trust me."
"For good reason," snarled Jazz. "Or should I say reasons? Because there are plenty of reasons not to trust you. I can think of zero that say we should."
Vlad's eyes flicked to Jazz again. "I've lived this way longer than Daniel. Necessity can be a cruel teacher, but I've learned my lessons well. For all that the little badger has explored the Infinite Realms, he hasn't seen as much of them as I have. I know more about this world than any of you."
Maddie couldn't exactly deny that. Judging by Jazz's sour look, neither could she.
"I realize there's nothing I can say that will convince you of anything beyond whatever you've already decided," continued Vlad, and this time he kept his focus on Jazz, "but can we at least come to an agreement in the meantime? Preferably one that doesn't have me trussed up?"
"Would you prefer the thermos?" Jazz asked with a pointed tip of her head down towards it. "Because if not, that handkerchief can go right back in. There's enough Fenton Anti-Ghost Goo in the Ops Centre that we can be sure it'll stay where it's stuffed even if you can still use your intangibility."
Vlad looked back at Maddie. See? his expression seemed to be telling her. My plan worked too well. They're convinced I'm the villain. They'll never believe anything I have to say.
"We should wait for Danny," Maddie said, and Vlad didn't try to hide the hurt that flashed across his face.
Then again, maybe that's all he'd wanted her to see.