Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any of the characters. Danny Phantom is the sole property of Butch Hartman, Nickelodeon and Paramount global.
Blackmailed
Chapter 22: Counterattacks and Conquests
It was some time since Colette called and the spoiled brat was still flirting/nagging him over the phone.
All the while, Danny just wanted to hit his head against the wall in frustration.
"Does she EVER shut up?!..." He thought in frustration and annoyance as she kept talking.
Jazz was still there with him, feeling sorry for him while he dealt with the nonsense of his "new girlfriend".
"And tomorrow we shall pick up your new formal wear from the tailor. Do not forget it and do not forget to call me once you are alone and away from that shrill scarecrow you call a sister..." Colette said, still oblivious that Jazz was listening in to the phone call.
Jazz's fists clenched and Danny wished he could yell at her but knew that he had to hold his tongue and keep listening to her toxic words.
"Ah, Mon Amore. I can already see our vonderful lives together. it'll be tres magnifique!~..." Colette said, sounding like she was happy.
"Geez, I might not be a licensed professional but I already have a few ideas of personality disorders she might or might not have. Especially with that over inflated ego of herself..." Jazz thought, angry and annoyed.
"Why me?!..." Danny thought in exhaustion and irritation.
"I cannot wait for our next date, Mon Amore. Thankfully, for zhe both of us, I have already made reservations in advance..."Colette said.
"Uh huh, that sounds just...great..." Danny said sarcastically.
Thankfully Colette was just dense enough to not hear Danny's sarcasm over the phone and continued her one-sided chat.
"Just you wait until the end of senior year!…"She said, sounding excited by something.
"And why's that?..." Danny asked with a deadpan expression.
"I vill talk to Papa's lawyers to get you emancipated by graduation at the latest and my family has lots of connections with other, more reputable people than Estelle's father. Lots of people owe favors to my Papa and the rest of the family. With any luck, I might even convince someone of a RESPECTABLE background to take you in as a surrogate child. Do not worry, your bride-to-be will make all of she arrangements..." Colette said, like what she said was something reasonable.
"She really is nuts!..." Danny thought, as she still wouldn't shut up.
"Do not worry. I know many people would be happy to take in the future Monsieur Bevier as their heir for the status alone. This is a dream come true and I truly am so grateful for this perfect opportunity granted to us..." Colette said, sounding giddy.
"Right, an "opportunity"..."Danny thought sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"Isn't it exciting, my darling? You will finally belong to the family you deserve to be in, so you never again vill you have to deal vith zhat fudge eating buffoon and his brute of a wife ever again!..." Colette's voice said over the phone, showing how low she thought of Danny's parents.
Since she wasn't here, Danny was able to let his eyes glow green with anger as Jazz's fists clenched even harder. She looked as though she was about to go to her house and assault her with a blunt instrument.
"Lousy little witch!..." Jazz whispered under her breath in a quiet voice to avoid being heard by that brat.
"My friends and my Starlight vill get find a way to expose you as the She-Vlad you are before that, you witch..." Danny thought, before he realized what he just thought.
"I mean will, geez.. she's got me doing it now!..."He thought, already starting to lose his patience and mind the longer he's around her, even through the phone.
"And do not worry. Once things have settled down, I will pick out some appropriate socially acceptable friends for you to hang out with. Much better than those peasants whom you are lucky that I got you away from before their influence continued to corrupt you..."Colette continued to say nonsense that Danny started to tune her out.
"You mean they are great friends who care about me and who see you as the piece of slime you are!..." Danny thought in anger.
He just knew that his friends and his true girlfriend would help him out of this.
"I have no idea how they'd get me out of this, but until then, I have to babysit this spoiled brat. Although, I shouldn't call it babysitting, since that's an insult to babies, seeing as Pierre is WAY more mature and he's not even out of diapers yet!..."Danny thought.
"Mon Amore, are you even listening to me?!.."Colette asked, with some edge in her tone.
"Of course I am. I've been responding to everything you've said..." Danny replied, frowning.
"Then what was I talking about?!..." Colette demanded, sounding suspicious.
Danny frowned and realized he barely listened but he had a general idea on what she was saying.
"You were both simultaneously micromanaging my entire future and insulting my friends, my family and everyone else I care about because you think you know better because you were born with stupid amounts of money!..." Danny said bitterly.
Colette was silent for a moment, but seemed pleased when she spoke.
"Vell, I am pleased to see you were not ignoring me. Good, Mon Amore..." Colette said, buying what he said.
Both Fenton siblings rolled their eyes at that. The lows Colette could get to never ceased to amaze them.
Miraculously, the phone began to end.
"Oh, Mon Amore! Remember the rules. I've got ways of finding out if you don't follow them..."Colette warned in a sing-song voice, making the half ghost boy stutter at that.
"DID SHE BUG MY HOUSE?! GREAT, NOW I HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT LOOKING FOR BUGS?!..." He thought, worried.
At first, Danny and his friends were concerned about being framed by Colette and her hired goons, but now he had to worry about bugs being planted somewhere in his house. Danny growled and felt his eyes glow into an even brighter shade of green because of his anger.
He was starting to regret not leaving her in the Ghost Zone, but soon realized where his thoughts were heading and tried to calm himself down.
"Remember your promise... remember your promise... remember your promise..." Danny thought, fists clenching and nearly glowing.
Jazz saw this and was worried about him and his mental/emotional well-being right now.
"Danny..." She thought, concerned.
Fortunately, the half ghost just needed a moment to calm himself down enough to think with a much more clearer head. Unfortunately, it didn't help much.
"Anyvays, Mon amore. I vill meet you at zhe cafe I decided we vill eat lunch tomorrow during school..." Colette said.
"We're not allowed to leave school grounds without permission..." Danny pointed out.
"True...but you can always give us some of zee invisible help of yours to help us leave without being noticed..." Colette said, making it clear what she wanted him to do.
Danny sighed.
"Fine..." He grumbled, knowing he had no choice.
"Tres magnifique! And do not worry, I shall see you again tomorrow. I have personal business to deal with before that but I should have it done by our next date. So for now I must bid adieu. Je T'aime, Mon amour..."She said before pausing expectantly.
"Aren't you going to say it back?!..." She asked with some edge in her voice.
"Say what back? I have no idea what you just said..." Danny responded, not trying to back talk for once.
He really had no idea what she just said. Colette could be heard groaning on the other end.
"You need to work on your French lessons, Mon amore. Je T'aime means "I love you" in French, which is a language you VILL learn to embrace as if it were second nature..." Colette said.
"Oh..." Danny said, though he did not say that as Colette wanted.
Colette didn't like that.
"Now say it back to me..." She ordered.
"Seriously? Now?!..." Danny asked.
"Yes...now...or perhaps the goth will be in ze back of a squad car for selling "very special" items to students..."She threatened.
"More like YOU did it and will pay your partners to say Sam did it..." Danny thought, disgusted and knowing his 'girlfriend' hated Sam for being rich but not a snob or a kiss up like she was.
Heck, she hates Sam almost as much as she hates Star...which is saying something.
Knowing that Colette was still expecting to hear those words and he didn't have a choice, the ghost boy groaned before saying the following words he did not mean in ANY language.
"Je t'aime, Colette..."He said, copying her pronunciation and crossing his fingers.
Those words left a bad taste in his mouth, but his wannabe girlfriend seemed pleased.
"Much better. Pleasant dreams, Darling. I shall be dreaming of only you tonight, as I am sure you will do about me..."Colette said.
"I wouldn't dream about you unless it was a nightmare..."Danny thought but wisely kept quiet.
"Bonne nuit, Mom Amore. Au revoir..." She said in French before hanging up.
Once he was freed, the ghost boy began to check and see if there were any illegal surveillance devices or recording devices around the house.
"Great, now she really IS acting like Vlad!..." He thought in dismay, as he kept looking.
He didn't find anything yet but that didn't mean they weren't here!
"Just where the heck did she plant that stuff?!..." Danny thought, having cleaned off any stuff she could have hidden anything.
Like secret hidden cameras that are disguised to look like other stuff. Money did not seem to be an issue, extending Colette's potential and her tactics.
Would it be wrong to call the girl a monster?
No.
She already crossed so many lines and she was nearing another line, but it was not a problem for her to cross.
"Such a horrible...selfish...awful...WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS?!..." He thought, eyes flashing an even brighter green in barely suppressed rage.
The past few days cut the distance of this border, tempting Danny to cross it. Just one step, one simple step to traverse and he would end up crossing a certain line.
No!
He knew that he needed to keep his promise, he'd rather die before becoming like HIM ever...though Colette made it more and more tempting. He tried to calm himself and remind himself about his moral compass.
"Remember the CATs...Remember the CATs...You can't EVER cross that line...because there's NO going back after that first step!..." He muttered, but his sister heard him.
Danny especially didn't want Star to see that version of himself, even if HE wasn't him anymore. He couldn't risk that ever happening...though his current situation was too painful too!
Jazz saw this, growing even more worried about him now. She knew the promise he was talking about and was even more concerned about him now.
"Danny..." She thought, worried.
Jazz knew why Danny was "quote unquote" squeamish about certain shortcuts leading to some bad one way trips. She also knew that it wasn't fair he was going through something like this and Colette was going WAY too far with this whole terrible situation that she put all of them into.
"If Colette is still active by Monday than I'll have to think of something better to deal with her. Like maybe asking Puck for help..."She said, believing nothing Puck would do would be too cruel.
"Like we could even do that. It's not like he left us a phone number and who knows what he is up to now..." Danny muttered.
"True. I guess that we need to find another way to deal with Colette before things get even crazier..." Jazz said.
"Maybe I could just leave her with supplies and then drop her off on a deserted island somewhere...like the middle of the Pacific..." Danny said, desperate to get rid of her.
"If it were someone else, no, it'd just be cruel, but I doubt Colette can do anything to survive on her own..."Jazz mumbled.
"True. She couldn't even take care of a house plant by herself and I doubt she'd last even a day..." Danny muttered.
"Anything we can do right now?..."The ghost boy asked.
"None that could risk violating moral codes, violations or certain laws..." Jazz responded.
"Figures but I can't go on like this. Maybe...if we're really all out of options with no other way out, then...I could always just reveal my secret identity on my own terms and take away one piece of leverage the witch has on us..." Danny said to himself, as he tried to weigh the possible pros and cons in his head then shook his head.
However, he recalled another threat from his wannabe girlfriend and he groaned.
"Even if I do that, that won't stop her from hurting Star even worse by uploading those pictures and who knows what else she could frame you guys for..." Danny said.
"Is what she has on Star really THAT bad?..." Jazz asked.
Danny nodded.
"Yes it is. It's the main reason why I am doing this whole thing, even more than my secret..."Danny said, sounding bitter.
He would have just taken care of Colette his own way, but it was also for Star's sake that he had to do this. If not for his own sake, then he'd do it to protect Star face these rotten to their core jerks. He really feared for his actual girlfriend's well-being, as well as that brat hurting his friends and sister even more.
Danny was rethinking what he should be doing before he felt his phone ringing.
"WHAT DOES SHE WANT NOW?!..."He thought in anger.
He almost crushed it before he saw it was a message not from Colette.
"Huh?..." He thought as he saw the number, one he didn't recognized.
He glanced at the messages and raised a brow, while his sister kept comforting him.
"Danny, don't worry. We're gonna get through this and drag that no-good fake redheaded brat into the spotlight and prove everyone's innocence..." Jazz said trying to be encouraging.
Danny glanced away from his phone and turned to his sister. He received a certain message but he also needed to respond to his sister too.
"I know we are...and I'll be happy when she's gone..." Danny said, putting his phone down for a moment.
A new text message suddenly showed up.
The half ghost boy glanced back at the text message on his phone, which peaked his curiosity.
What he read surprised him to the core. What it said was rather knowledgeable to what was going on but he didn't recognize the caller ID.
Even so, he was curious and cautious about it too.
"Well...desperate times call for desperate measures..." Danny said to himself.
He decided to respond to it, figuring things were as bad as they were going to get at this point.
Elsewhere
"Is this even a good idea?..." Someone asked, sounding like Misty.
"No, but we're desperate!..." Another voice, sounding like Sam.
"Don't worry, we're almost there. We got this..." Tucker said, leading them to their next destination.
"Hey, with my ghost gear and Misty magic, we'll be fine..." Another voice, sounding like Valerie, said.
"Let's just find this Cartland guy and get out of here. This place is pretty shady..." Another voice, sounding like Star, said in an urgent tone of voice.
It was late and thanks to Misty's magic, they teleported to Elmerton after going home to get the supplies they all needed. Just after Star dealt with Kwan and then called the guys and insisted to do it as soon as possible.
Now, here they are.
They were even wearing disguises, in the form of modest hoodies, hats and sunglasses, trying to keep a low profile.
"Come on. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave..." Star said, refusing to stop.
After she confronted Kwan, she felt a degree of guilt for how she reacted, but she was still feeling angry and hurt from the experience.
She was genuinely shocked to find out that Kwan of all people was helping her wicked stepsister this time around and how he still had the gall to try and defend himself after all of this.
"I can't believe that I ever used to like him. All the wasted time on that moron. I am SO writing his name on my book of people I can't forgive..." She thought, still unhappy and depressed.
She just wanted to hurry and track down the goons that framed her and her friends. She was in no mood for games.
Anyway, Sam and Tucker had got here to Elmerton first before meeting up with the others.
Tucker, having needed to help Sam sneak out, did so while her grandmother and her attorneys were at Star's house with her dad.
Not only that but Solene and the lawyer that Tucker's parents hired showed up and ended up turning the place into a legal war room with Lancer and Ishiyama. When the teens left, words like slander, gross misconduct and vigilante cowboy justice were being thrown around with other legal jargon that Star sort of understood being a lawyer's daughter.
The rest, not so much.
Anyways Tucker helped Sam sneak out while her parents were doing Clockwork knows what in the Manson living room, blaming everything on that no good Fenton delinquent and his ill behaved friends and discussed more ways to "fix" their daughters behavior.
Now they were here in Elmerton, to help Danny and clear their names, and do their best to undo all the damage that Colette caused on all of them. As well as give that spoiled brat what she deserves.
"Lets hurry, it's already pretty late and my mom will go crazy if she ever finds out I'm here at night, with or without magic..." Misty said in an uneasy voice.
"My parents would threaten to revoke all my tech privileges again..." Tucker said, shuddering at the idea.
"If they knew I was here, my parents would just blame it on Danny's "corrupting" behavior..." Sam commented in bitterness.
Tucker and Star had no problem believing that.
"What else is new?..."Tucker commented.
"Nothing much. Unless you count the part where my parents are too busy shopping for my "boarding school time"..." Sam said.
"Your what?..." Tucker asked, dreading the answer.
"My parents are saying this boarding school they're sending me to will make me a new woman who'll contribute to society with "a proper attitude of gratitude befitting the Manson family heiress"..." Sam said angrily, doing a disturbingly accurate impression of her mothers snobby voice that surprised the others.
"So, they're shopping for a whole new EVERYTHING for me, so I can leave my "delinquent ways" behind for the "new me". Or that is what THEY said.." She said in bitterness.
"Wow, and I thought my mom had issues, but suddenly so much about you is starting to make sense now..." Misty said, sounding disturbed.
"Thanks..." Sam muttered sarcastically, still frustrated with her own parents.
"Honesty, I'm just surprised that Sam's parents didn't try to do this sooner. Considering that we live in the most haunted place on earth and all..."Tucker commented.
Usually this would be the part where Sam would hit Tucker for talking without thinking first, but didn't do so. Mainly because she was still feeling bummed about it.
The goth girl simply sighed out of mental exhaustion and looked depressed, while her friends felt sorry for her. Including Star.
"I think that after all of this is over, I need to talk to my dad about Sam's home life..."She thought.
"Sam... if you want, I can talk to my dad about getting you some legal help with your parents. If any of us actually need that kind of help, it might be you..."Star said knowing from her dad that it was Sam's grandma who hired the family lawyers to work with her dad and the others.
"What's messed up is that a part of me is actually considering it after what has happened..."Sam said, still looking bummed.
Star heard this and felt sorry for her gothic friend/former rival and made a mental note to do something later.
But first, find Cartland and destroy the evidence of Danny's secret and deal with the other jerks later.
A little later
As they followed Tucker's directions, they kept walking around the Elmerton streets.
Back before getting stranded on the island, Star had thought snobbishly that nothing good came from Elmerton. That it was just the slums for the freaks and the losers, the exception to that rule being Valerie.
Since Danny joined her life, she learned to let go of her old elitist views and become less shallow and more open minded. Star now knew that there is more to one's or something's surface, judging a person for who they were and not where they came from.
In other words, doing the opposite of Colette, Beatrice or Toadman.
She knew better now and lost a lot of her old prejudices...but even so...this area is just looked a little...bad.
Really bad.
It was not just her, as everyone was on edge right now.
Elmerton, in general, was rougher around the edges than Amity Park but it was still a nice place and had some good people in it...her best friend Valerie being the best example.
True, most of the rough looking faces in this town looked that way because a lot of the townsfolk of Elmerton were hardworking people trying to keep their town running despite it being less stable and affluent than Amity Park. It got worse since ghosts starting showing up in Elmerton, and the town as a whole looks has seen some better days but is still standing and still had some decent places overall.
However, this area and the neighborhood where Cartland or at least his computer was, lived up to Star's pre-island opinions.
The streets was cratered with more pot holes than the moon, the store fronts were overgrown with some weeds, there was graffiti everywhere with some of her Danny-Boo in his ghost form on some giant walls, and lots of the buildings looked run down/going out of business. Not only that but scary looking people shuffled about going about their business, but Star could sense some shadiness and tried not to get their attention and not to look too out of place with her friends doing the same.
"Just keep walking..." Star thought.
She could understand why everything was grimier here than in any other part of the city, and it would have scared her in her A-lister days but she wasn't scared at all right now.
She just wanted to save her boyfriend.
"How far are we?.." Star asked the tech obsessed navigator of the group.
"Not too far. The IP address is not too far ahead. Just a few more blocks..." Tucker said.
"I wish that Danny was here. He could just fly us and turn us invisible and we don't have to be out in the open like this, scurrying around like rats..." Sam said, keeping her disguise on.
"He thinks Colette might have either bugged him or has someone spying his house. He's combing Fenton works for bugs and Jazz is with him giving him an emergency therapy session, which he clearly needs after a week like this one..." Tucker reminded.
"That sicko brat! It's official, she is now a full on stalker!..." Star hissed, before sighing.
They no longer doubted Colette was a she-Vlad. All of these were genuinely awful things Vlad has done over and over again.
"I'm starting to regret not blasting that fake redheaded brat into a coma with magic when I had the chance..." Misty comment, only being semi-serious but no one argued against it.
"Jazz mentioned that she started considering asking Puck for help..." Sam said, which got Stars attention.
"Wait, Puck? You mean that fairy you mentioned that one time?..." Misty asked as everyone else nodded.
"A fae? Are we really that desperate?..." Misty asked.
"Not yet..." Sam and Tucker said with glances at each other.
"Plus, we don't exactly have his phone number...so we don't exactly have a way to contact him..." Star muttered.
"Plus, I can't stand the idea of any of us owning him a favor if we ask for his help. Let's try to finish this mission as quick as possible..." Sam said, still not completely trusting the tricky fairy.
They kept walking and following Tucker's directions.
They just had to find Cartland, get rid of the data and Misty would then use the magic to get them out of here before they got into even more trouble. Then they would expose Colette for the dirty rotten liar that she is and grant her the ultimate punishment/payback.
Hopefully life in a padded cell or in a jail cell..one where the key was thrown into molten steel and never to open the door again.
"That brat should consider herself lucky if she ends up there after I'm done with her..." She thought, still angry.
Out of the corner of her eye, Star saw some people sitting on a stoop painted with graffiti. It was a group of teenagers who seem not much older than Jazz's who eyed them like a shark smelling blood in the water.
Valerie pulled Star close to her, pushing her along.
"Those are the Elmerton Fridge Reefers gang, They're one of the nastier gangs in this town..."Misty explained.
"Yeah, their almost as bad as the Elmerton East Dragons gang. Some days they're bigger pains than the ghosts. Sometimes they're more annoying than the box ghost, but when a random ghost shows up, then they're all complete cowards..." Valerie said, annoyed before looking to Tucker.
"How much farther to this Cartland guys computer?..."She asked.
"We're close..." Tucker answered, keeping his PDA in his pocket for safety.
"Good, let's just get what we need and leave. Cause despite what I've said about the local teenage gang in this town, Colette is just 100 times worse than them..." Misty said, which everyone else silently agreed on.
Turning the corner, they walked to an office building with a cafe in the first floor that looked less grimy than the rest of the neighborhood. It also had a flag hanging from a pole by the door.
"This is where the signal coming from..."Tucker said.
"So, this is the place. Alright, let's move..." Star said, determined.
The rest of Team Phantom quickly followed the blonde girl inside the building.
A moment later
Once inside, they were greeted by a surprisingly calming sound of wind chimes as the doors opened.
Most of Team Phantom noticed how peaceful and relaxing this building looked from the inside, but that is when someone approached them.
"Welcome to Aslan's..."Someone said automatically when stepped through.
It was an older looking teenage boy with curly brown hair and tanned skin behind the counter said, who was dressed in casual clothes and an apron.
Team Phantom then went to sit down and discuss their plan. As in, their plan how to both find Cartland's room and sneak in once he's not there
Tucker discreetly checked his PDA again.
"Okay, the computers somewhere above us but I'm not sure which floor it's in yet. The signal here is pretty weak..." He whispered to the others.
"Well, what do we do then? It's not like we can search every office..." Sam complained.
"Yeah, and what if Cartland IS in his when we go in there? Heck, we don't even know what he looks like or whatever his last name is..." Star grumbled.
"Maybe we cause a distraction to draw him out..." Tucker said.
"Like what?..." Star asked.
"Maybe can start a small quick fake fire to set off the alarms to get him out..." Misty suggested in a low voice, planning to use a spell.
"For real?..." Sam asked, worried by what she was suggesting.
"Got a better idea on how to make sure he's not there?..." Misty asked, trying emphasize the fake part of the fire she suggested.
"Either that or instead maybe asking a insider who can help you..."The barista from behind the counter said, taking a seat at their table with tray of drinks and passing them out.
Team Phantom flinched and panicked.
"Uh...You misheard us..." Tucker said quickly, trying to save face.
"Yeah. We're not planning anything wrong. We're actually talking about the new upcoming Dead Teacher VI: Exploding Teachers..."Star lied quickly.
"Right, the same movie that's been out for over a month or two by now. And you kids weren't just potentially talking about some fake fire prank to lure somebody outside..." The guy said, clearly not buying the lie.
"Were you eavesdropping on us?..." Misty asked, instantly pulling off a frowning glare that her own mother sometimes uses on her whenever she was caught doing something unpleasant.
"Kind of hard not too, since you guys are the only ones in the lobby waiting room right now..." The guy said, smirking.
"Do you mind? This is a private conversation..." Tucker said.
"That you're having in a coffee shop/apartment building about one of my family's tenants..." The young man said as he raised an eyebrow at all the younger teens in front of him.
"Just who are you, anyway?..." Misty asked, while the boy smiled at her.
"Peter Tsaava, nice to meet. Quick question, is your target Cartland?..."Peter asked.
Now they were even more worried.
Sam immediately didn't like this person, especially his overly friendly attitude towards complete strangers like them. Unfortunately, Peter kept talking.
"So...How fake is the fire going to be? Just asking in case I need to double check the fire insurance on this building. Can't be too cautious, right?..."Peter asked, seeming a little too interested with the "prank" that Team Phantom were debating on doing.
"We've been here for a minute and we got caught..." Star thought in annoyance, as the others tried to think fast.
"How do you know we're not some other gang in Elmerton? We could be part of...uh...the Fridge Reefers?..." Valerie asked, Peter hoping to scare him off.
Peter laughed out loud, much to her surprise.
"Yeah right, there's no way an Elmerton Fridge Reefers would dress like that!..." Peter pointed to Star's outfit.
"What's that supposed to mean?..." Sam demanded, wondering what that meant.
"Oh please, Blondie's posture screams "rich girl trying to slum it", the girl in the yellow hairband and the one holding the book have been seen arguing with the locals a few times. Glasses over here is clinging to his PDA like it's his lifeline, and Miss Doom and Gloom seems too angry to get along with anyone in the that gang..."He explained.
They all couldn't deny that most of Team Phantom did stand out in this town, aside from Misty and Valerie.
"In hindsight, we probably should have worked out the details of these plans before heading out..." Valerie thought to herself.
Peter continued to talk and call out their poor thinking.
"Of course your prank could work, but if the computer you're all looking for has some valuable information on it...then it means it's valuable to him too… and it might be in his best interest to take it with him if it means getting paid. I would say that it's in Cartland's best interests to take it and run..." Peter pointed out.
Team Phantom paused and realized his logic.
"True..." Star admitted.
Everyone else agreed, but Sam, who is still eyeing Peter with suspicious.
"Speaking of which, what has Cartland the snake done to any of you and or someone you care about? I'm gonna guess it has to do with blondie from the way she's glaring whenever his name is mentioned..." Peter said, hitting the nail on the head.
Star, still in a bad mood, scolded and decided to spell it out for him.
"Look Peter, not that it's any of your business but everyone at this table got kicked out of school because of him and his photoshopped pictures since had been hired to use that false evidence against us! His employer is holding them over our heads, especially my boyfriend whose being blackmailed into dating my sociopath stepsister! We need whatever information is on his computer ASAP! So if you're not going to help then go back to behind the counter and leave!..." Star said, not losing it like she did on Kwan but yeah she wasn't in a good mood.
Peter's eyebrows shot up into his hairline, before he got his cool as he slowly got up from his sit.
"I see. That's messed up. Hold on just for a quick minute..." He said, before walking over to the counter and reaching into a desk drawer.
"What's he doing?..."They all thought before he walked back to the group with a key in his hand.
"A key?..." Misty went, as Peter tossed it over to Star.
"Room 394 is Cartland's and he stepped out but he said he'd be back any minute. Something about not wanting to miss some comedy reruns. On a second thought...might be best to wait until he leaves again..."He said, surprising the other teens.
"When you're done with that key, do ya mind leaving it by the counter? I'll put it back in the drawer later..."Peter asked.
"You're just going to help us, just like that?..." Valerie asked skeptically.
"Why?..." Tucker asked.
Peter shrugged.
"I'm Abkhazian, we take hospitality seriously..."He answered, looking to Misty and slightly smiling at her a faint blush on his cheeks.
"I''m sure it's just hospitality..." Star thought, as she noticed how he was glancing at Misty.
If things weren't so serious right now, she might think it was kind of cute how the boy had a obvious crush on the witch.
"The Abkhazian oath of hospitality doesn't usually involve helping random guests that you've just met not 5 minutes ago commit potential larceny... Sam said skeptically, still not trusting him completely.
"True. The main reason is that I've got a best friend, who was backstabbed by a family member once. I couldn't do much to help him then at the time, so I want to help someone with a similar problem. Plus you kinda remind me of him a little...it's probably blonde hair, since it looks similar..."He answered, being completely laid back and brutally honest.
"Really?..." Star asked in a surprised tone.
Peter nodded.
"That and Cartland is a jerk who owes a month of back rent...and he bad mouths my family shop. Even worse, he flirts with my older sister whenever she comes home for the Holidays, he is rude to our other tenants and his negative vibes are really bring down the pleasant atmosphere that my family and I have worked so hard to bring into this building..." He added.
"So yeah, I'm happy to help knock him down a peg. Plus today's a slow day and I'm a sucker for a good harmless prank..." Peter added simply, not liking that Cartland and his un-neighborly attitude.
Despite hearing all of this, Team Phantom was grateful for all the help that they were receiving. Especially Star.
"Thank you, Peter. You have no idea how much your helping us right now..." The blonde girl grateful said.
The rest of the team was grateful too, while Sam felt as if the slight older teen that helped them just mentioned someone she might know, but decided to ignore that for now and focus on retrieving laptop containing the secret evidence.
Just then, someone entered the building and Peter rolled his eyes. His laid back and relaxed attitude into a more annoyed looking one instead.
"Speak of the...well, you know..." Peter said, as the aforementioned person walked into the building.
"Welcome to Aslan's..."He repeated the greeting automatically, but was ignored by the crooked private eye.
Team Phantom saw the guy and frowned.
"So that's him?..." Star whispered, glaring at him.
The guy looked like the shady kind of scumbag who'd ruin the lives of children for money and seems dangerous enough to not want to meet him in a dark alley.
"Ugh, he seems even slimier than Jean-Puke. And why do I get that feeling that he wouldn't be against getting into fist fights with anyone?..." Star thought in disgusts but made sure her disguise was working.
Cartland didn't notice them as he just went up the stairs and clearly went to his apartment.
Peter frowned.
He rubbed the temples of his forehead to slowly return himself to his more relaxed self before turning to his fellow teens.
"Enjoy your drinks and feel free to order anything from the menu. I'll be right back..." Peter said before glancing at Misty and smiled as he stepped outside, which all the girls, sans Misty, noticed immediately.
"What's he doing?..." Misty asked.
"Probably trying mentally prepare himself to deal with Cartland..."Tucker said.
"Or maybe working up the nerve to talk to Misty when your alone..." Valerie said, having seen that look too.
"What do you mean when I'm alone?..." Misty asked, surprisingly clueless right now.
"Most likely, he is probably trying to earn brownie points with you..." Star said.
Misty was confused by what she meant by that.
"Oh no, not another clueless one..."Sam thought, but didn't have the energy to explain right now.
Anyway, twenty seconds later a car alarm went off and there was a loud couple of screams and one extra loud high-pitched scream could be heard from outside.
They also spotted as a certain familiar box obsessed specter flew away without a trace left behind. Walking down a set of stairs next to the bathrooms, Cartland emerged and looked frantic.
"MY CAR!..." He shouted.
Peter walked in just then, Cartland elbowed him and moved him out of his way without noticing that he knocked out the broomstick and dustpan in the teen's hands.
"Out of my way!..."He said as he stormed past Peter in a hurry to check his precious car.
Peter nodded and stepped aside while the jerk went to check on his car.
"Was that a ghost just now?..."Val whispered.
"It was just the box ghost. We'll deal with it after we prove our innocence and get back at Colette..."Sam said not caring while Peter approached them.
"Well, I guess there was no need for that fake fire prank after all..." Peter said casually, giving a suspicious whistle and hoping that none of them realized that he was the one who screamed extra scared after seeing the ghost, especially Misty.
"What did he do?..."Val whispered, confused why the box ghost of all ghosts would even bother to haunt some random guy's car.
"Who cares? Let's move..." Star insisted, and the others headed up to the third floor.
As they went upstairs, Misty noticed Peter looking at her and smiling again.
"Is he smiling at me? Weird?..." She thought, wondering what that was about.
"Still, he was nice to help us out...and he does have a nice smile..." She thought as she sent to help her friends.
Upstairs
The heroes were now on the third floor, looking for Cartlands office and his computer.
"394...394...394..." Star mumbled, looking for the right office.
"Its gotta be around here some place. We gotta hurry before that creep comes back here..." Sam said impatiently.
"So we're seriously letting this one ghost roam free right now without going after it?..." Valerie asked the group.
"It's just the box ghost. Do you really think he's that much of a threat to the public?..."Tucker asked.
"I...guess not..." Val summarized as they all continued sneaking around the third floor to find Cartland's apartment.
Fortunately, it didn't take long.
"Here it is, 394..." Tucker said, pointing at a door with those exact numbers on it.
"Finally!..." Star said as she quickly unlocked the door.
Once inside, they found a dingy office that smelt and looked dirty. Even Danny's Aunt Alicia's cabin was much neater and pleasant than this place.
"Ugh! And I thought the boys' locker room smelled bad!..." Tucker complained, as the girls grimaced at the smell.
"Yeesh! Thr dumpster outside the Nasty Burger smells bad but this place is making my eyes water!..." Valerie said, holding her nose.
"Has this guy never heard of a cleaning service? Or an air freshener?..." Misty asked, doing the same thing.
"Apparently not!..." Sam coughed, a sane tried to block out the smell.
Star didn't care about the smell. Granted, she didn't exactly enjoy the smell, but they needed to hurry.
Cartland's car couldn't be that far away and whatever the Box Ghost did to set off the alarm could probably be fixed soon.
"Just suck it up and help me find his computer in this trash heap..." Star said, and the others did so.
Even so, the overly rancid smell nearly got to them and almost made them barf in their own mouth sbefore focusing it back down with pure willpower.
They began looking around but the apartment was rather messy and made a pigsty look clean. Clearly, the corrupt private eye focuses more on his hobbies than his well-being and cleanliness. And apparently hygiene as well, since a lot of Cartland's unclean laundry was littered across his apartment.
Star had a very small desire to go to a flower garden to help her get rid of the rancid stench of this room, but she then spotted what they were looking for.
"There's the computer!..." Star said, seeing a nice looking laptop on a desk covered in old laundry.
"Eww!..." Star went, grossed out.
"Allow me..." Misty said as she used her magic to leverage the junk off the desk without touching it.
"Thanks..." Star said, glad that they didn't have to touch that gross, dirty laundry.
"So, am I off the list of people you can't forgive yet?..." Misty joked.
"You're getting there..." Star said, while Tucker quickly got to work.
After plugging in his PDA, he noticed that it wouldn't be as quick as he thought. He quickly found out why.
"Man, the guy lives in a pigsty but I'll give him credit he takes cybersecurity seriously..." Tucker said.
"Can you get through or not?..." Misty asked.
"Don't insult me, magic girl. I just need to work more and check out the layout..." Tucker said, planning to show off his own skills in technology.
"Just sit back and watch me work MY kind of magic..." Tucker said, as he began typing.
However, he might not get a chance to since they heard an unwanted voice.
"LOUSY HOODS, I HATE THIS NEIGHBORHOOD!..." Cartland was heard yelling from outside.
Star looked out the window and saw that he just finished with his car.
'Crud, not now!... Star said, horrified since Tucker wasn't done yet.
"What do we do?!..." Val asked, knowing they don't have a lot of time.
"I still need a few more minutes to locate all of Danny's stuff and wipe it out from here..." Tucker said.
"Then we need to buy time! Misty, do something!..." Star said.
"Like what?..." Misty asked.
"Use your magic and...I don't know...just do something to him and buy us some more time!..." Star pleaded.
"On it!..." Misty said, as her hands and eyes began to glow.
Downstairs
Peter saw that Cartland had finished with the car, but that cute girl and her friends still hadn't come down yet.
"Uh oh...maybe I can buy them time..." Peter thought as Cartland approached the building.
However, before he could step foot inside and head back to his room, Peter had tried to brainstorm some kind of excuse to distract the unpleasant tenant until something weird happened.
His car suddenly began to glow before the engine snarled to life as if the auto machine was possessed by a ghost. The wheels spun against the road, building up speed like an old cartoon caveman, raring to go.
"Huh?!..." Peter went while Cartland noticed what was happening to his car.
"WHAT THE? MY CAR?! GET BACK HERE!..."Cartland shouted as he grabbed his car by the mirror, trying to hold the vehicle in place.
The car's wheels stopped to a halt, but it didn't stop there.
The car's hood suddenly opened right now and oil spouted out of the carburetor, staining Cartlands shirt.
"Seriously!? I just did the laundry the other day!..." He exclaimed, as the black liquid began dousing him from head to toe.
However, his alarm went off and the hood and trunk opened again, while he was holding back the oil sprout.
"WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING!? IS THIS BECAUSE I DIDN'T TAKE IT FOR THE TUNE UP LAST WEEK!?..."He yelled, trying to discern the situation.
He felt like running away as far as possible, at least until the car spun around and scooped the man inside the driver's seat, which held him in place and didn't let him use his car's doors as an exit. As scary as that was, the man did not think about such horrors while trying to get a grip.
"WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH MY CAR?! AM I INSIDE SOME KIND OF HORROR MOVIE OR SOMETHING?!..." Cartland shouted out in confusion until the airbags were deployed right on his face.
The car tipped over and out the passenger side door came a very ornery goose who was currently asleep right next to him inside his own car.
"What the?! Where did that thing come from?!..." He exclaimed while the goose woke up and began to attack him.
"HONK!..."The goose went, biting Cartland on the finger and making him yell.
"AHH! LET ME GO, YOU RAT WITH WINGS!..." Cartland shouted as he tried to get away from the hostile bird.
The goose kept honking at him and soon was biting at him, but it didn't end there as a pack of dogs appeared and started barking at him from outside of his car and joining with the goose by blocking all the doors.
"WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?! WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE IT?!..."Cartland yelled, as he desperately focused his way out of his own car.
He managed to kick the door open, jumped out and began running away from the goose who was riding on top of the dogs chasing him.
Peter watched all the misfortune unfold on his least favorite tenant and blinked. He pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming and saw that he wasn't.
Even so, he smiled in amusement. He even pulled up a chair and sat down to continued to watch the unexpected phenomenon to unfold itself like he was watching a cartoon.
"Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy..." He commented, looking up.
Still no one had come back down yet.
"You'd better hurry up, rich girl. I don't know how much longer this can go on...thought this is a hilarious show..."He thought as he watched the chaos unfold.
And recording it to laugh at later and possibly sent a copy to his friend later.
Back Upstairs
Misty had done all of that with her magic and was giggling loudly.
"Oh man, I didn't realize how fun this can be!..." She laughed.
"Just keep him busy..." Star said, as Tucker still worked on the computer.
"Will do..." Misty said as she continued using her magic.
The young self-taught sorceress was hoping that after all this was over, Star might be willing to officially forgive Misty for her past actions. Or at least label her as an acquaintance rather than former enemy.
Even so, she couldn't help but be amused by what that creep is going trough now. All thanks to her magic.
"This is more fun than I've had in a while..."Misty thought, as she kept up her spells.
Every hazard light flashed as the vehicle continued to squeal in artificial pain. The entire neighborhood began to complain as Cartland tried his best to keep everything in order and avoid being attacked by the wild animals who won't leave him alone.
Star had a very small desire to see what those spells could do to humiliate Colette, but that would have to wait until later. Right now, they had to destroy the evidence of Danny's secret and free him from that witch so Star could have her boyfriend in her arms again. So right now, priorities had to be set foremost.
After a few minutes had pass by, Star asked for an update from the techno wiz.
"Did you get everything?..."She asked.
"Yep. I managed to find the email and copy of the video that was thankfully unopened so far. Which I managed to completely delete..." Tucker said.
"Thank goodness..." Star said in relief.
"Yeah, that's one problem dealt with..." Sam said, also relieves.
"Not only that but get this... the unaltered photos are hete. And the not so big shocker being Colette did everything we got accused of and more she probably planned to get us arrested..." Tucker explained.
"Why am I not surprised?..." Sam grumbled.
"Good news, I can track where Colette sent the email from..." Tucker said.
"Don't keep us in suspense, Tucker? Where is it?..." Star asked.
"And is any of it the dirt on Star?..." Valerie asked.
"To answer the second question, no. he first question is that Colette sent it from her phone. Probably so she can hold all the cards within arms reach..." Tucker explained.
"Of course she did..." Star said, shaking her head.
The one thing Colette always had on her was what she used to keep the dirt on her boyfriend and her too.
"Of course Colette would keep the dirt nearby.
"Okay, now how are we supposed to get her cellphone? She's not just going to leave it where we can grab it?..."Val questioned.
"By out smarting her and grabbing it when she would have her guard down the most..." Star said, still itching to get some serious payback on her wicked witch of a stepsister.
Star did have a plan to get Colette's cellphone away from her long enough to retrieve the evidence, but to do so she'll need to know Colette's ever foreseeable move and locations. Which isn't a problem for her, depending on how expensive Colette's current cellphone is this month
However, first they needed to deal with Cartland before he came back and locate Yolanda later.
With any luck, each member of Team Phantom might get the chance to literally beat some karmic justice on Colette. Especially Star.
However, time didn't seem to be on their side anyone as Cartland could be heard yelling again down below.
"THAT'S IT! STUPID PIECE OF JUNK! I'M DUMPING IT AT THE JUNKYARD AFTER THIS!..."Cartland yelled as he kicked the car and went upstairs in a fit of anger.
They heard heavy footsteps climbing the stairs and getting closer and closer.
"Oh man, he's coming back!..." Star said, panicking.
"Hide!..." Sam went, looking for a place to hide.
"How...this place is as cramped as a shoe box..." Star said, and they didn't have time to get out of here.
"Everyone grab onto me!..."Misty said and they did so.
Misty cast a spell, muttering something in Chinese. Soon they were all turned into random objects. Star became a lamp, Misty was a newspaper, Valerie became a candle, Sam became an empty plant clay pot and Tucker became a bottle opener.
"Seriously, why didn't you do that before?!.." Valerie asked, seeing they were now random objects.
"I froze. I didn't exactly plan to use this spell today..." Misty admitted, while trying to keep focus on the spell around them.
"It's Puck all over again..." Sam whined.
"Shut up. This takes a lot of power, not to mention concentration..." Misty hissed.
Cartland entered the office/apartment slamming the door behind him. He grumbled something as he stormed in.
"Lousy, cheap piece of junk! First working for that snobby brat, now my car. Hopefully this job can give me enough for a new car! Maybe buy that new truck I always wanted!..." He grumbled.
Tucker heard that comment about a truck, but did his best to remain quiet while hiding in plain sight. His hands weren't duct tape, but they could still be spotted if he wasn't careful.
"Now what do we do?..." Val asked in a low whisper.
"We stay quiet until we can find a way to get him out of here..." Star whispered.
She then heard a fridge opening and the sounds of someone drinking some soda and not even bothering to pick up a thrown away bottle cap on the floor.
"I'd better check my emails and make sure that Yolanda's future step daughter sent her payment on time..."He grumbled, as he sat down on his chair.
Star heard this and frowned.
"So Yolanda is the name of the lady who Jean-Puke is seeing..." Star thought, disgusted with this revelation.
However, she then got an idea and her knuckles clenched.
"Wait, does that mean Jean-Puke is part of this?!..." She thought, getting angry upon realizing the implication she just heard.
If that were true, then her already rock bottom opinion of her stepfather sank down into the center of the earth and came out on the other side in China!
"I'm going to kick his butt to Pluto if he's involved in this!..."Star mentally promised.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud groan from the grown middle aged man. Cartland dropped the empty bottle onto the floor with a clang.
His close presence to get this bottle made her want to gag. Despite being disguised as a random object, the blonde girl couldn't stand being so close to this creep and his atrocious odor.
Cartland just continued with his business but they noticed something amiss.
He noticed a bunch of junk on the floor that he didn't recall was here earlier...and that it was near his computer too.
"Huh, that's weird. How'd these things end on the floor? And I don't remember leaving my computer on..." Cartland said, sounding suspicious.
Star heard this and panicked!
"Oh no…" She and the others panicked.
"What even is this?..." He asked, as he noticed a window open on the screen and was going to check it.
However, a knock on the door drew attention away. At first, the large man ignored, but the knocking continued as a voice was heard from the other side.
"Mr. Cartland!..." Star heard Peter say with a frantic tone that wasn't there before in the coffee shop.
Cartland frowned as he went to answer the door and saw the teenage boy there.
"What?!..." Cartland asked impatiently.
"Good thing I caught you, everyone needs to leave the floor..." He said, sounding frantic.
"Why?! I'm busy..." Cartland said, sounding impatient.
"Gas leak! One of the neighbors smelled rotten eggs and we have to check this place out. We're calling in for an emergency temporary evacuation for all of our tenants..." Peter said in an overdramatic way, until he smell the state of Cartland's room and pinched his nose from smelling the stench.
"Anyway, the rest of the tenants are already out. So, you need to go too..." He said.
"All right, I get it brat! I'm going I'll check my stuff on my phone!.." Cartland said, grabbing a coat.
The whole thing about his computer was forgotten for the time being, as he was more concerned by a non existence gas leak right now.
"Yes. Yes. Go, Mr. Cartland. We'll call you when it's safe..." Peter said, followed by the door slamming shut again.
Once done, he stepped out of the room and let go of his nose.
"No wonder Mrs. Smith keeps complaining about his room being filthy...and she is on the floor below this one..." Peter thought.
Cartland soon left and was now downstairs. Once he was gone, Peter opened the door and knew who was still inside.
"You guys can come out now..."He said, as he stepped inside and looked around for them.
Misty had a bad moment but thought fast and teleported everyone under Cartland's desk and turned them back to normal.
Star and the others came out from under the desk and acted like they were hiding under it the entire time.
"There you are..." The older boy said.
"Thank you, Peter..." Misty said, appreciating it.
"Yeah, I was worried when he stormed back up here..." Star added.
Peter nodded.
"My pleasure, rich girl..."He said smiling a charming smile. "So, did you guys get what you need?..." He asked.
"Almost done. Just need one minute left..." Tucker said as he sent back to the computer to wipe out any more data about Danny and to hide Tucker's involvement.
After a minute or two, he was done.
"All done!..." The tech geek said.
"Finally..." Star said in relief.
"Good to hear, now I recommend you guys am-scray. Cortland is pretty gullible and I doubt he'd notice that the other tenants haven't left the apartment at all but I gotta deal with him before he starts complaining to my folks..." Peter said.
"Yeah, we already have what we need..." Sam said.
"Yeah, lets go..." Misty said.
"Thanks again, Peter..." Star said, meaning it.
"Yeah, thank you..." Misty said, appreciating it.
Peter blushed at that and smiled at her.
"Anytime. Its always fun messing with that creep..." Peter said.
He then turned to Star.
"Go save your boyfriend, Blondie..."He added
"I'm planning on it..." Star promised, before walking out.
Outside
They soon left and said goodbye to Peter.
With the room clear, they resumed their escape before anymore threats appeared. Once out in the hallway Misty did a teleportation spell and were now outside.
She sighed.
"Misty, what's up? Are you okay?..." Star asked.
"I'm fine..." Misty said.
"Then what's up? I thought you had this?..." Sam asked.
"Guys...I need a little more prep time between these spell. Using so much magic at such a short period of time can leave a normal person out of breath.I just need a few minutes to cool off first.." She said sounding tired.
As Misty took a moment to rest, the heroes tried to plan their next move.
"Okay, we already dealt with that slimeball. Now how do we find that Yolanda woman who may be your rotten stepdad's side chick?..." Val told Star.
Star turned to the techno whiz of the group, who checked his PDA.
"Good news, the software completed and I know where to go next..." Tucker said, as he showed the data he got.
All of Team Phantom, plus Valerie and Misty saw a map with a ping to Yolanda's current location...which just happens to be near the expensive and luxurious neighborhood that Star's mother and half baby brother were living at.
"So Yolanda's been staying at 6161 Spectral street..."Sam said, frowning at this.
"So she has been that close to Polter Heights this whole time? I know where to go. It's just across from this awesome cafe. Now, let's tear these...these...jerks a new one..." Star said, angry and wanting payback.
"I don't blame you. Even I'm disgusted with these backstabbing from these zero moral compass, 1 percent scumbags!..." Sam said angrily.
The blonde girl then turned to the sorceress of the group, still leaning against a wall.
"Misty, can you take us to this address?..." Star asked.
A tired Misty signed but nodded.
"Sure..."She said, knowing they needed to do this.
The pages of the spellbook opened as a flash of light engulfed the group, planning to teleport them to their next destination and to their next target.
However, as that happened, Misty felt her body get heavy and the spell didn't happen.
"What's wrong?..."Sam asked, wondering why they haven't teleported yet.
"I'm feeling too tired for another teleportation spell and its getting really late. Any chance we can get some shut eye before continuing?..."Misty asked, yawning and looking tired.
Star wanted to complain but yawned too and felt tired too. She wasn't the only one as Sam, Val and Tucker felt tired too and checked the time.
"Its almost 11 and well passed curfew time, and Misty's new to this. Plus, I don't want to give my folks a reason to distrust me again after I finally convince them to believe me. Being out late would break that trust I just re-earned..." Tucker said, checking the time on his PDA.
Star wanted to do more, but felt too tired and yawned again. Even so, she still wanted to continue.
"We don't have any time to waste. Danny-boo needs us! We need to save him and tear that spoiled brat and her unfaithful dad to pieces!..." Star tried but Val wouldn't let her.
"Girl, its late and our parents didn't exactly give us permission to sneak out and break into criminals houses. Especially since we got no proof yet or erased the footage of Danny transforming into his ghost from all of their computers yet. Lets just take a quick break to recharge and go later..." Val tried to reason with her.
"Yeah, please. At this rate, I won't be able to concentrate and make a levitation spell. Much less another emergency spell in case we need help again..." Misty tried to explain.
Star wanted to protest but than she let out another yawn. Even her body rejected her plan. The blonde girl sighed in defeat before nodding.
"Fine...we'll take a short break to sleep but will continue first thing in the morning. No arguments..." Star said, deciding to continue the rest of the mission first thing in the morning.
"Hopefully by then, we can give the 411 to Jazz and Danny before something else crazy happens..." Sam said, knowing that it is best that they be up to date on what's happened so far.
"Yeah, and make some improvements to our payback just in case..." Star said, wanting this over and done with.
The heroes decided to leave the shady side of Elmerton and each headed home, making plans to meet up in the morning. All the while, Star worried about her boyfriend and how they're running out of time.
"Sorry, Danny-boo. Please wait for me just a little while longer. I swear that I'll make it up to you some way or another..." Star thought, determined.
Tomorrow will be another day...a better day that most of this awful, awful week.
She is determined that it will be the day they get closer to freeing Danny...and getting closer knocking Colette's teeth out too.
Elsewhere
A certain evil half-ghost was at his wit's end. Even more so than usual.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!..." Vlad yelled as he destroyed a punching bag in his lab.
One that nearly resembled his "wife".
After the failure with his last robot and receiving the countless bills from Alicia's frivolous spending, he doubled down and refused to give up his attempts to get rid it her. However, it was easier said than done.
The evil Vlad Plasmius frowned hard, losing his patience and sanity with each passing failure.
"WHY?! NO MATTER WHAT I DO... DOES SHE STILL SURVIVE?!..." Vlad said, ripping some of his hair out in frustration.
He'd tried everything to free himself from this Sasquatch pretending to be a human but it either backfired spectacularly either by Pucks actions or Alicia's almost supernatural sort of luck!
He tried everything. This is no exaggeration, he tried EVERYTHING!
Bombs!
Arson!
Hitmen!
Ghosts!
Vicious wild animals!
Vicious ghost animals!
Giving her a strain of ecto acne!
They all ended up being pitiful failures each and every time!
He even tried gifting her an ancient royal necklace cursed that would poison anyone who wasn't of the royal line but it turned out to be an overpriced fake and he made mental notes to get back at the scammer later.
Vlad even tried to get a favor from certain swamp witch he met during his travels for power. Said swamp witch who'd laughed in his face saying she wasn't dumb enough to pick a fight with a fae. It seems Pucks reputation was worldwide, not just among ghosts and other fae's.
Not to mention he used more of his non ghostly albeit "not exactly legal" connections , as well as his ghostly connections too, which predictably ended with failure too. It all ended in failure.
NOTHING WORKED AT ALL!
"Butter biscuits! Dirty, dirty butter biscuits!..." Vlad yelled, cursing u see his breath.
Nothing even left a scratch on the hillbilly woman, that blasted faes protection safeguarded her from everything than there were the unnatural feelings he was forced to endure.
Now he owed several debts his 'wife' was spending his money like there was no tomorrow and he was no closer to making Maddie his.
Maddie was the only woman for him, not this barbaric bald yeti who somehow is her sister. He'd do anything at this point to be freed from her already and go back to his old life.
"There had to be a way to end this!..." Vlad yelled.
There had to be a way to free himself of this torture. Just then, his "friend" appeared and couldn't resist giving n his two cents.
"You know how to end this, Vladdy..." Puck said, appearing.
Vlad tried to attack him with an ecto blast but Puck easily deflected it and went back to talking/mocking the halfa.
"You can ask her for a divorce and then legally split up your assets...and let her complain to her family about you..." Puck said, smirking.
Vlad growled hatefully and wanted nothing more than the fae before him incinerated.
"I'd sooner die than give up all I earned to that she-beast!..."Vlad spat out cruelly.
"Is that what you call it? Earned? You mean stole and cheated from hard working people who actually earned it. That's rich..."Puck said before smirking.
"Again… I'd sooner die, have my head on a pike and everything, then let her take a single penny from me!..." Vlad shouted.
"Oh well, that can be arranged too. Just tell her all about how you've stalked her only nephew, harassed and stalked her little sister, placed a child's life in danger by giving her the ghost kings ring to save your own butt, infected two kids with a terminal illness so her nephew wouldn't just stand by and watch you die... place her niece and nephew in a death battle... tried to melt down her only cloned niece and also killed several nephews she didn't know she had who were cloned from her aforementioned only nephew...and there's the love potion you were planning to give to her sister when you trapped me and tried to force me to use my magic to turn her sister into your little puppet..."Puck listed off, visibly disgusted.
Puck wasn't perfect but some of the stuff the fruitloop did blew his worse tricks out of the water.
"I hate you with every passing second…" Vlad grumbled.
"Right back at you, Cheesehead. But that's just the stuff you did to people in Danny boy's generation and his parents... along with all the lives you destroyed in the twenty years because YOU neglected basic lab safety or tried to intimidate someone just to get what you feel the world owes you over an accident..."Puck finished.
He grinned, having listed off every crime he could think of that would make Alicia go full berserker on the fruitloop if she knew the real him.
"Alicia might love you NOW but that's only because she doesn't know the REAL you...but we both know that she'd despise you if she knew about what you have done... especially your crimes to her sister, nieces and nephew and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be happy to hear you tried to kill her brother-in-law, even if they aren't what I'd call good friends..." Puck said, , stating the obvious.
It was plain as day she didn't like Jack but that didn't mean she wanted him dead. For all of Alicia's flaws, she's not like Vlad.
"Anyway, we both know that just knowing some of all that might be enough for Alicia to send you to the next world if you weren't already half ghost..." Puck said seriously, before smirking a bit. "But why not tell her all that. That way, she'd get ALL of your assets..." He said, smirking.
Vlad sneered at him, wishing his powers could hurt him but he knew they couldn't.
"When I get out of this, fairy, I will make you suffer for eternity!..."Vlad swore mentally
"I can hear your thoughts, Dude..." Puck reminded him as Vlad growled at him.
"STAY OUT OF MY HEAD!..."Vlad yelled.
Vlad slammed his fist into the wall, not caring that he left a hole in it.
"I will find a way out of this and that bitter old cow will walk away with nothing but the rags on her back!..." Vlad shouted, eye twitching in rage.
He needed a way to remove that fae's protection from Alicia and would leave her vulnerable.
"Sorcery is out, all of my minions were too incompetent to get the job done, my experiments and connections proved to be failures...so that means science will be my salvation..." He thought darkly.
"Not to worry Maddie, I will soon be free of this ogre you call a sister and we'll be together..." He thought in a demented way, as he left to go scheme.
Puck rolled his eyes and shook his head in disappointment.
"Some people just can't take a hint..." He said, as Vlad went back to his scheming.
He noticed Alicia on the screen, being blissfully unaware of what her husband was up to.
She really thought he had just been shy and really cared about her. She really thinks he loves her and they were meant to be together forever.
The fae actually felt sympathy for her, since he knew how Vlad actually felt.
"I feel bad for her when she eventually finds out. For a lot of reasons..."He thought, before going back to his assignment.
As in protecting her from certain evil halfa fruitloop and also take him down several pegs.
Again.
-To be continued-
Next time on Blackmailed
Counterattacks and Conquests II
A/N(1): I dedicate this chapter to my family, my friends and my love for God :)
A/N(2): Special thanks to NeoMark, 61394, Jay The Average Fanboy, BCW and Luiz4200 for all their help. You guys rock :)
A/N(3): Special thanks to 61394 for creating the new OC Peter Tsaava. Thanks again :)
REPLIES to my loyal and totally awesome reviewer:
Luiz4200: Probably.
Guardian1989: I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
RonaldM40196867:
1) Yeah.
2) Yes, but now he is paranoid Colette bugged his house.
3) Thank you
4) I hope that this Vlad scene makes up for it.
5) I thought that it was time to show how it all happened.
6) As Jazz says, she is a close second.
7) Sorry, no spoilers. I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
8) Sorry, no spoilers. I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
9) Hard to say.
10) Yeah, they were popular jocks who Star used to date.
61394: I see.
Danifan3000, pokemon fan 1991 and Guest99: Thank you :)
Invader Johnny and Jebest4781: I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
CZS4: Its not so much his secret that he is worried about at this point, its being taken down with Colette and no one believing him if he says he was forced to help her. That is what he is really afraid of at this point.
JDF Legacier Morphicon: Thank you :)
Here are my responses to your questions:
1) I liked how she finally stood up to her brother and helped Team Phantom defeat him.
2) Yes.
3) She would definitely be afraid of Rath.
4) No comment.
5) Becoming Dark Danny.
Bob the mammoth: How is this so far?
NightShadow2955: Thank you for the suggestions, I will consider them but I cannot give away spoilers. I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
:) I hope you enjoyed this! Remember to read and review :)