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 23: Counterattacks and Conquests II
It was early in the morning the following day. Star and the other soon arrived to 6161 Spectral street.
After Cartland's place, they had to get back home to avoid their parents suspicious. Now that it was early in the morning, they went after their next target.
Yolanda, Jean-Puke's latest girlfriend and yet another new headache for Star and her friends to deal with.
"So this is Yolanda's place?..." Sam said, frowning.
"Yep. This is the place..." Tucker said checking his PDA again to confirm the details.
While it was Tucker's tracking app that had found Yolanda's address earlier, it was nice to have confirmation again.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!..."Star said impatiently, as Misty used her magic to teleport them inside.
Now, they are inside the apartment. It was good since the sooner they got the dirt on her, the sooner they can leave.
"We're inside..."Misty said, sighing.
"Finally... "Star said, ready to search this place to find evidence and destroy any proof of Danny's secret.
They were now inside Yolanda's apartment. Sam got a little distracted with all the tacky leopard patterns across the room.
She frowned as an eyed the apartment in distaste.
Unlike Cartland's place, Yolanda's apartment was less dirty and didn't smell like the inside of Dash's gym bag. Instead, this place smelled like a tacky perfume store but had the decor of an equally tacky clothing store look to it.
Contrary to the cheap looking apartment, it was decorated with expensive looking items and had a lot of brand name items and useless overpriced things rich people liked to talk about owning but never did anything with. Like well painted replica works of art being placed just out in the open for anyone to see, but barely anyone gives it a second glance at the items. If they did, they'd spot the flaws.
"Geez, and people think my parents' taste is tacky..." Sam mumbled.
"At least their taste isn't trashy..." Star said, hating this place.
Anyway, this place clearly belonged to either a crook, a gold digger, a home wrecker, most likely all of the above.
They could guess the kind of person this was quickly. Someone who thinks they're more high class than they are and wants to show it to the world.
"I haven't even seen this woman and I already hate her..." Star thought, frowning.
Misty, who was tired and low on energy, needed a moment to rest and restore some of her power.
"Whoa, didn't think I'd get this winded so soon. I guess still need more training. Being part of a team is a little harder than I thought..."She thought, sitting down.
"Man, I'm beat..."The young sorceress mumbled, while the others noticed her expression.
"What's up with you?..."Jazz asked, due to not being here last night with them.
"I've never had to use so much of my own magic before I had Wufong's magic boosting my own. It's like riding a bike instead of walking..." Misty explained.
"Wait, magic has limits? I thought you just waved your hands and could do whatever?..."Jazz asked.
"Only if you're a fairy or a master sorcerer. I'm still a rookie. Most magic users either have to either constantly use our magic to get used to more and more spells or have a mystic artifact, a magic relic, a magical talisman or a charm embedded with magic that we can use instead of our own magic..." Misty explained.
"Well, that explains why Freakshow is so easy to beat without his toys..."Star mumbled, until a question popped into her head.
"How'd you learn to do all those spells on your own anyway?..." Star asked.
"My ancestors spellbook without Wufong is a lot more informative. Though its gonna take a while before I can use the more advanced spells like I did before..." Misty said.
Star and the rest of her friends definitely have some genuine questions about how Misty's magic works but that could wait when they weren't on the job.
"Ok, all this was interesting but first let's find whatever Colette has on Danny and deal with the gold digger..." Star responded.
Right now, they all had to prioritize the mission first.
"Any idea where her laptop is?..." Star asked, wanting to find it and get everything done with.
"According to my PDA...It's in...here..." Tucker said as he went into the next room.
Sam and Jazz went with them. Star and the others would follow but Sam stopped them.
"Why don't you guys stay here? Someone needs to keep watch if that gold digging witch suddenly shows up..." Sam suggested.
"Good point. Plus. You never know if Colette left her anything else that is incriminating..." Star suggested.
Before they started, one person couldn't help but make comments.
"How exactly did this happen?..." Sam asked.
"What do you mean?..." Star questioned.
"Where the heck did Colette even find these people? Was there a criminal convention in town that we didn't know about?..." Sam asked.
"Probably..."Jazz replied.
"Who cares? Let's just do this before she shows up..." Star said.
The others nodded as they went to do their respective tasks.
5 minutes later
Val was currently keeping watch for the gold digger, while Misty and Star searched the living room.
Star opened a closet and saw a lot of expensive looking coats and they were all as overpriced and tacky as her decor!
"Geez, her taste in works of art are as tacky as her sense of fashion!..." She thought, as she kept searching.
Aside from a calendar and journal of some kind that had pictures with dates and numbers on them, no doubt for dates with Jean Luc and who knows what else.
They didn't find anything related to Colette's plot.
"Totally saving this for later..." Star said as she used her phone to take quick pictures of these.
"What are you doing?..." Misty asked, having checked the kitchen.
"Getting a different kind of evidence. Once Colette is dealt with, I'm showing my mom just how faithful the man she left us for is..." Star said bitterly.
Misty heard this and felt bad for her.
"Evil stepsisters, cheating stepfathers and stupid moms how are in denial. And I thought my family had issues..." She thought, feeling bad for how she previously brushed off her troubles without much thought.
She, being wise, decided not speak this as she saw her former rival take a deep breath through her nose. Star already had much to deal with.
"What do we do next?..." Val asked, after searching the other half of the living room.
"First, let's wait to hear from Tucker, Jazz and Sam about deleting the info from Yolanda's computer... so we only have to do this once..." Star said, deciding not let Tucker do his tech stuff while she recuperated some of her energy.
"Let's hope Jazz, Tucker and Sam work fast..." Val commented.
"I know that they will..." Star responded.
Star trusted those three to be able to work together to get this part of the mission done quickly. Especially since they all have a stake in this.
After a few more moments, Jazz, Sam and Tucker came out of Yolanda's bedroom room, holding the laptop from there.
"Found it!..." Tucker said.
"About time. I couldn't stand being in that room anymore..." Sam said, since it was even more gaudy than the rest of the apartment.
"Finally..." Star said, happy to see the laptop.
Now was the time to look inside it.
Unfortunately, the laptop also had a few firewalls and security systems on it. Thankfully, she left that task to Tucker, since tech jobs like these are his bread and butter...or bread and beef in his case.
"Any luck?..." Sam asked.
"Lucky, the security system here has the exact same coding as Cartland's laptop, which only makes my job easier..." Tucker said.
"Really?..." Star asked, wanting to be sure.
"Yep. Someone didn't pay for some cyber security. Probably spent it on all this expensive junk here that makes this look like a store threw up in here..." Tucker said, as he continued to search and delete any information related to Danny's secret.
"Tech really is his super power, so I know he won't let us down…" Star thought, confident in his ability.
Tucker managed to hack into a few information and found something useful.
"We got Yolanda's email, she had it in her spam folder along with orders from step kid number one..."Tucker said.
"Wait? She is listed as that?..."Star questioned.
"Yes. Colette is actually listed as that. I wonder how she'll feel having a stepmom who treats her as an accessory to her husband's money..." Jazz said.
"Probably no different than the other gold diggers Jean-Puke married before ensnaring my mother..." Star said, her thoughts on Jean-Puke's many wives her mother excluded crystal clear.
"Considering Jean-Puke and whatever snobby witch he spawned with at the time, they both probably had corrupted Colette to the point of no return by the time she learned to talk..." Sam chimed in agreement.
"No kidding..." Star grumbled.
"Yeah, I mean...Your mother might be delusional but she at least TRIED to raise her to be a good if slightly snobby person. Though she was too late..." Jazz said, scowling.
"I'm still positive that Colette's a lost cause and should be locked in a mental hospital..."Sam stated, her own opinion clear as day.
"Preach to the choir. She and Jean-luc are the worst things that ever happened to me!..." Star responded as Tucker typed away.
He did notice a picture near the computer. One with Jean-Luc and presumably the Yolanda woman.
"I think this is her..." Tucker said and Star grabbed it.
She saw the image and glared at it.
"She certainly looks like the kind of trashy woman he'd see behind my mom's back..." Star said, while Tucker continued to do his cyber mission.
The tech geek frowned. He was surprised at the number of women who agreed to marry Colette's father.
"Geez...How does a guy as rotten as Colette's dad hook up with so many women anyway?..."Tucker muttered to himself out of jealousy, not understanding how a giant sleazeball like him had a better track record with romance than he did.
"They're all gold diggers, duh..." Sam concluded, only now noticing that Star glared at her.
"My mom is NOT a gold digger! She's just gullible and a bad judge of character! They're is a difference!..." Star insisted.
"Uh...sorry?..." Sam said, unsure how else to respond.
Star sighed bitterly.
"I just hope she wakes up eventually from whatever delusion she has that makes her think that jerk is NOT walking garbage. Especially since he is not even bothering into PRETEND to lift a finger to help us..."The blonde muttered, though she never expected him to help clear their names to be honest.
Her friends felt bad for her but said nothing.
The heroes continued to search, but as they did so, they found more of Yolanda's personal items. Expensive perfumes, jewelry that looked too expensive to be hers, a necklace with the word "love" written in Spanish.
"This doesn't look like something Jean-Puke would buy, seeing as he barely speaks Spanish…" Star said before a thought came to her.
"This woman must've had other past relationships with some other rich man..." Star said hatefully, figuring that Jean-Luc isn't the only person she's entering an affair with.
"I never met that woman, but I have a feeling you might be right..." Sam said, and the others nodded.
"I didn't think I'd ever find someone so obnoxious and clearly caring only about money and status..well except for Colette..." Star thought.
"Okay, good news. Looks like I wiped out anything related to Danny's secret like I did with Cartland's computer..." Tucker said.
The others sighed in relief.
"You sure?..." Star asked, wanting to be sure.
Tucker nodded.
"Yep and I also copied into my PDA some suspicious messages she had with Colette. They might come in handy later..." He said.
"Thank goodness..." Star said, glad that they had another small victory.
"Yeah. Glad to see that whoever that Yolanda lady is, she seems less bright than Colette is. I mean, she didn't even log out of her email and that made it easier for me..." Tucker said.
"I guess that some women really do value their looks over intelligence..." Jazz muttered, not impressed at all.
Speaking of the gold digger, she showed up.
"Look at the time. Mustn't be late to meet Jean-Luc..." A snobbish voice said from the hall.
"Oh man, its that gold digging witch!..." Val said, having been look out.
"Any chances you will pull another Puck, Misty?..."Tucker asked.
"I could try..."Misty said, but felt a little tried.
Misty waved her hands but nothing happened. She was too tired summon any spells and there was no Danny to do the invisibility thing.
They had to settle for hiding.
"Behind the couch it is..." Star whispered as she and the others all hid.
"I can't believe I lost so much track of time there's barely enough for me to decide which eye shadow to change into. Can't be late..." Was heard and they heard jingling noises from keys.
Yolanda soon strode through the living room like a model in a strapless designer gown with a matching purse and heels.
Tucker noticed her, his guard then dropped a bit.
"So this is her. If it wasn't for the fact that she's helping ruin our lives, helping blackmail my friend and I have a thing for Valerie, I'd think she was gorgeous..." Tucker thought.
Tucker didn't even feel bad about the malware he put on her computer earlier. The teenage tech wiz just chalked it all up to justify karma, which wasn't too hard of a task to do either.
Thankfully, he didn't think she was that gorgeous as to not do that.
Anyway, Yolanda was looking around the apartment and the teens had to sneak around and switch hiding places to stay hidden from her. Thankfully the vain woman is so self-centered and obsessed with her good looks that she never even realized that she wasn't alone in her own room.
No, she noticed to focus on the most important thing in her life. Herself.
"Darn, I better hurry. Everything must be perfectly flawless for Jean Luc..." Yolanada said in an air headed sort of way as she worked on her hair.
They used the opportunity to sneak again.
Sam frowned, not impressed at all by this person. She saw how utterly shallow Yolanda was and couldn't help but remember of someone else she knew.
"I think we just got a sneak peak on what Paulina will be like in ten years..." The goth girl said bitterly.
"You can say that again..." Star grumbled, glaring at this horrible woman.
Star found yet another reason to be thankful to end her "friendship" with Paulina. She's too greedy.
Star noticed that her room was as tasteless and tacky as the living room. She frowned, feeling like she's about to puke. She held it in, not wanting to leave any proof that she was in there.
She noticed that Yolanda had a lot of expensive looking brands here and there scattered across the tacky lady's room. The least expensive object was a tossed aside jacket that had $555 written on a tag she never bothered to take off.
"Geez...that witch really is basically just an older version of Paulina with much worse taste in decor!..." Star thought, since she felt that not everything needs leopard spots or gems on it to look good.
There was a lot of furniture to hide behind, with some of the teens sneaking into her closet to avoid being caught by the woman. While in within the closet with the others, Star noticed something off in the closet.
"Huh?..." She said, as she noticed some of the accessories here.
"Star, what's wrong?..." Val asked.
"This handbag. It looks just like the one my mom has that she says she lost...and I think it is..." Star said as she noticed more stuff like jewelry, hats, purses and other accessories.
"Maybe Jean-Puke buys her presents from the same place he gets Stella's..." Tucker suggested but Star shook her head.
"No way, this is a custom made original hand stitched Agreste designer handbag! There are only a hundred of them made and my mom had to be on a list to get it! She even had it encrusted with her birth stone. It's one of a kind!..." Star said growing suspicious.
Her suspicious grew worse as Yolanda was accessorizing with items that Star has definitely seen before.
Yolanda despite 'not wanting to be late', took the time to admire herself in a full body mirror. Star noticed how Yolanda was dressed and her eyes widened once she realized what she was wearing...and where she had seen them before.
She felt like she was dressed in a very familiar clothing.
"That scarf...that jewelry and is that a designer dress from my mom's favorite store...wait a minute? Is she wearing my moms stuff?!..." Star whispered, as she remembered seeing them in her moms closet less than a few weeks ago in fact.
Once the fact sunk in, she was angry!
"That witch is LITERALLY wearing my mom's stuff to go meet with that scumbag Jean Luc?! The nerve!..." Star thought, furious!
If looks could kill than the glare in Star's eyes would be shaper than the sharpest daggers on earth. Yolanda didn't notice as she sat at her vanity, touching up her makeup.
"Ah, this looks divine on me. It suits my unspoiled figure far better than that cow my poor Jean-Luc is married too..." Yolanda bragged as she admired her appearance and began to fix her appearance.
"What?!..."Star whispered, getting angrier.
"Star shh. Don't make a sound or we might get caught!..." Valerie whispered.
"What an idiot! He would have left her already had she not been careless and ruined her figure again by having another diaper staining little brat..." Yolanda said, continued thinking she was alone.
This nearly pushed Star's anger past it's peak. It got even worse as she kept talking.
"Oh well, whatever. Her loss is my gain, Jean-Luc has an heir and a spare to pass his family business to without me having to give up my figure. So I can spend my time being lavished in his wealth and fortune, while that cow is put out to pasture..." Yolanda laughed snobbishly, before she continued to admire herself in the mirror.
"How vain can one woman be?..." Jazz muttered to herself, annoyed.
"I take back what I said about the dirt bag attracting beautiful women, she's clearly not one of them. I should have placed something even nastier in her computer.."Tucker thought to himself, looking down at the device.
Star reached for her ecto-saber, about to activate it and was about to unconsciously hit the person remotely related to all the terrible events unfolding around her life, even at the risk of Yolanda discovering them here.
Sam, Valerie, Misty and Jazz tackled Star to hold her back from hurting the snob. Even if Star's rage is ultimately understandable, it just wasn't the right time for it.
"Star chill!..." Val pleaded, trying to snap her put of this.
"Yes! This is a VERY CRITICAL time and if we get caught now, its game over!..."Tucker pleaded, but Yolanda kept monologuing to herself.
"After what's her name sinks her claws into the little boyfriend of hers, she'd better keep her end of the deal and make a scandal for that cow so Jean Luc will divorce her faster. I'm tired of waiting!..."The witch said.
When Star heard that remark from the older woman, her rage started to grow again and so did her strength. However she still couldn't clobber the tacky lady, since the blonde teen was still being held back by four other teenagers.
Team Phantom were struggling to hold their blonde member from maiming the older woman, struggling not to let her do something illegal right now.
"We have to expose Colette, her and Cartland so that they will go to prison for their crimes...but not if we maim her before we find proof..." Misty said,
"If we go to jail for assault, it doesn't matter if we prove we're innocent. We'd be looking at something even WORSE than expulsion, so snap out of it!..."Jazz begged in a harsh whisper, trying to snap her out of it.
The last thing they needed was to end up in juvie for breaking and entering, as well as assault.
Star's mind immediately came back to her senses after her mind faded into a blank state out of pure uncontrollably rage.
"I hate it whenever Star goes all out, but on the other hand... I can't really blame her in this kind of situation..." Sam grumbled, as Yolanda continued to trash talk her mother.
Star was still fuming but stopped struggling, letting her teammates release her. However, Yolanda then got a phone call and they almost immediately knew it was Jean Luc.
"Hi, Baby. I will be there soon. Be sure to ditch that blonde puppet as soon as you can..."Yolanda said.
Star's anger was back in full force. She snarled like a dog, Sam to cover her mouth.
"Will you shut up, woman?! We're trying to keep you alive and out of Juvie or worse!..."Sam thought as Yolanda continued to insult Stella behind her back.
As they continued to listen into the conversation, Star pulled out her phone and began recording the needed proof of some kind.
"What are you doing?..." Val whispered harshly.
"Gathering proof. We aren't the only ones that need protection from these crooks that enjoy ruining people's lives..." Star grumbled as she continued.
"Oh? Your daughter and stepdaughter are having their birthday parties today and tomorrow? Well… we should get together after..." Yolanda said before smiling. "Ah… not even bothering to stay for long. I see… Oh? Your stepdaughter's boyfriend is someone who you'd rather not encounter? I see…"She said, still oblivious of the audience.
"Wow… he talks bad about Danny, even to people who don't know him…" Star muttered, her hatred for her stepfather growing.
"So arrogant. Like so many rich members of the 1% of the world..."Sam thought, as she made a mental note to make another protest against the rich in Polter Heights.
However, Star noticed the wording.
"Stepdaughter's boyfriend? Not Colette's?..." Star questioned, confused.
"Does he not know Colette's making him date her?..." Sam questioned.
"Probably not..." Jazz whispered.
"So, Jean-Puke isn't involved in this..." Star whispered furiously.
This shocked Star, since this seemed like something Stella's current no-good husband would do.
"Not directly but his "parenting" is a contributing factor in Colette's behavior..." Jazz whispered.
Star frowned upon hearing this.
"True.. " She admitted.
She recalled he doesn't like Danny and would never have his daughter date someone he hates while getting her to score a victory over someone.
She'd really wanted to punch Jean-Puke for cheating on her mother with this witch and who knows what other women. But in this one thing, he was innocent.
"I guess a broken clock is right at least once...even if that clock is Jean-Puke. But he's definitely NOT going to pay his or Colette's way out of trouble this time around, I'll make sure of that..."Star thought in anger.
She'll remember to deal with Jean-Luc later, but only after getting payback on Colette.
"One rich creep at a time!.." She grumbled.
The blonde girl figured that Colette was going behind her own father's back for this as well, as she figured he wouldn't spend money on such a scheme.
"He probably thinks Colette can do no wrong because they're born rich. Geez, what did my mom EVER see in that guy?!..." Star thought, shaking her head in disappointment.
She put that aside to get back to trying to get out before they're spotted. She saw how Yolanda kept insulting Stella and she really wanted to get back at her without getting caught.
Star looked to Misty, silently asking for her help. The rookie magic user didn't say a word and only nodded back at the blonde girl.
"Time for payback, gold digger..." Misty whispered, as she quickly changed something in Chinese.
She used her magic and Yolanda's coffee table turned into a chimp.
Yolanda didn't notice, being so self absorbed in her reflection until the chimp climbed up her back and hugged her.
"AHHHHHHHHH! HOW DID A FILTHY MONKEY GET IN HERE?!..."Yolanda shouted, while the chimp began to go on a small rampage by destroying as much of the tacky look stuff in the room.
The younger rookie sorceress continued to concentrate on the chimp into scaring the very rude lady out of her room, while making a big mess in her room.
The chimp even kissed her cheek and stole her scarf, running over to Yolanda's bed and jumping on it!
"Get off of that, you beast! Do you have any idea how expensive those silk sheets are?!..." Yolanda yelled, but she was ignored.
The chimp chattered before jumping on the ceiling fan. It screeched and ignored Yolanda as yells, swinging away.
However, the weight of the animal holding onto the fan was too much and the chimp in intentionally ended up bringing it down.
It didn't end there as the chimp began to grow things and ended up knocking over furniture and even throwing a a remote at Yolanda is vanity mirror, shattering it.
"MY ROOM?! MY BEAUTIFUL ROOM?! It took me weeks of sweet-talking that investment banker from Chicago so that he'd buy me this bedroom set!..." The shallow woman screamed in dismay.
The chimp wasn't done terrorizing her. It jumped at Yolanda, wanting to play with her and tried to chase after her.
Yolanda screamed in horror, running from the room and tripping on her heels.
"OW! My shoes?! How?! These are $1,100 gator skin heels that took be half an hour of crocodile tears to get out of Jean-Luc?! How could the heel break?!..." Yolanda complained.
Misty smirked, winking at Star and the others. Star grinned and the others seemed amused too.
Yolanda was about to curse out loud, but saw the chimp approaching her. She screamed before getting up and running outside.
"I HATE ANIMALS!..." She screamed, as she ran out and planned to get help.
The chimp waved cheekily before turning around. It grinned with a thumbs up from and slightly exhausted looking Misty. It then turned back into a coffee table.
The teens were pleased by that.
"Nice work..."Jazz said, her opinion of the sorceress improving a little bit.
"I'm just glad that I had enough power to make an illusion and she was too dumb to not notice she was basically kissed by a hologram..." Misty said.
"Then how did it wreck her room?..." Tucker asked, since it was still a mess.
"Magic, duh..." Misty said, like it was obvious.
"Wait. How'd you know how to make it act like that? If I didn't know better, I'd think that was an actual chimp?..."Sam asked.
"I like animal documentaries..." Misty said with a shrug.
This got the goth girl's opinion of the magical girl to lean more towards the positive. Misty then stepped a bit closer to Star and whispered something to her.
"Hey Star, what's your mom's favorite color?..." Misty asked.
"Purple, why?..." Star whispered.
"When this is all over and done with, I could make something purple for her to help her get over her disgusting husband?..." Misty suggested, feeling bad for the woman for dealing with her two timing scumbag of a husband.
Star grinned and nodded.
"I'd appreciate that. Also, thank you for what you did..." Star genuinely said, as she quickly dried her eyes before they even got a chance to get a little watery.
"Anytime..." The young magic user said, smiling until her body began to feel slightly heavy.
Which meant that she needed to recharge her power.
"Okay, I'm gonna need a nap after all this and !maybe some coffee..." Misty said tiredly.
Are you gonna be okay?..." Star asked, as the other members of Team Phantom started to show signs of concern for the rookie sorceress.
"I'll be ok. Let's get out of here before the chimp lady comes back with animal control..." Misty said.
Star and the others nodded.
However the blonde girl halted herself, remembering that there was one more thing that she needed to do before leaving.
"Wait, before we go, there is something that I need to do..." Star said, heading towards Yolanda's closet.
She stormed into the wall in closet, taking outfits and tossing them to Valerie, including jewelry and the custom made bag and scarves.
"This is mom's. That is mom's, this is especially mom's...so are these and that and these..." She thought as she grabbed everything that belonged to her mother.
"Star, what are you doing?!..." Val asked, wondering what's up.
"Payback against a thief who stole from my mother from right under her nose. Either Colette is stealing my mom's stuff to bribe her or Yolanda is shopping in my moms closet. Either way, all of these belong to my Mom. She even monogram them. Look..." Star said, as she even showed an S initial in the inside of a lot of the stuff.
"So you're stealing them back?..." Tucker questioned.
"It's not stealing. It's reclaiming stolen property, totally different..." Star said, since all the stuff she's taking originally belonged to her mother.
It was the right thing that they were returned to their rightful owner.
Once she collected all of her mother's stolen belongs, Star used the light saber and ripped apart all the things that were not stolen from her mother, leaving nothing left but the dress she was wearing on her back.
Ruining Yolanda's stuffs was just Stars way of getting back at her for talking trash about her, her mother and baby half brother.
Turnabout is fair play, since she considered this to be poetic justice. Plus, it was a great outlet for her rage.
"You know I could have done that with magic..." Misty said.
"You said it yourself, doing too much exhausts you and I needed to let a little of my anger out instead of bottling all up. Besides we need a teleport spell and a finger print removal spell..." Star said.
"That's why we're all wearing gloves, remember? So, we don't leave behind any prints..." Jazz pointed out.
"Right... sorry. I forgot. Teleport spell, please..." Star said.
Misty nodded.
"Sorry in advance for the rough landing..." She said, using the teleport spell to disappear.
Just in time as the door slammed open. Yolanda came rushing inside with a cop and animal control.
"I'm telling you, there was a filthy monkey in my home. It knocked over my table, destroyed my fan and tried to attack me and who knows what else it did?!..."Yolanda went to her most precious possessions.
Her closet.
She screamed when she saw a lot of her things were either ruined or missing. She jumped to conclusions and blamed the 'monkey'.
"It ruined my wardrobe! It's running around in my clothes! Find it and get my stuff back!..."She wailed.
The animal control looked around and didn't find hide or hair of a chimp. However, he did see the mess and the officer found no evidence of someone having broken in and figured he was dealing with a crazy lady who trashed her own stuff.
"Listen lady... if you see the invisible monkey again, call some ghost hunters or something..." The animal control officer said, dismissing her.
"I'm NOT crazy! Do you know who I am?! I'm the future Mrs. Jean Luc Bevier , one of the richest men in France!..." She yelled.
"Well, this ain't France and if your clothes are so important, take it up with Mr Beaver or Blowfish or whatever you said..." The animal control officer said as he left.
"I think she said his name was blubber..."The cop said.
"Poor guy wonder what he sees in her..." The animal control man said.
"Probably nothing but her looks..."The cop replied as they left.
Yolanda huffed, offended by how dismissive they were of her.
"So rude. I can't wait until I can be with my Jean-Luc and move out of this dump. I didn't scrape my way out of the gutter to not get what I deserve!..." She said in anger, clearly wanting what she thought she deserved.
"Whatever. I need to replace my wardrobe and the rest of my things that stupid monkey ruined..." She said as she pulled out her phone and called her boyfriend.
"Jean-Luc baby, you have no idea what I just went through!..." She said as she used crocodile tears, hoping to get him to pay for the damages and maybe get a shopping spree or two from him.
She desperately needed to restock her wardrobe. Maybe if she was lucky, she could get him to buy her a whole new apartment too!
After all, the future wife of Jean Luc Bevier had to have standards. Luxurious standards.
The kind that are very expensive, no matter how tacky they seem to the people who can't afford it. Plus, the benefits of showing off those luxurious standards to the masses that can't afford them.
So, after almost twenty minutes of sweet talking and crocodile tears, he gave in and agreed.
Outside
Everyone successfully managed to sneak out without getting noticed or caught by anyone.
"Relief…" Tucker went.
"Is everyone okay?!..." Jazz loudly asked, while everyone else responded relatively unharmed.
"Good. Now onto the next house...to break into...to steal evidence...and prove our innocence..." She added, trying to show optimism, only to realize that their collective actions weren't all that heroic in hindsight.
"This feels so wrong..." She mumbled.
"Says the girl who 'ran away from home' to steal from Vlad, knowing he had powers..." Sam said, recalling that incident.
Jazz pouted, while Misty seemed confused.
"You did what? Also whose Vlad?..."Misty asked, since they mentioned that name before.
"We'll explain later, Misty..." Tucker said, while Jazz still looked down as was Star
"Look, being a superhero sometimes isn't all glitz and glamor. I can't tell you how many times I've hacked into security systems to help Danny..."Tucker said.
"And try to remember that we're only doing all this because Colette framed most of us for crimes that none of us committed in the first place..." Valerie said, trying to reason with Jazz.
"I do know that. It's just...I'm starting to notice that some of us have been relying on Danny's ghost powers to get us out of most binds and situations like the ones we were just in..." Jazz said seriously.
"Your point?..." Sam asked.
"Over-reliance is never a good thing. What's gonna happen if one of us finds ourselves in another situation like that again without Danny to help us?..." Jazz asked out of concern.
The rest soon realize that she had a good point. However, before anyone could comment on what Jazz just pointed out.
Something interrupted them.
"You're forgetting… We are doing this for Danny. We can worry about it later..." Star said.
"She's not wrong..." Tucker said.
"Fine… we'll worry about it later..." Jazz said.
Just then, Star felt her cell phone buzzing in her front pocket and answered it.
"Speaking of which, my mom is texting me. She wants to meet for lunch later and talk about my birthday..." Star said, wondering what her mom was thinking.
"You're still at risk of getting suspended on Monday. Is now really the time to be focused on a birthday party?..." Sam asked, not understanding Star's relationship with her mom.
"I don't know why my mom thinks now is the time to talk about this. Honestly I'm not feeling all that much like celebrating, but hey… we can form a plan to deal with Colette and maybe convince my mom that she really now the witch with hair extensions..." Star said, feeling a bit down.
Everyone seemed ok with this new suggestion, Jazz noticed that Star was less energetic while talking.
Right now, Star was emotionally drained and tired.
Yes, they scored a major victory but that was after a string of betrayals and losses all week long.
There was a part of Star, an admittedly childish part of her, but a big part wanted a hug from her mom and dad and to hear that it was all right. That big part of Star could really go for some comforting words of reassurance and encouragement from her Mom, Dad, Georgia and especially her Danny-boo if she was being honest with herself.
But right now, she can't get that. However, she tried to focus on what is most important.
Which is freeing Danny and getting payback on her wicked stepsister.
"We still have to go to Kwan's to delete the files but that shouldn't be too hard. The hardest part is finding the original files..." Tucker said.
"Knowing Colette, she probably kept the original files on her person. The question being, where on her person, exactly?..." Star muttered but decided to think more on that later.
"Since it wasn't on her laptop or in her bedroom, I theorize it has to be on her phone..."Jazz suggested.
"Yeah. Knowing how cocky she is, she probably would keep it there since she probably assumes we'd never find her cronies and is keeping the originals in such an obvious place..." Star said.
The sound of her stomach got her attention.
"We can all strategize better on how to steal Colette's phone on a full stomach anyways..." Star said.
"Fine.. we'll rendezvous back at my house once we've had lunch and maybe see how your mom's lawyers are handling things..." Jazz conceded.
"Yeah I need a nap. I cast a lot of spells and on top of that, unlike you guys, I still have to go to school..."Misty said, yawning as she is still expected at her own school soon.
"We're trying to fix that. Also thank you Misty you're helped us a lot..." Star said, being sincere.
"Happy to be part of this. Anyway, my free period is at twelve, text me if you learn anything..." Misty yawned as she teleported away, probably back to her house.
"Did we ever officially agree that she was part of our Team?..."Sam asked, but everyone else just stared at her with somewhat solemn looks.
"What?! I was just asking for some clarification..." The goth insisted.
"She's helping us out, and I trust her way more than that She-Vlad. Deal with it!..." Star surprisingly announced, while Sam raised her arms up in surrender.
"Plus, it wouldn't be the first time an enemy joined up. That's happened a few times already..." Tucker reminded them.
"Fair point /I can't deny it..." Star and Valerie agreed, knowing that they weren't exactly allies to Danny and his friends in the past.
However, one look at what time it was reminded them they had to go.
With that, they parted for home, to prepare for the next part of their mission.
Later that day
Everyone from Team Phantom headed back to their own respective homes to see how the legal side of things were going, hoping things would go smoothly and avoid further trouble.
Now, Star was heading out to meet her mom for lunch...and to find some solace on this day.
Star was upset, which she has a number of reasons to rightfully be so, thanks to today and a few days prior has continued to grow.
"This is the worst birthday ever!..." She thought, bitter about her day.
Huffing, she got a cellphone text from her mother that she needed to discuss with her about something relating to her birthday party. She was not in the mood for party planning with her mom. Honestly with everything that was going on, she was just going to call her mom and tell her to cancel.
She still needed to go to one of the delete files on the laptop and rest of the dirt off of one of the dirtbags computers who had dirt on her boyfriend.
Such as Kwan.
The thought of her ex made her furious, and she was already in a bad mood to begin with. It still stung that Kwan had sunk so low for whatever his secret was.
Star had secretly hoped that he might have decided to change like she and Val did and quit the A-listers out of his want to become someone better...until today.
"I guess not everyone has the guts to change. Whatever, he made his choice..." She thought bitterly, seeing him as the enemy now.
This meant she could search his place for any information, and not feel bad about it. Or at least, that is what at she tried to convince herself.
She shook her head, knowing that she still had to get rid of the remaining data.
"Not that breaking into Kwan's place will be hard after everything else..." Star thought.
Kwan was a simple in and out job. She also made a note to leave his house a destroyed mess when she's done. It would be karma in her eyes.
They'd gotten Cartland's and Yolanda's now, all they needed was whatever Kwan is probably keeping and the original files, which Colette most likely never left out of her sight.
That made him the best place to check next. However, she needed to see what her mom wanted and would go there first.
As she was on her way to the restaurant her mom wanted her to meet, not that she was really in a mood to eat, but it'd be nice to see her mom.
Star's thoughts then want to know how Danny must be doing. She can't imagine that he's fairing much better than any of them, since Danny is focused on spending his time with Colette blackmailing him to do so.
"Poor Danny, suffering like this..."She thought, feeling awful and wanting to make Danny feel better.
"Ya know. In a deeply disturbing and ironic sort of way, I ended up making Danny's life MUCH more miserable as his girlfriend than I ever did as a bully..." Star thought, feeling blue just thinking about it.
Star felt so awful from indirectly placing Danny in an impossible situation in which, if Team Phantom isn't careful, everyone's lives could fall apart.
Yeah, he'd been blackmailed before but not like this. What Kitty did to him was nothing compared to what her despicable stepsister has done to him already.
Colette even used that time when Danny briefly lost his memories and had 'forgotten' about his relationship with Star as an opportunity to trick him into becoming her boyfriend was a step too far. Not to mention when she went on that power trip when she got ghost powers that one time. She sought to outright kill Star and the others.
All the signs were there that Colette was clearly not of sane mind. No, that is putting it mildly.
"She-Vlad! Why didn't I convince mom to send her to the loony bin when I had the chance? I probably could have tricked Jean Luc into shipping her off to some fancy schmancy boarding school if I acted smarter!..." Star bemoaned, unable to believe it.
She had seen all the red flags and while she complained non-stop, Or worse she was and just didn't care about anything but herself.
Clearly, her mother was just the worst when it comes to her judgment of people.
Star also wanted to make amends with her boyfriend and everyone else that was affected by this unfavorable event, after they all get through this ordeal first. How Star will manage to do all that is a bridge that she'll have to cross later.
Right now, she was depressed and wanted to hope this was a dream she would wake up from soon.
"Why do things like this keep happening? Why can't they all just let me and Boo just be happy together in peace?..." Star bemoaned, unaware she said that part out loud.
"Excuse me?.."She heard an older, French accent say.
Star was pulled out of her thoughts by a pretty reddish-brunette woman a few years older than her mother with an old-fashioned dress. Judging from her accent, she seems to be French.
Star, noticing the jewel and the well made if old fashioned dress the woman was wearing, Star guessed she had money.
"Huh?..." Star went, surprised that some stranger approached her.
"Are you alright dear? You look upset?..." She asked, a concerned frown on her face.
"I'm fine. I just have a lot going on..." Star semi-lied, not wanting to unload her problems on a total stranger.
"You know...school stuff, family stuff...my boyfriend...normal teenage stuff like that..." She said, giving the most downplayed and censored version of her problem.
The older woman nodded as if she understood.
"Poor girl, I hope she'll be all right..." The woman thought as she tried to help a stranger even if for a moment.
This woman could certainly tell that the young blonde teen had her mind filled with negativity, from what she just over heard. This young lady looked like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.
"She must have gotten into a little argument with someone. Though, of course, I might be wrong..." Suzette thought, thinking of ways to advise this young blonde girl's feelings.
However Suzette decided to trust in her gut feeling and woman's intuition on this one. Since both were telling her to help this young blonde girl in some way or form.
In a way, she made her think of her daughter, or at least how her daughter presented herself as. Either way, she has plenty of spare time to spend helping someone in need.
"Oh, how rude of me? What is your name?..."The kind lady asked.
"Star..." The blonde girl said.
"It is nice to meet you, Star. My name is Suzette but you may call me Suzy. All my friends do..." The woman said kindly with a smile that screamed motherly.
"Okay, Suzy, nice to meet you..." Star said, finding this kind stranger a bit odd but surprisingly easy to talk too.
The older woman sat across from Star and tried to lighten up her mood, even if it was just as a friendly ear to listen to.
"So, you are having... troubles?..."Suzy asked.
"Yeah. Adolescent troubles..." Star said hesitantly.
"Ah yes I remember what zhat is like. Well, if you're sure that's all that is..." She said, sounding concerned.
"It is..." Star answered.
Suzette patiently listens and waits for Star to continue.
"You know, if you have somewhere to go…" Star spoke up.
"I'm not in that much of a hurry..." Suzette said.
"Sorry, it's just kinda been a lot this week, or… well, the past six months..." She confessed.
""I don't mean to pry but why that far back?..." Suzette asked.
"Well, I wasn't in the best crowd but things changed for the better when I started hanging out for my boyfriend and his friends..." Star said, still keeping the details close to her chest.
"And you have better friends now?..." Suzette asked.
Star nodded.
"The best. They may seem absurd at first, but people that stick up for you and alway have your back even at the worst of times..." Star said, as she talked about her beloved friends and her precious Danny-Boo.
Suzette nodded.
From what little details Star had disclosed, it sounded like she'd been a part of a bad crowd.
"Delinquents who cared only for themselves and not much for others..."Suzette thought, frowning.
She could see that this girl had left them making a better life with a group of people who clearly were better influences. And apparently met someone special who didn't sound like seeing something special within that certain boy Star briefly mentioned.
It made her nod in approval, since she spoke so highly about him.
"Smart girl..." The woman thought.
She was clearly much smarter than Suzette would admit to being at the age thinking money and family was important in judging a person by their money and their family.
A mindset that she has long since regretted.
However, like the old saying goes "It's never too late to make a change for the better" and Suzette has been trying her best to follow this new philosophy of hers.
One she falsely believes her own daughter would follow.
Anyway, Star continued to talk as this woman continued to listen to her plight.
"I admit that things weren't easy at first. We had a bad history but one thing led to another and eventually I've officially become one of them now..." Star answered with a smile.
"That's wonderful to hear. Good friends are something that should be cherished. Especially when you become extra close with one of them, romantically too..." Suzette said.
Star nodded.
"Yeah things have been wonderful, not perfect since there's been one problem from my old crowd that's taken up most of my week but we're getting through it together. This has been crazy stressful but none of us are giving up without a fight..." Star semi-lied, not wanting to go into too many details.
Indeed, Suzy seemed nice, but there is a thing called stranger danger. As such, Star didn't give her much more than what she could give someone knew.
Suzette knew the girl was telling the truth as much as she could without disclosing all the details to her, which was fair she was a total stranger to this girl. But stranger or not, Suzette couldn't help but want to aid another if she could.
Suzette could see with her own eyes that the blonde teenager's mood had been lifted a bit and that put a smile on her own face.
"Well all right, I hope things get better..." She said, smiling gently at her.
"I'm sure they will, thank you..." Star said, smiling back slightly at her.
Just then, someone, a middle aged man appeared, one in a formal business suit.
"Miss Dumont, there you are. We are going to be late..." A man who seemed to be her assistant said.
"I will be right there, Gustav..." Suzette said before turning to the teenage girl.
"Do not worry, things always look their bleakest before they get better..."The older woman advised, feeling past regrets but tried to stay positive and help.
The blonde teen wasn't sure why, but was beginning to think that this kind older woman was right. Maybe because she really needed some good from a kind person at the moment but she was still confused.
"Not that I don't appreciate it, but why stop and talk to me like this?..." Star asked.
"I have a daughter around your age and she has gone through some tough times too. After I finish my work in the next town, I am going to visit her and see how I can turn her frown upside down..." Suzette admitted.
"I see. Well, I hope you can cheer her up like you did with me today..." Star said, hoping for the best.
"Thank you..." Suzette said graciously.
"Of course…" Star said.
"If only Mom were as quick to help out as this stranger is..."She thought.
Star smiled a little brighter than did before. But when she was about the thank the kind stranger, she was already before walking off.
"What a nice lady. I know she wanted to help but it's not like she can do anything to help with Colette..."The blonde girl thought before pausing.
"Wait...Suzette...why does that name sound familiar?..." Star wondered before she shrugged and shook it off.
She had more important matters to attend to than some random kind stranger who showed her some pity just now.
"It's probably nothing important..." She thought as she kept walking.
Suzette, on the other hand, looked back at Star and felt like she did a very good deed today.
"What a nice young lady. Kind of reminds me of Mon petit Colette..."Suzette Dumont, formerly Bevier, mistakenly thought, hoping that the advice and kind words she gave her would've been helpful in some way.
This reminded her of her time when Colette was living under the same roof as her. Of course that was a long time ago, and Colette didn't have many friends at the time.
She never had a chance to thanks to Jean-Luc, even when Suzette made the time
The image of a warm, innocent child hugging her illicit tears that were wiped away as Suzette explained why she and Jean-Luc could no longer live together.
The child Colette once was.
Now she is fifteen going on sixteen, practically a young woman who'd be leaving the nest soon.
"They grow up so fast..."The woman thought, wishing she had spent more time with her over her years.
However, it was not meant to be. After all Jean Luc was the one with custody of her. Much to her chagrin.
"I don't have proof but I'm sure he bribed that judge. He was too self assured in the custody hearing..." Suzette thought.
She decided to put that snake of a man out of her mind for now.
"Anyway Mademoiselle, first we need to go meet with the deputy mayor for our meeting near Lake Eerie and afterwards it is off to Elmerton to help promote the Elmerton Gentrification Charity party that is scheduled to happen a few weeks from today..." Gustav said, as they ended the limo.
"Very well, Gustav. Good of you to remind me..." Suzette said, her mind still on her daughter.
One she hoped to see soon.
"Colette..." The mother thought, missing her a lot.
She really wished she could have spent more time with her sweet, precious, adorable daughter who thankfully remained sweet and innocent, no thanks to that fool she once made the mistake in marrying once.
"I hate that pig more than anything in the world but at least Mon petit ange didn't inherit his brains..still, part of me sorta wishes she didn't dye her beautiful brunette hair in that odd shade of red..." The mother thought to herself.
Suzette didn't say anything mainly because that hairstyle was Colette's choice. So, Suzette simply let her daughter be. She had no idea that it was a mistake.
"I better finish setting up things in Lake Eerie. Those fish won't save themselves without donations...I really wanna finish this soon, after all, Mon petit is blossoming into a fine woman, and she is my first priority. Not to mention that I may finally have the chance to meet this boyfriend of hers. He sounds very special..." She thought, believing she would love the surprise visit.
She also recalled the young teen she spoke to a few minutes ago. She thought of Star again and how nice she was. Though obviously troubled by this person from her old crowd, Star seemed like the kind of person who would be a positive influence on her daughter.
"Sweet girl...very much unlike that spoiled stepsister poor Colette has to deal with. Maybe Colette and Star could be friends, since I'm sure they could get along swimmingly..." She thought, unaware of the irony in her thoughts as she left with her assistant.
She looked back where Star was before going, thinking she wasn't going to see her again soon.
Little did either of them know, they were both bound to cross paths again soon enough. And not in the way either expected.
Or how different things will be when they meet again.
With Star
She soon arrived to the restaurant Chez Etoile that her mother told her to show up at.
"I wonder where mom is..." She thought, walking into the restaurant.
Star walked over to her and her mother's usual table at the waiting room and sat down. She looked around for any sign of her mother but there weren't that many people here.
She saw several people, most of them were women or other socialites. One even looked like a supermodel and another was a well dressed business woman was speaking kindly to a waiter.
Heck, one of the patrons here could probably pass as one of her favorite movie stars Eloise Von-Schmidt Stone.
"As if, what are the chances someone like her would show up to Amity Park? That will happen the same day supermodel Freja Bjorndottor-Landsberg would come to Amity Park. Still, she really does looks like her though..." She thought, as she saw the actress look-a-like walk out of the establishment.
Star passed the time by and she kept waiting patiently for her mother to show up.
"Miss Strong..." A waiter said, walking to her. "Your dining companion is waiting for you..."He said politely.
"Weird way to say my mom but okay..."Star thought, following the waiter into a private room.
Once there, Star lost her ability to speak for a moment when she locked eyes with the last person who wanted to have a meal with at this place.
It was Colette, who was sitting at the table and enjoying some sparkling soda.
"Bonjour, Mon petite sœur..." Colette says, politely with a smile that would make a shark run for it.
Colette smirked before turning to the waiter.
"Close zee curtains on zee way out. I wish to have some quality time with my favorite sister..."She instructed with fake good manners.
"Very well, miss..." The waiter said with a nod before leaving.
Once he was gone, shutting the curtain behind him as Star and Colette were now alone together in private.
Both were silent as they glared at each other, the atmosphere around them was as intense of an inferno.
Oh man.
-To be continued-
Next time on Blackmailed
Countdown to Disaster!
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, Luiz4200 and RonaldM40196867 for all their help. You guys rock :)
A/N(3): I was informed that Vlad's voice actor has recently passed away. It is very sad that Martin Mull is gone. I want to give my deepest condolences and I hope that he is resting in peace.
REPLIES to my loyal and totally awesome reviewer:
Guardian1989: How is this so far?
Jebest4781, 61394 and Bob the mammoth: Thank you :)
Invader Johnny: Yes.
Neo-Warkid4: Sorry, no spoilers. I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
RonaldM40196867:
1) Thank you for the suggestion about Chris. I will consider it.
2) Reginald did warn Donovan he'd give it to charity unless he does better.
3) Thanks for the suggestion. I will consider it.
4) Sorry, no spoilers. I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
5) How is this so far?
6) Thanks for the suggestions. I will consider it.
7) Thanks for the suggestion. I will consider it.
8) I will send something later in the week.
9) Sorry, no spoilers. I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
10) He likely assumed it was because Danny was already in love with Star. That, and Colette is bossy.
11) It was after Danny rejected her during one of her earlier attempts, after she joined Casper High.
12) Sorry, no spoilers. I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
13) Most likely.
14) Thanks for the suggestion. I will consider it.
15) Possibly.
16) Sorry, no spoilers. I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
17) At one point, yes but she has long since regretted that.
18) No.
19) I will send something later in the week.
20) Sorry, no spoilers. I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
21) Sorry, no spoilers. I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
Algerian author: Hi. Sorry, I meant Tucker. Thanks for pointing that out.
Luiz4200: I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
NightShadow2955: May he rest in peace.
CZS4: Yeah.
Naruto Hatake: Sorry, no spoilers. I guess that we will have to wait and see what happens.
JDF Legacier Morphicon: Thank you :)
Here are my responses to your questions:
1) I think that she would be good at tennis.
2) I don't know.
3) I don't think so.
4) I think he would be excited but also concerned for her too.
5) He would probably freak out.
:) I hope you enjoyed this! Remember to read and review :)