The walk back to Maple Street was uneventful - following a highway to a city was never fun, whether by flight or on foot.
Dani had wanted to fly back to Amity, but the beer she had drunk had destroyed her coordination and even the simple act of hovering had almost sent her crashing head first into asphalt.
"Ugh, I wish we could just fly back." Dani clutched her forehead, uncomfortably hot from dehydration.
Vlad snorted, the sound not humorous in the slightest - more the growl of a tired old man.
"Not a chance, not with me along anyway - I don't fly."
"What! Why?" Dani hadn't meant to yell, especially when on the verge of a headache, but what Vlad had said was just absurd, as if the color purple was secretly red. She stared up at him, looking him over with a suspicious glint...on second thought, when had she seen him flying?
Nothing came to mind.
Until that moment, Vlad had stayed stubbornly silent the entire walk, his eyes set on the path ahead - patchy wilderness alongside the concrete barricades of the highway. Nobody driving could see them from their cars nor would care to be distracted at such speeds, but Dani still felt exposed as she looked up to a clear blue sky from the insides of a particularly spikey bush.
She was tempted again.
And again.
And again.
To take flight.
But every time she braced her legs to spring upward, she'd fall over instead - as good as a plucked bird.
Vlad had insisted on walking briskly ahead, leaving giant footprints from his heavy gait. Dani was thankful he couldn't see her pathetic display of stumbling and jumping in the vain hopes of gaining traction against the air. The sneaker shoes she had been wearing had worn thin and a rock had caught against a rubber heel - so drunk she was that Dani did not think to remove it and so she hobbled along with a limp, as if she had twisted an ankle.
Of course, despite whatever ideas Dani had of Vlad's intelligence, he could plainly see that the little girl struggling to keep up was drunk.
He wasn't stupid.
He was furious.
Stupid girl.
Didn't anyone tell her alcohol wasn't permitted for children?
Perhaps not...
But Vlad was angry.
So angry.
How could a child get drunk on his watch?!
Absurd.
Embarrassing.
Insulting.
What would people think?!
Strongly, he wanted to leave her behind.
To spare his reputation.
To prevent people from finding out.
And they were moving so slowly together.
Already he would be at Amity.
If the little girl wasn't following him behind, tagging along looking so very lost.
But then there was that voice in the back of his mind.
It sounded like Danny, telling him that everything would be a okay.
He couldn't stop the smile infecting his features, at the thought of her.
He had to find her.
It's why he was out in the woods in the first place.
He had smelled her trail at the gas station and he was walking in the direction he was sure to find her next.
"Hey, um, Maple Street is to the left."
"Pardon?"
"I said we are going left."
Vlad looked down, silent then. The audacity of this little girl, expecting him to follow her around...
"It looks to me that you're the one following me. Either you keep doing that, or go away," he snapped.
Dani was stunned as she watched Vlad walk away, going down the wrong direction of the sidewalk they needed to go to return "home."
It had been foolish of her to think they where magically on the same page...somehow...after hanging out in the woods.
"Uh no, I'll come!" Dani said, without the slightest lack of panic, "Just, why though? The house is the other way?"
Vlad hrmmm'ed, the sound vibrating like a plucked string, an odd something-noise communicating a combination of annoyance and apathy.
Dani stayed quiet, afraid Vlad would decide to vanish in front of her. She moved closer behind, walking faster, and from the grimace on his face realized he was upset - though the reason as to why escaped her.
"Actually, I've changed my mind. Lead the way." Vlad abruptly turned around into the direction Dani had wanted to go.
She shuffled her feet, suspicious of the emotional whiplash Vlad was giving her.
"Uh, okay."
Eventually they arrived back at Maple Street.
Walking briskly Vlad swung open the front door to the dilapidated house and the pathetic slab of wood splintered and cracked off it's hinges.
Krrrsh
A giant cloud of dirt and dust was kicked up and Dani waited for it to clear before following, startled and eyes watery - inside was dustier than outside.
Vlad had taken the liberty to kick and prod at every hanging fixture and furniture piece. All within the span of seconds, Vlad had overturned several armchairs and broken the legs from underneath an end table, the vase once perch atop in smithereens.
Dani would've started shouting at him to stop, but it was like watching a car crash in slow motion and she could only brace for Vlad's sudden change of heart. Feathers and tattered cloth had been tossed everywhere within the span of seconds - whatever it was he held against curtains and pillows wasn't obvious.
Not even the couch she sometimes relaxed on to enjoy a candy or soda had been spared. The flowery hard-cushions had been evicted from their wooden skeleton, and what remained clattered to the floor like a gutted animal.
In her short life, Dani had seen enough to know it was best to let a tantrum playout; especially when it came to violent ghosts she wasn't about to fight.
But she wasn't about to do nothing either - this was one of her hangouts.
"What are you doing!?" It hurt to scream, as her throat had burned earlier from alcohol - but it worked. Vlad reeled backwards, his knees buckling as if stung, hands pinned against his unfortunate ears.
"Stop it!" Dani screeched again a ghostly wail.
CRASH
Flamming-blue supersonic rings ripped the backwall of the living room apart, scattering splinters and glass in every direction. Dani had closed her mouth as soon as she noticed damage being done, but the wall had already shattered - what glass remained on the windows had already detonated outward.
Rrrrrrooooo-doooo~
The sides of the house groaned and Dani's ears whistled. She looked up stunned, expecting the ceiling overhead to snap and splinter...but eventually the house stopped crackling...
And the silence became suffocating.
Dust had fogged up the house like smoke and it was a moment before Dani could see again.
"Well, thanks for the help." Vlad said dryly, sarcasm apparent as he rose from a hole amongst the floorboards, covered in splinters.
Shards of glass had embedded against his forehead and blood trickled down his hair and chin.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Dani rushed to help him, but Vlad put a hand on her shoulder pushing her back and with his other began to tweeze glass out of his skin. His fingernails seamlessly morphed into claws, his hand resembled a severed crow's foot. The entire time he sternly stared Dani down and she wilted like a flower under that festering judgment.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean too!"
Vlad snorted, tilting his head in thought.
"Me too," eventually he said. "I should've told you what I was doing."
Dani stood with her arms crossed on the other side of the room, as she surveyed the damage - feeling a bit scared of Vlad and annoyed at herself that she lost her cool so easily.
She was afraid to speak, but she wasn't about to stand in silence either.
"And just what was that?" Dani said, with a hint of condensation - to get her courage back and answers from Vlad.
But he just looked at her nonplussed and said, "You're drunk, go to bed." There was a lot of glass still in his head.
"I've got things to do as you can plainly see."
And before she could get a word in edgewise he walked out of the house, past the door he had ripped apart earlier.
Against her better judgment Dani slid to the floor and closed her eyes. Vlad was right, she was really drunk and there was no choice but to sleep it off.
But...Vlad was getting away...
She couldn't just let him walk off, not after all that...
Could she?
"Are you coming back?" She yelled.
A lump grew in her chest as the seconds went on and she got no reply. Vlad was walking away and all she could do was lean back and accept it.
Vlad wasn't sure how to feel after picking shard after shard of glass from his skull and surrounding flesh, but "happy" was quickly knocked off his list of potential feelings.
He wouldn't be happy until he found his Danny.
And the two off-brand Dannys had served as the universe's most convoluted detours - if he bumped into a third weirdo Danny he promised himself he'd kill whoever it was, if only to save himself the headache.
Following the sidewalk he'd wanted to go down before ditching the little girl he turned corner into a shopping center and was immediately stopped by the alluring sign of a grocery store.
Damn.
He was so hungry.
But he was also so close.
To Danny, supposedly.
If that was " his Danny " he was smelling over yonder.
With a sigh and a shrug he compromised - if he found that this Danny wasn't the one he'd have the doppelganger for lunch.
Simple as.
Walking another block or so he came to Amity Park Mall, and it would've been a familiar sight if the parking lot hadn't been swallowed up into a giant hole.
The entire perimeter was covered in yellow police tape and GIW agents lingered on the outskirts - their white cargo vans humming with activity, no doubt surveying the area.
The whole place smelled like Danny, the stench of her panic unmistakable.
Suddenly the giant hole in the ground made sense - a butterfly could've landed on Danny and it would've warranted the same reaction.
Pfft, that women was scared of her own shadow.
He really didn't understand Danny sometimes.
Vlad ducked past the police tape for a closer look into the hole. He wanted to make sure Danny didn't pass out underneath the rubble or some such - she was known to do so.
"Hey, no civilians past this point!"
"Sir, step back behind the line!"
Two agents ran up to him shouting, their hands placed at their waists, guns ready to be drawn - but Vlad wasn't worried at all - he'd dealt with these types plenty before. He raised his arms to his sides, ready to throw the first punch.
"Get back, or we'll-"
Another agent shouted and as if a magic spell had been uttered the two rushing towards him stopped and gave him nervous glances behind their black sunglasses.
"Sorry about the overzealous rookies, Mayor Masters. I was informed you'd drop by today." Another agent pushed past the others and the location of the white cargo vans. By how the others scurried away from him, it was clear he was the one in charge. The white-clad man extended a hand, expecting Vlad to shake it. "I am Operative O, at your service. What can I do for you Mayor?" Vlad pointedly ignored the greeting, mustering up his venomous hatred for their pitiful organization. He looked forward to slaughtering their little enclave left here and he filed away the location for a later date, but for now, he needed information.
"What happened here?" Vlad asked calmly, pointing to the hole. He had already walked up and taken a look inside, but didn't sense Danny anywhere nearby - still, it put his mind at ease to doublecheck.
The agent quirked a brow, tapping his earpiece. "Didn't Operative K already fill you in?"
"Oh yes, of course." Vlad hoped he still remembered how to be charismatic. "But new facts have come to light and I'd like another run down if you'd be so kind."
Operative K looked him up and down, evaluating Vlad more closely. If the man had suspicions, he kept them to himself.
"Now that's an interesting fur vest you are wearing, Mayor Masters. It contrasts nicely with the black suit you wore earlier. Is there an event in town the boys and myself should know about?"
"Not that I know of, no."
Operative O nodded politely, internally grimacing at the Mayor's new appearance and smell. The super-wealthy were known to be eccentric characters and it was far from the strangest sight he'd ever seen under the GIW, but Mayor Masters never struck him as the type - until that very moment, of course.
Operative O wrinkled his nose, concluding it was wise to clear up the matter before he accidently offended the Mayor and got himself fired - the Mayor must've simply been testing out a new cologne and civilian fashion.
"So Operative O, tell me what happened here."
"Right, well, as with all ghost incidents, we are following standard protocol. Amity Mall is closed until further notice, and still no casualties have been reported."
"Do you know what ghost did this?"
"I was informed that information is confidential and the cameras have been seized -"
"Vladdie!" An orange blur came out of nowhere and assaulted them both, slamming hands painfully against their shoulders.
Vlad would've screamed...if Operative O hadn't first. "- by the Fentons!"
Jack Fenton had jumped into the conversation, much to the giant man's amusement. A silver miner's helmet was strapped to his head, rapidly flickering an obnoxious pink light, which was blinding.
"Turn that garbage off!" Vlad howled in pain, and Operative O was quick to neutralize the threat, pressing a button on the back of Jack's helmet and the light snapped off.
Vlad breathed a sigh of relief, holding a hand to his chest as he got his bearings - having been legitimately spooked by...this orange lunatic...
Vlad would've cursed his luck, but he was too busy rubbing his eyes raw - whatever pink light that was had really hurt him and his vision blurred with tears. The friction from his hands reopened the scabs on his forehead and suddenly his face was covered in blood.
Operative O and Jack Fenton understandably started freaking out. Operative O clicked his earpiece, sending out orders for a medic and Jack unwound the cap on a Fenton-brand canteen, splashing Vlad's face clean.
The water stung, but it was preferable to the burning in his eyes. It felt like he'd gotten grains of sand trapped beneath his eyelids, pain akin to a welder's flash burn.
The pain didn't last long however, GIW agents practically swarmed him as a medic pressed warm cotton balls against his cuts and burns. Everyone was in a panic about the so called "mayor," being attacked by an orange buffoon.
When his vision came to he could finally see who attacked him.
Jack. Fenton.
Just the name alone made Vlad's blood run cold.
This man.
Killed him.
Once.
Only once.
And he vowed never to let it happen again!
"Jack!" He hissed with inhuman fury. Every GIW agent in the room visibly tensed, but he didn't notice.
"Get him away from me!"
"So you're pressing charges for the assault I take it?" Interjected Operative O.
"Yes, all my yes!" Vladimir tasted smoke on his tongue - he couldn't breath, not with Jack, standing there!
"Get him away!" He repeated, even louder, with desperation and fear so very clear.
Jack's face had gone pale white and GIW agents had slapped his wrists into cuffs. Vlad watched as Jack's mouth moved, perhaps words to move him to reason - but Vlad was in no mood to listen.
Vlad's fear of Jack was his mercy.
If Jack had been any other person - if anyone else had hurt him.
They'd already be dead, most likely beheaded.
But not Jack.
Not yet.
Vlad watched as Jack was loaded agonizingly slowly into the back of a van, destined for the police station.
Only then did Vladimir felt safe enough to run away, down the street he'd first came.
Operative O could only shake his head in befuddlement as he took in Jack Fenton's arrest and Vladimir's dramatic retreat. He never expected Mayor Masters to be such a character, nor that athletic - he could outrun the best agents of the GIW anyday.
Operative O sighed as a fresh stack of paperwork was dropped in front of him. It wasn't exactly legal...the work he would be doing; but he would ensure Jack Fenton got put away for a longtime.
It was far from the worst thing he had done...to curry favor with a powerful man like Vladimir Masters.