Hello everyone! Hope the wait this time wasn't too bad! I will point out (if you haven't yet noticed) that this chapter also falls in the category of "way longer than I originally intended" but since that's apparently a trend now and there was no good place to split this you just get an extra long installment. I always loved 9k+ word chapters so this is actually kinda fun.

I will give a bit of a preface here that this chapter introduces one aspect of what is by far the biggest difference from canon in this verse, which is the DP character's backgrounds. I'm not saying they're not going to have the same characters or have completely new histories, but going off of the fundamental change that Danny stands out as a psychic rather than a superhero means that Vlad did the same, and his entire history went very differently due to that with some ripple effects. I'll give a play-by-play on the new backstory at the end of the chapter, but most of my world building there should be built into the story. I'm actually pretty pleased with how this installment came out in both that and in dialogue (two things I often worry about) so I hope this is a fun read for both verse and story. As always let me know your thoughts, and definitely speak up if you think the changes made Vlad or Danny feel mischaracterized. I hate when small change AUs are used as an excuse for OOC, and I'm definitely trying to keep everyone in canon characterization, so it's definitely important to hear if that's something I could do better.

I wanted to also take a moment to address some confusion I've seen about Danny's ghost powers. Again, I really want to have it ambivalent about how unnatural Danny is, both because it gives more room for all of the characters and the audience to play with (especially in relating to the Winchesters) but also because of the impact on Danny himself. In this verse Danny needs to work with and rely on other ghosts: that's the crux of how he and Bobby became friends, how he wound up traveling with Sam and Dean, and the nagging fear he's trying to avoid that all ghosts really are evil and he's slowly being corrupted by listening to them (which I hope to come more as both sides start to really consider each others' views). I'm not saying Danny will never fling around ectoblasts or wield the Fenton thermos or intangibly sneak in/out of locked rooms (because he's already done all three), just that Danny won't turn into Phantom and fly off to have a pun-off with a ghost behind the Winchesters' turned backs because that would go against a lot of what this verse has to offer. I love those superphantom fics, but that won't go in this collection.

If you still have some trouble envisioning exactly where Danny's at power-wise, a book I read last month that comes pretty close to my vision is Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book (it's inspired by The Jungle Book but instead is a supernatural fantasy about a boy raised in a graveyard. It's a really fun read). Both the episodic chapters and the focus on world-building rather than plot reminded me a lot of this fic. In it, the main character Bod is given Freedom of the Graveyard, and while there can Fade from humans, walk through locked gates, and haunt bullies, but whenever trouble comes he strategies and relies on the ghosts' stronger powers to help him. I'm not saying Danny has the same abilities as Bod (he may have more, may have less, may have whatever he has grow like in canon...) but it stuck out as a really good comparison if anyone's happened to have read it.

Sorry for the really long note and that there'll another reasonably sized-one at the end, but I hope whoever's bugged by long ANs realize that I see them more as an optional place to put my general thoughts on the fic and update schedule, and I'm not at all offended if you skip! Enjoy!

Danny always knew when he started travelling with the Winchesters that he'd likely wind up in jail sooner or later.

He should've figured that it'd turn out to be sooner.

Still, the teenager couldn't help but grumble at his stupidity as he paced the empty cell he was placed in. They had been staying in a run-down motel outside of drive-through city in Iowa when the Feds ambushed them their second night there. It had been a normal hunt chasing a vampire nest but it turns out that one of the local cops had transferred a few years back from a station in Colorado the Winchesters had once blown up running from murder charges. While the cop hadn't worked there at the time, he held enough of a grudge to remember the brothers' faces and recognize them anywhere, despite them having apparently faked their own deaths during the incident.

Danny couldn't help but collapse on the hard bed and rub his face in his hands over how messed up his life was.

He knew that the Winchesters must have their own side to that story, even with a headline as crazy as that the teen knew that it had to have been some unusual hunt gone wrong to cause so much property damage. Or at least he hoped that he wasn't wrong in guessing that the Winchesters were not actually crazy pyromaniac murderers behind the legitimate supernatural insanity they hunted on a regular basis. But just because he - the teenage psychic who's been trying (so far with little success) to convince the Winchesters to take a more pacifistic approach to hunting - didn't believe that the two serial murderers he lived with were bad people didn't mean that it was smart to be travelling with them.

Danny just blamed his terrible forward-thinking skills and lack of book-smarts that he hadn't even considered consequences to his choice of roommates beyond being killed in his sleep by vengeful ghosts, demons, other supernatural creatures, or the Winchesters themselves.

So now the teen was left to twiddle his thumbs in a separate cell (mandated by law because he was a juvenile, but given the sympathy and cooing of the receptionist at the station was also largely because everyone thought he was a Stockholm Syndrome inflicted victim of the Winchesters latest foray into committing every crime in the books) as the police tried to make out whether he was indeed an active participant in any potential felonies. Danny was pretty sure he also heard at least one cop tell him that they were trying to find ID and a way to contact his parents, but that it might take a while. All of the local cops eager to find if the no-longer-missing kid was local had their hands full in juggling the feds, trying to secure both the Winchesters and a minor they were unsure if needed security or to be secured, and locking down the facility just in case the felons try to pull something like Colorado again.

Danny had no clue how to respond to that. He knew his family and friends must be confused and scared by his sudden disappearance, and part of him regrets not telling them in the tunnel vision brought on by Sidney's murders and subsequent death, but he always figured he could wait until he was almost ready to go home before imagining an excuse that could make it plausibly sound like he just ran away. He never thought he would tell the parents the truth about where he went just like he could never tell them why, and now he wasn't sure what he was going to say when they saw him in a jail cell.

The agents didn't know how to talk to him either, and Danny was stunned silent by the indecision of whether to admit he ran away or pretend that Sam and Dean kidnapped him from Amity Park and dragged him all this way. He couldn't definitively say if Sam or Dean would mind. Leaning back in an attempt to make himself comfortable and accidentally banging his head against the concrete wall, Danny realized he also didn't know enough about criminology beyond cop shows to guess at whether anyone would believe him if he actively claimed to be a victim.

He couldn't see anyone in his cell block, and knew that the Winchesters were in the more comfortable interrogation rooms, mainly so that the multitude of local and federal agents running around could keep an even closer eye on them, and that left Danny the blessing that no one had the time to be pushy enough to keep trying to ask him questions after he immediately clammed up.

What the teen didn't know was how long he had been waiting, how long he would keep on waiting, and how many times over his mom and Jazz would kill him when they were finally called to get him out of this mess.

There was also the possibility of getting stuck in jail. But given that he was still legally a minor, and therefore offered some protections, (as the loud receptionist took care to inform him and everyone else when he was booked, promising as she worked that the records were just a precaution and wouldn't be made public unless charges were brought), not to mention the already-suspected Stockholm Syndrome defense, he wasn't too worried. It also helped that he had a friend who could rip open localized gateways to literally anywhere in the world and at least a dozen other acquaintances owing him favors who could simply phase him out of jail, so relatively Danny wasn't as concerned about the imprisonment part as a kid probably should be.

If anything he was more worried about becoming as much of a fugitive as the Winchesters. While he didn't mind living this kind of life for the sake of one of his best friends and the betterment of supernatural life on the North American continent, the Winchesters weren't really the type of people Danny would pick out at a Casper High career fair as role models of good living.

Danny really didn't want to sit here and think about how they were the only other people besides his parents who served as realistic examples of living with the knowledge that ghosts are real without shunning it out of everyday life.

(Un)Luckily his time alone musing was interrupted by one of the local police officers, Sheriff Blubs according to his nametag and badge, walking into the hall of holding cells. Being the only person currently in sight (it seemed all the other routine prisoners were cleared out or let go to make room and lock the place down for the Winchesters), Danny had to deal with the knowledge that whether for better or for worse this was for him.

"Your attorney showed up with someone to see you." The sheriff said bluntly as he unlocked the door to Danny's cell. Apparently he was still in the undecided camp about whether Danny was an accomplice to two of FBI's Most Wanted or a kid who went through unspeakable things. This left the sheriff not quite knowing how to address him, choosing to keep things as short as possible and watch him without making eye contact.

"My attorney?" Danny gaped as he was led down the hall by the sheriff. "But I didn't ask for an attorney."

Danny felt a roll of pressure on his shoulders that he associated with the arms leading him giving a shrug. "He's your attorney, kid. Called the station for your phone call saying he was on his way."

"I thought I was supposed to get to make the phone call?"

The sheriff let out a small sigh towards the federal agents milling in the hallway, clearly as uncomfortable with his station being taken over as Danny was with his legal situation. "You can have one later if you still need it. We're kind of busy and were dealing with a lot of administrative things regarding the recent arrests and trying to keep things quiet for security so when he called demanding your legal rights we had to take it. Gave us his credentials, some of your personal information to prove he knew you, an alibi for most of the Winchesters' known crimes to hold off your arrest, and agreed to allow for police presence until you've agreed that you do in fact know the man before leaving you in his company. Man was persistent, but not much we could do with you having no ID and him not cutting any corners." They stopped to have Sheriff Blubs unlock the door to a spare interrogation room and the man had a sudden look of self-scolding cross his face as it dawned on him that he had been speaking with potentially a dangerous criminal for almost the entire walk.

The first thing to hit Danny when the door opened was the familiar, almost-aristocratic voice continuing the conversation he had been having on the other side of the door as if that wasn't a blatant sign that the man was eavesdropping on the police officer. "Of course he didn't cut any corners. Only the best for my Little Badger."

Danny was immediately sorely tempted to book it in the other direction. Criminal record and being stuck running on the lam for the rest of his life be damned, the teen really didn't want to sit down across from the man sitting next to a fancy attorney in the makeshift interrogation room.

"Vlad."

The man simply made a polite smile. "Hello Daniel. I would ask whether or not things have been well with you, but seeing that I needed to take one of my private helicopters and best attorneys out of state to a small-town police station caught up in one of the largest federal murder investigations this decade in order to see you, we both know that they haven't." Vlad turned his head slightly towards Sheriff Blubs standing in the doorway and said, "Now as you can see Daniel and I are clearly well-acquainted, and I assure you that as soon as you have the ample manpower to find out whatever could possibly be behind this mysterious shutoffof the phone and cell systems here to call his parents they will further verify that I am indeed his godfather. Now, will you please excuse us? Young Daniel is a minor and has the right to privacy with his guardian and attorney."

Danny stood his ground by the entrance and blurted out, "You're not my guardian."

Seeing the sheriff's hesitation Vlad made eye contact with the teen and said, "Not permanently, no, but seeing that your parents are currently out of the country for a sudden Canadian ghost symposium and given the extreme severity of this situation I think you'll agree, as your attorney has very diligently lined out on overtime in this emergency, that you need to be represented fully as soon as possible in order to be safely removed from a harmful situation before any of the multitude of agents here start wrongly trying to accuse you of being more than a traumatized victim." A self-satisfied smile broke across Vlad's face as he included "Which of course involves granting your loving Godfather temporary guardianship so that we can take you home as soon as we're done with this little debacle here."

Danny glared at the man and was about to open his mouth for a sassy retort when Vlad suddenly broke eye contact with him to look at a man in a suit seated next to Vlad where a cop would normally be seated at the interrogation table. The suited man, who Danny mentally smacked himself upon piecing together must be 'his' attorney, cleared his throat and looked at Sheriff Blubs.

"Now, unless you would like to put this whole investigation in danger by denying Mr. Fenton and his guardian a privileged conversation with their attorney…?" The attorney tilted his head slightly as to remind the Sheriff of the weight of the investigation going underway just down the hall against the Winchesters, and Danny could practically feel Blubs' blood run cold through the hands on his shoulders at the implied threat of forcing two men on the FBI's Most Wanted list off on a technicality, and on the sheriff's head. Blubs quickly led Danny over to the chair across from 'his attorney' and Vlad and practically ran as he stumbled from the room.

A second after the door clicked shut Vlad leaned forward in his seat, a nearly gleeful smirk crossing his face as loomed far too close to Danny for comfort. Granted, a personal bubble for Danny from Vlad included anything within a five-mile radius.

"Ah, my dear Daniel. Despite the most… unpleasant circumstances behind this situation I must admit it soothes me to finally see you again. I have been quite worried since I heard you disappeared without a trace and it's pained me to see Maddie so heartbroken without being able to give her news on your location despite my most… thorough investigations."

Danny bristled at the all-too-familiarly creepy way Vlad always seemed to hone in on him and his mom and couldn't help but spit, "What do you want, Vlad?"

Vlad somehow managed to lean even closer without falling out of his chair, a thought that had Danny almost snorting at the mental image. "What I want…" the billionaire suddenly paused from where he was invading Danny's personal space to sit back up at full height in his chair and nod towards the attorney. The suited man's face gave nothing away as he pulled out the leather briefcase resting to the side of his chair and opened it to reveal expensive looking noise-canceling headphones, which the man put over his ears before diligently turning away from the table and its occupants, looking as if he was all too familiar with this level of privacy and deniability.

"What I want," Vlad continued, "is for you to give up this silly hero charade and come to my side as you were always meant to be."

"It's not a charade." Danny growled, barely keeping up with the rest of the infuriating lies Vlad was spitting as his anger burned like Rage within him. Just like old times.

That only made the billionaire lean back, a smirk gracing his features like a chess fan finally setting up the board against their favorite match, "Ah yes, of course, how silly of me. Any decent attempt at acting the hero would never land you in jail in league with America's most notorious serial killers."

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"And that's exactly what I mean Little Badger. You are throwing your life away running after impossibly idealistic goals and naïve personal judgements without realizing that there are more ambitious and meaningful ways you could be spending your life, not to mention your abilities. Even if you're still oh-so-determined to doing 'good.'

"Stubbornly clinging to a normal life and a largely infuriating family in Amity Park I can understand, but now I discover that you are chasing some of the most dangerous and immoral men while still spouting that do-goody nature and rejecting the opportunities I can provide you! If I was not quite as patient a man as I am I would be infuriated at how hypocritically you continue to defy me." No one but Danny was looking to see the man's unnaturally glowing red eyes in his fury, but then again Danny didn't know if anyone else but him could even detect the manifestation of ghostly sight in them as their owner nearly Raged.

Danny knew that Vlad had seen the complimentary color in his own gaze in earlier confrontations back in Amity and that while he was fully capable of going tete-a-tete with Vlad he never won, but although the look and threat should have inspired fear in the boy it only fueled more frustration at the entire situation.

"Oh, I'm the hypocrite? I'm the one actually going out there using my abilities to do some good in the world, saving living people and helping ghosts find peace while protecting my friends. You rather just steal money from a cozy office while ignoring all the haunts going on in Amity Park and all over the country! I'm the one who actually takes time to listen and understand the ghosts so I can help them rather than just tell them what to do and only think of how it can benefit me! So I'm not going to go be your evil apprentice locked up in some DALV office building so you can check another item off your creepy bucket list when I can be out in the world helping people. Even if that means I have to get my own way out of this."

Danny could see Vlad roll his eyes and felt the electric green finally materialize in his own. "Don't underestimate me and think I need your help here. You aren't the only one who's made alliances with ghosts, Vlad."

Vlad Masters paused, and his face swept from the expected look of surprise at the explosion to a smug Cheshire smirk. "Oh, my dear Daniel, you grow up to be more like your true family every day. That therapeutic instinct towards ghosts from your sister Jasmine, that all too kind and forgiving heart from lovely Maddie, all covering up that stone cold determination that dare I say reminds me of myself."

"Don't you dare…" Danny growled.

"Tsk tsk," Vlad sighed and swept out his arm in that condescending and snobby way that made Danny think that this fruit loop really needed a cat, "I just said that I do."

The billionaire paused and pushed himself back in his chair. "But despite these changes in the past couple of months you still seem to have maintained the same level of stubbornness and ignorance. There is nothing out there as black and white as good and evil. To continue to believe otherwise, given where you are now, is simply childish." Vlad sent a pointed look and a gesture to the wall on the right, where somewhere on the other side of the concrete one or both Winchester brothers were being interrogated for a slew of crimes and murders.

Danny had to pause and remember the situation, that this wasn't just yet another fight with Vlad dancing behind the ignorant eyes of his parents, to fully take in the signal. "You knew about the Winchesters…"

"Of course I do Little Badger. I am one of the most powerful businessmen in the country and I pride myself on my vast multitude of connections. I make it a point to know almost everything and have for quite some time."

"I thought you said you couldn't find me..."

Vlad tilted his head at the remembered detail, with what could be either mockery or pride. "I said I did not have your location. If I did I most certainly would have already come and picked you up from this terrible mistake before you nearly irreparably tarnished your reputation with a felony charge. I've had a vague idea of where you were and whispers of what you've been doing nearly this entire time."

Vlad's face froze as he paused to consider his words. "Also, I must admit, you have done a remarkable job in inspiring a surprising amount of loyalty in your allies. However, allowing yourself to be possessed or put in harm's way in order to do so is complete unacceptable, my dear boy. You are alive. Your ghost allies are not."

Danny pressed forward, "If you've heard about what happens out there then you have to have seen it, Vlad! How can you say it's… how can you say that some of the stuff that's out there doesn't classify as evil?"

Vlad let out a cold laugh, and Danny somehow felt like he'd been beat again at one of the games of chess the man often coerced Maddie into watching them play, saying it was a useful skill to learn and it would allow for Godson-Godfather bonding time. "Oh, but Daniel, I thought you were the one tagging along with the Winchesters to make them see the good in all of the supernatural things out there! You can't possibly be telling me that you were wrong about your entire reasoning behind this little foray and maybe the entire adventure too?" He stilled his mocking laughter and reached a hand out towards Danny, making the teenager want to shy away even more.

"There are some dark things out there Daniel, and some are at times even reason for us to be afraid. But even there I do not see good and evil. They are creatures, each with their own sets of morality, goals, and emotions to guide them. Sometimes those may even go so far as to be classifiable as corrupted" he let his eyes flash red with a controlled spike of Rage before dismissing it, "but attempting to shoehorn any of those categories into the subjective ideals of your personal morality like good and evil or even by human emotions like cruelty or sincerity is naïve.

"Any attempt I've seen to define an acceptable range to some or all of the above has only settled on a dividing line based around what is human. And we both know the consequences those divides have on the hapless ones stuck in the middle."

Vlad took that moment to stand and walk around Danny while he was still deep in thought, leaning over his shoulder. "There is no such thing as good and evil, my dear boy. And if there is possibly any evil out there lurking under beds like another supernatural legend, I assure you that we aren't it."

"I'm not-" Danny's voice caught as he tried to think his words over in his head. The teen didn't know why he always tried so hard to push back against Vlad, but he couldn't help but think of how different things would be if he could just convince the other man like him to see things his way, and what good he could be doing. "I'm not talking about it like that…"

Finally, the teen found what he needed to continue, and just let his words fall out. "I'm not saying that there are things that are evil just because they're inhuman, or even just because they're killing humans. I know that's not always the case, and I know it's better to try to listen and understand each situation as it occurs, mostly because I don't want to fall into that trap of classifying creatures you accuse me of.

"But while I may agree that there might not be such a thing as evil, can't you see that some of what we're doing is clearly good? We've saved people's lives, Vlad! And I've already managed a couple of times to help them do that without as many casualties, and knowing I can make a difference like that just…" Danny trailed off as he combed his hands through his hair, realizing first that he didn't know how to end the sentence before catching up with what he said and stealing a glance up at the man across from him. Great, now he went and got all emotional in front of his nemesis…

But Vlad didn't have that creepy checkmate face on, or even the mocking sneer before he ripped into him. If anything, the billionaire was leaning further away and taking in Danny with a look even the psychic couldn't place. Happiness… or maybe pride?

"Daniel…" The man sighed, before leaning in and pinching the bridge of his nose. "You have such a profound view of the world, and yet you still believe in fairytales."

"I don't-!" But Vlad cut Danny off with a wave of his hand.

"I know, you only believe in the good ones. That doesn't make any you less naïve at all." The dripping sarcasm was back, and the condescending sneer shortly followed with it.

"You want to be some knight in shining armor, my Little Badger, but let me provide you a small history lesson you must've slept through, or just missed because you dropped out of high school, if you've bothered to consider that. Those knights you envision pillaged as much as they protected. I'm sure in the end they killed far more than they saved.

"And while I know it must not seem as glamorous or appealing to a young boy like yourself, do not dismiss the work I have done and the impact it's made on the world," Vlad said. "Do you know how many lives DALV Medical's latest cancer vaccine has saved? 592. And that's just in the first round of clinical trials."

"Yeah," Danny rolled his eyes. "And how many families are going to go bankrupt paying for the latest Packer's shrine in your mansion after you stole that tech from some ghost, Vlad?"

Said Packer's-shrine-owning billionaire let out what anyone but Danny would have tactfully avoided calling a huff. "When are you going to realize, my dear boy, that I cannot just underwrite all of my savings from having half an R&D department made up of ghosts on the final product or monitored charitable donations without looking suspicious? You may not approve of my money or my methods, but when the dead come to me asking for retribution against spies, thieves and murderers who wanted to silence them and their ideas, or for a little more time to bring their magnus opus to light I do not refuse. Even if you disapprove of the quid pro quo I ask in return, I am merely enabling myself to better assist those who come to me in the future."

"It isn't helping people if you're just turning around and charging them for it." Danny muttered under his breath. Vlad didn't even need to hear the boy's words to know the argument: they really have done this too many times before.

Instead this time the billionaire simply raised an eyebrow. "Pot meet kettle. Unless you want to tell me that your first alternative when you tried to turn me down earlier wasn't going to be to call up Wulf or Singer for assistance."

Danny shot him a look close enough to a pout that Vlad forced himself to keep from teasing him further. There was no point in needlessly upsetting the child. "Which brings me to the fact that you haven't even bothered to hear me out, Little Badger."

"I don't want your charity, Vlad."

Vlad's grin got even more smug. "I thought we just agreed any help from me would come with appropriate quid pro quo?"

"Somehow I like the sound of that even less." Danny crossed his arms.

Vlad just shook his head and tsked. "It's bad business to brush off potential negotiations without at least hearing an offer, Daniel." He scolded in an almost sing-song tone, as if Danny was the young child Vlad sometimes let run around the mansion and he got caught stacking chairs to reach the cookie jar again.

"I think I've made it clear I don't want anything to do with you. I'm not really sure what part of that is up for 'potential negotiations.'" Vlad wanted to give the boy the evil eyes for making air quotations at the final part, but was able to hold himself back.

Still the man forced out a sigh. "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm never going to ask more of you than what is needed to better enable us to use our powers?"

"As many times as I have to remind you that there is never going to be an us!" The boy paused before smacking his forehead. "And that always comes out wrong!"

"You still remain the only human I have met who carries a fraction of the powers I have built my empire on. Trust me when I say I have investigated psychics and all other options and though I have my theories, there is no concrete connection I can use to mold another ideal protégé. Even if I were not your Godfather, that commonality alone would be enough for me to want to look after you and teach you all I know."

Danny hated when Vlad explained his thought process and acted so creepily human with him. Although his senses were more finely tuned to sensing and emulating emotions from ghosts, it was easy to fall in the pattern of mirroring whatever the other party felt. It was almost as dangerous a liability when Vlad broke up that anger and was almost kind as when a ghost exploded into a Rage right in front of him.

"That really doesn't do anything to change the fact that you're still a selfish creep and a fruit loop. And I don't need or want your help because I can handle things on my own."

Vlad's eyes narrowed. "Your ghost allies and the Winchesters must be bad influences. You were better behaved when you were younger. Much politer and less arrogant, and almost happy when Uncle Vlad came to visit if I must admit."

Danny's finally felt that anger return and his eyes flashed green at that jab.

"Very well," the billionaire sighed dramatically, "I can see when I'm not wanted anymore. Big boy Daniel here is going to get out of this one all on his own, without anyone else's help." Vlad stood from the desk and started slowly to make his way out, but from his avoidance of the attorney (still turned away from them in the corner with noise-cancelling headphones, likely oblivious to everything happening), Danny guessed that this was just another of the man's over-dramatic bluffs.

The teen rolled his eyes and waited for the other shoe to drop.

"I guess I'll just install my portable ghost shield around the station before I go. After all, the Winchesters are confirmed to be supernaturally inclined nutjobs and my Godson's already been too infected by their rhetoric to speak to me or let me help him, so I can't do anything more than this to keep him safe. Give him a bit of confidence that his family will still speak with him should he change his mind and make sure that no fearsome spooks or outside help phase or rip their way inside to kidnap him, or dare I say, help him escape." The billionaire was practically swooning his hand across his forehead as he leaned an arm of the table edge next to Danny.

Danny winced as he imagined that other shoe being a steel-toed boot dropped on his foot. Why in the world couldn't his obscenely rich visitor when he was stuck ever be Sam?

The teen knew he had no choice but to roll his eyes and let the man play his game. "What do you want Vlad?" Danny couldn't help but think that although round one was a tie, he never did well when a fight with the only other man like him dragged out.

Said abnormal fruit loop gave a smile a press conference paparazzi would be proud of and slipped back into the seat across from Danny. "The arrangement I propose is simple. I use my attorneys to talk your way out of here scot-free and in return you agree to accept your role as sole legal heir to my business in my will."

Danny bristled, "I'm not going to just agree to be your apprentice because of one favor-!"

Vlad stopped him with a raised hand. "Ah- I never said you'll have to take any of the responsibilities. I've learned that with you I need to take baby steps. All this deal guarantees is that when I pass you will agree to inherit my fortune. Whether you choose to run the businesses personally or leave it to a board of trustees is up to you. My will is sealed and will remain confidential until after my passing, which odds are will not be for several decades from now, especially with my extra protective detail and no need to worry about a jealous heir trying to murder me to inherit my fortune," Vlad made that remark with a smirk, "so there will be no other official business or media attention until then.

"As an added bonus I will drop you off wherever you request. Your family is quite worried about you and while I love Maddie too much to recommend anything but that you return home, if by some miracle the Winchesters manage to weasel their way out of this one and you choose to return to them I will not stop you."

Danny all but had to catch his jaw with his hand as his face slacked at the man's words. Then he leaned forward and his eyes narrowed. Vlad was always fishy but this was definitely way too good to be true. "What's in it for you?"

Vlad's posture gave nothing away at his godson's sudden scrutiny. "Besides the nearly impossible prize nowadays of getting it through your thick skull that you have been exceedingly stubborn in your refusal to trust me?" The billionaire simply raised an eyebrow. "I have learned over the years that in life it is better to strategize for the long-game, something I am afraid you are in no position to do right now."

Vlad leaned back in the stiff police station chair and acted as if he was making himself comfortable. "I have already made it clear to you before that given the nature of your abilities you are uniquely suited to inherit and continue my work in ways that no one else on Earth can compare to. So, no matter what you do with my companies after my death I am better off taking the risk of leaving it to you in case you decide to continue to grow them. Part of me is confident that faced with the actual situation and full knowledge of what's at your disposal you will choose to take the reins, even if you move my companies' policies in a less profitable and more charitable direction. I will be dead at the time and while I may choose to actively haunt you, that would again require you have access to my funds and alone would already give me more influence that I can get with any other candidates for replacement CEO."

The billionaire smiled a bit at the joke. "Besides, even if you are a so much of a goody-two-shoes that you run everything to bankruptcy in ten years, which I must admit would take no small effort, I have amassed away enough wealth that I would be satisfied with the progress you could make with my legacy as a philanthropist. Knowing you, I am sure it would be far more than human charities could do with the funds.

"As for the clause with the Winchesters," Vlad continued without time for Danny to interrupt. "I know you well enough and your… inexplicable attachments to those of their type to understand that it would be a deal-breaker if I refused. Furthermore, the more selfish part of me has to admit that travelling with them will increase the likelihood of similar situations to this reoccurring, and I hope I have made it clear to you that I gain enough from this bargain to be willing to negotiate trading the funds and influence it takes to keep you safe for more… future baby steps."

Danny took a minute to soak it all in. Then, he boiled it down in a way only a teenage boy could do. "So, you're basically just admitting that this whole thing is a slippery slope to me becoming your apprentice?"

"If you would prefer to just dive off the cliff and choose that path of life now I would be overjoyed, but yes." Vlad took in Danny's returning glare and barked out a laugh. "Don't act like it's such a villainous thing, my dear boy! All of life is a slippery slope towards some ultimate destination, that's simply a part of how growing up works. Take this for instance. You started off as an errand boy running small favors for spirits to help them move on, and now here you are charged of assisting two humans with over 200 grave desecrations and a dozen murders."

Vlad turned over to the briefcase he brought for the first time and pulled out a folder and opened it on the table. "Every decision we make in life sinks us deeper into our paths one way or another. Let me help you out when you're not sure how to swim."

He turned the papers inside towards Danny. Looking at the heading the teen could tell that this was meant to be his affidavit. So that's how Vlad was planning to write off his conversation with his 'attorney' taking this long…

Vlad held out a monogramed pen for him and met his gaze head on. If the man had ever begged before in his life, he was doing it now with his eyes. "Sign this and I assure you no one will be able to access anything that happened here or pin it on you. I have more than I need to make sure that this little incident will never catch up to you. And if you're still worried about the terms of my little offer, just remember, you're the one who all but said it sounded too good to be true."

He reached out with the pen towards Danny's hand and set it on top of his thumb and pointer fingers, being careful not to disturb the teen with any physical contact.

Seeing the boy's continued hesitation, the billionaire took a deep breath. "I have no reason to deceive you in business negotiations, Little Badger. It would only go against trying to get you to accept them and eventually learn to appreciate the mutual benefit of a contract. I am always willing to negotiate with you and to explain my motives, and who knows, maybe in a bit of time we can start with baby steps towards real quid pro quo and cunningly hidden clauses." Vlad said the last part like it was another favorite board game he'd like to one day play with his godson. Knowing Vlad, that probably was pretty close to the truth.

The pen settled and weighed down on Danny's hand and suddenly he felt more like the small kid being visited on his birthday by his nice but sometimes weird Uncle Vlad. The billionaire always had a tendency of spoiling him and Jazz with gifts that were way above their parents' means, and even if he was apologetic to Maddie saying it was simply hard to keep track of what a few hundred dollars meant these days Danny could always tell that the man tried to rub it in his father's face.

That didn't mean that the billionaire wouldn't sometimes stop by empty handed or just with a gift to Jazz's and later his college funds, trying to sit down with the pair to teach money management and financial responsibility. His mom always appreciated such a kind gesture from a successful businessman and would bake cookies that Vlad would treasure and use to jokingly demonstrate basic math and interest, and Danny would be lying to claim that those afternoons weren't happy childhood memories.

At least until he was old enough to realize the man before him was nothing but a liar who built his empire by cheating and had just been using him and his sister to get close to their mother. Until he found out about Danny's abilities and used the past to try to worm his way deeper into his life and favor too.

But for maybe the first time in who knows how long Danny had to admit that his mom wasn't directly involved, and that Vlad had a point that he could help him best. The cookies were replaced by a stack of papers that, while intimidating, had no mention of ghosts in them, and that made this perhaps the most normal conversation he had had with Vlad in years. The man was crazy, selfish, and an often insufferable fruit loop, but Danny wouldn't need to be seeing him again anytime soon, hopefully even ever, if he signed, and the teen had to admit that for some reason his eccentric godfather had always gotten a somewhat creepy level of satisfaction just out of helping him.

"Fine." Danny tried his best to spit as he twisted his fingers so the pen was held in his hand. "But this doesn't mean that I trust you, or that I'm going to make any future bargains with you."

"No need to worry about that, Little Badger," the man smiled, and Danny both appreciated and hated how Vlad spoke with only sincerity and not a hint of sarcasm. "That wasn't a term in our agreement, merely something I was hoping could come about some time down the road."

Danny tried to make sure his fingers didn't twitch out of sheer annoyance as he signed his name on the affidavit Vlad wrote.

Sam and Dean Winchester were making their way down a side highway from Iowa to Nebraska late the next night. They had to keep to what they hoped were nondescript roads in the dark with the headlights off, given that Castiel had just broken them out of jail not too far from here and they'd rather not be thrown right back in. Hopefully the black Impala would camouflage into the moonless night and help them sneak out of state, rather than convince a local cop to pull them over or worse, cause an accident.

Still, while the music was on uncharacteristically low so Dean could keep his senses alert for any potential pursuers and Sam was using a burner phone as a dim flashlight to try to map out a motel or friend's place they could possibly stay without tipping off the inevitable manhunt, the brothers were still on the road for hundreds of miles and therefore had time to think.

"So what do you think happened to Danny?" Sam was the one who voiced it first, much more confident in Dean's ability to hold a conversation while driving than his brother was that Sam wouldn't be bothered while navigating in low lighting.

Dean shrugged. Then, when he realized the cab was probably too dark for Sam to make out the gesture he just let out a grunt. "Beats me. I think we would've known if some demon or monster came after him, doubt it wouldn't just leave without attacking us or taunting us too, so I think odds are the kid's safe. We didn't really have the chance to waltz up and ask a cop if he got transferred or let go. Cas just said he was gone and the feds were much tighter lipped than usual talking to me, so nothing here. You got any clue?"

"No." Was Sam's only answer. After a few seconds and a slight movement of the map and flashlight the younger brother continued, "I just really hope Danny got out alright. It's our fault he's in this mess. He doesn't deserve it."

Dean chewed his lip, knowing Sam couldn't see it, and made sure to keep his gaze straight ahead in case Sam decided to turn and try to analyze his expression in the dark. "I'm not sure there's anything we can do about it. The kid's gone and we have no leads so best we can do is just keep moving and try to keep a lookout."

"You're not worried?" Dean could practically hear Sam's raised eyebrow.

Dean let out one of those grunt nods again. "I know the kid's probably in some trouble, whether with the law or his parents or something else, but we told Cas to keep an eye out and once we're clear we can call some other hunters who might be near Illinois or traveling frequently and ask if they can help us weed out his location. Not sure how much interest we'll get without letting stuff slip that I'm not sure the general hunter community should know…"

Both brothers didn't have to stretch their memories to recall Gordon Walker and his friends going after Sam. Although they didn't have any clear evidence that would cause that level of trouble for Danny, they didn't need to say anything to agree that the foundations of rumors still bothering them would be more trouble than it was worth for any of them. Some hunters still weren't loathe to trust the Winchesters after their involvement with more and more non-humans.

"Other than that there's not much else we can do until we have a clue where he is, so there's no sense in worrying about it." Dean started drumming his fingers along to the music, either as a worried tick or a cue to change the subject.

This time Dean could feel Sam's searching gaze and knew his brother had given up on analyzing the map in favor of puzzling over him. "And are you more worried about what trouble Danny's gotten into with the law or what someone could be doing with him if he wasn't transferred?"

Dean wasn't sure whether to growl or to sigh at the question. Somehow his vocal cords settled on a mix of both. "I don't fucking know, Sam! We have no clue where the kid's at so there's nothing we can do about it. Let's just leave it at that for now and focus on getting out of here. Got a place we can stay for after dawn or should I be looking for a wooded area to pull over?"

That luckily made Sam turn back to the map for a few minutes before he threw out a suggestion, and it was all too easy for Dean to critique it just to guarantee that his brother wouldn't later backtrack to the conversation on Danny. There were already enough thoughts and fears running through the elder Winchester's head since Cas's revelation that there were no human teenagers in the police station without Sammy adding more fuel to the fire. A couple of hours of mindless driving with no sounds but the classics on the radio and Dean knew he could sort his mind out, but with the feds, local, and state cops likely all after them he just couldn't get the mojo going that he'd need to reach any concrete conclusions on the issue.

Better to just ignore it until he had a good night sleep, a hearty non-prison food breakfast, and a chance to think. No matter how much of a mysterious potential wildcard Danny was, Dean was starting to think that he might not be an immediate threat, and unlike some other things the brothers had faced they could probably afford to spend the few days necessary to stew over this one.

When they finally pulled into a motel on few enough maps that Sam thought it might be safe to sleep at several hours later, both brothers were thoroughly exhausted. So much so, in fact, that Dean didn't realize he accidentally reverted to his newfound habit of asking the motel owner for a triple until the man remarked that they were in luck, triples were all they had left. The news the place was crowded made the Winchesters nervous enough to consider just roughing it until the owner told them it was their own private building on the edge of the property, and with the Impala hidden from street and main building view under an oak tree the brothers made their way into the latest room for the night.

There was already a figure inside.

All exhaustion was forgotten as the Winchesters jerked to alert to attention and cocked the guns ever-resting in their belts at the intruder. Without any hesitation the stranger put their hands in the air and made no effort to move, leading the Winchesters believe that hopefully this was a simple misunderstanding (unlikely given their luck). Still, as Sam moved towards the light switch he couldn't help but send Castiel a quick prayer to tell him what was happening, all the while hoping that maybe for once Fate got over her grudge and was actually on their side.

A flick of his finger against the light switch and suddenly both Sam and Dean Winchesters were bracing their eyes against the sudden brightness to take him the person waiting in their motel room.

Danny Fenton hadn't even bothered to try to adjust his eyes and had his head bent in the crook of one raised elbow.

"Danny?" Dean felt the need to question the obvious. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I got out this afternoon and one of my sources said this motel was the place you'd most likely be staying. There were only a handful of rooms left by the time I got here but this was the most secluded so I figured if I'd have any chance at catching up with you that this would be my best shot."

The teen squinted as he tried to turn his gaze on the brothers standing under the front lights. "Speaking of shots, do you mind putting those things away? I've been with you guys 24/7 for who knows how long, and then less than 48 hours apart and you pull a gun on me? I knew you two could be clingy but way to make a kid feel loved."

Dean looked at the gun and then at Danny, repeating the gesture a couple of times in confused exhaustion. "Christo?" The man said half-heartedly, then shrugged at Sam after the lack of a reaction from Danny and lowered his pistol.

Still, Sam was the first to take a step forward into the room after lowering his own gun. "How did you get out of there?"

Danny shrugged. "Had some help from a friend." He didn't miss the way both hunters stiffened.

Figuring they owed him for pulling weapons on him, the teen decided he could have some fun. He laid himself down on his chosen bed for the night (furthest from the door, he knew the Winchesters well enough to know that Dean always took the door and he'd get murdered before coming between the elder brother and a sleeping Sammy) and sent the hunters a lopsided grin.

"Would it make you feel better if I told you that my helper was both not dead and totally human?"

Danny made sure not to laugh out loud at the expressions he got in return, but Bobby was distant enough from the human plane to make no such exception, and the psychic smiled at the ghost and his own mirth in the little time it took for his exhausted body (glad to be reunited with people who strangely enough made him feel more rather than less safe) to finally fall into a deep sleep.

It wasn't hard in all of the chaos of the FBI-infested Iowa police station the next morning for a single middle age receptionist to slip outside unnoticed and pull out her cell phone for a personal call.

A haunting flash of black eyes, however, would've given it away to any human who wasn't too busy trying to track down the Winchesters to pay attention that their occupant wasn't exactly catching up with worried family members.

This demon could tell almost as soon as they arrived on scene an hour ago that there was little they could do besides search through the meatsuit's memories for reconnaissance and report back to the higher ups in Hell.

But even that simple goal felt much more intimidating when the King of Hell himself picked up the other end of the line.

"Ah, report?"

The demon stiffened in its borrowed meatbag. "Sir, there are no signs of the Winchesters. The humans have completely lost track of them and don't have a trace."

There was a dejected sigh on the other end of the line that made the lackey fear it'd be sentenced to another few centuries on the rack after its first assignment for being the bearer of bad news. Luckily, when Crowley responded it sounded as if he almost expected this.

"Figured they'd get featherbrains to give them a lift out. Anything else to report?"

The King seemed to be asking almost as a formality, so when demon thought back on the interesting factoid from the receptionist's memory he couldn't help but hesitate and wonder how many centuries it'd get per minute of Crowley's time wasted.

"Well?" Crowley's voice, while now expectant at the pause, certainly wasn't patient.

Maybe it was on the scale of centuries per second…

"There may be one thing of interest…" The demon almost squeaked. Really, it had only been upstairs for a couple of months, not even long enough to fully understand Hell's machinations on Earth beyond the fact that the Winchesters were apparently a common and unwelcome thorn in their side.

"Yes?" That word alone made the vessel quiver as the demon considered its chances of survival and cursed its lack of foresight.

It let out an audible gulp. "The Winchesters weren't alone. There was a teenage boy with them."

There was a moment of silence before Crowley let out the sound of pleased laughter from the other end of the line. "Oh, ho I was not expecting to hear that. Now this, this is some good news."

The demon was practically vibrating in its body. Maybe this was its chance to move up the food chain! "The vessel I'm in didn't have access to the boy's identification, but I'm sure with some further investigation I can find out-"

"No need." Crowley cut him off. "I am already all too aware of who the boy is. Though why even the idiotic Winchesters would choose to move such a valuable asset from the safety of somewhere we couldn't find him out into the open is completely beyond me, this is far too good a coincidence to simply pass up.

"Kill the meatsuit quietly and make your way back downstairs for now. We don't want to stir up a fuss or let good old Squirrel and Moose know we're on to them. Don't worry, you'll be well rewarded for bringing me such valuable information."

The demon topside almost burst its host right there from relief and exhilaration at the words, while deep in Hell its King thought almost nothing of the empty gesture.

No, Crowley was far too busy rearranging his plans and putting everything in place.

"Oh this is just too perfect." The King of Hell muttered. He never considered that there might be a mistake, or that had his scout been any less green to human nature he'd have remembered that Hell's one and only teenage target was named Kevin Tran, and a kid with such an Asian name probably looked nothing like white-as-death Danny Fenton.

But Crowley didn't even bother to think of that. After all, there was no reason for the Winchesters to be carting around a human teenager besides the oh-so-elusive prophet of the lord. Crowley would have to keep his spies on the most frustrating humans he knew and find the perfect time to pay them all a visit.

Again, this chapter was a long time coming and a lot of fun to write. I actually wrote the first third before I had more than 100 words finished of either part of last chapter, then had to make myself hold off while I finished the earlier arc. Sadly I don't have any of next chapter pre-written, but I have 3-4 fully-formed ideas and I know which one will come next, so hopefully it won't take too long. I'd like to wager it'll be shorter, but honestly just about everything I've written this year has been more than twice my predicted length, so all bets are off. I can guarantee it'll be rather fluffy, because these boys are due for a break (and to actually be in the same place as each other for a chapter).

Now a bit (actually nope I just finished this oh dear god it's a lot) more about connection!verse Vlad with no fear of spoilers! I spent a lot of time planning this chapter and imagining how Vlad would be different as more medium than halfa, so there are a lot of comparisons to the show. First off, Vlad's much more of a businessman even than in canon. Canon Vlad admitted he made most of his fortune by overshadowing people and forcing them to sign bad deals, but even with the immediate lack of memory him never getting caught is a bit of a catoon stretch. In this verse, most of Vlad's businesses are tech companies (hence why he's so interested in buying out Axiom Labs) and the obscene amounts of money he made was invested in the practically-ruling-the-world-already corporate villainy that made him a cool villain in the early show. Yeah, let's just make it clear this is set season 1 of DP so I don't even have to acknowledge season 3.

The more subtle onset of abilities also meant that Vlad never had ecto-acne. In this verse it's probable that some if not all of Danny and Vlad's abilities are caused to exposure to ghost portals, but whether or not there was a sudden accident or it was long-term like radiation is still in question. Vlad's role as the one in the project building most of it (beyond the diet soda incident) and Danny's younger development when the Fenton's finally had the resources to get serious made each of them most susceptible. Vlad's suspicions noted above actually mostly revolve around trying to induce a psychic ability in Jazz, because he believes part of her interest in empathy and psychology may be developing extra senses, and that's his best back up should Danny refuse. The man's still hoping for one sibling to eventually come willingly, however, so he's not going to bring it up in taunts or threats. Yet.

But although Vlad wasn't in the hospital for years, he did suddenly discover he could speak to dead people, and that social blow came at the crucial time that culminated in him losing Maddie. He hates Jack out of jealously, but doesn't have the same direct link that the man took years off of his life. This means that Vlad took his role of godfather to the Fenton kids a bit more seriously (even if he couldn't stand Jack, he'd come to major events to try to get Maddie so he could imagine him being her family instead and would often pop by unannounced if he spied that Jack was out of town). Therefore he knew Danny a bit as a child, and was able to pick up on the more subtle signs (until he sent a ghost spy to meet Danny and later confirm) that the boy was psychic. Then the fruit loop apprentice scheme we all know and love began.

In terms of the unfair advantage in gaining his fortune, Vlad used a combination of his own technical prowess and the unique ideas and perspectives he heard from ghosts (one of the more immediately resonant ones was a professor murdered at University of Wisconsin by a business client trying to steal the credit and patent for an almost finished invention that Vlad helped move on by finishing the design first and foiling the plot) to build an ingenious startup. And then a few more. And the media jokes that really no human being should possibly be that creative but he secretly has a team of dead people ranging from the scorned to the unfulfilled who just really want to help humanity and are used to the corporate way of doing things. He even has a couple hidden corporate labs run entirely by robots and ghosts. Basically Vlad is the Ghost Whisperer meets Elon Musk.

He wants Danny (or potentially a psychically induced Jazz. Or a clone. He's still ingenious and morally ambiguous) to take over because someone with his abilities can really know everything that's going on without shutting all of that down. Vlad still cuts corners and does hostile takeovers and charges insane (and sadly quite real-world) pharmaceutical prices and other things Danny considers evil, but rather than outright bask in villainy like the campier episodes of the show, Vlad just doesn't care about morals at all, and won't go out of his way to do bad or good. Because although physically trapping a kid and killing their father is a good way of getting an apprentice in a cartoon, the (I personally think more realistic) top-of-the-world businessman approach would be selling himself as a mentor who always has an offer Danny can't refuse waiting in the wings, and charging a small token of Danny's freedom each time. Basically, fitting in with the Supernatural aspect, Danny's got his own personal crossroads demon, but rather than ten years of life for one big boon, Vlad has the patience to give him small favors over the years for bits and pieces of Danny's soul, all the while insisting that the Winchesters be kept in the dark for the sake of their shared secrets (a truce similar to that from Bitter Reunions still stands since Danny first refused Vlad). This only adds to the mystery for Sam and Dean (especially if they ever find out that wtf this random teenager happens to be the sole heir to one of America's biggest fortunes? that isn't shady at all), but if Vlad gets his way enough to start pulling Danny away from the Winchesters then suddenly a whole lot of characters are gonna to get involved and be pissed it got this far.

I guess an accurate tl:dr for this super long chapter and mega long (it clocked in over 2000 words I'm SO sorry) author's notes would be that I have a lot of ideas I enjoy setting up in this sandbox and no idea how many of them I'll actually play with down the road. For the foreseeable future I still see this fic as a compilation of story arcs and building character development rather than a single consistent plot, and if I ever tie it together into a start to finish fic I'll let you know and probably publish it separately. I haven't concretely mapped out another scheduled appearance for Vlad, but I've more than opened the door for the character to step in and have quite the role in this series, which is a common way I write villains, and hopefully those potential surprises will be something people can look forward to!