The white pawn was moved across the board and placed down on the black square. Jack eyed the board suspiciously as Vlad finished his move. Being in Amity Park taking care of business, Vlad had called up Jack and had arranged this little meeting to take place at Jack's. Danny and Jazz were at school, and Maddie was out shopping. Jack nervously moved his queen back.
"Been a long time, hasn't it Vladdie?" Jack commented.
"Indeed," Vlad took the last of Jack's knights, "Why, we haven't seen each other since the college reunion went awry!"
"Speaking of which, you're not still upset over that, are you?"
"What? Me? Of course not! I've learned to forgive over the years, Jack," he smiled, but the smile had a hint of wickedness in it.
"That's good to here! Check," Vlad looked down on the board. Sure enough...
"How is young Daniel doing?" Vlad asked, changing the subject.
"Fine," Jack watched as Vlad moved safetly out of range from his bishop, "The second big dance of the school year's coming up. This has provided a way for Jasmine and me to finally interact!"
"Oh?"
"Yep! Fifteen dollars from her says he'll ask his friend Samantha to the dance!" Vlad looked over at the TV, which they had left on.
"Well, well, well," he smirked, "I see that Paranormalics has delivered another blow to The Order," Jack frowned. After the Amity incident, the ghosts that had been taken prisoner had been interrogated and told everything about The Order. The activities of Paranormalics against the ghost terrorists had been making up the bulk of the anti-ghost news, which had gotten quite a bit of publicity lately.
"Those fools don't know the first thing about ghost-hunting!" Jack mumbled to himself.
"It makes you wonder."
"Wonder what?" Vlad turned back to Jack with a strange look on his face.
"Oh, I forgot you're a family man!" he laughed nervously, "Maybe we should just forget about it."
"No, really, what're you thinking?"
"Well," Vlad sighed, "Suppose...suppose someone in your family was a ghost, Danny for instance," Jack just stared at Vlad for a moment before breaking out into hysterical laughter.
"If there was a ghost in this household, I'd know about it!"
"Yes, but say that he was a ghost. Now your profession is hunting ghosts, and judging by the superstitious views of many," he nodded over to the TV, "I can't see him fitting in that well if anyone found out. If you found out, wouldn't you be afraid?"
"Afraid of what?"
"That they would come for him," Vlad moved his queen into position, Jack's eyes fixed to his, "Take him away forever. And you need to ask yourself; when that time came, which would you carry out? Your parental duties, or your profession?"
"Yes..." Jack looked over at the TV, "Good question."
"Checkmate," Vlad declared. Jack didn't even look down at the board.
"Y'know, Vladdie, I think I'm gonna pick the kids up from school today. Sorry to cut our get-together short, but..."
"Oh, that's quite alright! I just remembered that I have an important matter to attend to in business. It's within walking distance, so no need to offer me a lift. Until another time, old friend," they shook hands, and Jack hurried off to the Fenton Van, driving towards Casper High. Watching him leave, Vlad got an evil grin.
---
The school had been lavishly decorated for the upcoming dance, a large banner hanging across the front of the building (and covering the still empty hole where the Ghost Catcher once was). Tucker was holding the door open, asking every girl in his grade to the dance as they came out. All rejected him. Danny said goodbye to Tucker and Sam before running over to the van with Jazz.
"Hey Dad," he said, "Why are you picking us up?"
"Oh, just...y'know, a drive around with my kids," he smiled nervously. Danny and Jazz climbed in the car, "Hey Danny?"
"Yeah Dad?"
"If you were a ghost, you'd tell me, right?"
"Dad!" Jazz shouted.
"Would you?" he asked again, ignoring his daughter.
"Sure, Dad..." Danny smiled weakly.
"Are you a ghost?"
"Of course not!"
"That's my boy," they drove off, Danny now the one nervous.
(He's a Phantom)
(Danny Phantom)
Yo, Danny Fenton, he was just fourteen
When his parents built a very strange machine
It was designed to view a world unseen
(He's gonna catch 'em all cuz he's Danny Phantom)
When it didn't quite work
His folks, they just quit
But then Danny took a look inside of it
There was a great big flash
Everything just changed
His molecules got all rearranged!
(Phantom, Phantom)
When he first woke up It was then that he knew what he had to do (He's gonna catch 'em all cuz he's Danny Phantom)
He realized
He had snow white hair
And glowing green eyes
He could walk through walls,
Disappear, and fly!
He was much more unique than the other guy!
He had to stop all the ghosts
That were coming through
He's here to fight
For me and YOU!
(He's gonna catch 'em all cuz he's Danny Phantom)
Gonna catch them all cuz he's Danny Phantom
OUT OF TIME
The ghost-sentry fell back, a three-pronged device in his neck. Behind the door that he had been standing guard at, several ghosts were crouched in trenches and on their knees behind ectoplasmic shields, all armed both with human and paranormal weapons. The room they were in was mainly just a large cave with the stalactites and stalagmites having been taken down, the walls and floor shaped and refined. Small green lights were all that allowed anyone to see anything. Another door lay at the end of the cave. Behind that door, Velkan's advisors were hurriedly packing up all important files and equipment, planning to move out through secret exits against Velkan's orders to hold their ground. The situation was desperate. The second base of The Order had finally been found.
"Hold your ground, men," the commander of the unit in the cave called out, "The advisors should be bringing in the equipment in any minute now," not even they knew of the advisors' cowardice, which had been growing since Vlad's betrayal (something still unknown to The Order). All the ghosts readied their arms as the creaking of the door signalled its opening. The first shot was fired. A Paranormalics soldier lay on the ground, wounded in the shoulder, as the rest of his unit charged in, the battle to determine the fate of The Order beginning. Though caught by surprise from the opening shot, the soldiers outnumbered The Order 3 to 1. As the sounds of combat grew worse, the advisors went into panic. Grabbing what they could, they headed to the secret exits and moved out as fast as they could...to be greeted by ectoplasmic lasers and ghost-traps. The captured ghosts of The Order had left nothing a secret. After the office room where the advisors had once been in, the main network of the base was revealed, one long hallway going into two hallways going opposite each other in direction. Down the right hallway, there was a room, a large half-circle. It was to be the home of a machine, the most complex and dangerous one that The Order had ever attempted to build. Even though it was only half finished, it was visually clear that this was one strange, complicated device. Velkan shoved two metal tubes into place in the centre of the room. Through the holes in the wall that let the cables run out to the generators, he could hear the sounds of combat. Setting a wrench down, he ran off to the office room.
"Men?" he looked around; the place had been stripped bare, with no sign of his advisors. It hit him.
"Cowards," he muttered. He turned to the door, where the shouting could be heard through the walls.
"Sir!" someone shouted to the ghost commander, "We can't hold here much longer!" he knew that.
"You in the front lines!" he shouted, "Hold firm! The rest of you, pull back to the office room!" those ghosts set to retreat flew towards the back of the cave, phasing through the walls. The commander saluted Velkan.
"What is our situation?" the head of The Order asked with concern.
"They won't hold for long, sir," the commander was out of breath, "We were never reinforced."
"My advisors have deserted us," Velkan said with a hint of malevolence, "This truly is our last stand. Those men captured were too low in The Order to know about The Endgame, and we can't risk them finding it. You and your men retreat back to the main hallway and hold there while I destroy The Endgame," the ghosts moved out. In the cave, the front line had broken, the ghosts retreating off to the sides as Paranormalics agents swarmed into the base. Behind them was their leader, Ken Bruce.
---
The room holding The Endgame was too large to destroy by ghost powers and Velkan's advisors had taken all the powerful explosives with them. All that was left was some old-fashioned dynamite; it would have to do. Velkan was hurriedly placing it around key areas of the machine when a voice called out.
"Velkan, is it?"
"How does the source of this voice know me?" he replied.
"Your men can be very talkative when persuaded."
"So if it isn't Ken Bruce," Velkan had yet to discover where the Paranormalics chief was hiding, "What brings you to our lair?"
"Your curious activities in Amity Park," the voice replied, "And now I'm interested in this machine."
"I'm afraid your curiosity will not be satisfied," Velkan prepared to light the fuse, when he heard a sound behind him. He whirled around; the last thing he saw was an ectoplasmic laser aimed right between his eyes. After knocking Velkan out, sealing him in a small, three-pronged device, and destroying that device, Bruce picked up the files left by the toolbox. They held the information and blueprints on the device Velkan had been working on...The Endgame, it was called. He looked up at the half-built machine itself, smiling to himself.
"What an excellent idea," he said to himself before heading back to the main hallway. His men were setting charges, preparing to destroy the base.
"Remove those charges at once!" Bruce barked.
"Sir..."
"Don't question my orders, sergeant! We're converting this into headquarters for a new operation! I want the best men brought here, I want our top mechanic here, and I want these plans," he held up the file, "examined by him at once! Are the ghosts who escaped through the secret tunnels still in existence?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Interrogate them! I want all the files they had with them left on my desk first thing tomorrow!"
"Yes, sir!" the sergeant and his men began detaching the charges from the walls, Bruce marching back out to the exit.