Yeah, yeah, haven't updated in forever. Explanation below. (BTW, formatting might be weird, I feel too lazy to go back and see how I've been formatting this story...

Chapter 3: The Human Shield

Danielle floated invisibly on her back, listening to Danny and his friends talk.

"What if I want to be like a father figure to her?"

Dani's eyes widened and she almost fell to the floor. He... Wants to be my... Dad? But... He... I... But... She couldn't believe it. She had spent the past two years flying around, trying to find someone to relate to, someone to care for her, and he was right here! Dani was so immersed in her bewilderment she almost didn't hear another important statement from Jazz.

"The GIW would have said something if DNA results showed you were both parents, and they didn't, which means Vlad didn't clone you to create Danielle. He tried something else, and that required samples from someone else."

"You mean..." Tucker said slowly. "Danny had a kid with someone and didn't even know?"

Oh my... So I have a mother... But who? Who would Vlad have taken from? Her eye brows furrowed invisibly as she tried to puzzle it out, but she just couldn't. Maybe Vlad... No. He would never tell her. That left only one choice then. She was going to break into Vlad's lab.

She wasn't anywhere. Not the park, school, or Sam's, not even FentonWorks! Danny had searched everywhere, not stopping even to kick Johnny 13 back into the Ghost Zone.

His Fenton Fones fizzled in his ear and Danny slowed to a stop to make sure the wind from his flight wouldn't interfere with the message.

"Danny, I know you're worried about Dani, but you need to head over here," Sam's voice said. "Something's going on at Vlad's - he's going crazy, his blasts are going everywhere."

"Why should I care?" Danny asked. "He can take care of himself; he's a big, grown up fruitloop!"

"Danny! Get over here right now!"

"Fine! Fine! I'm coming! Calm down!"

Danny turned in the air slowly and reluctantly, before flying towards Vlad's mansion. Sure enough, within minutes he could see a large cloud of smoke above the building, hear loud crashes and sirens, and eventually he could see fire trucks and the Fenton Family Assult Vehicle as well as their passengers hovering outside of the building where a large ectoplasmic shield had been erected. Following a hunch, Danny reached a hand out towards the red shield... and felt it go right through. Flying around behind the building, Danny landed next to his two friends and changed back into his human persona.

"Hey guys," he said shortly before turning and placing his hand on the shield again. "Ouch!" he exclaimed, reeling back unlike earlier.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I could have told you that. Already tried, it must repel both ghosts and humans."

"No," Danny replied. "Because I can do this!" Again changing into his ghost half, he flew straight into the shield, passing through easily. As soon and he was in, Danny headed straight for the basement of the mansion, where Vlad's lab was. There he was, but he wasn't fighting anymore; now he had the ghost that had troubled him tied down on a table. That ghost? Dani.

Danny gasped. Ignoring Vlad, he said, "Dani? What are you doing here?! You should be at Sam's!"

Vlad grinned his evil grin and pressed a button. As Danielle opened her mouth to spout out some excuse, a glowing band wrapped itself around her mouth, effectively gagging the young girl.

"Now that we don't have to listen to that insolent girl's meaningless yapping, why don't we talk, my little badger?"

"What are you doing with her?" Danny asked calmly, floating with his arms crossed, but the fact that he kept giving worried glances to the tied up ghost girl showed it was just a façade.

"Oh, nothing," the fruitloop said, nonchalantly waving his hand. "I was simply trying to get her to tell me what she was doing in my lab today. You didn't really expect me to have spent the time to go out and retrieve her, did you?" Danny was silent. "Well then! My dear badger, did you really think that the news wouldn't teach me? The Ghost Zone has been buzzing with gossip about the Phantoms. And as you know, I have many associates in the Ghost Zone."

Danny sighed. "What's your point, Vlad?"

"I'm not exactly pleased, dear boy. You see, she is my creation."

"And you used my DNA! That makes her my daughter!"

Vlad grinned. "Ah, yes. The DNA. Jasmine figured it out, didn't she? Smart girl, that one. And to think, you and your little friends were so cliché as to think I would take from a British TV show. So have you figured out who the mommy is?"

Danny opened his mouth to retort but shook his head. "Just let her go, Vlad!"

"Why should-" a green blast of ectoplasm shoved him backwards into his control panel. Dani's gag retracted.

"Danny! I saw his plans! He-" Vlad snarled and slammed down on the gag button again.

"So you want a fight, little hero? Why can't we ever have a civilized conversation?"

"Maybe because you only pretend to be civilized and I really don't care about it!" He shot another ectoblast, but this time Vlad was ready, stopping it with a pink shield.

Danny began constantly shooting at the other ghost, maneuvering around him in a slow circle. Keep him distracted. Keep the shield up. "So Plasmius, I've always wondered. Why pink? Is it because you're a girl at heart? Or core, or whatever we have."

Vlad snarled and shoved the shield forward a bit, causing one of Danny's blasts to rebound and hit him in the chest. He flew backwards, slamming into an already unstable wall. Vlad's shield flickered out of exsistence and said villain began to grow a pink ball of energy in his hand.

So much for that plan.

"I see your stay with the Guys in White weakened you, Daniel. Normally you can stay standing for a whole twelve seconds!" He released the blast, but his eyes widened when Danny just disappeared in a puff of green. He whipped around to see the real Danny had released Dani.

"Actually, no, it didn't. They had me in full time training for days. I even learned how to duplicate!" Danny grinned at the astonished look on his enemy's face. "See ya!" He grabbed Dani's wrist and flew both of them away before Vlad could regain his senses. When he did, he slammed his fist down on a nearby table, breaking a couple beakers.

Short, simple, to the point. Hey, look, Ani-DP-TT-PJ-H-Ben10 Fan! I got it posted this weekend! For me, at least. It's 11:20 pm, Sunday night... Yeah, so, I'm losing faith in my two stories. I mean, last time I checked, there were only fourty people who even visited this story and about the same for my Nerissa story. That one, I'm still going strong, but have stopped updating, for reasons I will explain in my next update of that, hopefully tomorrow. It's this story that I'm worried about the most. Ani-DP-TT-PJ-H-Ben10 Fan was awesome and my first review in literally months. Yep. So, I love you! If you want updates, show that you like this story, cause I'm doubting it. Let's say five reviews on this old thing in the next week or two and I will continue this story. And the reviews have to be from different people!