Dannies, Death, and Dates

Chapter 20

"This is bad. This is really really bad!"

"That's all you've said for the past hour," Gage snapped. "I've got the picture. This is bad. What are we gonna do about it?"

Danny paced frantically around the warehouse. Dani wasn't at home. She wasn't at the school, the Nasty Burger, or anywhere above town. Gage was nervously strapping and unstrapping his gloves, eyes shifting around for any clues they might have missed.

"Okay, what enemies have you guys got?" Gage tried. 

"Dude, we've got a folder. You don't want me to start counting," Danny laughed, an edge of hysteria creeping into his voice.

"Skullker is always an option. He can be in and out in no time, lay traps."

Danny continued his circuit around the bloodstain.

"Technus is tricky. His techniques are different every time we see him."

He rounded the corner and began to drift through boxes.

"Ember carries grudges. She's still mad at Dani for-"

He fell silent, staring at the ground. Gage walked up next to him, curious. Danny's shoulders stiffened and his gloved hands were locked in fists. A frightening fire blazed in his green eyes as he stared at a single glowing feather resting on the floor.

............................................................................

"Truly remarkable my dear! I see I was right to test on a half ghost who was as resistant as you. You're a tough nut to crack if ever there was one," Vlad applauded. 

Dani hung limply in her bonds. Her skull throbbed with every beat of her heart, and her whole body ached from the tension and struggles. Light stabbed through her half open eyes, bringing fresh waves of agony through her head. 

"You... you can't do this," she gasped. "The Fentons will be here any minute."

Vlad laughed sympathetically. 

"Oh you poor dear. You thought they actually wanted to keep you around? The pale, half copy of their favorite son?"

Dani shook her aching head. 

"They love me," she hissed, gritting her teeth against the pain. 

"I can show you how much they love you. How much they care," Vlad said. Dani heard a small click, and then moving lights flashed through her eyelids. She opened her eyes. 

Screens of the Fenton household were dancing across the walls. Danny, Sam, and Tucker were kicked back on the sofa, playing video games. Mr. Fenton was chowing down a huge sausage log. Mrs. Fenton hummed away as she fused weapons together in the lab. 

"It's been days Danielle," Vlad informed her. "Days without you. And yet their lives go on. Don't you wonder why?"

"You're a liar," Dani spat, an awful sick feeling brewing in her stomach. 

"It's because they took you out of charity. You were only there to substitute for their own daughter leaving."

Dani's eyes filled with unwilling tears as she saw her family going on with their lives. Without her.

"It seems that they found you to be a poor substitute," Vlad concluded, tucking his arms neatly behind his back and leaving Dani alone with the images of her happy family.