When You're a Mystery Kid

Obsidian

Disclaimer: I only own the story and my OCs.

Danny was bored, and boy does he feel like a douche for admitting that.

Yes, it's great and all that Amity Park was safe and sound from any supernatural threats, ghostly or otherwise, and had been so for the past week. In fact, he's glad that folks could go on their daily business without fearing for their lives for once. But, also, it's been a whole week since anything happened. Nights spent on patrol really dragged on when all he had to entertain himself with was his thoughts and the occasional petty thievery, and that's if he's lucky. Even that he could wrap up in about ten seconds, tops.

So, when he heard a police transmission of four cloaked individuals racing through the city on 'demonic horses', Danny practically jumped with joy.

He wasted no time to fly straight towards where they were last spotted. What he found there, floating above the rooftops, were a ruined stretch of road, a few dented cars that had swerved onto the sidewalk, and a smattering of civilians, rattled and mumbling to themselves, but no sign of any cloaked individuals riding demonic horses.

Frowning, Danny raised a finger to his earpiece and rang his friends.

"Tuck, I'm at Stoker Street and I'm not seeing anything. Gimme an update."

"Uh, yeah, about that," Tucker started, his voice doing that high-pitched whine that he does when he's nervous, "you might not wanna jump into this headfirst, dude."

"Oh, come on! I've been hanging dry for, like, a week!" Danny moaned. "I am horny for some real action."

"Danny, say that again, and I will turn you into a full ghost," came Sam's indignant response. Danny barely held back a giggle. "And... we're serious. These... four horsemen are real bad news."

Sam sounded serious. So serious, it might even count as grim. Maybe it's time to switch gears. "How so?"

"We just got a call from the Mystery Kids. Apparently they know these guys," she explained. "They're a group of vampires calling themselves the Crimson Conclave. They're ancient, powerful, and don't take kindly to anyone getting in their way."

"Vampires, huh? That's new." The two long years he spent fighting the supernatural tended to blend together in his head, but he's pretty sure he'd never fought vampires before. The Disasteroid really did open the floodgates for all kinds of weird shit. "How'd the Mystery Kids know about them?"

"I dunno. They hung up before we could ask any follow up questions." Sam huffed. Danny could practically see the scowl on her face. "They warned us to use extreme caution dealing with them. If we choose to deal with them at all."

Danny couldn't help but frown at Sam's choice of words. If? Not dealing with the vampires was not an option.

"Then I'll be extremely cautious. Promise," he said, laying it down as gently as he could.

"Daniel Fenton, you are not going after those vampires alone!"

Ah, great. Jazz's sharp, know-it-all voice was exactly what Danny needed tonight. He blew a mix of a groan and a sigh.

"Jazz, come on, have a little faith in me. Been at this for two years." He understood where she's coming from, but still, come on. Plus, she's been aware of what he's doing for at least one of those years. "Whatever these vamps can dish out, I've been through worse."

"No, Danny, you don't understand. You weren't here when Raz made that call. He sounded like he's freaking out." There was a pregnant pause, during which Danny almost felt bad for her. "I still have some doubts about the Mystery Kids, but if this really is the 'bigger threats' they talked about, then I won't let you face them on your own just because you're feeling restless!" Her tone changed from demanding to pleading. "At the very least, wait for Danielle and Valerie."