Chapter Text
Danny was not accustomed to seeing genuine worry on Vlad's face. It was disconcerting in the same way seeing his own ghost form for the first time had been: unbelievable right up until it was undeniable, try as he might. And Danny did try denial, at least when it came to Vlad.
"You didn't kick start the next apocalypse, did you?" Danny demanded as soon as Vlad opened the door. His hand tightened on the strap of his backpack as his eyes darted past Vlad and into the darken, overly pretentious mansion behind him.
He had gotten Vlad's text- how did he even get Danny's number?- before his last period had started. Danny would have blown him off but school wasn't exactly a fun place to be. He had almost forgotten what it was like to be public enemy number one. He hadn't missed it, even if being incognito again had lifted a weight of his chest that had been smothering him for months.
And, if Danny was being honest, he hadn't been able to ignore Vlad's request to stop by. When a guy helps you save the world from an evil doppelganger and vows to make amends, you gotta hear him out when he asks for help. It was the right thing to do. Probably. Danny was still coming to terms with it.
"Something far worse, I'm afraid," Vlad said, closing the door behind Danny. "There have been some complications with the other Daniel's vessel."
"Dan. His name is Dan," Danny said, fighting down a shiver. Danny didn't regret the decision to spare Dan, but that didn't make him the guy's biggest fan either. It wasn't that Danny didn't understand him- it was because Danny had no choice but to. How could he not empathize with Dan, a man he could have-would have- become? Dan was everything Danny didn't want to be, a constant reminder of what not to do, of who not to be. Dan was an unfamiliar mirror image and Danny had quite enough of those to last a lifetime.
(And maybe, some small part of Danny whispered, if they could set Dan back on the right path, then Danny would be able to shake the terror that deep down he was nothing more than a monster destined to destroy everything around him.)
"Dan then," Vlad agreed as if it pained him to address someone so informally. Potential apocalypse or no, Vlad had to be a pompous asshole.
"What complications are we talking about?" Danny asked.
"Come. I'll show you," Vlad bid and didn't wait for Danny to follow.
"Ominous, much?" Danny muttered, but trailed after Vlad. "Seriously, you might as well go ahead and tell me. You've never been one for "breaking the news gently"."
"No, I have not," Vlad agreed, his stride not faltering, even as his hands clenched behind his back. "Very well, Daniel. The clones that Dan has been using as vessels are failing out faster than I can produce them."
Failing. "You mean melting," Danny said, swallowing down the bile trying to rise in his throat. He knew, deep in his core, that Vlad's clones were little more than empty vessels made of ectoplasm. They didn't resonate with the same sentience that regular ghosts and humans did. They had all been puppets following Vlad's will. All of them except for Danielle.
Danny pushed away the memory of a melting girl. Danielle was fine. She had pulled herself back together and she was fine. It wasn't like Danny had nightmares about watching his cousin dissolve. Vlad had done plenty of worse, more nightmare worthy things than to push an already dying girl over the edge.
God, how could Vlad Masters e ver make amends for the things he had done? Why was Danny even letting him try? Danny should lock him in a thermos and toss it into the far, far past via time portal in the Ghost Zone. He'd be doing everyone a favor. Certainly Danielle would thank him for it.
He wouldn't though. At least not yet. He had given Dan a second chance. Vlad would have his chance as well. But Danny was watching him and he was prepared to do what he had to. He had already picked a special thermos just for Vlad. It was covered in cartoon stickers of vampires.
Vlad grimaced. "If that's how you want to phrase it, yes. Dan has melted thirteen clones in the span of two weeks. I am running out of clones and he is running out of options."
"And what exactly do you need me for?" Danny asked, stopping in the hallway. He knew where Vlad was leading him, knew what was waiting on the other side.
Danny shifted where he stood, body tensing all over as Vlad turned to him. Vlad glanced over him, face placid as he took in the fighting stance Danny had fallen into. At his back, the stairs down into the secret lab lay open.
"You already know what I'm asking." Vlad said, voice just as placid as his face.
"Do I? You know what a bad student I am," Danny goaded, gaze lingering in the purple hued shadows. Danny didn't have much- any- good experiences with laboratories, let alone Vlad's.
"Daniel, please," Vlad sighed, face cracking to show the stress Danny had glimpsed at the door. "We really do not have time for one of our games today."
"You're the one that is dodging the question."
Vlad closed his eyes for just a moment to regain composure before he said, "I am asking for a sample of your DNA mid-morph."
Yeah, that's what Danny thought he was going to say. "And if I say no? What are you going to do, Vlad?"
Vlad clenched his teeth, sucked in a breath- and then looked away. "I will attempt to find another way, but I cannot guarantee I will find one. There is a high likelihood that Dan will cease to exist."
Danny stared at him, eyes gleaming just a shade of green. His body thrummed with the urge to change, his palms itching to fight. Don't trust him, past experience urged, but Danny remained still.
"If I give it to you, you will stabilize Dan and that's it. No more clones, Vlad. Ever."
A complicated emotion played out across Vlad's face before he slowly nodded. "No more clones," he agreed, the words dragged from him by force. "You have my word, Daniel."
"All your cloning research too, I want it gone. I want to see you get rid of it. I'm not dumb enough to just take your word for it."
"I am a man of my word," Vlad protested, with all the sincerity of a snake promising to spit out a mouse swallowed mouse. "But fine, you can watch as my life's work goes up in smoke."
Life's work, pfft. Vlad couldn't have been working on it for more than a month or two before he managed something close to success. Which was terrifying in a whole different way. Danny often forgot that under the evil egomaniac billionaire schtick Vlad was a scarily capable scientist.
"Is there any other demands, Little Badger? My entire business empire in shambles, perhaps? My house on fire?"
It was tempting to push as far as Vlad was willing to let him, but- "You have to stabilize Danielle as well. The Ecto-Dejector might have done it, but I want to be sure."
There was that look again, but Vlad's answer came swiftly this time. "Yes, of course. If I am stabilizing Dan, I should do the same for Danielle. It is only fair."
Danny narrowed his eyes. "That's it? I say do it and you agree because it's fair? "
"We both know it's not a matter of fairness," Vlad snapped, all that waspish rage peaking through.
"What? Think you can buy her love by fixing the problem you created for her then? Newsflash, Vlad, she hates your guts."
Vlad's eyes bled red as he fought to contain his temper and Plasmius. No one could get under his skin like Danny could and Danny, for all that his self preservation instincts insisted he should stop poking the poltergeist, couldn't help but do just that.
"She is never going to forgive you, no matter what lengths you go through to ‘make amends.’ You're just going to have to accept that and learn to live with it."
Are you still going to do the right thing, even when there's nothing in it for you?
"I know that," Vlad finally said, winning the battle against himself as his eyes faded back to human hue. "But I will attempt to regardless."
They stared each other down for a beat, then two. Measuring each other up, weighing to see which one would come out on top. There was always a hint of psychological warfare when they went head to head and now wasn't any different.
"Do we have a deal then, Daniel?" He asked, when neither of them made a move for another verbal hit.
"It's a deal, for now."
"For now," Vlad echoed. He turned, heading for the stairs. "Come along then. We have much to do and very little time to do it. No point in dallying the day away."
Danny rolled his eyes, hiked his backpack higher on his shoulder, and followed Vlad down into the dark.