While Lina tried to seize up their latest opponent and try to read him, her adopted brother decided to take the easiest approach.
"Oh, whatever. I was aiming for the birds, but you'll do," he said, getting ready to charge, clearly overestimating himself and at the same time, underestimating the scary ghost.
"Danny wait!" Lina said, spreading her hand to grab him but was too late.
Danny charged and tried to punch the new ghost only for his fist to be grabbed mid-air like it was nothing. He was just as surprised as his friend, only that he got flung hard against a wall. The force was strong enough to make him slid down the wall and land on a table, grabbing his head; feeling dizzy.
"You should listen to your friend, boy," the mysterious ghost said and looked at the girl.
She glared at him, both floating mid-air. He did not fail to notice how different she was from Danny, in terms of attitude but also appearance. While Danny was in a black suit with white gloves, boots...she was the opposite in colours. Where Danny had white hair, she had black. But what was odd were their aura and skin. Danny was tanned, having the usual green aura and energy that most ghosts had, including his eyes. L
ina, however, had a much different skin...a contrast of icy blue, with bright red energy.
They both stared at one another, judging and studying. Danny, though, had none of that and tried once again to attack him. In seconds, he was grabbed by the throat and was thrown down hard to the ground like a ragdoll.
"My vultures were supposed to bring the big idiot to me, but you two will do! Danny and Angel Phantom, right?"
"You...you know us?" Danny asked as the ghost headed for a wall, not planning to attack them again; not immediately at least.
"Because we certainly don't know you" Lina added as she followed him with Danny, phasing into Vlad's private library.
"You're the ghost kids who use their powers for good. How quaint. The name is Plasmius by the way" he said and smirked, turning to look at the duo. He then moved smoothly and fast, getting into their faces before flying around them. "Aren't you going to try to shove me into your ridiculous thermos? Or will you two take me down in some sort of ridiculous team-up?"
"I...I don't wanna fight you" Danny said as they both got on their guards since Plasmius had already proven he was not their average ghost opponent.
"No. No, you don't." A pink ectoplasmic ray was sent with precision at Danny, hitting and sending him crashing into a bookshelf.
"Hey!" Lina said, getting tired of seeing Danny being used as a punching bag.
Being careful be dammed, she was done trying to think of a plan. She instead, chose to go with what she had and improvise at best. Without wasting another moment, she charged at Plasmius, using her speed and momentum to land a punch.
Plasmius was unaffected, not surprised she would use the same trick Danny did.
"Were you not paying attention?" he asked and went to grab her fist when his hand passed through her. At the same second, she had turned herself invisible and he narrowed his pink eyes. Scanning the room around her, he tried to pinpoint her when he felt it. By instinct and years of practice, he brought his right hand up, blocking an invisible kick to the side of his neck.
He grabbed the invisible leg and quickly tossed the figure to the ground, making her turn back visible and leave a groan. Lina was someone, who took hits quite well and had taken a lot of hits by other ghosts.
However, that one had a certain strength that made his attacks worse. In addition, she was pretty shocked that he sensed her while invisible.
"I am impressed. You are the most intelligent of the two" he levitated slowly at her, just as she was about to fully stand up.
"Get away from her" Danny shouted, sending another blast at Plasmius, a sudden need to protect his adopted sister.
To their surprise, he simply created a sort of ectoplasmic pink shield, which blocked the blast while he crossed his arms smugly. "Ah, an ectoplasmic energy blast" Danny kept firing blasts at Vlad, giving time for Lina to move and be closer to him, than to the enemy. She was shocked to see him moving his shield just as Danny kept shooting. He barely broke a sweat and he even faked a yawn eventually, proving how bored he was with their battle. No other ghost had ever shown such ability, such mastery of skills. Well, skills that no other ghost had also shown. The shooting of rays by hand was not that common, actually quite rare and she had never seen a shield being used before. Let alone on that colour. "So...year one."
Danny had stopped and he worriedly looked at his still-glowing hands. "What?" he whispered to himself., wondering if he was doing something wrong and perhaps his powers were not as powerful as they should be.
"Tell me, child, can you do this yet?" Plasmius asked just as he created three exact other copies of himself.
This caused Danny to back away from them, trying to keep his distance. Eventually, his back touched Lina's and the two of them stayed like that mid-air, just as the clones surrounded them.
"No, I can't! How are you doing all this?"
"How is this possible?" Lina asked, eyes wide and slowly panicking.
Here they could barely land a hit on the original, now they had to deal with three more?! They were not trained enough for this and for the first time in her life, since Skulker; she felt really worried and anxious...one would say fearful even.
Vlad smirked, amused by their reactions to his little trick; never stopping to study them carefully and how each of them reacted. "Years of practice, which you, unfortunately, have no time for"
All four Vlads each shot an ectoblast at the duo.
Danny stood there to take the hits, screaming from pain while Lina had brought her hands up to block as many as she could but she also felt it. The pain, the attacks...it was nothing they had ever encountered before.
When it was over, Danny was on the ground, struggling to stand up and Lina was on her knees. She could feel the burns, her body aching with each move she made. She looked at Plasmius and his clones just as more attacks got ready.
At the last second, she embraced Danny and turned them intangible. But not before both get a few hits. They phased through the ceiling and landed on the floor of the room below them, rolling from the force.
Danny fell unconscious soon after, turning back to human while Lina was laying on her front but struggled to remain conscious and she had a hard time lifting her body. She managed to find the strength to lift her head just as the original Plasmius phased as well and noticed the true form of Danny.
Just as he stood there shocked by the revelation, Lina felt a burning sensation in her eyes. The sudden need to protect a vulnerable Danny, the 4 days of frustration because of the GAV and the pain coming from her wounds seemed to fuel something within her.
Before she knew it, she had shot red ectoplasmic beams from her eyes and they were heading straight for her opponent.
It caught Plasmius off guard and hit him in the chest but she was too weak to make any major damage. He looked surprised at her glowing red eyes and so was she. However, that attack took a lot of energy and soon she passed out as well. The moment her head touched the floor, her concentration was broken and she also turned to her human form.
Plasmius rubbed his chest for a moment from the attack, looking surprised at the unconscious teenagers. "The ghost kids...are Jack's children?" He landed on the ground as well, transforming back to human as well and showing he was none other than Vlad Masters. He smirked and looked at both of them. "Well, what do you know?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vlad had just checked on Danny, who had woken up in fright and shock after regaining consciousness from Vlad's ruthless attack. Once he had calmed him down, he went to the next room to check on Lina.
He was surprised to find her bed empty and he phased one room below. He was not shocked to find her roaming the halls, obviously looking for something. He noticed how she seemed on guard and was generally tired.
"Looking for something?" he voiced out, making her jump on the air and quickly spin to face him.
For a moment, her eyes glowed red but turned back to their natural pink, while one hand held the front of her shirt; her heart beating faster than normal.
"Mr Masters, you scared me," she said, taking a moment to calm herself. She was so close to transforming and she was thankful for her good control over her abilities. "No...I...I was looking for the kitchen. That is all"
"Oh," Vlad exclaimed, studying her carefully in the vivid darkness, with the slight illumination of the moon coming from the big windows by the side. "Need some water perhaps?"
"Water...tea...just something to drink. You can point me in the direction and I will get out of your hair" she replied, making him lift his hand to stop her from continuing her sentence.
"Please. You are a guest of mine. Follow me. The kitchen is too far away" he said and started walking, passing by her.
With hands behind his back, he had long and big strides but made sure they were slower than normal so she could also catch up. She stayed quiet, watching forward but occasionally stealing glances at him as they walked.
He was doing the same, although more secretive and was being less obvious.
They arrived at the library, his private library.
For a moment, Lina froze and looked inside it. There they had the battle with that odd ghost or so she dreamt off. Problem was that her body was sore and she was certain that they had a battle; and that it was not just an odd dream.
But the house was quiet, the library intact and she had found herself waking up on her bed. Danny was still asleep since she had checked on him. Her mind could not comprehend what was going on fully, which made her irritated and nervous.
If there was one thing she needed in her life, was control.
Control of a situation or at least of her mind, and body. If she did not have those, she felt exposed and unprotected. It was perhaps why she often took the lead in battles against ghosts. She trusted Danny but she preferred it when she made the plans, for she was in control of how things would turn out.
"You can wait here. I will not take long" he said as he entered the library and then disappeared behind a door at the other end of the room.
Lina blinked and slowly walked inside. She looked around, the room too vivid and detailed, just like in her dream. However, it was more peaceful and there were no ghosts around to fight her. Her eyes adverted to the different books and she ended up staring at them, as she walked closer to one of the many bookcases that reached the ceiling.
She mumbled the titles, recognising some and being very impressed by the titles of others. The collection of Vlad was vast, special and well-fixed; with almost all topics covered, especially literature, arts and history.
"Interested in some Greek Tragedy?" she heard him ask, her hand having subconsciously touched the book spine of one of the many tomes based on Greek Tragedies. "This is unexpected by someone of your age," Vlad said and she turned her head, only to see him walking towards her with a tray and two mugs on it.
"I..uhm..yes actually. I do have some back home but those editions" she looked back at the books. "Those are rare. I mean, I can see some are originally in Greek"
She turned to look at him, finding him smirking uncomfortably at her. He placed the tray on the wooden table and made himself comfortable on one of the two red armchairs. He motioned for her to do the same and passed her a mug of warm green tea.
"Well. I do tend to favour that language. And I find the Oddysey far more interested than most Greek tragedies" he explained, taking his mug.
She took a sip, finding the tea far stronger and much better quality than the one she bought at the nearby store, which was processed and a much cheaper version of a true tea. She relaxed and leaned back on the armchair, the tea having a strong effect on her rather quickly.
"I prefer the Illiad. The Troyan war is simply filled with representation that applies to today's world, exposing how the ambitious and personal gains of one person can lead to the creation of armies and many casualties. It also proves how the egoism and selfism of each individual, affect the common battle in their way. And it has also been commented that the gods taking sides and interfering, is a representation that both sides have a chance in winning and that no higher power would ever favour one side"
By the time she was done, Vlad was staring at her with both fascination and surprise. A 14-year-old girl just went philosophy deep in one of the most famous and complex Tragedies to ever be written; all without pausing or having any hesitations behind her advanced and mature way of thinking.
His stare made her swallow and blush slightly, looking down at the mug that was warming up her hands. She realized she got carried away, finally talking about a matter she liked to someone who would listen.
She had a mature and big interest in literature and arts. Something very rare to kids of her age and in her friend group as well. She only had the chance to talk like that with Jazz, but it was not common since the older teen was more focused on her life or Danny.
Vlad cleared his throat, having been taken off guard. He did not expect that reply, and specifically that detailed reply, for someone so young and Jack's daughter. She had the brains of Maddy but even that, seemed a little bit odd.
"This is impressive. Someone of your age, should not even be aware of all of that" he said, showing that she should not be embarrassed, for he understood her. He was also very literate from a young age, which made it hard for him to fit in or find someone to express such ideas and discuss theories and philosophic views. "I must say I am pleased. It is not every day I find someone so informed and interested in such a matter"
She gave a small smile. "Likewise. Jack and Maddie are more focused on technology and mechanics than literature. And as you said, it is rare for someone underage to be so in dept to Greek tragedies, for example" she took a few more sips, her mind relaxing and so was her body.
Gone was the anxiety of being around Vlad, being a proper guest and the fight with Plasmius. Having talked about something she liked and being praised for it felt nice.. it was a new feeling to her and she liked it.
"Jack and Maddie? I was not aware children nowadays called their parents by their first name" he said, not hiding his curiosity.
He was aware actually, that children did not do that. Unless perhaps it was some step-parent but even then. There was something fishy about the Fentons and hers, he could tell as much. However, rushing to conclusions and prying was not wise. Instead, simple small manipulation and proper choice of words would make her open up and expose everything.
"Yeah...well..." she looked at the mug again, leaving out a sigh. "They are not my real parents. I was left on their doorsteps as a baby. I find it more respectful and fitting to call them by their name. Taking into consideration my situation"
She looked at him again. It was not easy for her to explain the situation, and she found no reason to open up to Vlad that way. Yet, for some reason she did and she was surprised by his reaction. It was not one of shock or anything else. It was very normal as if he had suspected it and he might have.
"Well then. There is no shame in that. However, I do speculate this is the reason why you were looking for something to drink. A bad dream perhaps? And by how you say things are, you would not go to Jack and Maddie"
She looked to the side, swinging her short legs slightly. She was too short for her legs to reach the floor yet, while she was sitting on the big red armchair. She was not sure how he figured that out but it was true, and very accurately presented.
"That obvious huh?" she said, her voice lower as she looked at the tea.
"To those who notice, it is still hard to observe and fully understand. There is nothing to worry about it, or about the truth" he said and she looked up at him, surprised and hopeful.
She did not expect that answer, not from someone she had just met and who had a personal grudge against Jack. "Thank you"
They exchanged a smile.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An hour had passed before they realized it, only for the clock to remind them. Lina had already fallen asleep a while ago, the tea having worked and the talk with Vlad too. It was empowering, talking about topics that she did not have the ability with anyone else, proving that Vlad Masters was as well educated as he was rich.
Once noticing the time, Vlad left his empty mug on the table and stood up. He carefully took her in his arms, bride style and took his Plasmius form. She shivered, her ghost senses going off but she was too deep into sleep to awake. He was fast and gentle to phase through walls and enter her room, before placing her on the bed.
Covering her, he watched her for a moment in silence. She was so different from Danny and Jack. She almost reminded him of Maddie, even though she was less into technology and more into literature. She was smart though, strategic and potentially more powerful than Danny as a ghost.
He phased back into the library and grabbed the mug she had used, now empty of its content. He proceeded to fly through walls, phasing through them ad eventually coming inside a very modernised lab, with a lot of pieces of equipment; especially a ghost portal.
He placed the mug on the counter and took his human form, before getting to work on his computer. For there was something he needed to test and confirm, before his plans for tomorrow.