PREVIOUSLY ON WHATEVER IT TAKES
"Why aren't you guys mad at me? I lied to you both for a really long time" Danny said in confusion.
"Of course you lied to us, we never gave you a reason not to" Maddie said.
"I would've been terrified too if it were me. I want you to remember this, we will always love you, whether you're a ghost or something in between" Jack said.
"And we are so proud of you" Maddie finished. Danny looked at them and then began crying, but they weren't tears of sadness, they were tears of joy. The two parents then hugged their son again and everyone else began to join in the embrace.
"Thank you so much and for helping me, I will help you. What do you want?" Youngblood asked. Sam then thought of an idea of how to get out of there.
"Okay Youngblood, do you know a ghost named Frostbite?" Sam asked hopefully.
"Sure do" Youngblood answered.
"Okay listen very carefully, I want you to go to the Far Frozen and find Frostbite and when you do, tell him that Danny Phantom along with his friends and family have been captured by Vlad Plasmius. We need help before Vlad really does something bad to Danny" Sam said quietly.
"Okay, I'll do it. Just tell everyone to hold on for a while longer" Youngblood said and then he disappeared out of the lab.
Sam then walked over to Danny and laid down beside him, she felt safer being closer to him but what was really on her mind, was what was going to happen to him tomorrow.
CHAPTER 4
Everyone woke up to the sound of the cell bars being banged, standing there was Vlad in his ghost form which sent shivers down everyone spines. Vlad then opened the cell doors and walked in with an evil grin on his face, he suddenly sent a wave of pink energy that tied everyone to the wall of the cell, Danny quickly changed into his ghost form and tried to run to them to set them free however he suddenly felt a wave of electric energy hitting him, which caused him to change back to a human and fall to his knees in pain. Vlad then duplicated himself two times and then the two clones held Danny up by his arms.
"I assume you remember the Plasmius Maximus. This one however is known as the Plasmius Maximus 2, it has just short-circuited your powers for the next 10 hours, that's 7 pm by the way since you're still a little bit bad at math" Vlad said and then the two clones started dragging Danny out of the cell, despite the protests coming from his family and friends. Once the real Vlad left the cell, the pink energy that was holding everyone else disappeared and they ran up to the front of the cell.
"LET GO OF MY SON!" Jack screamed.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE FRUITLOOP!" Jazz and Sam yelled in unison.
Danny struggled against the two clones, but no matter how hard he tried their grip on him was too strong and he was feeling weak from the shock of the Plasmius Maximus 2. The duplicates took him to a holding container (A/N Similar to the one from the episode Kindred Spirits) and shoved him in, as soon as the glass door shut two metal handcuffs came out and clamped tightly on Danny's wrist. Danny pulled against the handcuffs, although he knew it was useless it didn't stop him from trying.
"Now Daniel, all the pain that your about to feel won't have to happen if you agree to one thing. Join me" Vlad said.
Danny gave Vlad a look of defiance and said, "It won't do you any good Plasmius. I'LL NEVER JOIN YOU!"
"Very well, I guess it's time for a little convincing" Vlad said and then he turned the dial to the number two and an electric current started going through Danny, causing him to scream in pain.
"STOP IT!" Sam screamed with tears running down her face.
Maddie watched in horror and then cried into Jack's arms as he held her tightly, looking away from the scene before them. Vlad then turned the dial up to the number 7 and the voltage increased, causing more pain for Danny who pulled hard against the cuffs in an attempt to stop the pain. Vlad then stopped the electric current, which left Danny breathing heavily and nearly falling to his knees.
"Time for round two. The next pain you're going to feel, are blood blossoms that have been grounded down in order to form a gas like substance, oh but don't worry Daniel I won't let you die from it, in fact it takes at least two hours to die from the gas, once you felt enough pain I'll send in the cure I made that I made in a gas form as well. If you join me though, I will not send the gas through" Vlad offered.
Danny remained silent and looked away from Vlad. Vlad took that as a definite no and pushed a button on the control panel, suddenly the blood blossom gas began to fill up the container, Danny coughed as he breathed in the gas and then he started to feel a burning sensation, before he knew it the pain doubled and he began to scream.
Vlad continued to smile evilly as he allowed the poisonous gas to do its work, everyone else couldn't bear to watch Danny getting tortured. Jack and Tucker did their best to provide comfort to the girls, but there was not much they could do.
Danny's screams died down and he weakly fell to his knees, Vlad allowed this to go on for fifteen minutes and then he activated the cure. It didn't take long for the cure to take effect, but Danny still felt so weak he couldn't stand any longer, Vlad opened the containment chamber and the handcuffs came off, Danny fell forward but Vlad caught him in his arms and carried him over back to the cage.
Vlad then threw him inside and locked the door once more, he then left while saying "See you tomorrow Daniel and I expect the proper answer to my proposal"
Maddie sat down and placed Danny's head on her lap, he winced in pain as he could still feel the pain that came from the gas. He opened his eyes slowly and began to cry, Maddie embraced her son gently and heard him whisper, "So much pain.....so painful. Please....don't leave me"
"We're right here Danny" Maddie said.
"We'll never leave you" Valerie stated as she joined in the hug along with Jazz.
"That's right son, we'll figure out a way to get out of here. We'll do whatever it takes" Jack said and then joined in.
"We're your best friend's dude" Tucker said as he also joined in.
"You can't get rid of us that easily" Sam said and then finally joined in the hug.
Danny continued to cry into their embrace, his cries died down a few minutes later and then suddenly a tray of bread and water was placed down in the cage by one of Vlad's duplicates. The duplicate vanished and then Jazz grabbed the jug of water and filled a cup with it, she placed the cup to Danny's lips and poured the water in his mouth slowly.
"Just small sips at first little brother" Jazz said as he slowly drank the water. Everyone then split the bread into equal amounts and ate it. A few minutes later, everyone fell back asleep.
MEANWHILE IN THE GHOSTZONE
Youngblood continued his way to the Far Frozen, the reason why it was taking him so long it was because he completely forgot how to get there and had to ask for directions so many times until he was sure he knew the right way.
Youngblood still couldn't believe that he allowed himself to be locked up by Plasmius, a few days ago he snuck through his ghost portal due to that the Fenton's had decided to lock the portal for the night. On his way through his mansion, he accidently knocked over one of Vlad's Packers statues and it set off an alarm, Vlad caught him and threw him in the containment chamber.
Youngblood finally started to feel the cold winds of the Far Frozen realm and finally landed within the village, where he was immediately met by Frostbite.
"What brings you here young ghost?" Frostbite asked curiously.
"I bring news of Danny Phantom. He along with his friends and family, have been captured by Vlad Plasmius and he's probably torturing him right now. His friend Sam has asked to ask you to please, come and help before he does something really bad to him" Youngblood explained.
Frosbite then roared and nearly half the village gathered around him, he then exclaimed, "My fellow ghosts, it seems that The Great One is in danger and it is up to us to go and rescue our saviour. WHOSE WITH ME?!"
The other ghosts threw their fists up in the air and shouted in agreement, all of them scattered to prepare to rescue Danny Phantom, along with his friends and family, whatever it takes. Sam woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of someone sobbing, she looked over and saw it was Danny with his face in his arms and his knees curled up to his chest.
She got up and walked over to Danny and embraced him in a hug. Danny looked up and then fell into Sam's embrace and then he whispered, "I'm scared Sam, I'm so scared. I don't know what to do or how to get out of this mess"
"Danny listen to me," Sam said pulling his face up, "Everything will be okay, I haven't told anyone this but the last night I freed Youngblood who was captured by Vlad. He's gone to get Frostbite, but you have to promise me to stay strong and not just for me but for everybody. We will never give up on you, so don't give up on us"
Danny then looked at her and said, "I promise" and they both fell asleep in each other's arms.
The next morning Vlad woke everybody up by banging on the cell, he made two duplicates of himself and once again pinned the others to the wall with ectoplasmic energy and shocked Danny with the Plasmius Maximus 2. The two duplicates dragged Danny out of the cage and this time, they removed Danny's shirt and then they strapped him down onto an examination table, his arms were strapped above his head and there was an extra strap across his hip. He struggled to get out of the straps but it was no use, Vlad walked over to him holding a remote control.
"Ready for round 3 Daniel, the straps that are currently keeping you still have been connected to this remote which allows me to force you to transform into your ghost half and each time will be faster which will give immense pain inside your body as well as dizziness. Now I don't have to do this if you agree to one thing, join me" Vlad said with a wide wicked grin.
"No Vlad, I made a promise to my family that I would never turn evil and I'm keeping that promise no matter what" Danny snapped, his parents looked at him with pride and then without hesitation Vlad pressed the button.
Danny transformed into his ghost half and then when Vlad pressed the button again, he transformed back to a human, the transformations became faster and faster and Danny grunted and moaned as the pain increased. Vlad continued this for a whole hour before finally stopping, he then looked at Danny angrily and demanded, "JOINE ME!"
"NEVER!" Danny panted heavily, trying to fight the dizziness.
"Very well Daniel, but I'm going to give you a little gift so that when you decide to stop this little hero charade of yours, you will know who you belong to" Vlad said and then prepared a small amount of ectoplasmic energy on his index finger, but this time it was a deep crimson red.
Vlad then turned around and talked to the others like he was on a stage, "I'm sure all of you have heard, that back then slave masters used to brand their slaves with a special mark, so that when the slave would run away whoever found them knew who they belonged to"
Valerie pondered for a second and then realised something that her grandfather once told her, making her gasp in fright and shout, "YOUR GONNA BRAND DANNY!"
Jack then immediately began banging on the bars and shouted, "YOU MONSTER! LEAVE MY SON ALONE! HE DOESN'T DESERVE THIS!"
But despite the protests, Vlad turned around and walked back to Danny who had fear showing in his face, he then leaned down and whispered in his ear, "This will hurt"
Before Danny knew it, he felt a huge burning pain on his chest which caused him to give a blood curdling scream.
"DANNY NO!" Maddie shouted and then began to cry within Jack and Jazz's embrace, Tucker embraced Sam and Valerie in his arms as they too cried. Vlad continued on enjoying every moment of pain he inflicted on the boy.
Tears of pain fell down Danny's face as the pain continued and about ten seconds later, the burning stopped and the table moved upwards, revealing the two letters VP on his chest within the reflection of the mirror. A small amount of blood spilled out from the letters, Vlad then duplicated himself and allowed the clone to wrap Danny's chest with a bandage, the real Vlad then undid the straps and Danny fell to the ground, unable to stand up because of the pain. The two Vlad's then picked him up by his arms and this time placed him in the separate cage he was in when he was first brought here, they then placed two pairs of cuffs that were attached to the walls by long chains and placed them on Danny's wrists and ankles. Danny then slowly fell unconscious, too weak from all the pain that had been inflicted on him by Vlad.
"Tomorrow is the final day to decide Little Badger, I hope for your sake you make the right decision" Vlad sneered as the duplicate disappeared and Vlad left the room and Danny fell unconscious, allowing more tears to flow from his arms.
Everyone sat down in silence, Tucker noticed Valerie shaking and he walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder, she looked up at him and said, "My grandfather use to tell me stories about what it like when he was a slave on a cotton farm, he also told me how once when his father tried to run away, they brought him back and they branded him with a mark. I just never thought that this is what it was like" She then began crying, "I miss my dad, I want to go home"
"Don't worry Val, we'll get out of here and Danny's strong, but we also have to try and remain strong for him as well" Tucker said in an attempt to comfort her, Valerie then wrapped her arms around him and embraced him.
MEANWHILE IN THE GHOSTZONE
"TOMORROW, WE NOT ONLY RESCUE OUR SAVIOUR! TOMORROW WE RESCUE OUR FRIEND!" Frostbite shouted and all the warriors shouted a battle cry.
Tomorrow would be the day, tomorrow it would be all or nothing!