Danny Phantom Fan Fiction ❯ Relative Terms ❯ Suspicions ( Chapter 2 )

Ugh. I just wanna skip all the rising action and get straight to the good stuff. Too bad I demand plots.

 

Relations

Chapter Two: Suspicions

 

The duffel bag Anna had brought with her had yet to be unpack, beside the few t-shirts she pulled out. And settled beneath the three other outfits she'd brought with her sat a box, a present from her latest provider, Vlad Masters.

 

The brown paper crinkled back, and she smiled.

 

---

 

Danny came home, exhausted.

 

And, he decided, with proof Vlad was definitely up to something. His “pets” had been out there, fangs bared and claws ready to attack. It couldn't be a coincidence that he sent those right after sending Anna.

 

But it was easily taken care of. After running around all over town, they'd put up a good fight until they fled in defeat. It was obvious that Vlad was keeping up his experimentations, even after his failed attempts.

 

Jazz had, of course, promised to keep an eye on their latest occupant, since she shared the same suspicions as he. But he walked in through the front door and into the kitchen, finding a happy Jazz and a quiet Anna making dinner.

 

Jazz turned to greet him, and a worried expression crossed her features.

 

“You look beat,” she commented.

 

He nodded. “The usual after school activities. I'm gonna go take a shower.”

 

“If the water goes out, it's `cause Mom and Dad are downstairs in the lab. The lights flickered already when the first explosions happened.”

 

Anna suppressed a smile. “He's a bit clumsy.”

 

`A bit' was an understatement. But they didn't say anything. Danny headed upstairs with a shake of his head.

 

He turned the stairs when he noticed Jazz following behind him. She stopped him, motioning to keep the tones down.

 

“She's done absolutely nothing,” she whispered, casting a glance to the kitchen door. “Nothing suspicious anyway. She locked herself in her room for half an hour, but you do that for longer. Mom's taking her shopping this weekend since she learned she only had like two shirts. I'm honestly starting to think she's just a normal girl in a bad situation.”

 

Danny shook his head. “…Maybe. I don't know. I'm seriously about to pass out here.”

 

Jazz nodded and turned around, bring back her chipper smile, as if there was nothing of suspicion going on at all.

 

---

 

Anna smiled as she pressed the earphone to keep it hidden behind her hair. Putting mics around the house had been ingenious, and all too easy. She could hear the conversation in the stairwell, and the progress in the lab. Whatever they were working on, she couldn't tell yet, but so far, all she'd seen was an unstable prototype. Nothing to worry about.

 

So now she was keeping an eye on the subject.

 

So far, there were a few suspicions, but those seemed natural to anyone associated with Vlad Masters. She had no idea who some of the people they were talking about were, especially this second “Dani” they kept comparing her to. It had been impossible to bug Danny at school, but right now she could listen to nearly everything he was going to say in the house.

 

The ground beneath her shook, and she glanced at the floor, trying to guess what was going on in the lab beneath. All she heard was a fuzzy static. Jack Fenton really was a buffoon.

 

She let out a giggle as the word entered her mind. Vlad's euphemisms were getting stuck in her brain. She'd spent far too much time with the man.

 

Jazz was coming back down the stairs. She looked a bit frazzled by the explosion. She paused by the door to the lab as if she were going to check up on her parents but decided against it.

 

“Are they okay?” Anna asked, turning back to the salad she'd been making.

 

Jazz frowned but stepped back to the spot where she'd been cooking. “They'll be fine.”

 

“Good.” Anna smiled serenely. She held up the salad, presenting it to Jazz like a plaque. “What's next?”

 

It was good that the Fentons seemed to have an immunity to explosions, Anna thought. No one was going to hurt the Fentons. At least, not until she got her chance.

 

“I'm really starting to worry,” Jazz said, glancing at the lab door. “That project they're working on sounds dangerous.”

 

The latest resident began working on the potatoes. “They seem… sturdy. I imagined world-renowned ghost hunters would be…”

 

She didn't say it, but Jazz got it and laughed.

 

“You would think so.”

 

They began setting the table. The elder girl thought a moment before speaking again.

 

“You're going to let mom take you shopping?” she asked.

 

“I doubt there's much of a choice. Besides, I haven't got much else to wear.”

 

“Where are all your other clothes?”

 

She shrugged. “I went to a private boarding school. We had a uniform. There was really no need for different clothes since I only went home on holidays.”

 

“Where did your parents live?”

 

Anna's voice became tight and Jazz felt she shouldn't be asking so many questions. But she answered anyway, perhaps out of pure courtesy. “Wisconsin. I think we're done.”

 

Oh, right. Dinner.

 

---

 

“No! I won't! I won't! Damn you, Danny, I'm not doing it!”

 

Danny ducked an onslaught of fists coming straight from the angry goth in front of him. Tucker held her back, cringing as she kept almost hitting him. Danny tried to grab onto her fists, but she started kicking her legs.

 

“Danny I swear to god I will-”

 

He managed a palm over her mouth, leaving only her muffled protests. His mom was taking Anna and Jazz shopping and decided to drag him with them. He was trying to get Tuck and Sam to come with him, but Tuck was forced into a family thing, and Sam started fighting at the word “shopping.”

 

“I'm not forcing you to go,” he said. “You could just- Ow!”

 

She clamped down on his hand and he withdrew quickly, crying out in pain. Tuck fell backwards as she elbowed him in the stomach, and she jumped forward, crossing her arms.

 

“There's no need to overreact,” Tuck wheezed, clutching his stomach.

 

Sam glared at them. “I'm not going. You'll have to tie me up and drag me with you.”

 

“Don't give me ideas.”

 

“Why do I have to go?”

 

“Because,” Danny sighed, “Spending all day shopping with… girls is not the way I want to spend my day.”

 

Her glare deepened. “Oh yeah? Then what am I?”

 

“Gah! I mean! You're cooler than that. I actually have fun with you.”

 

Tuck gave a cough that sounded suspiciously like “tell him.” Sam punched him.

 

“Fine. Fine! I'll go. But you're paying.”

 

“I assumed as much.”

 

Notes:

I kind of wanted to add some Danny/Sam fluff in there. I suck at that.

Anyway, definitely a malignant character. And I so want to get to the good part, but damn suspense build up. And no action yet either!

This chapter was impossible to write. It's the only thing I've written today, compared to yesterday, where I uploaded fifty thousand one shots. I feel sad, because some authors have about a hundred stories (most of which one shots) and I've got what, eighty? A travesty.