Chapter Text
Vlad checked his watch again impatiently. Only three minutes had passed since the last time he had checked it. Impossible. Digging his cellphone from his pocket, Vlad compared the time on his phone with the time on his watch. They were only a minute off from each other, to Vlad’s irascible dismay.
Shoving the phone back into his pocket, Vlad began pacing back and forth in the deserted entryway to town hall. The sun had already set, not that one could tell from the pervasive grey cast that had plagued the sky for the past several days. Every other employee had left for the day, had been gone for quite some time. Vlad should have already been two glasses of bourbon into a documentary on the history of the Packers. He had already missed dinner time with his precious cats; they got terribly antsy when daddy was late for their evening snuggles.
Only the prospect of an evening with the real Maddie was enticing enough to pull him away from his non-plans.
Maddie and Jack had spent the last several years improving the ghost defenses around Amity Park and it was finally time to add a ghost shield to the town hall. After the “mysterious disappearance” of Inviso-Bill (that coincided perfectly with Daniel moving away to college, not that anyone noticed) the Fentons had stepped up as the interim defenders of Amity Park. Their success rate was no where near as high as their son’s, but it was enough to keep the town safe while not inconveniencing Vlad too terribly.
The time had finally come to add a ghost shield to town hall. Vlad had insisted that town hall be placed lower down on the priority list so that other, more frequented buildings could be protected. For the good of the citizens, of course. That had caused an increase in his approval ratings, which was secondary to the relief Vlad felt at not having to be electrocuted every morning when he arrived at work.
Conveniently, for Vlad, less so for Maddie, Jack had taken ill. It wasn’t very serious unfortunately, just a cold, but it was enough to put him out of commission for this particular job. Rather than waiting for Jack to be on the mend, Vlad had offered to assist Maddie with the installation himself. Spending an entire evening alone with Maddie was a rare treat for Vlad. Maybe this would finally be the day she came to her senses and allowed Vlad to shower her with the adoration she deserved. Vlad had so much to give, it genuinely baffled him that no one had taken advantage of his ardor before.
That ardor was rapidly cooling as he checked his watch again. Maddie was over half an hour late. Vlad was tempted to text her, but none of his messages ever seemed to go through. Perhaps she had blocked his number. If she had, it was for her own good, of course. It was easier to resist the temptation to contact Vlad if she couldn’t access his number. Torrid, lovesick messages between them wouldn’t look tasteful during her and Jack’s divorce proceedings. That was the only logical reason she never received his texts.
Thunder rumbled weakly in the distance. Vlad strode over to the large glass doors that overlooked the front steps of the building. An early summer storm added yet another inconvenience to his evening. Silk and rainwater were a poor match. Of all the days he could have chosen to drive to work rather than fly…
Perhaps Jack was more ill than expected. Jack was hardly in the prime of his youth or health. Bouncing back from simple illnesses became harder and harder as one aged, or so Vlad was told. If it reached his lungs, a simple sickness could suddenly take a much more dramatic, tragic turn. Vlad wasn’t sure how much fluid it would take to fill Jack’s blowhard lungs, but he was interested to find out.
A flash of headlights followed by screeching tires drew Vlad out of his pleasantly morbid daydreams. The Fenton Assault Vehicle had finally arrived, bearing the love of Vlad’s life. He could see her curvy frame, accentuated by that ridiculous but endearing teal jumpsuit, as she slid from the driver’s seat.
The thunder rumbled again, closer this time. Vlad eyed the sky warily. The gentlemanly thing to do would be to rush out and help Maddie with the equipment, insist on doing the heavy lifting. And Vlad would love to do that for her, he genuinely would! Except, as he had already noted, his dress shirt and tie were not of a material that tolerated being soaked. Many types of silk could handle water, just not the type that Vlad just so happened to conveniently be wearing. Besides, if he helped Maddie then he wouldn’t be able to compliment her on how marvelously durable and substantial she was.
Eventually, Maddie made the long trek up the marble stairs, toolbox under one arm and the shielding device under the other. Vlad graciously opened the door for her. “Good evening Maddie, you’re looking positively,” Vlad began in his most charming voice before stopping short. He was going to say she looked radiant, but the bags under her eyes and her limp greasy hair told another story entirely. “Radiant,” he finished in a tone that was more flat than flattery. It was difficult not to take her appearance personally. Jack was probably taking a toll on her, Vlad rationalized. The poor dear had probably not had a moment to refresh herself between catering to Jack’s infirm whims and installing ghost shields through the city.
“I’m not in the mood tonight, Vlad,” Maddie barked, marching down the hall. Clearly, she already had a destination in mind.
Are you ever when it comes to me? Vlad thought irritably before quashing that feeling down as best he could. A few brisk strides put him in step beside her. “Of course,” he agreed charitably. “You’ve clearly had a trying day, so am willing to forgo the usual social niceties.”
“Thanks,” she retorted shortly, hefting the toolbox a little higher onto one of her magnificent hips. “The shield module needs to be placed in the basement, preferably near a generator.”
“Those look awfully heavy, would you like me to take—”
“I want you to point me to the elevator so I can get this over with,” Maddie interrupted.
Vlad frowned. There was no need for such an attitude. Vlad had been offering to help! He had been perfectly pleasant, even in the face of Maddie’s ire. Well. Such unwarranted rudeness would not be tolerated. If Vlad didn’t correct her now, Maddie would develop bad habits and their relationship would suffer. Vlad was a patient man, but it was high time that Maddie learned to treat Vlad in the manner he deserved.
“I’m afraid the elevator is out of service,” Vlad lied smoothly. Watching the irritation drain from Maddie’s face only to be replaced by a tired despondency was perhaps the most satisfying part of Vlad’s day. “It gets so finicky during storms, we wouldn’t want to risk getting stuck. We’ll have to take the stairs. That’s not going to be an issue, is it?”
Maddie’s shoulders drooped. “Let’s just get this over with,” she said again.
Vlad smiled blandly and headed back down the hall the way that they came. The closest stairs were actually right around the corner, but Maddie obviously wasn’t familiar enough with the building’s layout to know that particular fact. The stairs on the far side of the building would serve Vlad’s purposes better anyway; he had put in a work order that morning for the lights to be fixed in that stairwell and it was highly unlikely that it had been done.
Maddie grunted, the strain of carrying the equipment clearly sapping her already limited energy. If she had just accepted Vlad’s help when he had offered, or been marginally less snippy, he wouldn’t have had to make an ordeal of it. But alas, actions had consequences. If Maddie wanted to be difficult, then Vlad would make things difficult.
Vlad opened the door to the stairwell and held it as Maddie followed at a shuffling, stumbling pace. “Watch your step,” he warned with barely restrained glee. “The lights are out, so it’s a bit of a tricky descent.”
A tricky descent for her, but not Vlad. Whistling a merry tune, Vlad had to restrain himself from bounding down the stairs. Perfect night vision was one of his least flashy powers, but also one he utilized the most.
Waiting for Maddie at the bottom of the stairs, Vlad checked his watch again. It was much later in the evening than he would have liked. Tapping his foot impatiently, Vlad scowled up at his beloved. This was turning into a greater inconvenience than Vlad had anticipated. It wasn’t as though town hall actually needed a ghost shield. The only ghost foolish enough to cross Vlad wouldn’t be bothered by the shield any more than he himself would be. Between the superfluousness of the ghost shield and Maddie’s incivility, the entire evening was a loss.
At last, Maddie stumbled down the last few steps. Great, heaving breaths wracked her curvaceous frame, and her arms trembled from the continued exertion of holding her toolbox and the device. Good. It was a shame that these stairs also happened to be closer to the boiler room where the generator was located, but one couldn’t have everything. “Not far now,” Vlad encouraged, delighting in the dirty look that Maddie shot at him. She really did look atrocious, and the dim light wasn’t doing her fatigued features any favors. A pity, really, what age and marriage to an oaf had done to her once alluring figure. Truly a shame.
Maddie grunted in acknowledgement and forged on ahead. While definitely past her physical prime, at least some small part of her tenacious personality remained intact.
As they entered the boiler room, Vlad flipped on the lights. He had grown tired of tormenting Maddie; her quiet endurance of his abuses could only keep Vlad entertained for so long. Frankly, Maddie’s lack of response was disappointing. Stubbornness was one of her hallmarks, but where was her fervor, her zeal? Caving and begging Vlad for assistance, for mercy, would have been the preferred outcome of course, but even fiery riposte would have been more interesting than the dull resignation on display before him. The Maddie he remembered, the Maddie he loved, wouldn’t allow herself to be so browbeaten.
“Finally,” Maddie groaned, dropping the toolbox unceremoniously. Vlad winced at the clanging noise that rang through the empty room. The shield device was lowered more carefully, but not by much. “Okay,” Maddie said, taking a deep breath and wiping the sweat from her brow, “Give me about fifteen minutes to get this hooked up to the generator.”
“Is there anything I can do to be of assistance?” Vlad offered. The sooner they were finished, the better. Vlad’s interest in the proceedings had disappeared entirely. The only Maddie he wanted to be around at the moment had long, silky white fur and was probably asleep on his bed like the spoiled princess she was.
Maddie pursed her lips, clearly giving the offer more thought than she had his previous one. Good, maybe she had learned her lesson.
“Fine,” she said, digging through the toolbox. “You hold the couplings for the adapter, and I’ll tighten them. Once we have the module attached to the generator, we’ll run through its settings to make sure everything is working properly.”
Vlad nodded and took advantage of Maddie’s distraction with the tools to move the shield module into position near the generator. By the time she had found the appropriate wrench, Vlad had the couplings in place. Maddie raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment. Vlad scowled. He was more than capable of this type of hands-on labor, how dare she insinuate otherwise?
Settling the wrench into place, Maddie made it three turns around before—
KRACK! FFZZZTJJTTZZZK!
The coupling and adapter under Vlad’s hands lit up blue as electricity arced between them and the generator. Maddie gasped and leapt backwards, dropping the wrench, but Vlad wasn’t so lucky. The electricity climbed up his arms, making his muscles contract and preventing him from letting go of the machine.
The surge lasted only a few seconds, and when it finished the lights of the boiler room went out entirely. Suddenly, the module whirred to live and flung out a glowing purple dome. Its honeycomb pattern projected dimly on the walls of the now dark room, casting everything in a dull lavender.
Hissing, Vlad pulled his hands off the device. Black scorch marks covered his palms where they had made contact with the couplings. Tingling pins and needles raced up and down his arms as his fingers twitched involuntarily.
“Oh no,” Maddie exclaimed, “Oh, this isn’t good.”
“Yes, the burns do look rather—”
“I could not give less of a damn about that,” Maddie interrupted matter-of-factly. If looks could kill, Vlad would be dead twice over. “The fact that you’re still conscious is both a miracle and a damn shame.”
“Then what, pray tell, were you referring to?”
“The barrier.”
“What about it? It only stops ghosts.” An issue Vlad would deal with later, after Maddie was long gone.
“It has other settings. This is the kinetic barrier,” Maddie explained. Picking the fallen wrench off the ground, she tossed it at the purple barrier. The wrench collided with it and fell to the floor once more with a clang. “It’s for natural disasters like earthquakes. The building must have been struck by lightning and supercharged the module. That’s the only way it’d be able to project a barrier without being attached to the generator.”
“Fascinating results for you, I’m sure,” Vlad drawled, tucking his arms close to his chest, “But how do you propose we get out of here?”
No response.
“Maddie?”
Silence.
“You do have a way to get us out of here, yes? A kill switch, or something in your toolbox?”
“I wish that shock had knocked you out,” Maddie snapped. “No, Vlad, there’s nothing we can do but wait for the barrier to run itself out.”
“You created a barrier that can trap people inside of it without a way to disarm it? Of all the half-witted—”
“We’ve been working nonstop for nearly six years to keep Amity Park safe, there were bound to be some oversights—”
“This is more than an oversight! Are all the units like this? Do they need to be recalled?”
“No!” Maddie insisted, eye wide and more than a little wild. “No, I’m sure it will be an easy fix.”
The itching, almost fizzy feeling in Vlad’s arms told a different story. “I’m cutting your funding,” he deadpanned. “Until you can prove that these devices are safe for public use. I should have demanded more trials instead of trusting you and Jack, before allowing you near anything of greater importance than an empty parking lot.”
“You lowlife piece of—” Maddie spat before cutting herself off.
“No need to censor yourself,” Vlad encouraged snidely, “Tell me what you think of me. What am I, Maddie? I’m dying to know.”
“You’re not human!” she bellowed. “You’re a cruel, selfish, facsimile of a man trapped by his own delusions! You have the emotional range of a brick and only half the personality. Everything about you is repulsive. If that electrical surge had killed you, I wouldn’t have shed a tear.”
“Did that make you feel better?” he asked with as much condescension as he could muster. “Or do you need me to pretend to grovel a bit? I’ve been called much worse by individuals infinitely more powerful and clever than you. You’ll have to try harder if you really want to leave an impression.”
“I refuse to spend another minute trapped here with you!” Maddie declared, patting her pockets frantically. “Where is my…where did I put…oh no,” she stilled, horrified, “I left my phone in the car.”
Vlad carefully reached into his pocket, biting back the grunt of pain that wanted to escape as his injured flesh rubbed against the material of his slacks. He tapped the screen a few times, but to no avail. “It would seem that my phone handled electrocution worse than I did,” Vlad drawled, shaking the dead device at Maddie.
Neither spoke after that. Vlad glanced at his watch again, mostly out of habit, and was dismayed to find that it too had stopped working. It could be hours before the barrier faded, and longer still until the maintenance workers showed up to find them.
It was difficult to tell how much time passed after that. Vlad was reasonably sure that it was less than an hour, closer to forty-five minutes, when a familiar tickle danced its way up his throat. He turned and coughed to hide the red vapor that signaled another ghost drawing closer to their location. Would the kinetic barrier also stop ghosts? Asking wasn’t an option, Vlad would have to reveal how he knew there was a ghost nearby and that was less of an option than it had ever been.
“Mom? Vlad?” a familiar male voice called, deeper than Vlad remembered but unmistakable.
“Danny?” Maddie shouted, rushing to the side of the barrier closest to the door. “Danny we’re in here! In the boiler room!”
The Daniel that entered the room was not the awkward teen Vlad remembered. He was taller, broader, and moved with an easy confidence that Vlad had not possessed at his age. Grinning the younger man strolled casually forward, hands in his pockets.
“Finally, someone competent,” Vlad muttered, low enough that Maddie’s human hearing wouldn’t pick up on it but more than enough for Daniel to catch. The slight upturn at the corner of his mouth told Vlad that Daniel had indeed heard him.
“Yikes,” Daniel said, almost indifferently as he glanced over the barrier.
“Danny what are you doing here?” Maddie demanded, confused and elated despite her exhaustion. “How did you—”
“I got home a little while ago,” he said, which explained absolutely nothing, “Dad was getting worried, so I offered to come check on you. Looks like it’s a good thing I did. Kinetic barrier?”
“Yes! There was a power surge—”
“Yeah, the whole town is dark,” Daniel interrupted, glancing around the room until his gaze alighted on a stray piece of pipe. “Stand back, I’ll have you out in a second.”
“That’s not going to work, the kinetic barrier stops physical things from passing through,” Maddie explained patiently. Daniel raised an eyebrow. “We have to wait for the barrier to dissipate.”
Grabbing the length of pipe and twirling it around a few times, Daniel nodded in apparent satisfaction with his new weapon. “See, the thing is, it’s not really a kinetic barrier. It’s a potential barrier. It’s potential energy, and when something hits it, that causes it to turn into kinetic energy. The thing isn’t hooked up to the generator, right?” Daniel asked, looking to Vlad instead of his mother. Vlad nodded, interested in what Daniel was saying despite his pain and aggravation. “So, if we use up all the energy—”
With one swift swing, Daniel struck the end of the pipe into the barrier with enough force to crumple a bus. The barrier glitched a few times before disappearing entirely. “The barrier won’t be able to hold itself together,” he finished, tossing the pipe aside.
“Oh!” Maddie exclaimed, looking all around at where the barrier had been with a smile. “Well, aren’t you clever! How did you think of that?”
Daniel’s expression instantly shuttered off into a careful blank. “I minored in physics,” he said, “Remember?”
“And I minored in French. Everyone knows that minors don’t actually mean anything sweetie,” Maddie teased. Opening her arms, she continued, “Now give your mother a hug.”
Daniel complied, or Vlad assumed he did, because Vlad had to look away. A few minutes ago, Maddie was accusing him of the worst her vocabulary could muster, yet now she was once again the doting mother? The duplicity of it made him burn. If Vlad ever saw Maddie again, it would be too soon.
That thought made him pause. Before he could examine it further, Daniel was speaking to him.
“Long time no see, fruitloop,” he greeted with a lopsided grin. Now that he was closer, Vlad realized that his little nemesis wasn’t so little anymore. Daniel hadn’t achieved his father’s height, but he was taller than Vlad. Vlad actually had to tilt his head back slightly to keep eye contact with the younger man.
“Little badger,” Vlad replied, feeling a matching smile start to form on his own face, which was absolutely ridiculous. They weren’t actually pleased to see each other, that would be ridiculous. It had just been a long time, that was all. Years without contact, without so much as a single word. That was enough to make anyone feel fond, right?
“Danny, would you mind grabbing the toolbox? We’re leaving now,” Maddie interjected. Vlad had momentarily forgotten she was there.
“I’ll bring it home in my car, you go ahead,” Daniel suggested, not taking his eyes off Vlad.
Maddie took a few uncertain steps closer, hovering at the edge of their peripheral vision. “Are you sure?” she pressed, frowning. “It’s been so long since you’ve been home, I thought we could grab something to eat and catch up.”
“Dad was really worried about you, it’d probably be better if you headed home and checked on him,” Daniel diverted. “It’s been even longer since I’ve seen Vlad, I just want to talk to him for a sec.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea, sweetie,” Maddie objected, “Vlad is—”
“Injured,” Daniel reminded them, gesturing in the vague direction of Vlad hands which were still tucked close to his sides. Perceptive as ever. “I was just going to offer him a hand getting to his car, see if he needed anything carried.”
The irony was not lost on Maddie, who ground out through clenched teeth, “That’s very…kind of you. I’m going home to check on your father. Don’t be too long.”
Without another word, Maddie turned on her heel and marched out of the room. Her exhaustion made the movement less crisp and dramatic than it would have been otherwise, but it conveyed her displeasure well enough.
Daniel and Vlad waited silently for several seconds until they heard the door to the stairwell open and shut. The moment they heard the latch click into place, Daniel was on the move, surging into Vlad’s personal space. He hovered close enough for Vlad to feel the power rolling off him. It tripped and sparked over his skin, indistinguishable from the tremors leftover from Vlad’s recent electrocution.
“Wanna see something cool?” Daniel breathed, eyes wide with excitement.
Of course not, had Daniel forgotten with whom he was speaking?
The word that came tumbling out, however, was an equally enthusiastic “Yes.”
Before Vlad could take it back, Daniel gently pried his arms away from his chest, taking care not to jostle the wounds too much. “These would normally take a couple hours to heal, right?” Daniel asked, his eager tone at odds with the tender way he held Vlad’s injured hands.
“Give or take,” Vlad responded cautiously, trying to reassert some sense into the situation. “What are you—”
The glowing white rings that signaled Daniel’s transformation sprang to life around his forearms. The rings traveled down his arms and as they crossed over where their hands were joined, they turned black. Vlad watched as the rings continued their path up his own arms. As they traveled, the black burns on Vlad’s skin healed and smoothed themselves out. The rings dissipated once they reached his elbows. Daniel released his grip, and Vlad twisted his hands back and forth looking for any sign of the injury. There were none. Daniel had healed him.
Vlad knew the longer he spent staring slack-jawed at his hands, the more smug Daniel was going to be when he finally looked up. But looking up would require saying something, and Vlad had no idea what to say. The obvious thing to do was to ask where Daniel had learned to do that, but admitting that Vlad was both incapable and completely unaware of that particular ability was a blow that his pride couldn’t suffer through at the moment. The evening had already been derailed so spectacularly with Maddie that Vlad simply could not take anymore.
As he suspected, once he finally looked up, Daniel was grinning like a fool. “I’m full of all kinds of surprises these days,” he promised. Vlad nodded numbly in agreement. He had a dozen questions at the tip of his tongue, but before he could force any of them out, Daniel was turning and heading for the door.
“See you around, Vlad,” he called over his shoulder before disappearing into the dark.
Vlad stared at the doorway for several minutes, lost in a whirlwind of thoughts and unable to pin any of them down.
“Ridiculous,” he finally muttered. It was all ridiculous. Maddie’s continual rejection and disdain had humiliated him for the last time, Vlad would endure it no longer. And Daniel! Showing up after years without contact, acting like they were something to each other beyond what they had always been, boasting about his new powers…it was a trick, or a trap, or both. Vlad wanted nothing to do with either of them, they were both beneath him.
With a completely justified and in no way dramatic sigh, Vlad turned on his heel to teleport home. He would return for his car later when it wasn’t raining. The only cure for such an evening was a large glass of wine and the company of his cats, who he may or may not be renaming.