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Vlad Masters was not a man that was easily surprised. For years he tried to prepare for every possible scenario he might encounter, be it in the mortal plane or in the Infinite Realms.
He was able to amass great wealth, enough that he was one of if not the richest man in the world. And with that wealth, he had been able to create a vast surveillance network that would make even Orwell feel faint at its scope. The secrets of the world lay at his fingertips.
And yet, people could still mystify him. A small part of him noted that remaining in isolation for twenty years as he slowly and painfully died a half death had likely not done his social skills or understanding any favors.
Maybe that lack of understanding had been what caused everything to spin so horrifically out of control.
Pouring himself another glass of… whatever he was currently drinking, Vlad held up the old college photo of himself, Madeline and Jack. A frozen moment in time when all of them had been alive, well and happy.
Oh, how times changed.
Now, two were dead and he was existing in a half-life that he had begun to wish would just end.
How had things gotten so out of hand?
Throwing back the glass of… whisky? Vlad slumped down into a plush chair that seemed to now have a permanent indentation of his body.
If he was honest with himself, a novel thing really, he knew that it had been his own actions that led to the destruction of everything he had ever wanted. He knew that his funding of the GIW and feeding them bits and pieces of ghostly information was a risk but it was a calculated risk and one that had paid off in dividends. But it seemed that the market had unexpectedly crashed around him.
Maybe, if he hadn’t pushed the agency into developing a more functional Plasmius Maximus then this disaster could have been avoided. The ability to completely nullify all ectoplasmic powers had been the last push the GIW needed to finally seal off Amity Park completely and begin experimenting on the ecto-contaminated citizens.
Well, if nothing else, he had personally purged the GIW of any and all knowledge on how to wield and develop ecto-infused equipment and any blueprints they may have once had also mysteriously disappeared from all of their servers. A small consolation considering that all of Amity Park was now gone but he would take what he could get at this point.
Not bothering with his glass, Vlad took a large drink right from the crystal decanter. Was that bourbon?
Really what was the point of… anything now? He was a selfish man, he knew that. But the truth was, he had always wanted a family to share his life and wealth with. For years he had wanted Madeline and Daniel to be that family. He had thought that, with his own half-dead status, Daniel might see a kindred spirit in him, that he might seek him out for advice and understanding. Or maybe he was simply projecting. Maybe he was the one that so desperately wanted to find a kindred spirit that could understand what he had gone through after the proto-portal accident.
“Pathetic.”
Vlad jerked in his chair, sloshing alcohol all over his rumpled shirt.
His blurry vision refused to clear as he squinted in the direction of approaching footsteps. “Who-“ But before he could finish the very valid question of who this intruder was and how they had gotten past his defenses, he was slapped across the face with enough force to send him and his chair tumbling to the floor.
Whoever was in his home scoffed before kicking his spilled decanter into the well, shattering the crystal. “I would say that trying to drown your feelings in alcohol is self-destructive but I think we both know you are more than capable of self-destruction even without turning to substance abuse.”
That voice, it was familiar. He tried again to squint up at whoever was now towering over him but quickly found himself gasping for air as the mystery visitor lifted him by the neck and slammed him into the wall.
“I know what you did, Vlad,” the figure spat disgustedly. “I know it was you that gave the GIW everything they needed to finally end us all.”
Vlad’s bloodshot eyes went wide.
A survivor!?
But he had seen the labs!
He had seen how everyone, men, women and children were all brutally cut open and experimented on before being exterminated.
The hand around his neck tightened as the figure before him snarled. “You know, ever since I got out, all I wanted was to end your pathetic excuse of an existence. I fantasized for months about ripping your core from your chest and crushing it in my hands.”
Even in his drunken haze, Vlad had enough awareness to feel the barely contained rage that radiated off of the person before him. It made a shiver run down his spine with how powerful and overwhelming the emotion was.
“But then I realized, you were more useful to me alive,” the person spoke coldly before releasing his neck and letting him crumple to the floor.
His head was pounding and his stomach lurched with nausea but his mind did manage to wonder what possible use would any survivor have for him?
“Look at me, Vlad.”
Without anything else to do and with some small curiosity as the who this lone survivor was, he obeyed and looked up. What he saw, made his core stutter in shock.
Jasmine.
But it was quite clear that she had not survived the labs.
Her red hair was now an eerie spectral blue and her aqua blue eyes burned a menacing blood red.
No, Jasmine Fenton had not survived the labs. She had died, just like everyone else.
Just like Madeline.
Just like Daniel.
A cold and mirthless smile spread across Jasmine’s face as she watched tears fall from Vlad’s eyes. “What? Don’t like seeing the fruits of your labor? Or are you just upset that I’m not my mom or Danny?”
He blinked and turned his gaze back to the floor, unable and unwilling to look at the face that for all its familial resemblances, was not the face of either of the people he had so desperately desired.
“Oh, come on Vlad. This is what you always wanted isn’t it?” she mocked him with a sing-song voice that felt colder than Daniel’s ice ever had. “A half-ghost that would turn to you for help. Isn’t that what you always wanted from Danny? To have him want to be just like you?”
Vlad flinched at Daniel’s name. He had been too much of a coward to look into whatever records the GIW had on Phantom. It would have done nothing but add to the pain he was already drowning in.
Wait…
Half-ghost?
A moment of clarity seemed to wash over him as he looked back at Jasmine with a wild desperation.
“You self-centered bastard,” she muttered darkly. “Even now, all you can think of is how this is what you always wanted. No thoughts of what I went through to get here at all.”
Without warning, a blood red ring appeared around Jasmine’s center before splitting apart with one moving up towards her head and the other down to her feet.
As the transformation overtook her, Vlad found his elation at finally having someone like him crumble. Actually seeing her human half made him wish that she had simply remained in her ghost form. Her body was painfully thin and her face looked more like a bare skull with how gaunt she had become. As for her clothing, only a bloody surgical gown provided any sense of modesty. Unfortunately for his stomach, the blood that had soaked through the gown clearly showed the Y-incision that, while healed, had been on her torso when she had died.
A wave of nausea overtook him as he imagined Madeline in a similar situation and he threw up the contents of his stomach, which admittedly was little more than alcohol and stomach acid, all over the floor.
Jasmine scoffed once more before allowing the blood red rings to wash over her emaciated form. “Get up,” she snarled while grabbing Vlad by the throat and slamming him once more into the wall.
Ignoring Vlad’s weak protests, she reached into her chest and removed a wicked looking device.
“I think you’ll enjoy this V-man.” A cruel smirk spread across Jazz’s face before she plunged her arm into his chest.
Vlad screamed.
The pain was incredible. Even worse than the agonizing feeling of having ectoplasm slowly fuse with every molecule in his body.
He screamed and screamed until suddenly the pain vanished.
Gasping for air, he found himself once again in a heap on the floor.
“A present from your friends at the GIW. Their latest ‘core crusher’ that they developed during the siege.” Jasmine’s voice had once again gone cold. “Fused around your core. Intangible and unreachable unless I activate it.”
Her red eyes burned with blazing rage as she looked down on the man whose actions had brought about the deaths of everyone she had ever known and loved.
The ecto-infused nano-bots flowing through her ectoplasm vibrated faintly in tandem with her core and she knew that with a mere thought, she could remotely trigger the core crusher.
The corner of her mouth curled upwards in satisfaction. “I own you Vlad. You want to continue existing? Then you do as I say. Your resources are mine. Your knowledge is mine. Your life, what’s left of it, is mine.”
Perhaps it was his pride getting the better of him, perhaps it was just the natural instinct to fight against someone threatening your existence, Vlad would never honestly know. All he did know, was that he wanted to slap this stupid girl. It didn’t matter if she was also a halfa now or that she was Madeline’s daughter. Right now, she was nothing but an obstacle and needed to understand her place.
A black ring of light appeared around his center but before he could transform, something red flew through the air, faster than his enhanced senses could follow and his body once again crumpled. Only this time, to his horror, he found that his limbs were no longer responding to his commands.
Looking up at Jasmine, Vlad caught sight of what appeared to be four blood red scalpels, slowly circling behind her head like some sort of bizarre halo.
“Ah, ah, ah. None of that now.” Jasmine seemed to be taking great pleasure in her actions as she absentmindedly twirled one of the scalpels between her fingers. “You don’t seem to understand the situation here, Vlad. So, let me make it perfectly clear to you. I. OWN. YOU. Mind, body and what is left of your soul are mine to use and do with as I please. Every additional moment of your existence is now a gift from me. Do you understand?”
When had this meddlesome girl grown so bold? Likely during the GIW’s siege, he assumed. Well, all he needed was for her to slip up once. Then he would remind her that he was not a man to cross.
As if reading his mind, Jasmine let out a bark of laughter. “You know what? I’m so glad that you’re putting up a fight. It’ll give me a chance to get some practice in.”
Vlad opened his mouth to ask just what she meant by ‘practice’ when he suddenly found himself lifted into the air and slammed back down onto a medical table that seemed to be made of the same red light as her scalpels. Glowing red clamps secured themselves around his limbs and he noticed, with just a faint hint of apprehension, that the number of red scalpels circling behind Jasmine’s head had doubled.
Leaning in close, Jasmine whispered into Vlad’s ear in a gleefully sadistic tone. “After being cut open over and over again, I finally memorized the GIW’s standard vivisection procedures.”
She pressed the tip of one red light scalpel just below his right eye, drawing a tiny bead of blood. “And I can’t wait to share that procedure with you.”