Third Person POV

After a very long flight, and many breaks to restore his energy, Danny arrived at his destination the next day. He floated to the ground, staring up at the massive structure. Danny was surprised that Vlad had even rebuilt it after Danny had destroyed it with his false report to the GIW. Despite it being a completely different structure, it still held all the horrible memories Danny wished to forget. He chuckled, at least it wasn't Vlad's cabin. But that thought didn't make Danny feel any better about what he was about to do.

He was about to enter Vlad's castle mansion in Wisconsin.

Earlier, the place had been filled with reporters and journalists alike, all searching the property for any secrets about the life of the mysterious Vlad Masters who had revealed himself as a half ghost by the name of Vlad Plasmius (which he claimed was his 'slightly more evil name'). But, as all people do, they had eventually gotten bored and left, most of them empty handed. Danny knew they wouldn't find anything, the elder halfa was good at hiding things. The GIW was working to get clearance to tear down the castle and search it for anything ecto-related, but the State of Wisconsin was very protective of the castle and the Mayor of Wisconsin was fighting to prevent it from being destroyed... again. Everyone else had a chance to dig around Vlad's estate, now it was Danny's turn.

He floated up and flew directly at the castle, phasing inside. Danny made his way around the castle until he found the elder halfa's study. It was large and held many bookcases filled with a large variety of books, ranging from the man's old college days to ghostly artifacts. There was a fireplace at the back of the room that Danny knew led to his secret lab, and there was a large oak desk at the side of the room. He decided that the desk would be a good place to start and began searching the man's desk for any sort of formal documents that could hold any information on Danny or his past.

To the young halfa's dismay, he found nothing except business letters, income stats, payrolls, and bills. He checked the drawers only to find the same items, with the occasional pen or sticky note. Danny looked over every inch of the desk, searching for a secret drawer, a hidden button, anything! He resorted to pulling the papers out of the drawers. Luck shined upon him as when he pulled the papers out of a small drawer near the bottom of the desk, he saw a small box.

 Reaching in the drawer Danny pulled out the box and opened it, revealing a small silver key. The teen wondered what could be so important about a key that Vlad felt the need to hide it among his paperwork. Nevertheless, Danny felt like it would come in handy later so he took it and placed it in his boot.

Danny turned intangible and phased down into Vlad's subterranean lab. The place was huge, even bigger than the last time Danny had seen it. The lab held multiple computers, tools, and of course the large portal at the back of the room. It was currently deactivated, but Danny felt uneasy being near it, half expecting Vlad to fly out of the portal. Papers and half done experiments littered the tables and floor of the lab. 

Danny was confused, it wasn't like Vlad to be so disorganized. It was unsettling. But the most confusing and unsettling thing about the lab, was that it looked like a battle had gone on in there. Scorch marks on the walls, tables and cabinets flipped, and most of the computer systems had been destroyed. Sighing, Danny set to work on searching the large lab though he couldn't help but feel like he was being watched.

After sifting through the random papers everywhere and searching all the file cabinets and drawers for about 20 minutes, Danny decided to move onto the computers. He booted up the nearest computer that was still in one piece. "Password please, honeylamb," a holographic version of Maddie said in a sickly sweet voice. The teen halfa shuddered at the thought of Vlad's 'Maddie holograms'. The man was seriously a creep.

He typed into the computer, 'Maddie Masters'. "Sorry lambchop, that password is incorrect," the computer Maddie said. Danny frowned and tried again.

'Daniel Masters'

"That password is incorrect."

'Packers'

"That password is incorrect."

Danny groaned, slamming his hands onto the keyboard. What could the password be? His eyes widened as an idea struck. His gloved fingers typed on the keyboard, 'Danielle Ryder'.

"Password accepted, sweetheart," the Maddie hologram said in a singsong voice.

Danny gulped. No, this could still be a trick. He probably made her the password to sell the lie even more. Danny wasn't going to fall for it. He began to search through the files on the computer. Nothing about the young halfa was in any of Vlad's files. In fact, the only things Danny could find were more business documents and formal letters. Why would Vlad keep files like that on the computer in his 'evil lab'? It was almost as if he had wiped his entire computer and replaced it's files with all this junk.

Admitting defeat, Danny was about to close off the computer and start searching the lab when he noticed a small icon at the bottom corner of the screen. It was a picture of his DP emblem with a lock over it. Curious, Danny clicked on it and a white box appeared on the screen. The words 'Insert key' were written on the box in black.

Insert key? Wait, key! Danny reached into his boot and pulled out the small silver key. He looked around on the console for a place to insert the key. There was a small keyhole on the top of the console. Taking a deep breath, Danny inserted the key. It fit! Danny slowly turned the key, still holding his breath.

A ding sounded and the white box turned green as the message changed to 'KEY ACCEPTED'. A beam of red light shot out of the computer and scanned Danny's body up and down. The message in the box changed once again, as it now said 'CONFIRMED RECIPIENT: DANIEL FENTON'. The box was removed as a black video screen popped up on the monitor. Danny pressed the play button and Vlad's face instantly filled the screen.

"Is this thing on? For my sake I hope it is," Vlad's voice said. The man was currently staring straight into the camera in an extreme close-up. The sudden appearance of Danny's arch-nemesis caught the teen off guard and he yelped in surprise, moving into an attack stance while also floating a few feet above the ground. Realizing that it wasn't actually Vlad, just a video of him, Danny calmed down and floated to the ground. 

He crossed his legs and hovered above the floor. Listening to whatever the Fruitloop had to say was definitely not on Danny's top ten list of things to do, but he knew that there was a chance he might gain some answers from the elder halfa's words. Vlad walked away from the camera and took a seat behind his desk. He looked pressed and proper as always, but his eyes were dull and bloodshot. He looked as if he hadn't slept in days.

Smoothing down his suit, Vlad began to speak. "Hello Daniel. If you're watching this it means you didn't believe me. And that you're sleuthing skills have improved." Vlad folded his hands under his chin and rested his elbows on the desk, staring directly into the camera. "I can't blame you for having doubts Little Badger. If I were you I wouldn't believe me either. In all honestly, I'm glad you found this video. Despite what I said in my letter, I never was very good writing my feelings down. Explaining things yes. My feelings? Well, that's another matter. I am much better at talking when it comes to this particular subject."

Vlad sighed, smoothing down his hair, "Since you don't trust my word, trust your own actions. Behind you there should be a fridge. Open it and remove the red vial labeled Sample 2H."

Danny turned and saw the fridge. It was small and had a clear door that showed it's contents. A thin layer of frost could be seen on the glass. There was also a small crack on the glass door. The young halfa rose up in the air slightly and put his feet on the ground. He walked over to the fridge and opened it, grabbing the only item inside the fridge. A single test tube filled with dark red liquid. There were some spots of green in the liquid as well. The tube was marked as 'Sample 2H: Masters, Vladimir'. Danny quickly realized it was blood in the test tube he was currently holding. Vlad's blood. The teen suppressed a gag and held the vial at arms length.

"Take the vial and insert it into the computer." The recording of Vlad said calmly, "There should be a port near where you inserted the key." Danny walked back over to the computer and looked around on the console, finding the port Vlad mentioned to the right of the place where he had inserted the small key. He placed the tube into the port, and the vial was sucked down. Quickly after the vial containing Vlad's blood went into the computer, a clean test tube emerged from the port. "Now Daniel, you will need to insert a sample of your blood into the test tube. There is a small needle in the drawer under the computer. All you need to do is prick your finger and let a few drops of blood drip into the test tube," Vlad's voice instructed.

Danny frowned and looked under the desk and spotted the drawer. He opened it and sure enough, a container holding a small clean needle rested inside. Taking the container in his hand, Danny let two white rings wash over his body and change him back to his human form. He removed the needle from the container and stared at it. Danny knew that if he did this, there was no going back. He was going to learn the truth about everything. The teen hovered the needle over his left index finger, taking a deep breath, and pricked his finger with the needle. He placed the needle back into it's container on the console and held his finger over the opening of the test tube, letting a few drops of blood drip into the vial. Once the vial was filled enough, the test tube was sucked into the computer.

"There are some bandages in the drawer as well Daniel. In case you wanted one," Vlad's recording said. Danny ignored the man's words and placed the container with the used needle in his pocket to dispose of later. He couldn't leave any trace of his DNA in Vlad's secret lab if the GIW were able to get a warrant to search the castle. The recording of Vlad shrugged, as if he had known the teen would ignore him. Danny frowned and reached for a bandage, wrapping it around the small pin prick which had long stopped bleeding. The recording of Vlad smiled.

"Manipulative old Fruitloop." He muttered, transforming back into his ghost form. Being human down in his lab filled Danny with unease. He still felt like he was being watched, and not just because there was a giant image of Vlad staring down at him. No, it was something else. Danny wanted to be prepared for anything, and being in ghost form just made him feel a lot safer.

A light flashed on the console next to a red button. Danny's attention went from the video on the screen to the light, then back to the screen."By now there should be a flashing light beside a red button. Press it and you will learn the truth." Vlad said, folding his hands under his chin.

Danny looked from Vlad to the button. He hesitantly moved his hand toward it and hovered it over the button. Once he did this, he was really going to learn the truth. He was going to get the answers he wanted. That this was all some sick joke and he wasn't Vlad's son. The nightmare would finally be over and he would go back home to start his search for his real parents. Closing his eyes, Danny whispered, "No going back." The video recording of Vlad silently sat there, looming over the teen.

And in one swift movement, Danny slammed his hand down on the button.