Chapter 11
It had been little over a year since Danny had checked himself into Belle Rêve. In that time, quite a lot had changed for him.
Initially the plan had been to roam for a while, find a place he and Cujo could stay. The guilt and fear over what happened to his town though, made him paranoid. The thought that he could, would, turn into that monster. It utterly destroyed him mentally. The blame for everything that happened, all on him. He caused it all. Even if part was technically Dan, he is Dan in the making. Who knows what could happen in the 10 years that could still turn him into that? How many people he could hurt?
It wasn't a chance he was willing to take.
His first option would have been to go to Walker. The ghostly warden already wanted him locked up simply for existing so it wouldn't have been too much of a mess. But he would constantly be surrounded by his favorite ghosts, note the sarcasm. It would almost for sure lead to some form of Dan in the future.
Most prisons in the human world weren't even made to hold anybody 'special'. Those that did, had no idea how to hold ghosts. But at least he wouldn't have to deal with Skulker trying to skin him alive.
Getting into a meeting with Miss Waller wasn't easy. Step 1 was to get her to understand he was, in fact, NOT his brother. Damned be his public persona. He did hide the fact they were twins, for both their sake. He didn't need any special treatment because of his family ties.
Convincing her he was a mass murderer and a danger to the world even less convenient. She had been tempted to send him to Black Gate or Arkham, but with a bit of a display of his powers and pulling up some articles about him, she allowed him to stay. Of course they had quite a complicated deal but at least he knew that there was somebody that wouldn't hesitate to put an end to it when the time came. They had several points in their deal, almost none were too big of a hassle to agree too.
#1: Danny would be allowed to modify the control collars so it would cancel out his specific ones. Since the originals were made to inhibit meta powers, they would need an upgrade to handle ghost powers. He had made 5 different ones in total, each with a few spares in case of a malfunction. The one around his neck was mainly to block his transformation, ecto-signature and his ghostly wail. On his left wrist was the one to block out the entirety of his ecto-energy manipulation. This included, but was not limited to his shields and blasts. The right one had been to block out his enhanced senses but that didn't work so well. Later on it was converted to blocking off his ice powers. On his left ankle was the restriction to his flying and invisibility. Lastly, on the right one was intangibility and cloning. They were admittedly a mess to get functional as the main obstacle was that his powers were hardwired into him. Eventually, he figured out that if he got the collars to be powered by his own energy, his body wouldn't fight it. A nice bonus was that it also helped to keep his energy levels in check.
In return, Miss Waller got a personal remote for his collars and his collars only. She was the only one except for Danny that even knew of its existence. She was also given the thermos. Danny didn't really like giving it away but he knew she was responsible enough to keep it safe and use it.
#2: Danny was allowed to keep Cujo, but he was his responsibility. Anything and everything that went wrong was Danny's to fix or be punished for.
Miss Waller would never admit this was mostly because she likes how cute the puppy was. Never. It also didn't help that Cujo did not take kindly to being told to leave. He had grown into his hound form and stood between Waller and Danny when she first tried to deny it. Knowing they wouldn't be able to do much to keep him out, she agreed to let him stay.
#3: Danny's existence here in the prison would be kept a secret from every file possible. If he had to be referenced, he would henceforth be called by his cell number.
In return, he would be the inside eyes and ears for Waller. Anything shady being talked about between the inmates would be reported to her immediately.
#4: If and when necessary, Danny will do whatever it takes, including giving up his life, to protect Belle Rêve. That counted for both inside and outside threats of any kind.
In return, Danny got a bit more leeway than other prisoners when it came to personal belongings in their cells. Because that is a perfectly fair trade off for his life.
Danny didn't mind that much in all honesty. Upon his personal request he had been given his own cell in the isolation ward. Partially so he wouldn't get attached to somebody, or get recognized. Because the chances of that were just sooo incredibly high, right? To at least kind of hide his face, as he would still be kept under watch of the guards, he had been given a modified suit. They were pretty much identical to the standard issued prison orange, except his had an extended collar on his undershirt. It fit somewhat loosely as to not give away too much of the shape of his face, but still tight enough to remain in place. He left it off most of the time when he was alone, but the white fabric would cover the bottom half of his face when the guards or anybody else came close by. Which wasn't all that often as his cell was all the way at the end of the block.
The main reason he had requested an isolated cell was because he didn't trust his powers not to act up. The collars did a lot, but at times they could not keep up with the amount of energy he had. As the months passed, he could tell that his powers were still growing. It was at one of those times, where his powers acted up, that he made a new friend.
Chapter 12
It was only a few weeks after his 13th birthday. No matter what he did or tried, he kept feeling like he was going to freeze to death. Medical staff had checked him over and found that his internal temperature was way past hypothermic. With what limited equipment they had, they did all the tests they could. None of them helped them to figure out what was going on.
Danny suffered in silence mostly. He couldn't keep warm and would regularly black out for a little. He knew what it felt like when his powers were overloaded. Even with the collars syphoning off quite a lot of it, it wasn't enough. With no way for him to actually release the excess energy, it started eating through his body in an attempt to be used up. This turned into a torturous cycle as his own powers were eating him from the inside, while they were also responsible for attempting to heal the damage it did. No amount of eating helped him keep his weight up as he burned more than he could reasonably be given by the staff.
Cujo had come by from his trip to the outside world. The pup stayed with him quite a lot, but he was and would forever be a free soul that enjoyed wandering around from time to time. Danny could barely respond as he was too cold and weak to do more than a small smile to his friend. Cujo had taken one sniff and had taken off again. Truthfully, it had hurt a bit. He didn't know what was going on and could really use some company.
Miss Waller had come to check on him as he seemed to be getting worse by the day. If her reputation as the stone cold warden wasn't at stake, she would have openly showed her concern for him. There wasn't much she could do except for keep him company. On a daily schedule she would come over and work on some paperwork. Half of the time she was there, Danny would be passed out under a pile of blankets. His already skinny frame was steadily shrinking as it had become harder and harder for him to even eat.
During one of those visits, Cujo had returned. And he had brought company. A giant yeti like creature stood with the pup. It had minimal clothes on, but what stood out were the horns and left arm made out of ice. The yeti, who introduced himself as Frostbite, had requested to take Danny with him. There was a whole bunch of ghost mumbo jumbo that she didn't understand. What she did understand was that it was for Danny's own safety. She had reluctantly agreed and had turned off his collars. Within a fraction of a second, Danny's unconscious body forced itself into his ghost form. Ice had spiked around him and covered the entirety of his cell. Danny's own body had visibly started to freeze over before Frostbite managed to pick him up. With a promise of returning soon, both the yeti and the pup had disappeared again. Leaving Waller even more confused than before, hoping she made the right choice.
It had ended up being very much the right choice. As Danny had only been turned into half a ghost, his core had taken longer to start maturing than it would have for a full ghost. Apparently his timing was all wrong. That damned Stopwatch had meddled yet again and conveniently dropped hints to Frostbite about the possibility of his core being ice. Thus Frostbite had somebody monitor Danny so they would be able to keep up with his powers and have an estimate on how to train him. Of course, it being Danny's luck we are talking about, his powers manifested too early. But also too late in a way? Because of his half ghost status, it wasn't instant, but they had thought it would have come during puberty, around 15 or so, not 13. The whole mess with Dan and having the wail years too early, plus Danny doing his best to seal away his powers set his core into overdrive. This in turn caused it to have something like a sudden growth spurt to put it simply.
A core is akin to a heart in some ways. It both powers the existence of the ghost and their basic powers, but it also can grant them special powers. The lesser ghosts like the ectopusses didn't possess a special core. They simply had neutral cores as their being was too unstable for anything stronger. Amber, however, was a prime example of a fire core. Just like Technus was one for the electric cores.
Though having a special core was already rather rare to begin with, there were subdivisions within those cores that made them even rarer. Danny's being one of them. It was already rare for somebody of Frostbite's tribe to come into existence, as they were all ice cores. Outside of his tribe had only been one other case of an ice core. Though a weaker one, and thus not capable of the same things as Frostbite's tribe, Klemper also possessed an ice core. He notably had no issues in the cold, hell he even preferred it as his own lair had been a winter wonderland of loneliness. He could freeze some things here and there and control the snow within his own lair, but outside of that he couldn't do much.
Danny was the first in a long time to have an ice core. Even rarer was that he wasn't a full ghost. This had likely been why he didn't immediately have these powers. It had taken about a year for his core to mature enough for them to present clearly. There had been traces, such as the cold whisps when a ghost was nearby, or his increased tolerance to the cold. Now, however, they had started to manifest. Without Danny knowing what it was, there was no way he knew how to control it. Frostbite and his tribe had taught him how to control it and tried to help him get his weight back up. He had gained quite some back but he still had a long way to go. Of course they had also questioned him as to why he was in a human prison. Danny only gave half answers until they had respected his boundaries and dropped it.
He had spent some time at the Far Frozen to learn to control his new found powers. He had basically repeated the training he had from Clockwork now with Frostbite. He had decent control over it, but nowhere near a master. For him, that was good enough. Most of the basics ran parallel to ecto-energy anyway, so there wasn't much need to continue training.
He had enjoyed his time there and found some of their prophesies rather amusing. Frostbite and some of the elders had taken upon calling him the 'great one' as he resembled one of their paintings. He had to stifle his laugh when they showed him. Yeah, his scrawny ass was supposed to be this long foretold champion that would defeat the reigning ghost king. Sure. Because being half ghost wasn't crazy enough yet.
Danny had said his goodbyes to the Far Frozen, not without promising he would see if he could work something out about yearly training sessions. Truthfully, he would be thankful if Waller didn't suck him into the thermos upon his return.
By some miracle, she had actually smiled when he was brought back to her office. Turns out Cujo had been playing messenger pup the whole time, keeping her updated on the progress. Danny had still fallen to his knees and begged for her forgiveness. He felt awful for breaking their agreement and leaving. To be fair, he didn't really agree to leaving. It was more like medical kidnapping really.
Miss Waller had laughed at his pitiful display of regret. She promised him there wasn't an issue as she had given permission for it herself. She was glad he was well enough to come back. She had come to miss being out of her office once in a while.
Once Danny was sure everything was alright, he updated his file to include the new things he had learned. It hadn't taken him too long to fix his right hand collar to block them out. He would never openly admit it, but he had dragged it out as much as he reasonably could. For as long as it took him to work on it, he stayed with Waller in her office. She wanted to keep an eye on the materials he used. Plus there was no reasonable way to explain why he would be allowed to be tinkering at his collars in his cell for all the guards to see. He too had enjoyed not being alone all the time and liked having somebody to talk to. Not that he didn't talk to Cujo, but the pup couldn't particularly formulate his own sentences.
Much to Danny's delight, however, their hang out moments had not ended after the collar was adjusted. Miss Waller had kept up her previous routine of visiting Danny's cell for paperwork or simply having a talk with the boy. He had requested some books when he first arrived. Every now and again he had asked for new ones. He mainly asked for psychology and astrology, but also some basic school books to not fall too far behind and some others for entertainment. Though he did not enjoy school, he also didn't want to be stuck with the mentality of a 12 year old.
One time Danny had finished one of his pleasure books. He had complained in great detail how he disliked the ending and how he would have done it. Miss Waller had teased that he should just write his own then. Danny had asked how he was going to publish it, realizing too late he had walked into a proverbial trap. Waller laughed and said she's let him publish as a ghost writer, very proud of her horrible pun. Danny had to laugh a little but decline the offer. He was pretty sure the actual Ghost Writer would find a way to hunt him down if he ever tried.
Waller, of course, also enjoyed their occasional intellectual conversations. She may not know or understand most of what Danny rambled on about, but is was a nice change from the usual prison duties.
It was one of those visits where she looked more frustrated than usual. Danny knew it was one of the telltale signs of new prisoners arriving soon. That and he accidentally saw the forms she was filling in. She had expressed her great displeasure with the new meat as there was something about it that she didn't like. It would be the first time in her career that she had heard about a criminal purposely asking for a retrial that would guarantee a harsher punishment. Something was going on and she did not like it. Seeing how frustrated it made her, Danny couldn't help but feel the same.
Something was about to go down, sooner rather than later.
Chapter 13
It had been a few days since Miss Waller's last visit. It wasn't abnormal for her to stay away for a prolonged time when new inmates arrived. Security was also more on edge in case the newbies caused any issues. That didn't mean Danny liked it.
Due to the increase in security protocol, Danny hadn't seen his favorite guard in a while either. The man wasn't anything special, but he was the only guard that didn't treat him like a piece of trash. He was extremely good at his job and had a good eye for detail. When he did his rounds, he would hang out at his cell door for a while. Sometimes it was just a meaningless chat, other times he got some updates on what the outside world looked like. He hadn't tried to be obvious about it, but the guard, Officer Wilcox, always gave him some form of update on what Gotham's Dynamic Duo had been doing. Any other guards would think he was just fanboying over the heros, or rubbing in for those who got put there by them.
Danny knew better.
He was a good man and had never asked why Danny had been interested.
Now with the new inmates, and some new hires, officer Wilcox has been put on training and gen pop monitoring. Much to Danny's dismay, the guards that replaced him showed a lot less kindness. If anything, he was lucky if he didn't get some backhanded insult thrown at him. It was somewhat known amongst the guards that the warden had a soft spot for him. They absolutely disagreed with that. To them, he was worse than the standard inmate. Danny couldn't blame them too much though.
He had been in solidary since day 1. His file was extremely classified. And of course he had appeared without a notice. They knew something shady had to have happened for a child to be put in here. But they also feared him. He knew they did. Any logical thinking person would. He was the only one in the entire prison to have more than one collar, let alone 5. Lots of rumors were spread about him. Some more funny than others. A handful were about how he got there. The most entertaining one so far was that he was somehow a failed human experiment that had gone rogue and killed his researchers. Interestingly enough, one had recently popped up about him being the clone of the big 3. But very few actually believed it. Others were about how powerful he might be. Somehow it got spread around that he could create people's worst nightmares and consumed that fear to get stronger.
It was around lunch time when he heard the angry stomping of a guard coming his way. Much to his dismay, Officer Riker was making a beeline for him. Riker was one of those guards that barely treated him as human. Sure, he was only half human but they didn't know that.
Riker slammed a fist against the bars as he spat at Danny. "Your damn mutt was in the kitchen again! I swear I will get that thing banned from here! Forget about going to the Mess later, you're staying right here. And don't think that you'll get any delivery either. Waller won't keep protecting you forever." Throwing some more verbal abuse his way, the man seemed to enjoy taking whatever anger he had out on Danny. He had already learned that Riker is one of those that shows off his dominance. As long as you are quiet during his hissy fit he'll leave you alone afterwards. At least others were fun to taunt a little. Not Riker though. He might see it as an invitation to enter his cell and escalate it. Danny only made that mistake once.
Danny sighed as he leaned back against the wall once he was sure Riker was gone. He wondered how many meals he would be denied this time. If only Miss Waller would have the time to make a visit. She couldn't outright go against protocol and have food made special for him, but sometimes she would bring some home made food for him. She had been told during his absence to the Far Frozen that he had been losing weight too much. Every now and then he would start getting some extra meals brought to him by Wilcox. The man had a great deal of respect for Miss Waller and never questioned the food, or the visits. Another reason why Danny liked him. Sometimes he would even bring his own and they would have lunch together. Wilcox was great at languages so he was quite a help to Danny.
Growing up in a traveling circus made him pick up a lot of languages. As he got older and barely got to use most of them, he started to unlearn them. He also had some issues with reading but he didn't really know why. He could read a word multiple times and each time it looked different. Wilcox never made fun of him though. He even asked Danny to teach him some words. Cujo had also taken a liking to the man, so being able to convey orders to the pup came in handy. Especially when it was about having to hide.
It came with it's own struggles though. Danny had trained Cujo like he was his own, with his own signals and commands. Though he did trust Wilcox, he preferred to keep some stuff just between him and Cujo. So he had taught him some basic Esperanto instead. Before Danny had arrived at Belle Rêve, the pair had run into Wulf. The wolf ghost had no problem communicating with Cujo, though the pup only barked. Quite an easy way to find out Cujo did in fact understand Esperanto. It wasn't just come lucky coincidence the ghost dog understood him.
Wilcox had only learned a few things, by his own request. He didn't really treat Cujo as a dog, but more as a friend to talk to. Many of the commands he had learned were more geared to keeping the pup out of harms way than to order him around.
Danny had vowed to himself that he would do whatever he could to keep the man safe. He couldn't do much, but at least he could do that.
The ghost boy had sat quietly in his cell for a few hours now. He didn't really want to read or do anything else. He already tried to do some stretching earlier but had felt more than enough stiffness from his starving muscles for the day. He had closed his eyes, hoping to sleep away the hunger pangs for now. His eyes shot open again as he felt an all too familiar chill run through his body.
Cujo popped up out of the wall as he pranced over to the bed with some precious cargo. Danny cackled a little as Cujo struggled to jump up without ruining hos bounty. He picked up the ghost dog as he put him in his lap. "What you got there, boy? Did you get yourself into some trouble again?" Cujo looked up at him. In his mouth was a pretty sad looking piece of meat. He nodded his head towards the halfa, meat flapping around as he did. Danny took it from him with a bit of a laugh and tore it in half. Though he appreciated the gesture, he didn't feel like eating ghost drool. He gave that part back to Cujo as he ate the other half. Cold and bland, but better than nothing.
He really hoped that whoever Cujo took this from wasn't too upset about it.
Chapter 14
Alarms started blearing. The lights in the entire block shut down as extra sets of bars fell down in front of each cell. Emergency light illuminated the area as the sirens continued to ring. Heavy steel blast doors descended as the exit of the block was closed off. The few guards that were inside rushed to their respective bunkers.
Panic shot through Danny as he anxiously grabbed onto Cujo. This couldn't be happening. What could have possibly caused a lockdown like this? Was Miss Waller okay? He did his best to keep his breathing even as he focused on the feeling of Cujo's fur.
Breathe in.
Hold.
Breathe out.
Steady.
He managed to calm himself down enough to think of what to do. Logically he would have to go to Miss Waller, but everything got shut down. If he tried to get out he would have to use his powers. But he couldn't do that as long as the collars were on.
As if some demon from hell heard him, the collars had turned off. Danny could hear the other two inmates in his block rejoice as they broke out and started working on breaking down the blast doors. Danny's collars, however, were still semi functional. One of the extra benefits of having modified these himself. They were powered by his own energy. Of course they couldn't run at full capacity anymore. Theoretically he would be able to use his powers, albeit weakened and with constant electricity coursing through his body. This, of course, would also make him a risk to everybody around him as controlling one's powers during immense pain is not easy. They used high voltages in Belle Rêve for a reason.
Danny lifted up Cujo so they would be at eye level. "Cujo, you gotta do something for me. I need you to go look for miss Waller, okay? Găsiți-o pe doamna Waller. Can you do that for me without causing any issues? Don't let anybody see you. Be careful, yeah? Fii in siguranta te rog." He pleaded with the puppy. Cujo yipped softly and ran off through the wall. Danny just curled into a ball, hoping his friends will be alright.
Cujo ran straight for Waller's office. He kept up his invisibility as he looked around the empty room. His fur spiked up as he could feel residual energy in the air. Growing into his bigger from, he sniffed the air and followed the track he had of the warden. The invisible hound ended up in one of the cells in Block 4 of gen pop of the male side. Inside he saw the annoying doctor in black, a guard he didn't recognize, Wilcox and Miss Waller. Carefully he walked over to miss Waller, slightly hovering as to not alert the inmates standing guard outside.
Once he managed to reach her, he lightly booped her shoulder with his nose. Waller gasped lightly, attracting the attention of Wilcox. She motioned for him to be quiet as she patted the spot Cujo touched. Upon her signal, he let himself become visible after he had shrunk down to hide better. He hid behind the woman as he peaked his head out. Wilcox moved slightly closer so he would be blocking the view of the door. Waller brought her hands up to her mouth and rubbed them together, giving the appearance of being cold. It also worked amazingly as a cover to talk to Cujo. "Where is he?"
Cujo shook his head and scratched at his collar. Though he couldn't talk, he could still communicate. Waller sighed. Damn that boy and his collars actually doing their job. Waller gave the pup a quick glance before she went back to rubbing her hands. "My office. The remote is in a hidden part of my desk under the computer. Left it there in case they did a body search before taking me with them."
Cujo rushed over to the office. It wasn't too hard for him to find it as he could sniff out the trace markings of sent. He grabbed the remote that controlled Danny's collars and went back to the young halfa's cell.
Danny jumped slightly as Cujo had suddenly popped out of the wall. He hadn't expected the pup to be gone for as long as he was. He sobered up quickly as he noticed the device in the pup's mouth. "Cujo, where-?" His question was cut off as Cujo had practically spit the remote into his lap. He wagged his tail excitedly and yipped at Danny. The halfa did not like the look of this. Not only was the remote covered in pretty disgustingly sticky drool, but it was hisremote. Miss Waller would have never given it to Cujo if it wasn't a serious matter. Truthfully he had hoped there was simply a system malfunction and that it would all be fixed with ease.
Instead one of his worst fears came back to him.
Danny had made the remote with the option to shut his collars down only because it would be necessary to do his guard dog duties in the worst case scenarios. Never had he actually thought it'd get to it. Belle Rêve is supposed to be inescapable and secured. Judging from the alarms going off and now the remote, he was fairly certain that there was an active prison break going off. He grabbed the remote, just one press of a button and he would get all his powers back.
Except he didn't want to.
In his time spent after the accident, he hated who he was. What he used to be. He wasn't a hero, he was a murderer. Not worthy of his emblem. Not worthy of being recognized. If anything, he should be feared. The mere existence of him is already a threat to the universe. Yet here he is. Having to activate the powers he worked so hard on to forget he ever had them. Except for the one time when Frostbite got here, which was completely involuntarily, he had not once transformed. He had feared the rush of power it gives. Knowing that with a flick of his hand he could blast right through the walls. How easy it would be to mess up again like before.
He was scared.
Scared of unleashing his power.
Scared of becoming him.
He had the remote, he could easily just shut down his collars and escape. He could go wherever he pleased. Do whatever he pleased. Become whatever he pleased.
And that scared him.
Having that control given back to him after desperately trying to get rid of it. Being happy without it.
What if he didn't want to give it up again?
What if that part of him decided to manifest right then and there and destroy everything?
Cujo had stopped wagging his tail as he noticed the inner turmoil the younger ghost was going through. He calmly approached the shaking teen, who had silent tears rolling down his cheeks. Much like little over a year ago, Cujo climbed into his lap and licked Danny's cheek. He wined as he softly headbutted the teen in the middle of his chest.
Right where his emblem would be.
Danny sighed as he wrapped his arms around the pup loosely. "I can't do it, Cujo. I just can't. What if I mess up? What if I do more harm than good?" Like last time floated in his mind, not daring to say it out loud. He owed it to all those people that lost their lives because of him. He owed it to them to not become that. To serve his time. Maybe, in about 14 years, when he would be sure that future wouldn't happen. Maybe then he would be able to leave.
Cujo headbutted his chest again. The pup got up and walked out in front of Danny's cell. Danny watched him go, confused. He looked so tiny out in the hallway. Sometimes it was easy to forget just how big the prison really is when he barely leaves his cell. Cujo sat in the middle of the hallway, whining softly as loud crashes and screaming would be heard in the distance.
Danny knew what he was trying to say. But he wasn't sure if he should listen. He left extremely selfish for not watching to go out there.
For being too scared.
What a shit excuse of a 'hero' he was.
Instead of helping the people he cared for, keeping his promise, he was sitting on the floor crying like a baby. Anybody else would have jumped at the opportunity. Hell, every fiber in his body is yelling at him, pleading to just do something, anything! He stared helplessly at the remote in his hands. Such a small thing, so much power.
Cujo had walked back into Danny's cell. He wasn't sure what else he would do to convince the teen. He couldn't force Danny to use his powers. If this is the end of a young hero with a bright future then that was not for him to change. He nudged Danny's arm as he gave him a pleading look. His position was clear, the rest was out of his paws.
Both their heads perked up as there was a sudden loud crash in the front of the hall. Danny rushed to the bars but could barely make out what was happening. The screaming of the guards mixed in horribly with the alarms. Those other prisoners had broken into the guards' bunker and a fight had broken out.
Cujo rushed out to the aid of the guards. Though he was in his hound form, he couldn't do much. One of the inmates had at one point been injected with Coba's hybrid venom. He was massive and was only slightly smaller that Cujo at full height.
Danny was frantically screaming for Cujo to come back. He couldn't handle it alone. Danny became more and more desperate to help his friend as he heard the cries with each hit he took. Danny punched and kicked at the bars but he was too weak to do anything. His friend was getting hurt and it's all his fault. He should be the one getting beaten up! He should be out there protecting him, not the other way around! Though a mixture of rage and fear fueled tears, he picked the remote up again and punished in the code.
The red lights on his colors shifted to green as they had been set to standby mode.
Danny felt the wave of power rush over him as he doubled over for a second. His eyes burned a toxic green as he allowed it to spread and take him over. Electricity sparked off of him as his abundance of energy tried to escape. He reached out to that oh so familiar cold feeling inside of him, pulling it to the surface for the first time in a long time. The energy burst out around him, freezing and burning parts of his cell. Flaming ice exploded out of his cell as Danny emerged from the small area. His orange prison suit had turned a brilliant blue as his undershirt had turned black. His hair had turned a snowy white while his eyes burned green.
The explosion of energy had caught the attention of the two inmates that had infiltrated the bunker. From the furthest cells they saw smoke coming out. Before either of them could comment, Danny had flown right at them. He punched the biggest one of them with the full momentum he had. The guy was sent flying through the wall from the sheer amount of force. Danny turned to the other one and in a blink of an eye he had him by the throat. "Don't you ever dare touch him again." He growled before he rammed his elbow into the guy's temple, effectively knocking him out as well.
Danny rushed over to Cujo's side. "I'm so sorry. I should have been there sooner, should have protected you. Are you hurt?" He rambled as Cujo excitedly licked his face again. He barked happily, although the sound of his hound form terrified the guards.
Danny turned and realized the guards were still there. "Ah, shit, um I'm sorry. Are you guys okay?" They seemed to be too scared to answer, not trusting their voice. The burlier one of the two shook his head no. The man looked like he only got a few cuts and bruises before Cujo had gotten there. The other one wasn't as lucky. The young man was clutching his arm that looked like it was slightly swelling up.
Danny tried to step forward, but the men fearfully tried to scurry away. He held up his hands and didn't move. "I don't want to hurt you, I promise. I just wanna have a look at it okay?" The young man looked over to his colleague who nodded at him. He turned back towards Danny and gave a short nod. Slowly he walked over and took a careful look at the arm. The young guard winced as he moved his arm around for the child to inspect, but at least it didn't seem broken.
"Would it be okay for me to touch your arm?"
He honestly rather asked before either of them thought he was attacking them.
Luckily the young guard nodded his head. Danny positioned the arm in a way that seemed comfortable enough. "Please don't freak out okay? It won't hurt." He didn't give the man much time to react as he let his eyes glow an icy blue. Being careful to not have it touch the skin, he created a cast and sling for the man's arm. "You should be safe here for now, but try to not move for a while. I'm not sure what the rest looks like so I prefer your chances here."
Danny got up as the guards thanked him. The younger guard looked up from his new icy cast as Danny retreated back to Cujo. "What's your name?" Danny looked back over his shoulder. "That isn't important, what is important is that we get this situation dealt with." He looked back at Cujo who seemed to have recovered from the hits he took earlier.
"Okay boy, take me to Miss Waller."
Chapter 15
Danny and Cujo silently phased thought the floor of the cell miss Waller and some others were being held. The place had a slight dusting of ice all over as the senior ice villains were freezing over the wall. Miss Waller had placed herself towards the end of the bunk beds with officer Wilcox slightly ahead of her. He was effectively blocking the view of the prisoners outside on Waller. Dr Strange had decided to sit a bit further back in the cell. This made it easy for Danny and his pup to take a seat on the bed behind her so nobody would notice his presence too much.
Waller felt an unnatural chill go up her spine as she felt the leering presence of the ghost boy behind her. "Took you long enough." She whispered in between blowing on her hands. A wave of otherworldly fear and cold washed over her. As if on instinct, Amanda ever so slightly curled in on herself.
"I'm sorry! I know I shouldn't have left without permission and-" The ghost boy stammered behind her until a chuckle interrupted him.
"Kid if that remote wasn't permission enough then you wouldn't know what permission was even if it punched you in the face."
"Right, sorry." Danny awkwardly rubbed the back of his head as he felt the invisible blush creep up. Of course Miss Waller was the one that told Cujo where the remote was. Of course he had to get out, its all part of the deal.
"Apologize by getting your job done."
Right. Right. He had a job to do. Danny took a quick look over at Wilcox. The man looked relatively okay outside of the cut on his eyebrow and the blossoming bruise around it. The shivers also didn't look all too good but he could fix that if he takes care of those ice villains out there.
"Cujo," Danny whispered, "elkonduku la malfruulojn." On the command, the pup let out a soundless bark and disappeared through the wall. Danny floated a bit forward until he was in reach of both Waller's and Wilcox's shoulder. "Please hang on a little longer. I'll get this fixed, but I can't be everywhere so please keep the act up for a little longer."
Officer Wilcox tensed just a little at the prospect. "Ma'am." He whispered harshly as he sent a quick quizzing glance at the general direction of where he suspected the invisible boy was. "I get he wasn't any trouble as an inmate but do you trust him to fix this mess? No offence kid, but you don't look like you can take on the entire prison on your own."
Danny shrugged before he realized they couldn't see him. "None taken, sir. It's a valid concern. Ma'am, the choice is up to you." He hands over the remote back to Waller as Wilcox can see it appear in the warden's hands.
Waller smirked as she handed the controls back to Danny. Danny fumbled a little as he wasn't exactly prepared to be handed things. "The boy will do as he needs to to protect this place. He is the perfect guard dog after all." Officer Wilcox stared at the Warden, looking for something Danny want quite sure of what it was. Finally he relaxed his shoulders as he looked over to where he guessed Danny to be. "Alright kid. We'll do whatever we can to keep everything level here until you're done with everything."
Danny smiled and gave a soft pat on the shoulder before he invisibly walked out into the halls. He noted that a good portion of the inmates still had their collars on. Even one of the senior ice villains did. That made his job a whole lot easier.
Step 1 was already in motion. Cujo might not be the strongest of ghosts out there but he can hold himself against some no name D list meta villain. That also meant Danny had more time to spend on the heavy hitters roaming the grounds.
Step 2 would be to turn on the collars again. Since miss Waller activated the lockdown sequence, it should automatically turn on all the still secured collars. Except for his of course since the remote was a master override sort of deal. The collars should take care of at least a solid third of the escapees, if not more.
Step 3 would depend on how the remaining escapees react. Either it devolves into more chaos as they start splitting up. Or they all gang up together in an attempt to still make their plan work. No matter though, he hadn't even checked the women's wing yet. A certain redhead would be giving him a whole speech about trying to plan with only half of the variables available. Danny shook his head, trying to get that image out of his head.
So off he went to enact step 2. The ghost boy flew off into the all to familiar direction of the warden's office. He knew the layout of the prison well enough to know what walls he could fly through as a short cut. Carefully he phased though the floor, making sure to have turned off the personalized anti-ghost security in the office. Best not to get zapped while trying to do his job. He sent a silent thank you Waller's way, grateful he had the controls in his own hands to turn them off as he needed.
He froze in the air as he cursed himself for being distracted enough to not have noticed one of the inmates being in the room. Danny wasn't sure what to do as he watched the buff blond type away at the control bord. He heard the inmate let out a tiny victory cry as the controls buzzed to life. Danny floated out of his hiding spot as the inmate started running away.
Subconsciously, he dropped his invisibility as he realized the mystery inmate had just turned the collars back on. Danny floated over to the control bord to check the settings for the woman's wing as well.
They were all back on.
Danny felt utterly confused as to why dear mystery inmate turned them back on but oh well. 'Don't look a gifted horse in the mouth' and all that.
"Um who is that behind you, Tommy?"
Danny cursed at his lack of awareness as he quickly went back into his invisibility, hoping he hadn't already gotten caught. How was he supposed to make it up to miss Waller if he already crewed the job barely 5 minutes in?
He didn't have much time to spiral as he gratefully watched the blond drag his friend away. "There ain't nobody there man. Now let's go break that wall."
Right.
Breaking the wall.
Which Danny was supposed to stop.
He went back to the control bord as he looked for the right buttons. By now the collars should have done their jobs and neutralized all of those who were still wearing them. That means those who are left were either smart enough to take them off or didn't like the restriction of the collar. Either way, he might need a bit of an extra kick to get those big buff guys he saw earlier down without taking too long. He turned up the dial on the voltage just enough so it would take them down faster but so it wouldn't be anywhere near lethal.
All he had to do now was get his hands on some extra collars and he could go on his cleaning mission. He didn't have access to the inmate specific ones, would be too much of a hassle anyway. He did know where Waller kept the basic ones before they were modified. He'll just make a mental note to change everybody's collar to a new once since he couldn't possibly remember who he gave the basic ones to.
Chapter 16
Getting his hands on the extra collars wasn't that hard at all. Neither was getting some of the remaining escapees to surrender or voluntarily go back to their cells under threat of getting a collar. Of course the promise of a lesser punishment helped a lot out too with the lower ranks. There were still a few he had to fight or pop a collar on but those hardly took that long.
Any of the guards he passed, conscious or otherwise, he tried to help into a safe area and used some ice here and there to cover badly bleeding wounds. Some of the guards had tried to run the second they saw him. All Danny could do in those situations was hold up his hands and slowly back away and move on to the next corridor.
He had a rough estimate of where Cujo was this whole time as he found a few escapees covered in his drool while he was doing a round. He figured the best way was to work from the outside to the center again in case anybody tried to use the commotion to get to another exit. Danny only found one that got somewhat close but he looked too puny to handle a collar with the new settings so he just froze the escapee's admittingly annoying ass to the wall.
Issues for later.
He made his way around the whole prison, both male and female wings. He mostly had more work on the female wing as there were less signs of Cujo having been there already. Before long he had circled his way back to Waller's area. Most of the prisoners there had been taken care by turning the collars back on. The two big bulky dudes and space suit man weren't there however so he knew he still had to keep looking for them. The big boss man had somehow ended up in Waller's cell but the door was still locked.
Waller had explained that big boss man was mad when the collars turned back on and tried to attack but that Wilcox and Dr. Strange prevented that. Muscle dudes and space suit man then locked them in there and went to figure out what happened. She had ordered him to the laundry area where the two wings have a tinner connected wall than other areas.
Something about an icicle being there?
He wasn't particularly sure what she meant with that but he still went to check it out anyway.
On his way there Danny and Cujo met up. With a bit of guessing work he figured out Cujo had finished his round of the women's wing and they are now headed to the last area to check before giving the all clear signal to the warden. He'd have to find a way to clean out some tufts of hair that seemed to have made its way between the pup's teeth but again, issues for later. He'd probably get away with it as he was doing his job.
Probably.
It didn't take too long to reach the laundry room. The halls felt eerily empty even though Miss Waller had warned him of the unaccounted high ranking inmates. There was somewhat of a familiar staticky cold hint in the air. Definite signs somebody with ice powers had some fun.
Making sure he would have the element of surprise, the two ghostly entities turned invisible as they neared the entrance. Danny tensed as he saw spikes of ice poking out from the doorway.
Definitely some icy shenanigans happened.
He readied himself in a defensive form as he stalked towards the room just up ahead.
At first glance the room felt normal, outside of the clear displays of power prickling in the air. It wasn't until they got to the back of the room where they could see a party had taken place. Fully focused on the two massive muscle dudes trapped in an ice formation in front of him, Danny reached inside of himself where he had stored the extra collars. It's not like he had enough pockets to carry all of them when he first started so it was the easiest storage space he could think of while keeping his hands free.
He really hoped the collars would be enough, not being in the mood to deal with even more cracked up muscle dudes.
Seriously, somebody should get them checked for steroid overuse. This can't be healthy.
Silently he cursed as he pulled out his last remaining few collars.
5
He had 5 left. Hopefully that was enough.
Before he got close enough to the still agitated muscle dudes, Danny nearly tripped over the space suit man's body on the floor. As a quiet string of curses escaped his mouth, he phased in one of the collars into the ice dome the villain had created.
How odd.
But he had bigger and angrier things to worry about.
Now only down to 4 he levitated towards the angry muscle dudes. All their wiggling had managed to create cracks in the ice formation. Surely it wouldn't last long until they'd actually break out.
Remaining invisible, Danny added some of his own ice onto the formation to strengthen it again before swiftly adding collars to the big dudes' necks.
2 left.
Danny shot some ectoplasmic goop over their mouths before the safety shocks kicked in. Big dudes usually screamed quite loud and he wasn't feeling like getting a migraine later. He bent down a little to pet Cujo who had started to lick some of the ice on the floor. No doubt the little pup was thirsty with how much drool he found literally everywhere in the prison.
A loud explosion like cracking noise filled the area.
Danny shot back up on high alert at the sudden noise. Turning to his left he was quite amazed how he had somehow managed to not notice the gigantic hole in the wall.
Oh Miss Waller wasn't going to like that.
He ordered Cujo to remain hidden by the muscle dudes as he creeped closer to the other side of the hole.
To his utter confusion and shock, he found quite a sight.
A muscle lady laid passed out on the floor and a little bit off was a blue lady also unconscious. Seeing as they were already subdued he didn't really feel the need to collar them. Not with the three still very awake inmates in front of him.
Actually, um, make that two?
Danny flickered back onto the visible plain as he watched the drama unfold in front of him.
Buff guy kissed buff girl, but then buff girl turned green? And ginger? At least her color palette matches her well, buff dude could take a note from her book as his bleach blond really doesn't suit his skin tone.
Anyway, then blue ice kid seemed to go into quite a mental breakdown over that whole mess so it seemed ice kid had equally no clue on what was going on as Danny did.
Now he had quite an issue though. With only two collars remaining and three- is green girl even an inmate? She was dressed like one before so maybe some type of shape shifter? He hadn't seen a collar on her so it seems plausible. Best just escort her back as well and let the guards and higher ups handle that administrative mess.
So two collars and three inmates.
The odds are not in his favor it seems.
Considering the muscle people and ice people who were already incapacitated before he got there, the young ghost boy would place a fair wager that it was them who took the others out. Definitely some higher ranking inmates then, especially with a possible shape shifter. They did seem calm and judging from the ice kid's mental turmoil they might not be on the same side anymore. God how he wished he could avoid puberty and never have to deal with girl drama like this.
Teens really are scary when it comes to love and attachments.
Never again.
Danny shook his head as he mentally readied himself for the confrontation.
They seemed rather docile for the moment so the best course of action was to avoid physical confrontations and hope advising them to return to their cells would be enough. He wasn't sure if there were still any other prisoners left so he really couldn't afford wasting his last remaining collars on them.
He looked behind him to where his best friend had moved. Sensing the tenseness from Danny, Cujo had moved to stand slightly behind the boy, still hidden by invisibility. Danny formed a first and gave Cujo the command to remain there for now.
The young ghost boy took a deep breath and tried to relax as best as he could. Best not to seem on edge when wanting to avoid a fight to the best of his abilities.
He cringed inwardly as he cleared his throat in what sounded like the most awkward noise he had made in a long.
"Um, sorry to interrupt but would you mind going back to your cells?"
Chapter 17
It took everything inside Danny to not shrink down and hide. The looks the teens were giving him sent shivers up his spine in a way he wasn't sure was possible until now.
Ice dude was fine, he looked like he was still sorting through his feelings on this whole thing and hadn't quite reached any clarity.
The other two however.
Buff dude and green girl were both staring at him. There was something about that glance they shared and the lack of expressions on buff dude's face that unnerved him. Was this what animals in a zoo felt like? He could almost physically feel their eyes on him as they clearly assessed his threat level. Perhaps having all his collars still on display wasn't the smartest idea but in his defense he had forgotten about them. He'd had them on for so long he had long since stopped feeling the metal on his skin. Buff dude was slowly moving to put himself between Danny and the green girl. Perhaps she would be less of a threat if buff dude felt the need to get defensive.
Or perhaps he sensed the danger Danny posed and was simply acting accordingly.
Who knew.
The silence edged on for a bit longer than what felt comfortable. The awkwardness he felt being around this many people in a non-battle setting was very unfamiliar to him and made him rather uncomfortable. The need to start swaying slightly to deal with the awkwardness was becoming increasingly intense and hard to fight. Luckily for him it seemed like ice kid reached his impasse.
Blue boy sighed deeply and rubbed his face as if trying to scrub away the tiredness he now held. "Look kid,"
Danny inwardly scoffed. Rude. He wasn't a kid, he was almost 14 for crying out loud! That is definitely teen territory! The way blue dude looked at him held the same bored look the guards would sometimes give him when they did their rounds. In his humble opinion, blue dude was starting to look more and more punchable. But he had to remain calm to try and get them all to cooperate.
"I'm really not having a good day, so if you think I would go back then you are out of luck. I'm getting out of this joint."
Oh.
Well that wasn't what he expected.
"Before my dad finds me."
And Danny was sure he wasn't mean to have heard that. Guess like father like son to end up in here. Perhaps space suit man was his dad? They're both blue…ish
Blue dude started sauntering over and Danny would bet the next weeks' worth of meals he wasn't planning on going back to his cell so easily. He moved just a step to the side to block his path. Behind him, Danny could feel Cujo's presence grow. Clearly the pup was also getting agitated by this fellow inmate and was preparing to jump in.
Danny tried to add a small chuckle to his tone to try and ease the growing tension in the air. "I'd really prefer it if you don't." He kept his eyes trained on the blue teen, not wanting him to slip past him somehow. "There is no way you are getting out of here, so again, I do advise you to go back to your cells." He wasn't really asking for much was he? Surely this dude must know that the plan failed. "Ms. Waller would go a lot less harsh on you if you are back where you belong by the time the cops arrive." Perhaps that sounded a bit too much like a threat. "Plus I really don't want to fight any of you, so please just go." He added with a soundless chuckle.
Yup.
No threat here.
None at all.
Smooth.
That definitely didn't annoy the frosty teen more than he already was.
Totally not.
As the teen started walking again he very clearly bumped into Danny on purpose. Danny felt Cujo grow more annoyed and ready to pounce. He had to act now while there was still a chance to save this without a fight.
"I don't care what that bitch will do."
Danny froze a little at the unexpected insult. How dare this imbecile insult such a wonderful lady as Miss Waller!? It isn't her fault he got thrown in here! That's his own failure's fault! How dare he! Who gave him the right to judge her for doing her job!? Ancients know he didn't do his right or he wouldn't have landed his ass in this involuntary hotel!
Danny felt anger bubble up inside of him and he didn't need a mirror to know that the anger was physically manifesting in his eyes already.
A certain fruit loop would have called it his 'angry eyes'
No
Now is not the time for that.
"I'm getting out. A little snowflake like you can't stop me, so leave me-"
Danny had no intention of letting him finish that. With a swift move and a bit more super strength than he would like to admit to, he grabbed the icy teen and threw him back over his shoulder. He rolled a little ends away from the other two teens who now started to get themselves ready for a fight.
How great this was ending up to be.
"You little imp!"
Wow, so creative! It's totally not like he hasn't been fed enough and hasn't had his growth spurt yet.
"I don't care what kind of stupid deal you have with the boss lady but she ain't here to protect you now!"
Dude seems to have this all twisted around. Not like Danny cared much to correct him.
Icy teen haphazardly shot some ice at the young ghost boy which he easily dodged. Danny breathed out a command for Cujo to stay. This temper tantrum throwing toddler was no threat to Danny. They needed the surprise for the other two once they decided what they wanted to do.
Danny saw one hit coming at him from what felt like a mile away even though it was closer to a few feet. Getting fed up with the spray of shots, Danny didn't bother to dodge it this time. Whatever abilities frosty the pissy in front of him had, it was nothing compared to the sheer power of Danny's own ice abilities. He added a miniscule amount of his own ice over the hit so he would be able to control the direction and sent it off to the wall opposite of the other teens.
Was he showing off? Maybe. But it felt good seeing the shock and dread fill the rude failure of life before him.
Danny took a deep breath before he actually punched the teen, a little bit of his ice power being forced into his breath to have some kind of release instead. Somewhat lucky for him, his clothes hid the whisp of air that would have betrayed his powers to them. He grabbed one of the inactive collars he had left. He didn't want to waste it but he was being too much of an issue and he really wanted to get back to Miss Waller for his final status update.
"Really, I didn't want to do this," Honestly, punching would be the preferred way at this point, "but you left me no choice."
He made a finger gun with his hand and aimed it at the shell shocked teen in front of him. It didn't take much concentration to put just enough ectoplasm in his shot that it would mess with the teen's brain chemistry and cause him to pass out. Quite humane for what Danny knew Cujo would do to the frosty teen if he let him.
Blue dude went down quite easily and just for sake of safety he secured the collar as well. Considering the machine felt it necessary to send out a shock he wouldn't have been out for long.
Now he would though.
When he stood back up to address the other two teens, he fought back the nth deep breath he had to take in a very short time. Judging from their combative stances they weren't going down easy and chances of talking them out of this were slim to none.
Why did they have to chose the hard way? It's not like he threatened them.
He shifted into a loose defensive stance he pulled from the depths of his memories. Back when Maddeline tried to train him in self-defense.
Oh how she must hate him for what he has become.
Even though buff dude and green girl were the first to show their willingness to fight, it had taken comically long for something to actually happen. At this point he wasn't really sure if they were just stretching for more time or what. He raised an eyebrow, hoping it would convey the silent question on his mind.
We doing this or not?
He wasn't one to take chances either. Buff teen really looked ready to smash his head in. Definitely a higher threat than green teen but with her shifting abilities he wasn't sure what powerset she had. He faked relaxing his stance, letting an arm drop just slightly unnaturally far behind him. Just enough so his hand would be hidden behind his thigh. Big dude would definitely need more than a tiny shot like ice boy. As subtly as he could he tried to guess how much it would need to get him subdued enough to slap the last collar on him.
Tried being the keyword here
He didn't have much time as buff teen decided to finally act and rush at Danny. The ghostly teen instinctively jumped backwards, avoiding a punch to the arm. Good thing he did it seemed as the flooring beneath the teen's fist had cracked.
Definitely super strength. How wonderful.
He didn't have much time to react as he had to fly up a bit to avoid getting his legs swept out from underneath him. This dude definitely had some type of professional training that's for sure.
With barely any hesitation the buff teen went in again. This time he jumped up to try and hit Danny like a super abled basketball player going for a slam dunk. Too bad for him, the air is Danny's specialty. Using the buff teen's momentum, the younger grabbed onto his arm and spun him around a few times in hopes to have his vestibular system out of whack and subsequently throw him off balance enough to have him not be able to block his dive into the wall.
You know, thinking back on it, and the newly created massive hole where the wall used to be, that wasn't really the smartest move. Yet another thing to add to the laundry list of things he had to apologize to Miss Waller to.
Ha
Laundry
He didn't give himself much time to laugh at his own joke as he still had the other teen to deal with. Or well, the other teen and a very pissed off Cujo. Before he had even noticed that Cujo had moved, the pup had jumped green girl. Perhaps he had sensed her going for a backhanded attack while he was distracted with lover boy. The ghostly puppy definitely deserved some extra snacks and scratches later.
A frightened yelp brought him out of his musing. He floated through the hole into what seemed to be the woman's mess hall. Perhaps the hole could be fixed with some glass paneling for extra supervision.
Continuing to distract himself wasn't quite a good idea though. The girl didn't seem to put up much of a fight. Despite her fearful look, her breath was unnaturally calm. Practiced breathing in an attempt to keep Cujo from attacking most likely.
Just who were these people?
Just as he was going to call off Cujo, Prince Charming decided it was a great time to tackle the poor dog. Really this guy seems to have it out to start a fight with people.
Or he was just protecting who he loved
At least he was doing a better job at it
"Cujo," he called, "sta." Cujo didn't seem all too pleased, giving a last final warning growl. As he started to walk towards Danny however, he let himself shrink down to his puppy size.
Murderous side of Cujo contained, now for the inmates.
Buff dude watched Cujo shrink down in an odd mix of confusion and realization. "H-hey!" he stuttered, "That's that dog that stole my food earlier." Danny looked at Cujo. The pup had what only could be described as a smug look as he wagged his tail a little too excitedly. "Oh, heh." Danny chuckled oh so awkwardly again. The adrenaline of the fight leaving his body and his utter lack of social interactions with his own age group coming back full force.
"That was yours? I'm really sorry about that, he was just trying to take care of me."
Danny crouched down to give Cujo some pets. "Nu poți pur și simplu să furi mâncarea altora, Cujo. (You can't just steal other people's food, Cujo)" He scratched the pup behind his ear, little twitches in his hind leg threatening to turn into little stomps. "Trebuie să mănânce și el. (he needs to eat too)" Danny squished Cujo's face a little as he rubbed his cheek on the pup's forehead. "Dar mulțumesc. (but thank you)"
"No sweat."
Oh yeah.
Inmates.
Cujo gave him a, thankfully not drooly, lick to his cheek as the young boy pulled away.
Now that everything seemed to have calmed down, he was a bit more relaxed. He started walking towards the two inmates, going slow so as to not seem like a threat again. "Now, if you guys wouldn't mind." He pulled out one last collar from his pocket. "This is kind of the last one I have left, so big guy, this one is for you."
Buff dude didn't seem all too impressed but at least he wasn't resisting.
Yet
"It would really be nice if you guys could just go back to your cells. Miss Waller isn't going to be happy if there is an even bigger mess to clean up than there already is." He awkwardly laughed a little as he jabbed a thumb up to the hole upstairs. Honestly she wasn't going to be happy at all regardless of the hole or not. Might as well try to keep her the least upset possible.
The two teens before him seemed to at least somewhat contemplate listening, if their confused looks were anything to go by. Honestly at least they weren't actively fighting him so he counted it as a win.
He wasn't that far off from the two when he felt danger and alertness flow off of Cujo. Within a blink of an eye Danny went from looking at the teens, to having his face in Cujo's front leg. With the way Cujo was standing, had either the hound been taller or Danny been smaller, he would have been standing above Danny instead of just next to.
"Cujo, ce s-a întâmplat? (cujo, what happened?)" His question went unanswered as the agitated hound looked around. The hairs of his fur standing up the more he growled at the unseen enemy. With every new direction the hound looked at, he moved Danny in a way to shield him from as many directions as he could.
Whatever danger Cujo sensed, it wasn't something another inmate could pull off.
Had they found him?
Danny didn't have much time to devolve into an entire panic attack as Cujo tried his best to shield the boy with his body. Danny wanted to poke his head out from his furry shield but something in him warned him against it. Whatever Cujo sensed was bad news.
Before he could do much else, he saw the gleam of an arrow flying through the air. Turning himself and Cujo instinctively intangible didn't help much as the entire area around him burst into smoke.
Chapter 18
Danny forced himself to stop breathing the moment the smoke surrounded him. It's not like he needed to breathe in this form anyway but it was still a habit. Immediately he went invisible in case the new arrivals were in fact the GIW. How those lunatics had found him he didn't know but he couldn't take any chances. Perhaps it's Skulker who got a new toy to try and catch him for his pelt.
To this day, still, ew.
He flew up a little to survey his surroundings, taking a few seconds to observe the utter chaos going on.
At this point Danny was starting to think the guards slipped something into the vents of his cell or something.
First no food, again.
Then a jailbreak? Here? Absolute madness.
Not only that but one bad enough he had to step in andhave his collars on standby mode. Definitely not whelmed.
Then being the last guard standing because SOMEHOW everybody's collars were on standby.
Then the absolute mess with Frosty the temper tantrum throwing teen. Definitely wishing he just punched that dude now.
The love birds not taking kindly to their possible friend-possible rival getting collared.
And now?
Danny felt like he took some hallucinogens as he watched Cujo chase a yellow zooming blur like he had been starved for a year. He almost didn't notice the blur had dropped off green girl with- are those fucking gills on his neck? Green girl was now with fish guy who immediately ran off to water magic a shield where buff dude was still on the floor from tackling Cujo.
"M'gann!" Fish guy called towards green girl, well, at M'gann apparently. Danny whipped his head around to look between the two. "Can you link us up?!" Fish guy yelled at her, or ordered? Danny watched as green girl put a hand to her temple and her both entire eyes began to glow a pale green.
He couldn't think much about the green eyes due to the sudden headache he felt. It wasn't a stabbing pain but he could definitely feel some sort of pressure had started in his mind. The oddness of the feeling made him lose grip on his powers as he felt himself fall a couple inches until he composed himself again. He would be questioning if somebody had been trying to possess him if he had felt another ghostly presence outside of Cujo who was still very much chasing that blur.
"Can somebody get this thing off me?" Danny heard somebody ask but he didn't see anybody talk.
"I tried!" He heard a female voice call out. It wasn't green girl's voice and for some reason he definitely 'heard' it from behind him. Danny didn't dare move as he was almost sure they had forgotten he was still there. "The damn thing just runs through the nets like they don't even touch it!"
Well if this isn't the worst development of the day. Just what the hell was that? Who the fuck were these people? And most importantly why were they trying to catch Cujo?
Danny didn't have much time to panic as the chaos below him just continued on with zero regard for his mental distress. "Superboy get out of there! We will cover your retreat." He definitely knew that was fish boy's voice but fish boy's mouth absolutely did not move. Danny could feel an actual headache come up as he tried to make sense of it all. If normal medication worked on him, he'd gladly drown a whole bottle of painkillers by the end of the day.
"Right, right." He heard buff teen say somewhat dazed.
Danny could barely focus on what was happening in front of him. So much was going on, so much had happened already and he couldn't shake this odd feeling he had. The longer this weird gang of teens was here the more he couldn't shake the strange familiarity of the blur and fish boy. There was something about them that he couldn't quite place.
"Who is this kid anyway?" Oh come on! Just how many times had he been called a kid today already?! "There was nothing in Batman's files about a small kid being here?" He is not small! He was a proud 5' thank you very much! He just hadn't gotten his growth spurt yet is all! The voice definitely came from above him. With his short circuited brain Danny looked right at the owner of said voice and yelled out.
"Um, rude! I'm not a small kid, I'm almost 14!" If anybody would ask later, he would deny he puffed out his cheeks in a pout until the day he died again.
"What?" Was the last thing his brain audibly registered as a batarang landed near his feet.
His mind was absolutely racing. The kid up on one of the lamps felt so familiar.
So painfully familiar.
But he couldn't place why.
He could feel his heart constrict but his brain had yet to catch up why. Who was this?
Black hair, red suit, cape? He didn't know many heroes that were active these days, definitely not kids.
Kid heroes?
Images of that blur and fish boy jumped in his mind.
Yellow and super fast…
Gills and a golden arch on his belt…
He could almost picture his evenings with Wilcox as the man had showed him articles on the latest happenings in the hero and crime world.
Kid Flash and Aqualad
There was no way the security alerts didn't notify the Justice League of the pending issue. Were the adults so busy they sent their kids to handle it?
Then
Danny felt his legs hit the floor as he had gradually descended back to the ground and stumbled back a little in surprise. His knees were too weak to carry the sudden weight of standing again. The masked face he stared at, hiding just as shocked of an expression as his own. In utter fear he reached up to his own face, tracing the part of his face the boy didn't have covered.
Of course they would end up with the opposite part of their face covered.
Just like he ended up on the opposite end of the law
Danny was certain if he had been in his human form he would long since have passed out from forgetting to breathe and his heart pounding so hard it would escape his chest cavity. Pure panic and dread were starting to bubble up as realization after realization hit him like a bullet train. His eyes refused to focus beyond the figure that was now burned into his eyes. Desperately he tried to believe it wasn't him, but he watched the boy slip from his perch. The way he sat there before, how he skillfully caught himself again, how he would even have gotten up there without making the light move.
Tricks they had learned together
Danny felt his grip on his powers slip as he started to lose what little control he had left. Suddenly he felt himself fall backwards as his foot had phased through the floor. Stumbling backwards, he desperately tried to catch his footing.
This can't be happening.
Not now
Please, let this all be a dream
A horrible nightmare
He had to run
He had to escape
Escape somewhere he'd be safe from hurting anybody
Where everybody else is safe from him
Danny couldn't take the stress anymore. His fight or flight had fully kicked in as panic took over his senses. Barely registering his own movements anymore, he started running towards Cujo. He felt his mouth move but his brain didn't connect what he said. His beloved pup jumped off of the teen hero and sprinted towards the distressed ghost boy.
Cujo jumped towards him and that was the last push he needed to find enough control over himself to fly up to catch him. Luckily for Danny, Cujo was of sound enough mind to remember to turn intangible before they crashed into the ceiling.
Whatever happened next was all fragmented as Danny's panic stricken brain stopped functioning through all the stress and heightened instincts.
He had somewhat of a flash of handing the remote back to Miss Waller and opening her cell. After that it was a blank. He somehow found his way back into his cell, curled in a ball underneath his bunk. Ice was still covering everything which helped absolutely nobody as it only fueled Danny's breakdown even more.
A whole year of hiding
Pretending he was dead and gone to the outside world
Making sure nobody would find him
Making sure he wasn't a bother
Making sure he couldn't hurt anybody
All that effort
Just for him to show up here
"There was nothing in Batman's files"
It repeated in his head in a taunting loop
How did he miss it the first time
How did it take him so long to realize
How stupid he was to think he could have hidden from thegreatest detective on the planet
From Batman
How cruel to send his brother to catch him
Danny felt like he couldn't breathe. He didn't actually have to, as he was still in his ghost form somehow. Yet, when he tried to take a breath it's like his lungs refused to expand no matter how many he took. He was only vaguely aware he was crying as the occasional sob interrupted his frantic gasps for air. His throat felt like somebody was squeezing it closed.
That somebody was himself.
His mind slipped so far into panic he hadn't realized he was so desperately trying to breathe he was effectively choking himself. After every other sob he'd try to scratch at his throat, trying in vain to remove the obstacle that was making it hard to breathe.
He curled himself further into a ball, making it harder for Cujo to help as the pup clawed at the boy's arms.
Danny wasn't sure how long he laid there like that. His mind continued to race as his panicked mind only dug himself into a deeper hole.
Now that they knew he was there, was it safe to stay here? Was anywhere safe? If they found him in the most isolated part of a high security prison, was there anywhere he could hide?
Was there anywhere they wouldn't find him?
A sharp pain in his arm brought him somewhat back to reality. He looked down to Cujo having bitten into his right bicep to try and drag it away from his throat. Danny numbly watched Cujo grab another part of his arm to drag it away enough so the pup would fit underneath. Cujo nestled into Danny's chest. The pup's core sent soothing waves to the hurting teen. Feeling yet again overwhelmed by the whirlwind of emotions and thought, Danny held on tightly to the pup, soaking his fur with his tears. Violent sobs wrecked his frail frame as he laid there shaking until he had no energy left and the world felt numb.
That's how Waller ended up finding them who knows how much later.
It had taken longer than he cared to admit for her to coax him out from underneath the bunk. Tears had long since dried out as broken sobs and the occasional dry heave replaced it. She did what she could to calm him down further but Danny could tell there was something wrong.
After calming him down enough for him to be cognizant of his surroundings did Waller pull out the master control for his collars. It took a while but Danny managed to transform back before switching his collars back on. He could feel the phantom (ha) pains of the power still coursing through his veins. Knowing that he couldn't use that power and it only made his collars stronger helped him regain some sense of his peace of mind at least. Within a fraction of a second of the collars turning off, the ice in his cell disappeared and left no trace of it ever having been there.
Outside of the damage it had caused of course.
Waller had helped him move his stuff to the cell next to him so he could be properly locked up as protocol required.
Of course she didn't come here just to check up on him. Of course not, not with one of the worst attempted prison breaks in the history of Belle Rêve having taken place only mere hours before.
No.
She came here to tell him she was being replaced.
The board of directors had given her the blame for the near-success. Even though nobody actually escaped, they still deemed it as too great a failure to keep her as warden. She wasn't sure who she would be replaced with but she had very little faith that it was purely by the books with how eager the board wanted her gone.
She wouldn't be there anymore to keep him company.
She wouldn't be there anymore to keep him safe
She wouldn't be there anymore to keep her end of the deal
He took back all his previous complaints.
This
This was the worst development of the day
The only sliver of hope Danny had left to hold onto was that she promised to pass on her side of the deal to a trusted individual.