CHAPTER 8- PRISON BREAK (Full chapter)
The news had been a shock. Six more Fighters were dead due to the night's fire, and Ginger's body had been found at last. When she had been found, she had been in the strangest position. Her hands were wrapped tightly around her own neck. "We think she might have been forced to strangle herself," one of her finders had told Danny. The leader had quietly thanked them.
With nine dead altogether, the Freedom Fighters numbered forty-four. "If we keep losing people at this rate, the Freedom Fighters will become extinct," John had said.
"No," Danny had replied. "We will never be extinct or defeated. We can overcome this."
That had been several hours ago. Now Danny was alone in an alley near FentonWorks. He had made it his mission to follow the gray peacekeeper truck to wherever his parents were being held. He no longer felt like Carpathan was keeping them in his sparkling mansion; their clothes were too tattered and they looked too worn out. If Danny's instinct was correct, they were being held in some sort of prison.
While he waited, he occupied himself by scratching patterns in the concrete with a rock, humming a song to himself, nibbling on little bits of food he found in the alley, and plotting possible courses to stay hidden from the truck. He waited for hours.
Finally, around sunset, a sudden slamming noise startled Danny into looking up. He peeked around the corner of the building to see his parents being led to the truck once more. His mother looked around at the peacekeepers surrounding her. For a few seconds, Danny was sure Maddie had been looking straight at him. But he had no time to think about that, for his parents were in the truck and ready to go seconds later.
Danny ducked out of the way and watched the truck speed away. He ran to the other side of the street and darted behind the buildings as fast as his skinny legs would take him. He kept sight of the truck through the alleyways as it turned and passed in front of him. He chased it for countless miles on pure adrenaline and a little bit of furious determination. He wasn't about to give in yet; this was for his parents.
,.~*~.,
The truckride was always bumpy, but it was even less enjoyable due to the peacekeepers that shared the trailer area. Maddie put up with them now, and even ignored them. Especially now.
She had, for about two seconds, seen a teenage boy. And he had seen her. Observed her, to be accurate. He had been watching Jack and her intensely. It didn't take any more than a mother's intuition for Maddie to know who that boy was. Just a glimpse of that messy black hair and white-and-red t-shirt told her all she needed to know. Danny was alive--- and worried.
Maddie worried, too. He looked like he hadn't had a bath in a long time, or a proper meal. He looked quite a bit thinner. Danny had always been slender, but now he was outright skinny. Most notably, however, was the bandaging that covered the entire right side of his face and part of his left arm. He was barely recognizable. But he was her son, and he was alive.
Maddie would divulge the information to her husband once they were back in their cell. Right then, the truck screeched to a halt.
,.~*~.,
Danny was panting for breath as he stumbled into an alley across from the building the truck had stopped in front of. He sat down and held his stomach, trying to keep it from expelling what tiny bit of food he had managed to eat. He tried to steady his heavy breathing and slow his pounding heart.
He would have loved to have a good, long drink of water, but he had not a drop. At least he had succeeded in part of his mission, right?
The truck was parked outside of a prison. But it wasn't the same prison normal criminals went to. This one was special. Judging from the looks of it, Danny deemed it a "torture prison". And when his parents were forcefully led into the heavy metal doors of the prison, Danny had to swallow back a surge of rage. He hated seeing his parents treated in such a way.
He swallowed the bile that was rising in his throat and crept out from his hiding place. Looking both ways, the teen made sure no one was watching. Seeing nobody, he breathed a sigh of relief. With legs that felt like spaghetti, Danny jogged across the street.
He collapsed onto his belly in the grassy area next to the prison and breathed heavily. He was still experiencing some nausea from running too much. He began to seriously regret skipping out on gym class when he was in school. He shut his eyes and lay on the ground for a few more minutes, if only to stop his stomach from lurching. He couldn't afford to vomit anything up now, but the blazing hot summer sun wasn't helping him feel any better.
Swallowing one last time, Danny dared to open his eyes. Finding he wasn't dizzy any more, the teen slowly and shakily began to lift himself off the ground. He found his legs were extremely sore, but he managed to stand on his own two feet. His stomach was still weak, but it felt better altogether. He dusted the loose dirt and grass from his t-shirt and took slow, steady breaths.
He was looking for an entrance to the prison other than the front door. A wire fence surrounded the sides of the building, but it wasn't barbed. That meant that it was highly unlikely that prisoners would escape, therefore lessening Danny's chances of finding a secondary entrance.
Mustering up some extra energy, the boy began to scale the fence. It wasn't a very high fence, and the Fighter had climbed it in a heartbeat. He took care to land gently, but his weak knees nearly buckled beneath him the moment his feet hit the concrete. He caught himself by grabbing the fence from behind. He slowly let go of it.
Finding he was stable on his feet once more, Danny approached the cinderblock walls of the prison. He began to walk around, searching for some kind of entrance. He was so intent on this goal that he didn't notice the cameras watching him...
He turned the corner and gasped. An air duct. It was by the ground, too. Danny crouched down next to it and messed with the vent cover. It was loose. A rough cackle came from Danny's throat. He pried at the vent cover and managed to pull it off.
He poked his head into the duct. Finding his head fit well, he wriggled his skinny shoulders in. He fit quite well due to his small size, and it seemed like ample space to move around inside it like a tunnel. He smiled and backed out of the air duct, then quickly replaced the vent cover. His mission was successful.
Danny jogged back towards the fence and climbed it again, anxious to give Sam and Tucker the news.
,.~*~.,
Carpathan watched the boy as he climbed back over the fence and casually walked away. What kind of boy is this? he thought, frowning. Not a massacre nor a killer fire has deterred him from his foolishness.
"I'm glad you showed me this, Baker," the mayor said. "That boy is Daniel Fenton himself."
"Should we send some peacekeepers after him, sir?" asked Baker.
"No," Carpathan replied. "Let him think he got away with this unseen. I want to find out what he's up to and turn that into his worst nightmare." His voice lowered. "And to have that nightmare, he must be alive."
Baker nodded. "Understood, Carpathan, sir," he said.
Danny Fenton was some sort of freak of nature to Carpathan. Though a cruel sadist most of the time, the mayor had learned that learning the opponent's game was an efficient strategy in bringing him down to his knees. Once the game had been discovered, manipulation became the key strategy. And Carpathan was a master of manipulation.
"Tell me the next time he shows up," said Carpathan. "Keep watch. If you are quick to deliver the information, I may consider a raise."
Baker grinned. "Yes, sir," he said.
,.~*~.,
Jack and Maddie had been returned to their cell. They were both dog-tired and very glad to be back in a place where they could rest. But Maddie had no peace of mind. She had seen her son and she needed to tell Jack.
"Jack," Maddie said.
Her husband looked at her. "What is it, Maddie?" he asked.
"When we were leaving FentonWorks, I saw something."
Jack looked attentive. "What was it?"
"I'm sure I saw Danny peeking around the corner at us from an alley," said Maddie.
"You saw him?" asked Jack, his eyes widening.
"It was definitely him," the woman continued. "But he was raggedy and looked like he'd been trying really hard to survive... he had this really big bandage on his face."
"So you didn't get a good look at his face?" Jack's hopes seemed to drop dramatically.
"No," Maddie replied. "But I know it was him. I saw him, Jack---"
She was cut off by the opening of the cell door.
,.~*~.,
Masters walked down the hallway of the prison toward the Fentons' cell. He had a plan in mind, and recent events made that plan all the more doable.
He stopped in front of the cell door, unlocked it, and entered.
"-- Saw him, Jack..." Maddie was cut off by Masters' entering the room. Both Fentons turned to see the frowning man looking at them. Maddie narrowed her eyes. "What do you want now, Vlad?" she asked.
"I just want to talk to you," Masters said, shutting the door behind him and sitting down on a bench. "About your son."
Jack and Maddie looked at each other. Masters continued, "Carpathan saw him hanging out around here, and I can only assume he's found out where you are and is looking for a way to break you out of here.
"I assume you're going to try to stop him?" Maddie questioned, her tone bitter.
Masters smirked smoothly. "Oh no, quite the opposite, my dear," he said. "How would you feel if I, behind Carpathan's back, helped your boy get you out of prison?"
Jack and Maddie stared at Masters. "You would?" Jack asked, eyes brightening.
Maddie was still suspicious. "How do we know you're telling us the truth?" she asked.
Masters narrowed his eyes, still smiling. "You don't. All you have to do is trust me. Do we have a deal? I help Daniel get you out of prison."
The Fentons shared glances. Then Maddie turned and looked Masters in the eye. "It's a deal."
,.~*~.,
Danny stumbled into the alley Sam had chosen to live in, panting heavily. Sweat poured down his face and soaked his shirt, his face red and hot. "Water," he rasped.
Sam tossed him a bottle of water. The boy caught it and thirstily chugged it down to the last drop. He sighed and collapsed down into a sitting position next to Sam. "Thanks," he breathed, shutting his eye. "I just need to rest for a minute..."
Sam set some fresh leaves in Danny's lap. "Eat these, Danny. Nature's food. Plenty more where these came from."
Danny opened his eye and skeptically looked at the pile of greens on his lap. "Until winter," he said gravely. He rolled up a couple of leaves and ate them. After all, it was a terrible idea to drink so much water so quickly without food. Plus, he was actually hungry enough to eat leaves.
Sam was eating her own leaves like potato chips. "Was your mission successful?" she asked.
Danny smiled weakly, blinking. "Yeah. I found an air duct in the side of this 'torture prison'. That's where my parents are," he finished, frowning. He suddenly turned serious. "We need to be more prepared this time, so nobody dies." Danny chomped on a leaf stem.
"It's impossible to prepare enough so that nobody dies or gets hurt," said Sam, eating another leaf.
Danny gave her a dark glare. "Well, I'm at least going to try," he said. "More practice fights, more bonding, more meetings. And action."
"I agree with you there, Danny," Sam said. "Can't be too prepared out here. Anything could happen."
Danny chuckled morosely. "Yeah. Anything," he rasped. he finished off his leaves.
Finding he felt a bit better, the teen stood up. "You see if you can find Tucker and tell him my results," Danny told Sam. "I'm going to take a walk." The young leader left the alley. Maybe taking a walk in the summer moonlight would clear his head for a little while.
Along the way, Danny came across a group of Freedom Fighters hanging around an alley. He came closer to them and began to pick up on their conversation.
"Oh, man, I'm starving," Dash complained.
"Me too," Kwan added.
"We're all hungry," Danny cut in, walking up to the group. "And once summer's over, we'd better be used to it."
"Aw man," Brent sighed.
John frowned angrily. "I get extremely bad-tempered when I don't eat," he growled, crossing his arms.
"Take advantage of it and train," Danny suggested. "You can work off some steam and take your mind off your hunger."
"I'd rather smash some peacekeeper skulls, if that's OK with you," John huffed, kicking a pebble.
"Not now," said Danny, though he secretly wished to do the same thing. "We need to prepare and get stronger first. Take out your temper on me." The raven-haired teen tightened his headband and crouched into a defensive pose. His blue eye sparkled with determination.
The other Fighters looked on with interest when John accepted the fight. He stretched and cracked his knuckles. "You're on," he said. Then the older teen rushed at his leader.
Suddenly, Danny darted to the side, leaving his opponent to skid to a stop.
"Hey!" John turned and lashed out at Danny with his foot.
Danny nearly tripped over it, but steadied himself quickly and easily avoided John's next move. John growled and swung harder and faster punches at his opponent.
"Not so hard, John! It's only a training session," Ivan called from the growing crowd.
"Keep your jets cool!" shouted a girl named Sarah.
There was a brief pause in the fight. "Yeah... keep a cool head about it and think," Danny advised. Then, with a devilish smirk, he added, "I don't want to say I beat you without even lifting a finger."
John smirked back, wiping his brow and rolling up his short sleeves. "I wouldn't count on that," he said. He threw another swift punch at Danny.
To everyone's surprise, Danny caught John's fist in both hands with a tight grip. Just as quickly, he yanked John to the ground, effectively ending the fight.
John stood up, dusting himself off. "That's a killer move!" the teen commented. "Where'd you learn it?"
"I didn't," Danny replied, shrugging. "I just thought of it for the situation."
"Hey, check it out, guys!" Chris Morgan, the younger brother of Brent Morgan, exclaimed. He was grinning from ear to ear. The Fighters turned to look at the 12-year-old. "I caught two squirrels!" The boy held up two furry brown bodies by the tails.
Brent stared at them, his mouth watering. "We should cook those. Now," he said.
"You're right," Danny agreed. "Cook those for this little group. Go on." He slapped John on the shoulder, grinning. Ivan whooped.
Danny smiled, watching a number of his team members enthusiastically grabbing sticks and stones and piling them up on the sidewalk. Griffin rubbed two sticks together and started a fire, then got to work on skinning the animals.
The leader watched his team at a distance for a while, heart bursting with pride for his team, sharing what little they had with enthusiasm. He looked at Ivan and Dash, talking and joking with each other--- two people who would have never become friends if it weren't for Danny and the Freedom Fighters. And then he saw John and Sarah, a fast-becoming couple who would have never even met if it weren't for Danny's efforts.
He felt such happiness at the scene unfolding before him that he was outraged by his next thought. I'm going to have to see them die. Every single one of them. He shoved the thought out of his head as quickly as it had come, wanting this time of happiness to last as long as possible.
Tucker arrived at the campfire, which was now a steady blaze. he grabbed a piece of squirrel and looked up to see Danny watching him from afar. Tucker smiled and ran to his friend. "C'mon, Danny, we're having a squirrelfest over here," he said. "You should join us."
"No thanks, I already ate," said Danny. "Um... leaves."
"Bleh," said Tucker. "I can't believe Sam talked you into that."
"I wasn't really paying much attention to the taste, honestly," said Danny. "But really. You guys need the squirrels more than I do." He smiled gently. "I can always eat leaves if I want to."
"You need some meat, man," Tucker said, shaking his head. "Socialize with us, if nothing else. Ivan's got some great jokes."
Danny chuckled. "If you say so," he said, still slightly hesitant. He didn't want to grow any closer to people who could die very, very soon. But they were his team. His Freedom Fighters. He was proud of them. Why shouldn't he let them know that? Laughter in his baby blue eye and a grin on his face, the boy followed his best friend to the campfire, where he was warmly greeted by the others.
Sam looked on as Danny joined Tucker and the others at the squirrel party. She smiled, happy to see a bit of her brave Danny returning. She admired the courage she had seen in him the day he had first put on his headband and asked how he looked. She had told him he looked brave. And then Danny had told her that he felt brave.
She remembered how new and confident he had looked. Now, after a long period of anger and misery, Danny's confidence was back. That made Sam the optimist for once. She believed the future rescue operation might just succeed.
And inside, so did Danny.
,.~*~.,
With nine dead altogether, the Freedom Fighters numbered forty-four. "If we keep losing people at this rate, the Freedom Fighters will become extinct," John had said.
"No," Danny had replied. "We will never be extinct or defeated. We can overcome this."
That had been several hours ago. Now Danny was alone in an alley near FentonWorks. He had made it his mission to follow the gray peacekeeper truck to wherever his parents were being held. He no longer felt like Carpathan was keeping them in his sparkling mansion; their clothes were too tattered and they looked too worn out. If Danny's instinct was correct, they were being held in some sort of prison.
While he waited, he occupied himself by scratching patterns in the concrete with a rock, humming a song to himself, nibbling on little bits of food he found in the alley, and plotting possible courses to stay hidden from the truck. He waited for hours.
Finally, around sunset, a sudden slamming noise startled Danny into looking up. He peeked around the corner of the building to see his parents being led to the truck once more. His mother looked around at the peacekeepers surrounding her. For a few seconds, Danny was sure Maddie had been looking straight at him. But he had no time to think about that, for his parents were in the truck and ready to go seconds later.
Danny ducked out of the way and watched the truck speed away. He ran to the other side of the street and darted behind the buildings as fast as his skinny legs would take him. He kept sight of the truck through the alleyways as it turned and passed in front of him. He chased it for countless miles on pure adrenaline and a little bit of furious determination. He wasn't about to give in yet; this was for his parents.
,.~*~.,
The truckride was always bumpy, but it was even less enjoyable due to the peacekeepers that shared the trailer area. Maddie put up with them now, and even ignored them. Especially now.
She had, for about two seconds, seen a teenage boy. And he had seen her. Observed her, to be accurate. He had been watching Jack and her intensely. It didn't take any more than a mother's intuition for Maddie to know who that boy was. Just a glimpse of that messy black hair and white-and-red t-shirt told her all she needed to know. Danny was alive--- and worried.
Maddie worried, too. He looked like he hadn't had a bath in a long time, or a proper meal. He looked quite a bit thinner. Danny had always been slender, but now he was outright skinny. Most notably, however, was the bandaging that covered the entire right side of his face and part of his left arm. He was barely recognizable. But he was her son, and he was alive.
Maddie would divulge the information to her husband once they were back in their cell. Right then, the truck screeched to a halt.
,.~*~.,
Danny was panting for breath as he stumbled into an alley across from the building the truck had stopped in front of. He sat down and held his stomach, trying to keep it from expelling what tiny bit of food he had managed to eat. He tried to steady his heavy breathing and slow his pounding heart.
He would have loved to have a good, long drink of water, but he had not a drop. At least he had succeeded in part of his mission, right?
The truck was parked outside of a prison. But it wasn't the same prison normal criminals went to. This one was special. Judging from the looks of it, Danny deemed it a "torture prison". And when his parents were forcefully led into the heavy metal doors of the prison, Danny had to swallow back a surge of rage. He hated seeing his parents treated in such a way.
He swallowed the bile that was rising in his throat and crept out from his hiding place. Looking both ways, the teen made sure no one was watching. Seeing nobody, he breathed a sigh of relief. With legs that felt like spaghetti, Danny jogged across the street.
He collapsed onto his belly in the grassy area next to the prison and breathed heavily. He was still experiencing some nausea from running too much. He began to seriously regret skipping out on gym class when he was in school. He shut his eyes and lay on the ground for a few more minutes, if only to stop his stomach from lurching. He couldn't afford to vomit anything up now, but the blazing hot summer sun wasn't helping him feel any better.
Swallowing one last time, Danny dared to open his eyes. Finding he wasn't dizzy any more, the teen slowly and shakily began to lift himself off the ground. He found his legs were extremely sore, but he managed to stand on his own two feet. His stomach was still weak, but it felt better altogether. He dusted the loose dirt and grass from his t-shirt and took slow, steady breaths.
He was looking for an entrance to the prison other than the front door. A wire fence surrounded the sides of the building, but it wasn't barbed. That meant that it was highly unlikely that prisoners would escape, therefore lessening Danny's chances of finding a secondary entrance.
Mustering up some extra energy, the boy began to scale the fence. It wasn't a very high fence, and the Fighter had climbed it in a heartbeat. He took care to land gently, but his weak knees nearly buckled beneath him the moment his feet hit the concrete. He caught himself by grabbing the fence from behind. He slowly let go of it.
Finding he was stable on his feet once more, Danny approached the cinderblock walls of the prison. He began to walk around, searching for some kind of entrance. He was so intent on this goal that he didn't notice the cameras watching him...
He turned the corner and gasped. An air duct. It was by the ground, too. Danny crouched down next to it and messed with the vent cover. It was loose. A rough cackle came from Danny's throat. He pried at the vent cover and managed to pull it off.
He poked his head into the duct. Finding his head fit well, he wriggled his skinny shoulders in. He fit quite well due to his small size, and it seemed like ample space to move around inside it like a tunnel. He smiled and backed out of the air duct, then quickly replaced the vent cover. His mission was successful.
Danny jogged back towards the fence and climbed it again, anxious to give Sam and Tucker the news.
,.~*~.,
Carpathan watched the boy as he climbed back over the fence and casually walked away. What kind of boy is this? he thought, frowning. Not a massacre nor a killer fire has deterred him from his foolishness.
"I'm glad you showed me this, Baker," the mayor said. "That boy is Daniel Fenton himself."
"Should we send some peacekeepers after him, sir?" asked Baker.
"No," Carpathan replied. "Let him think he got away with this unseen. I want to find out what he's up to and turn that into his worst nightmare." His voice lowered. "And to have that nightmare, he must be alive."
Baker nodded. "Understood, Carpathan, sir," he said.
Danny Fenton was some sort of freak of nature to Carpathan. Though a cruel sadist most of the time, the mayor had learned that learning the opponent's game was an efficient strategy in bringing him down to his knees. Once the game had been discovered, manipulation became the key strategy. And Carpathan was a master of manipulation.
"Tell me the next time he shows up," said Carpathan. "Keep watch. If you are quick to deliver the information, I may consider a raise."
Baker grinned. "Yes, sir," he said.
,.~*~.,
Jack and Maddie had been returned to their cell. They were both dog-tired and very glad to be back in a place where they could rest. But Maddie had no peace of mind. She had seen her son and she needed to tell Jack.
"Jack," Maddie said.
Her husband looked at her. "What is it, Maddie?" he asked.
"When we were leaving FentonWorks, I saw something."
Jack looked attentive. "What was it?"
"I'm sure I saw Danny peeking around the corner at us from an alley," said Maddie.
"You saw him?" asked Jack, his eyes widening.
"It was definitely him," the woman continued. "But he was raggedy and looked like he'd been trying really hard to survive... he had this really big bandage on his face."
"So you didn't get a good look at his face?" Jack's hopes seemed to drop dramatically.
"No," Maddie replied. "But I know it was him. I saw him, Jack---"
She was cut off by the opening of the cell door.
,.~*~.,
Masters walked down the hallway of the prison toward the Fentons' cell. He had a plan in mind, and recent events made that plan all the more doable.
He stopped in front of the cell door, unlocked it, and entered.
"-- Saw him, Jack..." Maddie was cut off by Masters' entering the room. Both Fentons turned to see the frowning man looking at them. Maddie narrowed her eyes. "What do you want now, Vlad?" she asked.
"I just want to talk to you," Masters said, shutting the door behind him and sitting down on a bench. "About your son."
Jack and Maddie looked at each other. Masters continued, "Carpathan saw him hanging out around here, and I can only assume he's found out where you are and is looking for a way to break you out of here.
"I assume you're going to try to stop him?" Maddie questioned, her tone bitter.
Masters smirked smoothly. "Oh no, quite the opposite, my dear," he said. "How would you feel if I, behind Carpathan's back, helped your boy get you out of prison?"
Jack and Maddie stared at Masters. "You would?" Jack asked, eyes brightening.
Maddie was still suspicious. "How do we know you're telling us the truth?" she asked.
Masters narrowed his eyes, still smiling. "You don't. All you have to do is trust me. Do we have a deal? I help Daniel get you out of prison."
The Fentons shared glances. Then Maddie turned and looked Masters in the eye. "It's a deal."
,.~*~.,
Danny stumbled into the alley Sam had chosen to live in, panting heavily. Sweat poured down his face and soaked his shirt, his face red and hot. "Water," he rasped.
Sam tossed him a bottle of water. The boy caught it and thirstily chugged it down to the last drop. He sighed and collapsed down into a sitting position next to Sam. "Thanks," he breathed, shutting his eye. "I just need to rest for a minute..."
Sam set some fresh leaves in Danny's lap. "Eat these, Danny. Nature's food. Plenty more where these came from."
Danny opened his eye and skeptically looked at the pile of greens on his lap. "Until winter," he said gravely. He rolled up a couple of leaves and ate them. After all, it was a terrible idea to drink so much water so quickly without food. Plus, he was actually hungry enough to eat leaves.
Sam was eating her own leaves like potato chips. "Was your mission successful?" she asked.
Danny smiled weakly, blinking. "Yeah. I found an air duct in the side of this 'torture prison'. That's where my parents are," he finished, frowning. He suddenly turned serious. "We need to be more prepared this time, so nobody dies." Danny chomped on a leaf stem.
"It's impossible to prepare enough so that nobody dies or gets hurt," said Sam, eating another leaf.
Danny gave her a dark glare. "Well, I'm at least going to try," he said. "More practice fights, more bonding, more meetings. And action."
"I agree with you there, Danny," Sam said. "Can't be too prepared out here. Anything could happen."
Danny chuckled morosely. "Yeah. Anything," he rasped. he finished off his leaves.
Finding he felt a bit better, the teen stood up. "You see if you can find Tucker and tell him my results," Danny told Sam. "I'm going to take a walk." The young leader left the alley. Maybe taking a walk in the summer moonlight would clear his head for a little while.
Along the way, Danny came across a group of Freedom Fighters hanging around an alley. He came closer to them and began to pick up on their conversation.
"Oh, man, I'm starving," Dash complained.
"Me too," Kwan added.
"We're all hungry," Danny cut in, walking up to the group. "And once summer's over, we'd better be used to it."
"Aw man," Brent sighed.
John frowned angrily. "I get extremely bad-tempered when I don't eat," he growled, crossing his arms.
"Take advantage of it and train," Danny suggested. "You can work off some steam and take your mind off your hunger."
"I'd rather smash some peacekeeper skulls, if that's OK with you," John huffed, kicking a pebble.
"Not now," said Danny, though he secretly wished to do the same thing. "We need to prepare and get stronger first. Take out your temper on me." The raven-haired teen tightened his headband and crouched into a defensive pose. His blue eye sparkled with determination.
The other Fighters looked on with interest when John accepted the fight. He stretched and cracked his knuckles. "You're on," he said. Then the older teen rushed at his leader.
Suddenly, Danny darted to the side, leaving his opponent to skid to a stop.
"Hey!" John turned and lashed out at Danny with his foot.
Danny nearly tripped over it, but steadied himself quickly and easily avoided John's next move. John growled and swung harder and faster punches at his opponent.
"Not so hard, John! It's only a training session," Ivan called from the growing crowd.
"Keep your jets cool!" shouted a girl named Sarah.
There was a brief pause in the fight. "Yeah... keep a cool head about it and think," Danny advised. Then, with a devilish smirk, he added, "I don't want to say I beat you without even lifting a finger."
John smirked back, wiping his brow and rolling up his short sleeves. "I wouldn't count on that," he said. He threw another swift punch at Danny.
To everyone's surprise, Danny caught John's fist in both hands with a tight grip. Just as quickly, he yanked John to the ground, effectively ending the fight.
John stood up, dusting himself off. "That's a killer move!" the teen commented. "Where'd you learn it?"
"I didn't," Danny replied, shrugging. "I just thought of it for the situation."
"Hey, check it out, guys!" Chris Morgan, the younger brother of Brent Morgan, exclaimed. He was grinning from ear to ear. The Fighters turned to look at the 12-year-old. "I caught two squirrels!" The boy held up two furry brown bodies by the tails.
Brent stared at them, his mouth watering. "We should cook those. Now," he said.
"You're right," Danny agreed. "Cook those for this little group. Go on." He slapped John on the shoulder, grinning. Ivan whooped.
Danny smiled, watching a number of his team members enthusiastically grabbing sticks and stones and piling them up on the sidewalk. Griffin rubbed two sticks together and started a fire, then got to work on skinning the animals.
The leader watched his team at a distance for a while, heart bursting with pride for his team, sharing what little they had with enthusiasm. He looked at Ivan and Dash, talking and joking with each other--- two people who would have never become friends if it weren't for Danny and the Freedom Fighters. And then he saw John and Sarah, a fast-becoming couple who would have never even met if it weren't for Danny's efforts.
He felt such happiness at the scene unfolding before him that he was outraged by his next thought. I'm going to have to see them die. Every single one of them. He shoved the thought out of his head as quickly as it had come, wanting this time of happiness to last as long as possible.
Tucker arrived at the campfire, which was now a steady blaze. he grabbed a piece of squirrel and looked up to see Danny watching him from afar. Tucker smiled and ran to his friend. "C'mon, Danny, we're having a squirrelfest over here," he said. "You should join us."
"No thanks, I already ate," said Danny. "Um... leaves."
"Bleh," said Tucker. "I can't believe Sam talked you into that."
"I wasn't really paying much attention to the taste, honestly," said Danny. "But really. You guys need the squirrels more than I do." He smiled gently. "I can always eat leaves if I want to."
"You need some meat, man," Tucker said, shaking his head. "Socialize with us, if nothing else. Ivan's got some great jokes."
Danny chuckled. "If you say so," he said, still slightly hesitant. He didn't want to grow any closer to people who could die very, very soon. But they were his team. His Freedom Fighters. He was proud of them. Why shouldn't he let them know that? Laughter in his baby blue eye and a grin on his face, the boy followed his best friend to the campfire, where he was warmly greeted by the others.
Sam looked on as Danny joined Tucker and the others at the squirrel party. She smiled, happy to see a bit of her brave Danny returning. She admired the courage she had seen in him the day he had first put on his headband and asked how he looked. She had told him he looked brave. And then Danny had told her that he felt brave.
She remembered how new and confident he had looked. Now, after a long period of anger and misery, Danny's confidence was back. That made Sam the optimist for once. She believed the future rescue operation might just succeed.
And inside, so did Danny.
,.~*~.,
,.~*~.,
The days passed by quickly. Danny threw himself into as many practice fights as possible, trying his best to grow stronger, and perhaps even prepare some Fighters for the upcoming mission. He had a few more fights with John, and in one, John had even managed to beat him. Danny had congratulated him on the win, but demanded a rematch afterwards all the same.
He had even managed to defeat both Dash and Kwan, who were amazed at his improvised moves of both offense and defense. Danny was becoming quite a fighter, thin yet strong and quick. Some days, he would fight enough in one day that both Sam and Tucker agreed he was overworking himself. Sometimes, after those days, Danny would take a day to rest and eat something to gain energy rather than strength and skill.
Over the course of the next month, he became rather close friends with Brent, John, Sarah, and even Dash, whom Danny considered promoting to "commander of fight groups", or the man in charge of keeping Fighters organized when the "Big Three" could not.
Tucker had found a friend in Chris. The two made a brilliant team with both their technological skills combined.
Danny and Sam had bonded together as a fighting team and even closer as friends, and each seemed to know what the other was thinking. Some would believe that they were beginning to form a psychic bond to each other, unlikely as it seemed. While having partner practice fights, the two forgot their frequent bickering and thought as one mind; they fought as one body.
All of their wounds were now healed up enough that the bandages were no longer necessary. Danny was even able to open his right eye about halfway. Holes were wearing through the knees of his blue jeans, as well as some of the fabric in his shoes.
After another month, the scars had become a pinkish color, which was a whole lot better than Danny could have thought they would look. They didn't even hurt any more, and all the scabs had gone away. He could now open both eyes with ease. His once pale skin was turning golden-brown. He was, by this point, an excellent self-taught fighter. He was skinny, but wiry muscle lay just underneath his skin, making him much stronger than he appeared.
His team had undergone similar effects, but none had fought as often, nor as hard, as Danny. Sam would make sure that Danny would eat at least one bunch of leaves a day to keep his strength up.
One month later, however, a chill was setting in. The leaves were beginning to dry out and fall. It was becoming increasingly difficult to find birds while hunting. Fighters began to go hungry again. Many browsed through garbage cans and dumpsters and compiled the finds together at one blue dumpster as the day drew to a close.
The steady diet of meat and leaves was finally drawing to an end as each Fighter had to settle for a much less healthy, and much less abundant, diet of stale crusts and half-eaten bits of everything else. More time had to be dedicated to finding food than to practice fighting.
Danny was quickly falling back into his old habit of not eating. Sam could sometimes manage to get something inside him, but it wasn't often. Now, Danny sat atop his dumpster, sword in hand. He had been thinking. And after three months of training, he felt he was ready. It was time. The mission was tonight.
Danny's hair had grown longer still, now almost at his shoulders. He was slightly taller than both his best friends now, giving everyone the idea that he had really grown up over the course of a few months. And it wasn't just a physical change. Five months of leading a team through trials and troubles had gotten him accustomed to leadership and commanding. Most Fighters respected him and quite liked him.
But Danny no longer cared what his team thought of him. The time for first impressions was long over. Danny was who he was. Nobody thought he was selfish, as the teen had once feared they would. He had proven himself over and over to be a caring, generous, friendly leader to his team. So when he would bring up rescuing his family, they would see a leader who loved and cared for his family enough to risk himself for them. So Danny had decided that they were ready.
He hopped down from the dumpster and walked out of the alley, a serious expression on his scarred face. he walked down the streets, signaling "Come with me" to every Fighter he came across. Soon, all forty-four Freedom Fighters had congregated in the vacant lot beside what used to be the warehouse.
The Big Three stood in front of the crowd of trained Freedom Fighters. Danny stepped forward. "Tonight is a big night, Freedom Fighters," the leader said. "Tonight, a group of us will attempt to do something so crazy, it'll seem impossible."
The excited muttering began. "My parents are locked away in this torture prison. They're both fighters, and... I care about them so much. And I think we can all agree this team needs a mom and dad." Danny's voice cracked. "And besides that, who knows what information they can give us? There has to be some reason as to why Carpathan's kept them alive for so long."
Nods of agreement followed the statement. Danny raised his voice. "We break them out tonight!"
The team had been craving some real action, so this elicited quite a noisy reaction. Teens whooped and hollered; others clapped and raised their fists. They're so happy to follow you to their deaths, a thought in Danny's head said. Danny forced it out with a grin. He didn't want to think about that.
"I'm excited too!" he exclaimed. "But we have to be aware of the dangers we'll have to face when we get there." The leader took a deep breath, hesitating. He forced his next words out. "Some of you... could die."
"We know all about death," said Ben's twin brother, Remy. "So much blood, and the glassy eyes..." He shuddered.
"Are you sure you want that to be you?" Danny inquired gravely.
Remy hesitated, but then nodded. He looked up at Danny. "In the name of freedom, I'll pay that price."
Clapping followed Remy's simple, yet powerful statement. Danny nodded. "And in the name of freedom we fight," he said. "We are Freedom Fighters, after all."
"All three of us are going," Sam said, motioning at her two friends.
Then Danny added, "Due to the method of our entrance, only slender or small-framed people can go on this mission. Dash, Kwan, Billy... sorry." The three muscular boys sighed.
"I'll go," Brent declared.
"And me," Toby volunteered.
"I want to go, Danny," a female voice announced. "Never know when you could use some backup." The voice belonged to Valerie. Danny liked Valerie; she was tough. He had fought her before during practice, and lost a number of times to her. He found that he really admired the girl's strength and cunning. For a girl once in the popular crowd, her skills had really surprised him.
"Sure, why not?" the leader said. More joined in--- Ben, Remy, John, Amy, Ashley, Ivan, Cole, Jenni, Griffin, and others. Danny lifted his voice once more. "For the rest of the day, this group will train for tonight. Practice sneaking, fighting moves, lock-picking... anything that'll help us out there. But before that, we need to explain what needs to be done. The rest of you can go."
As the others departed, Danny joined his two friends. They and the rescue team came closer into a tighter group. Once they were all gathered around, Danny spoke. "Here's the plan," he began. "When we get to the prison, we break up into two teams. One will search the main areas while the other searches in the more obscure places, where you'd least expect to find prisoners. They probably keep torture devices in those areas."
"Why would they be around there?" asked Tucker, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He had been doing that a lot since he broke his glasses in a practice fight.
Danny shrugged. "To keep them hidden away, most likely," he replied. "Anyways, I'm taking my team to those obscure areas."
"I'm going with you," Sam said.
Danny gave her a partially frantic look. "But Sam---"
"Please. All those practice fights we've had together? You know I can put up a good fight," the girl said. "You'd do better to have me with you. Never know what could happen."
"I'll lead the group searching the main areas," Tucker said. "There's bound to be security cameras in need of knocking out, and who knows what else."
Danny nodded to both his friends. "Who's with Tucker?"
"I'll co-lead with him on that," Brent offered.
"All right," said Tucker. "Remy, Amy, Cole, Jenni, Toby, and Brian, you're with me."
"The rest of you are on my team," Danny finished. He was joined by Valerie, John, Ashley, Ivan, Griffin, and Ben. The numbers evened out as eight for each team.
Danny began to explain the rest of his plan. "Main search team will go through the regular prison cells and solitary confinement units," he said. "If you find my parents, tell them you're with me. They'll ask you to take them to me, but insist on not doing that until we're all safely out of the prison. My team will meet up with yours outside." If they survive.
"My team is searching the obscure areas, and any other area where no one would expect to find cells. Carpathan probably wouldn't expect us to search there." Or he could know exactly what you intend to do and kill everybody, then force you to breathe their blood.
"Go on and train," Danny finished, forcing his dark thoughts away for the time. "I'll meet you all back here as soon as the sun goes down." The other Fighters all went their separate ways, off to practice until sunset. Soon, all that remained were Danny and his friends Sam and Tucker.
Danny sat down on the ground and sighed, then wrapped his arms around his knees. "Danny? What's bothering you, man?" asked Tucker, sitting down next to his friend.
"Yeah," said Sam. "You look really sad."
"We're gonna rescue your parents tonight. You should be excited," said Tucker.
"I am excited," Danny said, looking down.
"Could've fooled me," Sam retorted, folding her arms.
"But I'm also worried sick for you guys. What if you both die? What will I have then?"
"We'll be fine, Danny," said Sam, sitting down at Danny's other side.
"Yeah," added Tucker. "We can handle ourselves. Just you watch. Every one of us can make it out alive."
"Just because you can doesn't mean you will," Danny muttered, pressing his face against his knees.
"We'll try," said Sam. "But... if we do die, you've got to promise not to blame yourself. Blame us, not yourself."
A humorless laugh rattled from Danny's throat. "I'm not willing to make promises any more," he said. Because I don't trust myself with them. I'll just break them all and prove what a failure I really am. He didn't say the words out loud because he knew it would start an argument. And Danny knew he would always lose.
"Well, I guess you two can go train," said Danny. "I just need to think. Go help the groups. I'll catch up with both of you soon." All Danny wanted to do was rest before the night began, but he knew he should prepare for the mission himself.
After his friends had gone, the boy sighed, reaching under his long hair to rub the back of his neck. The teen leader had been suffering from tension headaches for a while now, no doubt because of all the stress he was under.
Danny stood up and looked around, taking in all of the damage and chaos around him. He breathed deeply. He thought about how many people had died already. Then he thought about every person that could die. He clenched his fists. "I'm not gonna let anyone else die. I'm not gonna fail," he said out loud to himself. "I can't... I can't let myself. Not this time."
And then, his own words came back to haunt him in a scary, bitterly real way. Just because you can't doesn't mean you won't.
,.~*~.,
The days passed by quickly. Danny threw himself into as many practice fights as possible, trying his best to grow stronger, and perhaps even prepare some Fighters for the upcoming mission. He had a few more fights with John, and in one, John had even managed to beat him. Danny had congratulated him on the win, but demanded a rematch afterwards all the same.
He had even managed to defeat both Dash and Kwan, who were amazed at his improvised moves of both offense and defense. Danny was becoming quite a fighter, thin yet strong and quick. Some days, he would fight enough in one day that both Sam and Tucker agreed he was overworking himself. Sometimes, after those days, Danny would take a day to rest and eat something to gain energy rather than strength and skill.
Over the course of the next month, he became rather close friends with Brent, John, Sarah, and even Dash, whom Danny considered promoting to "commander of fight groups", or the man in charge of keeping Fighters organized when the "Big Three" could not.
Tucker had found a friend in Chris. The two made a brilliant team with both their technological skills combined.
Danny and Sam had bonded together as a fighting team and even closer as friends, and each seemed to know what the other was thinking. Some would believe that they were beginning to form a psychic bond to each other, unlikely as it seemed. While having partner practice fights, the two forgot their frequent bickering and thought as one mind; they fought as one body.
All of their wounds were now healed up enough that the bandages were no longer necessary. Danny was even able to open his right eye about halfway. Holes were wearing through the knees of his blue jeans, as well as some of the fabric in his shoes.
After another month, the scars had become a pinkish color, which was a whole lot better than Danny could have thought they would look. They didn't even hurt any more, and all the scabs had gone away. He could now open both eyes with ease. His once pale skin was turning golden-brown. He was, by this point, an excellent self-taught fighter. He was skinny, but wiry muscle lay just underneath his skin, making him much stronger than he appeared.
His team had undergone similar effects, but none had fought as often, nor as hard, as Danny. Sam would make sure that Danny would eat at least one bunch of leaves a day to keep his strength up.
One month later, however, a chill was setting in. The leaves were beginning to dry out and fall. It was becoming increasingly difficult to find birds while hunting. Fighters began to go hungry again. Many browsed through garbage cans and dumpsters and compiled the finds together at one blue dumpster as the day drew to a close.
The steady diet of meat and leaves was finally drawing to an end as each Fighter had to settle for a much less healthy, and much less abundant, diet of stale crusts and half-eaten bits of everything else. More time had to be dedicated to finding food than to practice fighting.
Danny was quickly falling back into his old habit of not eating. Sam could sometimes manage to get something inside him, but it wasn't often. Now, Danny sat atop his dumpster, sword in hand. He had been thinking. And after three months of training, he felt he was ready. It was time. The mission was tonight.
Danny's hair had grown longer still, now almost at his shoulders. He was slightly taller than both his best friends now, giving everyone the idea that he had really grown up over the course of a few months. And it wasn't just a physical change. Five months of leading a team through trials and troubles had gotten him accustomed to leadership and commanding. Most Fighters respected him and quite liked him.
But Danny no longer cared what his team thought of him. The time for first impressions was long over. Danny was who he was. Nobody thought he was selfish, as the teen had once feared they would. He had proven himself over and over to be a caring, generous, friendly leader to his team. So when he would bring up rescuing his family, they would see a leader who loved and cared for his family enough to risk himself for them. So Danny had decided that they were ready.
He hopped down from the dumpster and walked out of the alley, a serious expression on his scarred face. he walked down the streets, signaling "Come with me" to every Fighter he came across. Soon, all forty-four Freedom Fighters had congregated in the vacant lot beside what used to be the warehouse.
The Big Three stood in front of the crowd of trained Freedom Fighters. Danny stepped forward. "Tonight is a big night, Freedom Fighters," the leader said. "Tonight, a group of us will attempt to do something so crazy, it'll seem impossible."
The excited muttering began. "My parents are locked away in this torture prison. They're both fighters, and... I care about them so much. And I think we can all agree this team needs a mom and dad." Danny's voice cracked. "And besides that, who knows what information they can give us? There has to be some reason as to why Carpathan's kept them alive for so long."
Nods of agreement followed the statement. Danny raised his voice. "We break them out tonight!"
The team had been craving some real action, so this elicited quite a noisy reaction. Teens whooped and hollered; others clapped and raised their fists. They're so happy to follow you to their deaths, a thought in Danny's head said. Danny forced it out with a grin. He didn't want to think about that.
"I'm excited too!" he exclaimed. "But we have to be aware of the dangers we'll have to face when we get there." The leader took a deep breath, hesitating. He forced his next words out. "Some of you... could die."
"We know all about death," said Ben's twin brother, Remy. "So much blood, and the glassy eyes..." He shuddered.
"Are you sure you want that to be you?" Danny inquired gravely.
Remy hesitated, but then nodded. He looked up at Danny. "In the name of freedom, I'll pay that price."
Clapping followed Remy's simple, yet powerful statement. Danny nodded. "And in the name of freedom we fight," he said. "We are Freedom Fighters, after all."
"All three of us are going," Sam said, motioning at her two friends.
Then Danny added, "Due to the method of our entrance, only slender or small-framed people can go on this mission. Dash, Kwan, Billy... sorry." The three muscular boys sighed.
"I'll go," Brent declared.
"And me," Toby volunteered.
"I want to go, Danny," a female voice announced. "Never know when you could use some backup." The voice belonged to Valerie. Danny liked Valerie; she was tough. He had fought her before during practice, and lost a number of times to her. He found that he really admired the girl's strength and cunning. For a girl once in the popular crowd, her skills had really surprised him.
"Sure, why not?" the leader said. More joined in--- Ben, Remy, John, Amy, Ashley, Ivan, Cole, Jenni, Griffin, and others. Danny lifted his voice once more. "For the rest of the day, this group will train for tonight. Practice sneaking, fighting moves, lock-picking... anything that'll help us out there. But before that, we need to explain what needs to be done. The rest of you can go."
As the others departed, Danny joined his two friends. They and the rescue team came closer into a tighter group. Once they were all gathered around, Danny spoke. "Here's the plan," he began. "When we get to the prison, we break up into two teams. One will search the main areas while the other searches in the more obscure places, where you'd least expect to find prisoners. They probably keep torture devices in those areas."
"Why would they be around there?" asked Tucker, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He had been doing that a lot since he broke his glasses in a practice fight.
Danny shrugged. "To keep them hidden away, most likely," he replied. "Anyways, I'm taking my team to those obscure areas."
"I'm going with you," Sam said.
Danny gave her a partially frantic look. "But Sam---"
"Please. All those practice fights we've had together? You know I can put up a good fight," the girl said. "You'd do better to have me with you. Never know what could happen."
"I'll lead the group searching the main areas," Tucker said. "There's bound to be security cameras in need of knocking out, and who knows what else."
Danny nodded to both his friends. "Who's with Tucker?"
"I'll co-lead with him on that," Brent offered.
"All right," said Tucker. "Remy, Amy, Cole, Jenni, Toby, and Brian, you're with me."
"The rest of you are on my team," Danny finished. He was joined by Valerie, John, Ashley, Ivan, Griffin, and Ben. The numbers evened out as eight for each team.
Danny began to explain the rest of his plan. "Main search team will go through the regular prison cells and solitary confinement units," he said. "If you find my parents, tell them you're with me. They'll ask you to take them to me, but insist on not doing that until we're all safely out of the prison. My team will meet up with yours outside." If they survive.
"My team is searching the obscure areas, and any other area where no one would expect to find cells. Carpathan probably wouldn't expect us to search there." Or he could know exactly what you intend to do and kill everybody, then force you to breathe their blood.
"Go on and train," Danny finished, forcing his dark thoughts away for the time. "I'll meet you all back here as soon as the sun goes down." The other Fighters all went their separate ways, off to practice until sunset. Soon, all that remained were Danny and his friends Sam and Tucker.
Danny sat down on the ground and sighed, then wrapped his arms around his knees. "Danny? What's bothering you, man?" asked Tucker, sitting down next to his friend.
"Yeah," said Sam. "You look really sad."
"We're gonna rescue your parents tonight. You should be excited," said Tucker.
"I am excited," Danny said, looking down.
"Could've fooled me," Sam retorted, folding her arms.
"But I'm also worried sick for you guys. What if you both die? What will I have then?"
"We'll be fine, Danny," said Sam, sitting down at Danny's other side.
"Yeah," added Tucker. "We can handle ourselves. Just you watch. Every one of us can make it out alive."
"Just because you can doesn't mean you will," Danny muttered, pressing his face against his knees.
"We'll try," said Sam. "But... if we do die, you've got to promise not to blame yourself. Blame us, not yourself."
A humorless laugh rattled from Danny's throat. "I'm not willing to make promises any more," he said. Because I don't trust myself with them. I'll just break them all and prove what a failure I really am. He didn't say the words out loud because he knew it would start an argument. And Danny knew he would always lose.
"Well, I guess you two can go train," said Danny. "I just need to think. Go help the groups. I'll catch up with both of you soon." All Danny wanted to do was rest before the night began, but he knew he should prepare for the mission himself.
After his friends had gone, the boy sighed, reaching under his long hair to rub the back of his neck. The teen leader had been suffering from tension headaches for a while now, no doubt because of all the stress he was under.
Danny stood up and looked around, taking in all of the damage and chaos around him. He breathed deeply. He thought about how many people had died already. Then he thought about every person that could die. He clenched his fists. "I'm not gonna let anyone else die. I'm not gonna fail," he said out loud to himself. "I can't... I can't let myself. Not this time."
And then, his own words came back to haunt him in a scary, bitterly real way. Just because you can't doesn't mean you won't.
,.~*~.,
Danny's and Tucker's teams looked across the street at the torture prison, silent. Danny stood at the edge of the sidewalk, the end of his headband fluttering in the chilly breeze. He gazed upon the prison, sadness and determination in his blue eyes. His heart was full of excitement and fear.
He turned to Tucker. "We're on," he said.
"Not yet," said Tucker. He pulled out a device and hit a few buttons. "I've programmed the cameras to display repeats of the past five minutes. They won't see us coming."
Danny gave him a thumbs up and signalled his team. Tucker signalled his, then they both moved forward across the street, silent as the night. As quietly as possible, each teen climbed over the fence and gathered around the air duct, as they had been directed to.
Danny removed the vent cover and crawled in, his group following him. Once they had all gotten in, Tucker and his group followed. They wormed their way through the duct for what seemed like an eternity, crawling through the endless dark tunnel until Danny saw a light coming from ahead to his left. "Guys," he whispered loudly. "Hold on for a sec." Sam stopped and passed the message on while Danny crept up ahead.
The teen crawled into a shorter tunnel and, much to his satisfaction (and relief), found that the light source was another vent cover. He breathed a sigh of relief and peeked through the vent. It led out into a hallway that seemed to stretch on for quite a distance. It was, fortunately, empty. The vent cover was, oddly enough, loose. With a bit of jiggering and joggering at the ends of it, the thing popped off.
"Come on," Danny whispered to his group. He slid himself out of the duct and stood up, then dusted off his shirt and jeans. He stood there for a moment, enjoying the comfortable indoor temperature. Sam crawled out next, followed by John, Ivan, Ashley, Griffin, Ben, and Valerie. Then came Tucker, Brent, Amy, Cole, Brian, Jenni, Toby, and Remy.
"All accounted for here," whispered Tucker.
"And here," Danny whispered back.
"Why are we whispering? Nobody's here," Valerie whispered loudly.
"Because it's enemy territory," Amy replied sharply.
Valerie glared at her. "I'm glad you'll be out of my hair for a while, kid," she retorted.
"Guys, stop," Danny commanded, his voice raising a bit. "If either of you dies tonight, the other is going to feel awfully sorry."
Amy and Valerie stopped arguing. Danny turned to his group. "Come on, guys. We've gotta get through the rest of this place."
"And we've gotta find Danny's parents," Tucker said. "Come on." Tucker headed off with his group. Then Danny walked away with his.
,.~*~.,
"Are they here yet?" asked Carpathan, hanging over Baker's shoulder.
"No, sir," the peacekeeper answered, taking a bite from his sandwich. "And they haven't for three whole months."
"Patience," Carpathan said, his tone hushed. "Wait however long it takes. Look for the slightest oddity, anything that would suggest they are here."
"Yes sir."
,.~*~.,
Maddie and Jack looked up as the door to their cell flew open. "All right, Maddie... and Jack," Masters began, walking inside. "Your boy and his friends have arrived. Meaning, it's time to get out of here."
"Thank goodness!" Jack exclaimed, jumping to his feet.
Maddie frowned at Masters. She still didn't trust the devious man she used to call a friend. If he was so willing to double-cross Carpathan, would he be just as willing to double-cross them if caught red-handed? Vlad smirked at her smoothly, a foxy glint in his eyes. Maddie narrowed her eyes at him, standing up.
"Come along, then," said Masters, turning and leaving.
Maddie shared a glance with her husband. Then the two followed after the man.
,.~*~.,
Danny's team had come through a series of hallways and now found themselves in an open room. Two peacekeepers had been guarding the room, but they had been easily taken care of and were now knocked unconscious and stuffed in a closet. Taking down peacekeepers was easy when you had a blackbelt and an aggressive teenager on your team.
Now the bunch had reached another door at the end of the room. Danny's adrenaline was at an all-time high, with what could only be described as "fighting blood" coursing througn his veins and pumping loudly in his ears. He clutched the sword in his hands, anticipating the rush of battle and the marriage of steel to skin. Danny wasn't bloodthirsty, but he was certainly thrilled that he was in his first real battle setting.
He licked his dry lips and flung open the door. There were two peacekeepers again, who both jumped when the door opened. Danny smacked one in the skull with the broad side of his sword. Then the other grabbed the teen by the shoulders. Sam stabbed the peacekeeper in the shoulder, causing him to gasp in pain and grip his shoulder. Valerie then nailed him in the jaw with a punch.
Meanwhile, John and Ben had taken care of the other peacekeeper, who was lying against the wall and moaning half-consciously. "Stuff 'em in a closet?" Ivan inquired, thumbing toward another storage room. Danny chuckled.
,.~*~.,
Tucker led his team through the hallway of cells, shooting sorry glances at each person he saw inside them--- civilians, not criminals. Some read books and Bibles, others scratched doodles or messages in the floors and walls. Some were sleeping, and others still were writing. They were letters to family, most likely, that would never get sent. The poor, poor people, Tucker mused.
Though each teen wanted to help those people, none of them were Maddie or Jack. Their mission was to help them alone; there were no provisions made for a massive prison break. And it broke Tucker's heart.
"Let's check the solitary confinement cells," the co-leader said, turning to his group.
Cole sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "'Bout time. This is depressing."
"As if living on the streets as a gang isn't depressing?" Brian said, glancing at his teammate.
"Let's go, guys," Remy hissed, urging the two boys after Tucker. They followed willingly.
As they approached the solitary confinement cells, Tucker noticed something very odd. The door to one was wide open. "The door to opportunity is open," Cole whispered, rubbing his hands together.
"Cole's right, Tuck," Brent agreed. "We should check it out."
Tucker nodded. "All right. I guess we should see if that's the place where Danny's parents used to be," he consented. If that was their room, Danny's entire plan was in a state of collapse.
,.~*~.,
Masters led the Fentons through the complex, quietly talking to them and explaining some things. "I can't take you straight out the front door," he said, "but there is a back door, invisible to the outside, that I can bring you out by."
"I still don't trust you," Maddie said, staring nails into the back of Masters' silvery head. Masters just smiled, pretending not to hear the woman's comment. This caused her to narrow her eyes to piercing daggers. She had never found that grin irritating before now.
"At least give him one more chance, Mads," Jack said gently and a bit hoarsely. "I mean, look at what he's doing for us..."
Maddie knew her husband was right. She should give Vlad a second chance. But she had never been a woman inclined to forgive easily. She, more often than not, tended to hold grudges. But for Jack, she would try to let this one go...
Even if it was the last thing she ever did.
,.~*~.,
"Sir."
Carpathan sighed and picked up his communicator, eyes still fixed on the security camera screens. "What is it, peacekeeper?" he asked.
"Sir, we've lost contact with the guards on the secondary half of the jail," came the response.
Carpathan narrowed his eyes. "Thank you for your report, peacekeeper. That was exactly the information I needed." He turned off the communicator and tucked it away in his suit pocket. "Baker, look at the third row of screens, and the last one on that row," he commanded.
Baker looked. "I don't see anything weird. Just a cell door and a spider on the wall," he said.
Carpathan approached the screens and pointed at the spider on the video display. "I've been watching this simple spider for the past fifteen minutes. Once it reaches the edge of the door, it suddenly pops back to its location five minutes before. It always makes the same movements, and always crawls in the same directions. That spider, Baker, is not actually there."
"Video loop!" Baker exclaimed, his eyes wide. "How did I miss that?"
"It doesn't matter. The Fighters are here and presumably up to no good. I must stop them," Carpathan said, striding out of the security room. He pulled out his communicator and turned it on. "I need four armed guards to come with me immediately," he said. "I'm heading for the main entrance of hallway B. They will meet me there."
"Yes, sir!"
Carpathan turned off the communicator and marched forward.
,.~*~.,
Danny pushed a partially jammed door open and stepped inside the room. It was large and dark. Scary-looking devices of many kinds lined the walls.
"Whoah," John breathed, looking around. "What kind of monster keeps all these lying around?"
"This Carpathan one does," Danny replied. "Keep in mind it's the same monster who ordered that massacre, and is holding my parents hostage."
"Yow," whispered Ivan, looking around with wide blue eyes.
"He's sick," Sam muttered, rubbing her fingers against the sides of a sharp spike. "What does he want to do with these spike things? Impale people?" Among the spikes were electronic torture devices, fearsome, dirty weapons, and even a couple of guillotines.
Danny swallowed, deciding to change the subject. "Collect as many weapons as possible," Danny ordered, pointing to a pile of cleaner weapons in the far left corner of the room. "We might need them in the times to come."
"All right then, all of you," said Ashley, heading for the pile. "Let's get to it."
Danny stood careful watch by the door as his team gathered the weapons. If Carpathan showed up, he might decide to execute the teens then and there. He certainly had the resources. But Danny could warn them if he kept watch. He could save them. He could feel like he was making up for all the time he'd failed them.
Once the group had collected the weapons, Danny led them out and into the halls again.
,.~*~.,
Underneath one of the cell's benches was a halfway-assembled device with features signature of Jack Fenton's work. It was, without a doubt, the same cell the ghost hunters had been in.
Tucker sighed and set the object down, hopeless. He left the cell. "This was their room, all right," he said. "And they're definitely gone."
"Yes, I believe we've already established that," Cole replied smartly.
"Now what?" asked Amy.
"Danny's plan is ruined, that's what," Brent answered.
The group exchanged glances. This was bad.
,.~*~.,
Carpathan and his four armed men marched down the prison hallways, towards the solitary confinement area. He knew the Freedom Fighters must have been somewhere around there, trying to get the Fentons out... if they hadn't already.
Though Daniel hadn't surprised Carpathan, he had certainly provided enough of a delay in the mayor's finding out that the boy would seem to have the advantage. But nobody could outwit Carpathan. The boy would suffer for this. Carpathan smiled twistedly.
Oh, he would suffer all right. He would suffer so much that he'd hate his life and finally give in.
,.~*~.,
Jenni shushed her chatting teammates. "Guys, do you hear that?" The conversation hushed. Distant footsteps could be heard. It was the click of expensive shoes and the thumping of heavy boots.
"It's Carpathan!" Tucker hissed. "Quick! Into the cell! And shut the door!"
The eight teens hurried into the cell and quietly shut the door. They huddled on the floor in the darkness, hoping the footsteps would pass them by. Tucker's heart dropped into his stomach when the footsteps stopped.
"Give me the key," a voice with a strange accent ordered. The jingle of keys sounded, but then Carpathan spoke again. "No. Wait." The doorknob rattled. "It's already unlocked."
Brent turned pale. Tucker swallowed. Remy held onto Jenni for dear life, and she held him back, scared. Amy backed against the wall, and Cole covered his face. Brian was paralyzed with fear. Toby clenched and unclenched his fists, ready to fight if necessary.
The door began to open. In stepped the tall, imposing figure of the tyrant mayor, a frown set across his face. "Freedom Fighters," he greeted calmly. He looked around at each teenager. "I would prefer to speak with your leader, but he doesn't seem to be here. So then, who will it be?"
Tucker rose to his feet and met Carpathan's eyes as boldly as he could. "I'll speak for this team," he said. The mayor raised an eyebrow. "I'm Tucker Foley, and I lead this team alongside Danny. Basically, you are talking to the leader."
"All right, then," Carpathan said, an evil twinkle in his dark blue eyes. "Where have you taken the Fentons, Tucker Foley?"
"We didn't take them anywhere," Tucker explained. "They were gone when we got here. And even if we had taken them, we wouldn't be here right now."
"And how did you get here?" asked Carpathan, who was quickly becoming irritated.
Tucker smirked mischievously, his hazel eyes twinkling. "Through an obvious breach in your security," he answered. "You should thank us for finding out about it."
Carpathan's eyes narrowed. "Don't get smart with me, boy," he growled, grabbing the collar of the boy's shirt and jerking him closer. "No one else could have possibly loosed them. You will pay dearly for this." He shoved Tucker into the hold of one of his armed men. "I have a special purpose for this one," the mayor said, a sick smirk on his face. Tucker struggled, but was unable to break free from the armed man's iron grip.
"Hey, leave him alone!" Toby declared, standing and rushing at Carpathan, dagger in his hand.
Something flashed in Carpathan's eye when he suddenly turned around and punched the teenager hard in the jaw. Bones cracked in Toby's face. Blood flew out of his mouth along with a short, strangled, agonized cry of pain. He fell to the ground and smacked his head on the hard floor with a loud crack.
Ashley squeaked, covering her mouth. The group was speechless with shock. With a single punch, Carpathan had killed Toby. The teen's face was frozen in a scrunched-up expression, his jaw slightly dislocated.
"You will all come with me," Carpathan ordered. The teens all looked to Tucker, who nodded. Then, the Fighters all stood and followed Carpathan and his crew out.
They didn't know where they were being taken, but they knew it couldn't be a happy place. Each teen knew he was about to face Hell.
,.~*~.,
Danny and his team had not found any evidence whatsoever that suggested his parents were there. Sighing and hoping Tucker's group had had better luck, the teen gave his group the order.
"We'll go out the front gates," he said. "Everyone stick together and fight as hard as you need to. Come on."
After they had walked for about five minutes, Danny began to feel that something was wrong. And he had learned to trust his instincts. "Guys, you all go on," he commanded. "I'll meet you all outside, but there's something I have to do first. Alone." He aimed his last word at Sam, expecting her to object. Instead, she just looked at him. Then, she turned to the other teens and told them to follow her.
Danny smiled gratefully, then turned and rushed back through the prison. He started walking again to save breath. Then, as he walked through one hallway, he spotted an open door. Danny grew extremely silent, softly stepping closer to the door. He peered inside.
There was a desk, a set of security screens, and a strawberry-blonde young man in a peacekeeper's uniform sitting in a chair in front of the screens. A key sat on the desk next to him. Danny smirked. This was too easy.
If there was something wrong, he could use the security cameras to see what was going on. Danny casually walked up behind the man and snatched up the key. "Out of the chair, dude. With your hands up," the teen ordered, pointing his sword at the man.
The young man slowly turned and looked up, his blue eyes wide and mouth agape. He rose from his seat, hands up, and backed off. Danny approached him, blade pointed at the peacekeeper's throat. "Get against that wall," the teen ordered, motioning to the wall next to the door.
The man obeyed and pressed his back against the directed wall. Danny kept his sword aimed at him as he shut and locked the door. Then, he looked at the man. "Keep your hands up, I need to check your screens for something," said the teen, walking toward the desk. He sat down in the office chair and spun around, sighing. "Been a while since I had something comfortable to sit on," he said.
The startled peacekeeper just stared. "You're... you're Daniel Fenton," he said shakily.
Danny spun around to face his hostage, raising an eyebrow. "I go by Danny, so you know. But yes. Yes I am." He spun back around and began looking at the screens.
"I hope this doesn't affect my paycheck," the man said.
Danny rolled his eyes. "You're my captive and all you can think about is your paycheck?" he asked.
"Um... sort of?"
Danny buried his face in his palm and groaned.
"What?"
"Never mind. Just keep your hands up." Danny looked at each screen, into each room, hallway, and other place in the prison, seeking out Tucker's team. "C'mon, Tuck, where are all of you?" he muttered. They weren't outside, and they didn't appear to be wandering the halls, either. Not a room held a trace of them.
The peacekeeper had been studying Danny as he looked for the team. "You don't seem nearly as bad as Carpathan makes you out to be," he said.
"You don't seem tough enough to be a peacekeeper," replied Danny.
The man chuckled nervously. "Why do you think I'm the camera guy?"
"Are your hands up?" asked Danny.
"Um... yeah."
"Then that explains why you're the camera guy."
The young man blinked in confusion. "Huh?"
Danny kept on looking at the screens, running his fingers through his shaggy, matted black hair in confusion and frustration. "Is there something wrong with the cameras besides what Tucker did to them or something?" he asked aloud.
"Oh. I haven't quite fixed that yet," the camera operative said. "Just... let me finish and I'll be right back against the wall."
Danny turned to see his captive grinning nervously. "All right, then," he said, twirling his sword. "I doubt you'd mess with a guy with a sword."
The man cautiously approached the desk, messed with a few controls, and flipped a switch. The cameras suddenly flickered, then switched to live. "There."
"Thanks, um..."
"Call me Caleb. Caleb Baker."
Danny nodded. "All right. You can roam this room freely now."
Caleb Baker breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks so much... I was about to have a heart attack."
Danny's eyes widened at one of the screens. "Wha... where are they?" There was Tucker's team, all together except for Toby and Tucker himself. They looked scared. They were in a white room surrounded by glass--- possibly soundproof. The flooring was tiled and white as well. The teens were huddled together, trying to protect each other from whatever threat might come upon them. "They've been caught!" He turned around and frantically looked at Caleb. "You've got to tell me what that room is!" he said loudly.
"That's the experiment chamber," Caleb replied. "Carpathan, he... likes to use people as human guinnea pigs. It's weird."
Danny muttered something vulgar about the mayor under his breath, then quickly turned back to look at the screen. "And... and he's doing that now?"
"Sometimes, he... uses it as an execution chamber, too. For the really bad stuff."
Danny was beginning to tremble in fear and anger. "He's... he's gonna kill them!" he choked.
Suddenly, at the end of the white room, a man dressed in all black materialized. He drew a sword and slowly approached the group of teens. Danny watched, unable to turn away, as he raised his sword and began to kill the brave Fighters. Some drew their weapons and took blows at the man, but he was never hit.
This is like what Cam described when he talked about how Michael died, the shaken teen realized. He shut his eyes and began to convulse, holding in fearful tears. Caleb turned off that camera, much to Danny's relief. But they were dead. So he was still in a state of emotional distress, and sick to his stomach.
He looked up at another screen, which had an already-prepared device displayed on it. It looked like something out of a sci-fi horror movie, with clamps for the hands and feet, connected to great electronic devices. It was, without a doubt, a torture-and-execute device. "caleb, tell me where that room is," he said shakily, pointing at the screen. "Please... they're going to kill someone close to me. Tell me... tell me where it is and the fastest route there."
Caleb thought of his paycheck. And then he thought of life. So which of the two mattered more to him?
,.~*~.,
"I'll be right back, you two," said Masters. "We're almost out. First, I must check to see if there is anybody by the door that will stop us."
Maddie nodded and looked at Jack, who smiled. "Everything's going to be all right, Maddie, see?" he reassured his wife.
"It... looks that way, yes," Maddie replied. Then Jack fell. Maddie gasped as a buff figure in all black suddenly stood before her. She barely got a chance to register his toxic purple eyes before she was knocked unconscious.
,.~*~.,
Vlad heard a noise and came back from the small corridor he had been in to find Jack and Maddie had just... disappeared. And then he smelled an ectotrail.
"What in the name of...?"
,.~*~.,
Caleb had given Danny the directions to the room he had seen on the screen. He had set off on that route. So far so good. He ahd just climbed a flight of stairs up to an observatory deck. Below him was a room with a guillotine. He was about to pass it by and go through the door to the next room when suddenly, the man in black materialized in the room.
Danny gasped when his parents appeared with the man. He watched them slowly stand up, both rubbing their face or neck. The man in black--- if he was even human--- shoved Jack over to the guillotine. Danny's eyes grew wide as his father's head was shoved into the hole, beneath the blade that would separate his head from his shoulders. The blade fell.
Danny flinched, shuddering. He still looked on as the man grabbed the crying Maddie by the shoulders, locked her in, and...
Danny turned away, his mind growing hazy with anger and blood-filled thoughts. His mission was in vain because now, his parents were dead. And so many more were dead besides them. And Danny had promised. Promised he wouldn't fail. But he'd broken his promise.
"No!" Danny slammed the edge of his sword into the wall. He then yanked it out and threw open the door to the next room. He registered these things: The electronic torture device in the room below, Tucker hooked up to it, the two peacekeepers, and the haze of rage.
The peacekeepers turned to see Danny there, sword gripped tightly in his hands, teeth gritted with emotion. They were at the controls; they had started to kill Tucker. Now it was Danny's chance to stop them.
He was suddenly one with the sword, pumping all of his emotion into it. He attacked the first guy head-on, taking a generous slice out of the peacekeeper's side. Yelling in agony, the man fell to the ground and covered his side with both hands.
The second peacekeeper knocked Danny to the floor and came after him with the butt of his gun. Danny met the weapon with a clash of his blade and resisted, grimacing.. Finally, he keeled back and kicked the man in the gut with a spring of his legs, sending him staggering backwards. Then Danny stumbled to his feet, unsteadily trying to regain his sense of balance.
The peacekeeper saw his chance and lifted his gun to shoot. Registering this in his mind, Danny swung his sword to cut the gun from his opponent's hand, but he was so disoriented that he misaimed and instead drove his blade right through the man's chest. He fell down dead.
Danny gasped, then removed his bloody sword from the peacekeeper's body. The haze that had been over him during the fight had gone, and he could now clearly see the two men lying there, bloody, on the floor.
He sighed and looked at the room below the observation deck, where he saw an already pained Tucker. Danny realized too late that he didn't know how to use the controls. He couldn't shut the machine down. He couldn't save Tucker. And he was terrified stiff. But, he thought, he should try to have one last conversation with his best friend.
Danny easily figured out how to turn on the two-way PA system to the room. He slowly and shakily began to speak. "T... Tucker?" he asked weakly.
"Danny?" Tucker rasped. He looked around the room. "Where's your voice coming from?"
"Up here," Danny replied, relieved to hear his friend's voice.
Tucker looked up, a weary look in his hazel eyes. "You're alive?" he asked. Danny was about to answer, but something in his throat choked the words, so he simply nodded. "Then you should run while you still can."
"No, Tucker, I can get you out of there, I swear," Danny said. "I can figure out the controls, I can..."
"Danny, they told me... once the device is active it can't be shut off. I'm going to die. I'm sorry..."
"No, no, you can't!" Danny cried, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. "I'll find a way to stop it, I'll--- "
"Please!" Tucker grimaced and turned his pain-filled gaze to look Danny in the eye. "Just... g-go," he strained out, a single tear falling from his eye. He was in obvious pain. "No one is going to blame you for this, just run!"
Danny just stood there, unable to turn away from Tucker's painful demise but desperately, desperately wanting to run. His blue eyes filled up with tears as he watched his best friend hold back screams of agony. Finally, Tucker could hold it no longer. He screamed louder than he had ever screamed. Danny backed away in horror, then shouted his friend's name until his throat hurt.
Finally, the machine and the screaming stopped. Tucker's body fell limp, his face twisted in the utmost contortion of pain. "Tucker..." Danny mouthed. He could stand it no longer. The teen turned and ran, his face wet with his own tears. He ran through the empty halls and out a back door he found, then until he found a dark place to hide outside.
He closed his sky-blue eyes and pressed his face against the outside wall of the torture prison. It was there that everything he had been holding back that entire year--- every tear, every fear, every twinge of anger, every ounce of pain and emotion--- came out in one big, anguished cry that didn't even sound human. It ended in a huge sob which eventually tapered down to a breathless whisper.
Words could faintly be heard coming from his mouth. "So much death... so much death... I can't take it anymore... the death... oh, the death..."
He took a deep breath and calmed himself down, eyes no longer clemched shut so tightly. His erratic breathing evened out, but his face still wasn't completely calm. He pulled back from the cold stone wall as all the memories of death came back to him. A calm type of rage beat through him with his fighting blood. It was cold, and it filled his entire being. His face became grave as his breathing grew quieter. He hadn't felt like this before, so restlessly... relaxed.
When Danny opened his eyes again, they were like ice. "I won't let death murder me any longer," he said, voice perfectly normal. His eyes narrowed into slits. "This isn't over yet. You may have won this time, but don't think for a moment that'll make us stop!" His voice raised passionately on that last sentence as he screamed his heart to Carpathan. Then, in a low voice, he continued, half to himself, "Even if my team quits, I won't."
"Danny! You made it out!" Sam called from behind him.
Danny turned around to see his other best friend running toward him. He walked toward her as she ran, solemnly gazing at her. She threw her arms around him. Danny hugged her back, staring off blankly into the distance.
The other six Fighters in Danny's group came toward the two, panting. Some were limping. None appeared injured, just very tired. "Where's Tucker and the others?" asked Sam after they broke the embrace.
"They're dead, Sam," Danny said hoarsely.
Sam swallowed. "Dead?" Danny nodded, now staring blankly down at his feet. Sam scoffed in disbelief. "Tucker is dead? He's actually... gone?"
"Yeah," Danny rasped in a hushed voice.
His friend looked disgusted. "I don't believe this," she said, narrowing her eyes. She shook her ehad. "You mean Carpathan seriously... murdered him?!"
"He did!" Danny snapped, emotion finally on his face. "And my parents, and the rest of the group I brought here! And I was there, Sam! I saw them all die!" Sam stared up at him, speechless. Her brow was furrowed in a mixture of grief, anger, and confusion. Danny's mask cracked. "Sam, I could have... at least tried! But I was frozen there and---" He dug his hands through his raggedy black hair. "I just let him..." he choked out the last word, "...die."
He felt truly sick of himself now. The sickness turned ionto disgust, and the disgust quickly turned into anger. His icy eyes blazed with a cold fire. "No one else close to me dies," he said, looking at Sam intensely. He knew he must have looked terrible to her right now; he was dirty, probably a little bloody, and he had red, puffy eyes from his crying. This, he guessed, was the reason why she flinched back a little.
"My brother," Ben said. Danny and Sam turned to look at the boy. "He's dead too... isn't he?"
The leader narrowed his eyes and nodded slowly, remembering as the blade cut young Remy's throat open. "I'm sorry." Ben drooped. Ashley set her hand on the boy's shoulder to comfort him.
Danny turned away. He had had enough grief for one night. Absolutely enough. Just when he started to walk away, heavy, pained, raspy breathing was heard. Footsteps pounded toward them. The teens all turned to see a tall figure running toward them, hands covering his face. "I made it out," he gasped, coming closer to his leaders. "I'm alive..."
Danny stared at Brent and the red liquid that was seeping through his long fingers. Sam approached him. "Brent? What happened?" asked she.
"Everybody died," Brent answered, peeking out from behind one bloodsoaked hand. "I pretended to be dead after a while, until they were all fallen around me and that... whatever he was vanished. I took a run for it. And my face is permanently ruined." Brent slowly uncovered his face. It was grossly marred and bleeding badly. All the teens cringed.
Danny shut his eyes tightly and pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn't bear to look at another bloodsoaked body. It was sick. Revolting. "Spare us the details," he growled, walking off. "This mission was a failure." And so am I, he added mentally.
"Danny---" Brent began, but he was cut off by Sam.
"It's OK. He just needs to be alone," she said.
Danny mentally thanked her and kept on walking. He returned to his alley before anyone else. The ice in his eyes never left him the whole way back. It wouldn't break, it wouldn't melt. Even after the remaining Fighters returned to their domain, the ice remained in his eyes. In fact, it only seemed to grow colder.
A change was beginning to happen inside of Danny, whether it was good or bad. And whether he knew it or not, he was changing... and it would doubtlessly begin to affect the people around him.
,.~*~.,
He turned to Tucker. "We're on," he said.
"Not yet," said Tucker. He pulled out a device and hit a few buttons. "I've programmed the cameras to display repeats of the past five minutes. They won't see us coming."
Danny gave him a thumbs up and signalled his team. Tucker signalled his, then they both moved forward across the street, silent as the night. As quietly as possible, each teen climbed over the fence and gathered around the air duct, as they had been directed to.
Danny removed the vent cover and crawled in, his group following him. Once they had all gotten in, Tucker and his group followed. They wormed their way through the duct for what seemed like an eternity, crawling through the endless dark tunnel until Danny saw a light coming from ahead to his left. "Guys," he whispered loudly. "Hold on for a sec." Sam stopped and passed the message on while Danny crept up ahead.
The teen crawled into a shorter tunnel and, much to his satisfaction (and relief), found that the light source was another vent cover. He breathed a sigh of relief and peeked through the vent. It led out into a hallway that seemed to stretch on for quite a distance. It was, fortunately, empty. The vent cover was, oddly enough, loose. With a bit of jiggering and joggering at the ends of it, the thing popped off.
"Come on," Danny whispered to his group. He slid himself out of the duct and stood up, then dusted off his shirt and jeans. He stood there for a moment, enjoying the comfortable indoor temperature. Sam crawled out next, followed by John, Ivan, Ashley, Griffin, Ben, and Valerie. Then came Tucker, Brent, Amy, Cole, Brian, Jenni, Toby, and Remy.
"All accounted for here," whispered Tucker.
"And here," Danny whispered back.
"Why are we whispering? Nobody's here," Valerie whispered loudly.
"Because it's enemy territory," Amy replied sharply.
Valerie glared at her. "I'm glad you'll be out of my hair for a while, kid," she retorted.
"Guys, stop," Danny commanded, his voice raising a bit. "If either of you dies tonight, the other is going to feel awfully sorry."
Amy and Valerie stopped arguing. Danny turned to his group. "Come on, guys. We've gotta get through the rest of this place."
"And we've gotta find Danny's parents," Tucker said. "Come on." Tucker headed off with his group. Then Danny walked away with his.
,.~*~.,
"Are they here yet?" asked Carpathan, hanging over Baker's shoulder.
"No, sir," the peacekeeper answered, taking a bite from his sandwich. "And they haven't for three whole months."
"Patience," Carpathan said, his tone hushed. "Wait however long it takes. Look for the slightest oddity, anything that would suggest they are here."
"Yes sir."
,.~*~.,
Maddie and Jack looked up as the door to their cell flew open. "All right, Maddie... and Jack," Masters began, walking inside. "Your boy and his friends have arrived. Meaning, it's time to get out of here."
"Thank goodness!" Jack exclaimed, jumping to his feet.
Maddie frowned at Masters. She still didn't trust the devious man she used to call a friend. If he was so willing to double-cross Carpathan, would he be just as willing to double-cross them if caught red-handed? Vlad smirked at her smoothly, a foxy glint in his eyes. Maddie narrowed her eyes at him, standing up.
"Come along, then," said Masters, turning and leaving.
Maddie shared a glance with her husband. Then the two followed after the man.
,.~*~.,
Danny's team had come through a series of hallways and now found themselves in an open room. Two peacekeepers had been guarding the room, but they had been easily taken care of and were now knocked unconscious and stuffed in a closet. Taking down peacekeepers was easy when you had a blackbelt and an aggressive teenager on your team.
Now the bunch had reached another door at the end of the room. Danny's adrenaline was at an all-time high, with what could only be described as "fighting blood" coursing througn his veins and pumping loudly in his ears. He clutched the sword in his hands, anticipating the rush of battle and the marriage of steel to skin. Danny wasn't bloodthirsty, but he was certainly thrilled that he was in his first real battle setting.
He licked his dry lips and flung open the door. There were two peacekeepers again, who both jumped when the door opened. Danny smacked one in the skull with the broad side of his sword. Then the other grabbed the teen by the shoulders. Sam stabbed the peacekeeper in the shoulder, causing him to gasp in pain and grip his shoulder. Valerie then nailed him in the jaw with a punch.
Meanwhile, John and Ben had taken care of the other peacekeeper, who was lying against the wall and moaning half-consciously. "Stuff 'em in a closet?" Ivan inquired, thumbing toward another storage room. Danny chuckled.
,.~*~.,
Tucker led his team through the hallway of cells, shooting sorry glances at each person he saw inside them--- civilians, not criminals. Some read books and Bibles, others scratched doodles or messages in the floors and walls. Some were sleeping, and others still were writing. They were letters to family, most likely, that would never get sent. The poor, poor people, Tucker mused.
Though each teen wanted to help those people, none of them were Maddie or Jack. Their mission was to help them alone; there were no provisions made for a massive prison break. And it broke Tucker's heart.
"Let's check the solitary confinement cells," the co-leader said, turning to his group.
Cole sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "'Bout time. This is depressing."
"As if living on the streets as a gang isn't depressing?" Brian said, glancing at his teammate.
"Let's go, guys," Remy hissed, urging the two boys after Tucker. They followed willingly.
As they approached the solitary confinement cells, Tucker noticed something very odd. The door to one was wide open. "The door to opportunity is open," Cole whispered, rubbing his hands together.
"Cole's right, Tuck," Brent agreed. "We should check it out."
Tucker nodded. "All right. I guess we should see if that's the place where Danny's parents used to be," he consented. If that was their room, Danny's entire plan was in a state of collapse.
,.~*~.,
Masters led the Fentons through the complex, quietly talking to them and explaining some things. "I can't take you straight out the front door," he said, "but there is a back door, invisible to the outside, that I can bring you out by."
"I still don't trust you," Maddie said, staring nails into the back of Masters' silvery head. Masters just smiled, pretending not to hear the woman's comment. This caused her to narrow her eyes to piercing daggers. She had never found that grin irritating before now.
"At least give him one more chance, Mads," Jack said gently and a bit hoarsely. "I mean, look at what he's doing for us..."
Maddie knew her husband was right. She should give Vlad a second chance. But she had never been a woman inclined to forgive easily. She, more often than not, tended to hold grudges. But for Jack, she would try to let this one go...
Even if it was the last thing she ever did.
,.~*~.,
"Sir."
Carpathan sighed and picked up his communicator, eyes still fixed on the security camera screens. "What is it, peacekeeper?" he asked.
"Sir, we've lost contact with the guards on the secondary half of the jail," came the response.
Carpathan narrowed his eyes. "Thank you for your report, peacekeeper. That was exactly the information I needed." He turned off the communicator and tucked it away in his suit pocket. "Baker, look at the third row of screens, and the last one on that row," he commanded.
Baker looked. "I don't see anything weird. Just a cell door and a spider on the wall," he said.
Carpathan approached the screens and pointed at the spider on the video display. "I've been watching this simple spider for the past fifteen minutes. Once it reaches the edge of the door, it suddenly pops back to its location five minutes before. It always makes the same movements, and always crawls in the same directions. That spider, Baker, is not actually there."
"Video loop!" Baker exclaimed, his eyes wide. "How did I miss that?"
"It doesn't matter. The Fighters are here and presumably up to no good. I must stop them," Carpathan said, striding out of the security room. He pulled out his communicator and turned it on. "I need four armed guards to come with me immediately," he said. "I'm heading for the main entrance of hallway B. They will meet me there."
"Yes, sir!"
Carpathan turned off the communicator and marched forward.
,.~*~.,
Danny pushed a partially jammed door open and stepped inside the room. It was large and dark. Scary-looking devices of many kinds lined the walls.
"Whoah," John breathed, looking around. "What kind of monster keeps all these lying around?"
"This Carpathan one does," Danny replied. "Keep in mind it's the same monster who ordered that massacre, and is holding my parents hostage."
"Yow," whispered Ivan, looking around with wide blue eyes.
"He's sick," Sam muttered, rubbing her fingers against the sides of a sharp spike. "What does he want to do with these spike things? Impale people?" Among the spikes were electronic torture devices, fearsome, dirty weapons, and even a couple of guillotines.
Danny swallowed, deciding to change the subject. "Collect as many weapons as possible," Danny ordered, pointing to a pile of cleaner weapons in the far left corner of the room. "We might need them in the times to come."
"All right then, all of you," said Ashley, heading for the pile. "Let's get to it."
Danny stood careful watch by the door as his team gathered the weapons. If Carpathan showed up, he might decide to execute the teens then and there. He certainly had the resources. But Danny could warn them if he kept watch. He could save them. He could feel like he was making up for all the time he'd failed them.
Once the group had collected the weapons, Danny led them out and into the halls again.
,.~*~.,
Underneath one of the cell's benches was a halfway-assembled device with features signature of Jack Fenton's work. It was, without a doubt, the same cell the ghost hunters had been in.
Tucker sighed and set the object down, hopeless. He left the cell. "This was their room, all right," he said. "And they're definitely gone."
"Yes, I believe we've already established that," Cole replied smartly.
"Now what?" asked Amy.
"Danny's plan is ruined, that's what," Brent answered.
The group exchanged glances. This was bad.
,.~*~.,
Carpathan and his four armed men marched down the prison hallways, towards the solitary confinement area. He knew the Freedom Fighters must have been somewhere around there, trying to get the Fentons out... if they hadn't already.
Though Daniel hadn't surprised Carpathan, he had certainly provided enough of a delay in the mayor's finding out that the boy would seem to have the advantage. But nobody could outwit Carpathan. The boy would suffer for this. Carpathan smiled twistedly.
Oh, he would suffer all right. He would suffer so much that he'd hate his life and finally give in.
,.~*~.,
Jenni shushed her chatting teammates. "Guys, do you hear that?" The conversation hushed. Distant footsteps could be heard. It was the click of expensive shoes and the thumping of heavy boots.
"It's Carpathan!" Tucker hissed. "Quick! Into the cell! And shut the door!"
The eight teens hurried into the cell and quietly shut the door. They huddled on the floor in the darkness, hoping the footsteps would pass them by. Tucker's heart dropped into his stomach when the footsteps stopped.
"Give me the key," a voice with a strange accent ordered. The jingle of keys sounded, but then Carpathan spoke again. "No. Wait." The doorknob rattled. "It's already unlocked."
Brent turned pale. Tucker swallowed. Remy held onto Jenni for dear life, and she held him back, scared. Amy backed against the wall, and Cole covered his face. Brian was paralyzed with fear. Toby clenched and unclenched his fists, ready to fight if necessary.
The door began to open. In stepped the tall, imposing figure of the tyrant mayor, a frown set across his face. "Freedom Fighters," he greeted calmly. He looked around at each teenager. "I would prefer to speak with your leader, but he doesn't seem to be here. So then, who will it be?"
Tucker rose to his feet and met Carpathan's eyes as boldly as he could. "I'll speak for this team," he said. The mayor raised an eyebrow. "I'm Tucker Foley, and I lead this team alongside Danny. Basically, you are talking to the leader."
"All right, then," Carpathan said, an evil twinkle in his dark blue eyes. "Where have you taken the Fentons, Tucker Foley?"
"We didn't take them anywhere," Tucker explained. "They were gone when we got here. And even if we had taken them, we wouldn't be here right now."
"And how did you get here?" asked Carpathan, who was quickly becoming irritated.
Tucker smirked mischievously, his hazel eyes twinkling. "Through an obvious breach in your security," he answered. "You should thank us for finding out about it."
Carpathan's eyes narrowed. "Don't get smart with me, boy," he growled, grabbing the collar of the boy's shirt and jerking him closer. "No one else could have possibly loosed them. You will pay dearly for this." He shoved Tucker into the hold of one of his armed men. "I have a special purpose for this one," the mayor said, a sick smirk on his face. Tucker struggled, but was unable to break free from the armed man's iron grip.
"Hey, leave him alone!" Toby declared, standing and rushing at Carpathan, dagger in his hand.
Something flashed in Carpathan's eye when he suddenly turned around and punched the teenager hard in the jaw. Bones cracked in Toby's face. Blood flew out of his mouth along with a short, strangled, agonized cry of pain. He fell to the ground and smacked his head on the hard floor with a loud crack.
Ashley squeaked, covering her mouth. The group was speechless with shock. With a single punch, Carpathan had killed Toby. The teen's face was frozen in a scrunched-up expression, his jaw slightly dislocated.
"You will all come with me," Carpathan ordered. The teens all looked to Tucker, who nodded. Then, the Fighters all stood and followed Carpathan and his crew out.
They didn't know where they were being taken, but they knew it couldn't be a happy place. Each teen knew he was about to face Hell.
,.~*~.,
Danny and his team had not found any evidence whatsoever that suggested his parents were there. Sighing and hoping Tucker's group had had better luck, the teen gave his group the order.
"We'll go out the front gates," he said. "Everyone stick together and fight as hard as you need to. Come on."
After they had walked for about five minutes, Danny began to feel that something was wrong. And he had learned to trust his instincts. "Guys, you all go on," he commanded. "I'll meet you all outside, but there's something I have to do first. Alone." He aimed his last word at Sam, expecting her to object. Instead, she just looked at him. Then, she turned to the other teens and told them to follow her.
Danny smiled gratefully, then turned and rushed back through the prison. He started walking again to save breath. Then, as he walked through one hallway, he spotted an open door. Danny grew extremely silent, softly stepping closer to the door. He peered inside.
There was a desk, a set of security screens, and a strawberry-blonde young man in a peacekeeper's uniform sitting in a chair in front of the screens. A key sat on the desk next to him. Danny smirked. This was too easy.
If there was something wrong, he could use the security cameras to see what was going on. Danny casually walked up behind the man and snatched up the key. "Out of the chair, dude. With your hands up," the teen ordered, pointing his sword at the man.
The young man slowly turned and looked up, his blue eyes wide and mouth agape. He rose from his seat, hands up, and backed off. Danny approached him, blade pointed at the peacekeeper's throat. "Get against that wall," the teen ordered, motioning to the wall next to the door.
The man obeyed and pressed his back against the directed wall. Danny kept his sword aimed at him as he shut and locked the door. Then, he looked at the man. "Keep your hands up, I need to check your screens for something," said the teen, walking toward the desk. He sat down in the office chair and spun around, sighing. "Been a while since I had something comfortable to sit on," he said.
The startled peacekeeper just stared. "You're... you're Daniel Fenton," he said shakily.
Danny spun around to face his hostage, raising an eyebrow. "I go by Danny, so you know. But yes. Yes I am." He spun back around and began looking at the screens.
"I hope this doesn't affect my paycheck," the man said.
Danny rolled his eyes. "You're my captive and all you can think about is your paycheck?" he asked.
"Um... sort of?"
Danny buried his face in his palm and groaned.
"What?"
"Never mind. Just keep your hands up." Danny looked at each screen, into each room, hallway, and other place in the prison, seeking out Tucker's team. "C'mon, Tuck, where are all of you?" he muttered. They weren't outside, and they didn't appear to be wandering the halls, either. Not a room held a trace of them.
The peacekeeper had been studying Danny as he looked for the team. "You don't seem nearly as bad as Carpathan makes you out to be," he said.
"You don't seem tough enough to be a peacekeeper," replied Danny.
The man chuckled nervously. "Why do you think I'm the camera guy?"
"Are your hands up?" asked Danny.
"Um... yeah."
"Then that explains why you're the camera guy."
The young man blinked in confusion. "Huh?"
Danny kept on looking at the screens, running his fingers through his shaggy, matted black hair in confusion and frustration. "Is there something wrong with the cameras besides what Tucker did to them or something?" he asked aloud.
"Oh. I haven't quite fixed that yet," the camera operative said. "Just... let me finish and I'll be right back against the wall."
Danny turned to see his captive grinning nervously. "All right, then," he said, twirling his sword. "I doubt you'd mess with a guy with a sword."
The man cautiously approached the desk, messed with a few controls, and flipped a switch. The cameras suddenly flickered, then switched to live. "There."
"Thanks, um..."
"Call me Caleb. Caleb Baker."
Danny nodded. "All right. You can roam this room freely now."
Caleb Baker breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks so much... I was about to have a heart attack."
Danny's eyes widened at one of the screens. "Wha... where are they?" There was Tucker's team, all together except for Toby and Tucker himself. They looked scared. They were in a white room surrounded by glass--- possibly soundproof. The flooring was tiled and white as well. The teens were huddled together, trying to protect each other from whatever threat might come upon them. "They've been caught!" He turned around and frantically looked at Caleb. "You've got to tell me what that room is!" he said loudly.
"That's the experiment chamber," Caleb replied. "Carpathan, he... likes to use people as human guinnea pigs. It's weird."
Danny muttered something vulgar about the mayor under his breath, then quickly turned back to look at the screen. "And... and he's doing that now?"
"Sometimes, he... uses it as an execution chamber, too. For the really bad stuff."
Danny was beginning to tremble in fear and anger. "He's... he's gonna kill them!" he choked.
Suddenly, at the end of the white room, a man dressed in all black materialized. He drew a sword and slowly approached the group of teens. Danny watched, unable to turn away, as he raised his sword and began to kill the brave Fighters. Some drew their weapons and took blows at the man, but he was never hit.
This is like what Cam described when he talked about how Michael died, the shaken teen realized. He shut his eyes and began to convulse, holding in fearful tears. Caleb turned off that camera, much to Danny's relief. But they were dead. So he was still in a state of emotional distress, and sick to his stomach.
He looked up at another screen, which had an already-prepared device displayed on it. It looked like something out of a sci-fi horror movie, with clamps for the hands and feet, connected to great electronic devices. It was, without a doubt, a torture-and-execute device. "caleb, tell me where that room is," he said shakily, pointing at the screen. "Please... they're going to kill someone close to me. Tell me... tell me where it is and the fastest route there."
Caleb thought of his paycheck. And then he thought of life. So which of the two mattered more to him?
,.~*~.,
"I'll be right back, you two," said Masters. "We're almost out. First, I must check to see if there is anybody by the door that will stop us."
Maddie nodded and looked at Jack, who smiled. "Everything's going to be all right, Maddie, see?" he reassured his wife.
"It... looks that way, yes," Maddie replied. Then Jack fell. Maddie gasped as a buff figure in all black suddenly stood before her. She barely got a chance to register his toxic purple eyes before she was knocked unconscious.
,.~*~.,
Vlad heard a noise and came back from the small corridor he had been in to find Jack and Maddie had just... disappeared. And then he smelled an ectotrail.
"What in the name of...?"
,.~*~.,
Caleb had given Danny the directions to the room he had seen on the screen. He had set off on that route. So far so good. He ahd just climbed a flight of stairs up to an observatory deck. Below him was a room with a guillotine. He was about to pass it by and go through the door to the next room when suddenly, the man in black materialized in the room.
Danny gasped when his parents appeared with the man. He watched them slowly stand up, both rubbing their face or neck. The man in black--- if he was even human--- shoved Jack over to the guillotine. Danny's eyes grew wide as his father's head was shoved into the hole, beneath the blade that would separate his head from his shoulders. The blade fell.
Danny flinched, shuddering. He still looked on as the man grabbed the crying Maddie by the shoulders, locked her in, and...
Danny turned away, his mind growing hazy with anger and blood-filled thoughts. His mission was in vain because now, his parents were dead. And so many more were dead besides them. And Danny had promised. Promised he wouldn't fail. But he'd broken his promise.
"No!" Danny slammed the edge of his sword into the wall. He then yanked it out and threw open the door to the next room. He registered these things: The electronic torture device in the room below, Tucker hooked up to it, the two peacekeepers, and the haze of rage.
The peacekeepers turned to see Danny there, sword gripped tightly in his hands, teeth gritted with emotion. They were at the controls; they had started to kill Tucker. Now it was Danny's chance to stop them.
He was suddenly one with the sword, pumping all of his emotion into it. He attacked the first guy head-on, taking a generous slice out of the peacekeeper's side. Yelling in agony, the man fell to the ground and covered his side with both hands.
The second peacekeeper knocked Danny to the floor and came after him with the butt of his gun. Danny met the weapon with a clash of his blade and resisted, grimacing.. Finally, he keeled back and kicked the man in the gut with a spring of his legs, sending him staggering backwards. Then Danny stumbled to his feet, unsteadily trying to regain his sense of balance.
The peacekeeper saw his chance and lifted his gun to shoot. Registering this in his mind, Danny swung his sword to cut the gun from his opponent's hand, but he was so disoriented that he misaimed and instead drove his blade right through the man's chest. He fell down dead.
Danny gasped, then removed his bloody sword from the peacekeeper's body. The haze that had been over him during the fight had gone, and he could now clearly see the two men lying there, bloody, on the floor.
He sighed and looked at the room below the observation deck, where he saw an already pained Tucker. Danny realized too late that he didn't know how to use the controls. He couldn't shut the machine down. He couldn't save Tucker. And he was terrified stiff. But, he thought, he should try to have one last conversation with his best friend.
Danny easily figured out how to turn on the two-way PA system to the room. He slowly and shakily began to speak. "T... Tucker?" he asked weakly.
"Danny?" Tucker rasped. He looked around the room. "Where's your voice coming from?"
"Up here," Danny replied, relieved to hear his friend's voice.
Tucker looked up, a weary look in his hazel eyes. "You're alive?" he asked. Danny was about to answer, but something in his throat choked the words, so he simply nodded. "Then you should run while you still can."
"No, Tucker, I can get you out of there, I swear," Danny said. "I can figure out the controls, I can..."
"Danny, they told me... once the device is active it can't be shut off. I'm going to die. I'm sorry..."
"No, no, you can't!" Danny cried, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. "I'll find a way to stop it, I'll--- "
"Please!" Tucker grimaced and turned his pain-filled gaze to look Danny in the eye. "Just... g-go," he strained out, a single tear falling from his eye. He was in obvious pain. "No one is going to blame you for this, just run!"
Danny just stood there, unable to turn away from Tucker's painful demise but desperately, desperately wanting to run. His blue eyes filled up with tears as he watched his best friend hold back screams of agony. Finally, Tucker could hold it no longer. He screamed louder than he had ever screamed. Danny backed away in horror, then shouted his friend's name until his throat hurt.
Finally, the machine and the screaming stopped. Tucker's body fell limp, his face twisted in the utmost contortion of pain. "Tucker..." Danny mouthed. He could stand it no longer. The teen turned and ran, his face wet with his own tears. He ran through the empty halls and out a back door he found, then until he found a dark place to hide outside.
He closed his sky-blue eyes and pressed his face against the outside wall of the torture prison. It was there that everything he had been holding back that entire year--- every tear, every fear, every twinge of anger, every ounce of pain and emotion--- came out in one big, anguished cry that didn't even sound human. It ended in a huge sob which eventually tapered down to a breathless whisper.
Words could faintly be heard coming from his mouth. "So much death... so much death... I can't take it anymore... the death... oh, the death..."
He took a deep breath and calmed himself down, eyes no longer clemched shut so tightly. His erratic breathing evened out, but his face still wasn't completely calm. He pulled back from the cold stone wall as all the memories of death came back to him. A calm type of rage beat through him with his fighting blood. It was cold, and it filled his entire being. His face became grave as his breathing grew quieter. He hadn't felt like this before, so restlessly... relaxed.
When Danny opened his eyes again, they were like ice. "I won't let death murder me any longer," he said, voice perfectly normal. His eyes narrowed into slits. "This isn't over yet. You may have won this time, but don't think for a moment that'll make us stop!" His voice raised passionately on that last sentence as he screamed his heart to Carpathan. Then, in a low voice, he continued, half to himself, "Even if my team quits, I won't."
"Danny! You made it out!" Sam called from behind him.
Danny turned around to see his other best friend running toward him. He walked toward her as she ran, solemnly gazing at her. She threw her arms around him. Danny hugged her back, staring off blankly into the distance.
The other six Fighters in Danny's group came toward the two, panting. Some were limping. None appeared injured, just very tired. "Where's Tucker and the others?" asked Sam after they broke the embrace.
"They're dead, Sam," Danny said hoarsely.
Sam swallowed. "Dead?" Danny nodded, now staring blankly down at his feet. Sam scoffed in disbelief. "Tucker is dead? He's actually... gone?"
"Yeah," Danny rasped in a hushed voice.
His friend looked disgusted. "I don't believe this," she said, narrowing her eyes. She shook her ehad. "You mean Carpathan seriously... murdered him?!"
"He did!" Danny snapped, emotion finally on his face. "And my parents, and the rest of the group I brought here! And I was there, Sam! I saw them all die!" Sam stared up at him, speechless. Her brow was furrowed in a mixture of grief, anger, and confusion. Danny's mask cracked. "Sam, I could have... at least tried! But I was frozen there and---" He dug his hands through his raggedy black hair. "I just let him..." he choked out the last word, "...die."
He felt truly sick of himself now. The sickness turned ionto disgust, and the disgust quickly turned into anger. His icy eyes blazed with a cold fire. "No one else close to me dies," he said, looking at Sam intensely. He knew he must have looked terrible to her right now; he was dirty, probably a little bloody, and he had red, puffy eyes from his crying. This, he guessed, was the reason why she flinched back a little.
"My brother," Ben said. Danny and Sam turned to look at the boy. "He's dead too... isn't he?"
The leader narrowed his eyes and nodded slowly, remembering as the blade cut young Remy's throat open. "I'm sorry." Ben drooped. Ashley set her hand on the boy's shoulder to comfort him.
Danny turned away. He had had enough grief for one night. Absolutely enough. Just when he started to walk away, heavy, pained, raspy breathing was heard. Footsteps pounded toward them. The teens all turned to see a tall figure running toward them, hands covering his face. "I made it out," he gasped, coming closer to his leaders. "I'm alive..."
Danny stared at Brent and the red liquid that was seeping through his long fingers. Sam approached him. "Brent? What happened?" asked she.
"Everybody died," Brent answered, peeking out from behind one bloodsoaked hand. "I pretended to be dead after a while, until they were all fallen around me and that... whatever he was vanished. I took a run for it. And my face is permanently ruined." Brent slowly uncovered his face. It was grossly marred and bleeding badly. All the teens cringed.
Danny shut his eyes tightly and pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn't bear to look at another bloodsoaked body. It was sick. Revolting. "Spare us the details," he growled, walking off. "This mission was a failure." And so am I, he added mentally.
"Danny---" Brent began, but he was cut off by Sam.
"It's OK. He just needs to be alone," she said.
Danny mentally thanked her and kept on walking. He returned to his alley before anyone else. The ice in his eyes never left him the whole way back. It wouldn't break, it wouldn't melt. Even after the remaining Fighters returned to their domain, the ice remained in his eyes. In fact, it only seemed to grow colder.
A change was beginning to happen inside of Danny, whether it was good or bad. And whether he knew it or not, he was changing... and it would doubtlessly begin to affect the people around him.
,.~*~.,