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The "Doctor"

Previously: If the Zookeeper thought they were going to sit quietly like good little pets then he thought wrong. A dog when backed into a corner doesn't give up. It bites back.


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"This is an awful idea," Valerie stated quite plainly, raising an eyebrow at Danny from across the circle.

"I think it's great!" Rodney laughed.

Caroline managed to muster enough courage to glare at him. "That's because you're not the one that has to swallow paint."

"I know," Danny said, wincing, "if I could do it myself, I would, but this is the fastest way to get the Zookeeper's attention."

The minute they woke up, Danny gathered them to discuss their first escape plan. The idea was to get the ghost to open the door for one of them in order to scope the place out, which was less of an escape plan and more of a reconnaissance mission.

They could have tried Danny's second plan, which was attacking the guards and figuring out how they open the door, but for now he told them it was best to remain neutral and pretend to cooperate. At least until they knew what they were up against.

"Valerie and I get bruises from our battles so he seems to deem that as a necessary side effect of the viewings, but he also gives us medicine and bandages," Danny explained, considering the eyes of everyone watching him. "This means that he cares, somewhat, about our wellbeing."

He turned to send Caroline, who already appeared queasy, a guilty look. "And I know this isn't the idle plan, but it's honestly the best. Since this guy is a ghost he doesn't understand the human body well. If Mikey or Rodney were to use something from their rooms to cut themselves, it would be just like Valerie and I's situation and we'd probably only get sent bandages."

"But by swallowing paint, he won't know what to do," Valerie said, sighing. "I get it. He might have to take her to the human world to find a doctor or something."

Danny nodded, sitting backwards and allowing the tension to ease out of his shoulders. He was lucky everyone seemed to agree with his plan; being a leader wasn't exactly easy. "At the very least she'll be able to get a good look around. See if there are other ghosts or humans we don't know about."

The other kids grew sullen. "You think he might have taken others?" Mia asked, hands clenched.

"Thousands of kids go missing every year," Danny said, figuring that would be enough of an answer.

"And the shield around this room might mean he captures other ghosts too?" Mikey asked, confused. "I mean, why would a ghost do that to its own kind?"

Thinking of Skulker and Walker, Danny almost laughed. "You'd be surprised how alike humans and ghosts are. I mean, we have human serial killers that torture people of their own race. Why do you think they do that?"

"It's different," Valerie felt the need to state. Danny tensed, but refused to respond. So far they had managed to keep their differing opinions of ghosts out of their conversations and he didn't want to break that right before they attempted an escape plan.

Caroline shook her head. "What if it doesn't work?" she asked, turning pleadingly to the others for help. "I could get really sick and he might not come for me."

"There is a chance he might not show up because he either doesn't understand what's happening, or might not be paying attention," Danny said, pointing at the statues on the other side of the room. "I don't see any cameras so we all need to be super over the top in convincing the guards."

"I'm good at that!" Paulina said, smiling. She obviously just wanted to help in some way so Danny gave her a smile back.

"Sure, but we all need to act like this is a big deal. Caroline only needs to drink enough to throw up, not a lethal amount, but we need to act like she's on her death bed, got it?"

"Got it," everyone responded.

They all remained sitting because there was nothing else they could do other than wait for the cells to open. Mia said they hardly ever got breakfast so their plan would have to be carried out during lunch when they all met up again.

Danny looked at the rather green looking Caroline. It was all up to whether or not she could stomach swallowing some of her paint once alone.

Rodney suddenly giggled. "I don't know why, but I feel weird, man," he said, vibrating in his seat.

"I did not need to know that," Paulina commented, scooting away from him.

"No, I mean, I feel like energized or something. Like super pumped!" he tried again, punching his arms in the air. "You know what I'm talking about?"

"It's because we're trying to get out," Mia answer, smiling softly. "I never even thought about it before now."

"I appear to be in the same position," Mikey said, looking at Danny. "When I woke up here I just thought 'well, this is it then.' So thanks Danny, even if this doesn't work out I still like the feeling of hoping again."

Okay wow, Danny just knew he was blushing hard. Valerie's soft giggle at the expression he made affirmed his suspicion. "Ah! No, it's totally not me, Val would have figured something out eventually. She's a- uh, fighter too."

Rodney laughed. "Oh, man, you're a riot, kid! Son of two ghost hunters and he still thinks he has nothing to do with raising our chances of escape."

It wasn't Danny's fault he wasn't used to so much attention being given to his human half! As Phantom he would sometimes get the occasional cheer or deeply heartfelt thank you from someone, but as Fenton? He'd sooner be shoved into a locker than sent a kind smile.

Thankfully his blood pressure was given a break by the shrill alarm before his head could explode. The other kids for once didn't look so disappointed when the doors to their cells started rising.

As they separated, everyone seemed to hold their heads high and their shoulder straight. It was a good feeling for them. Better than helplessness at least.

Before Danny followed Valerie into the next couple hours of hell, he turned to Caroline. "It's okay if don't want to do this, I'm not going to be mad," he said, trying to ease her nerves.

She looked startled, watching his face for any signs of deception. "No," she whispered, clenching her hands. "You're really sweet, Danny, but I can do this." She looked him in the eyes as she declared, "I want to help."

He was just receiving complements everywhere today, wasn't he? Danny, grinned at her. "Good luck."

She smiled back as they left for their individual cells.

As he stepped into his, he noticed Valerie watching him. "What?" he asked, crouching to prepare for a fight. She was giving him such a weird look, eyes roaming over his stance.

"Nothing, you're just… different," she finally said, following him into a crouch.

He didn't have time to mull over what she meant before the ceiling open fired on them.


o.O.o.O.o.O.o

"I hate this so much," Danny panted from his position on the floor.

Valerie was half sprawled over his legs. "Seconded," she groaned, hair flying everywhere. "What I wouldn't give for a hair tie."

"Here," he said, sitting up. She moved off his leg as he detached something from around his ankle. A large hairband was thrust into her hands.

"Sam always wears them so Tuck and I carry hair ties for her, and my hair always gets in the way so she carries clips for me," he explained, smiling at the reminder of his best friends.

"You guys are really close," Valerie snorted, quickly standing up and bending in half to tie her hair. "Friends like that are definitely keepers."

Danny nodded, suddenly sad. "They're like family."

Valerie, hair now out of her eyes, noticed his look. "Hey, we're making progress today. We'll get out eventually." At the reminder of Caroline's task, Danny stood up and followed her to the door.

The others were out and hovering by the picnic table. Lunch was already on it and everyone pretended to act as if nothing was wrong while in front of the guards.

Danny reached for a salad while watching her open door out of the corner of his eye. "She hasn't come out yet?" he whispered.

"No," Mikey whispered back between bites. He looked concerned.

"Think she chickened?" Rodney asked, curiously.

"She wouldn't," Mia snapped, voicing rising. The others hushed her.

Everyone was startled when the ghosts guarding the doors suddenly moved. Mia, thinking she had given them away, jumped up from the table. The students remained frozen as the ghost bypassed them entirely and floated into Caroline's open cell without a word.

"What are they doing?" Valerie hissed, leaning sideways to try and follow them.

A few seconds passed before they emerged, Caroline tucked under the arm of one of them.

The teenagers were on their feet in a flash. Danny was the first to retaliate by jumping in front of the guards. "What did you do to her?" he demanded, trying to keep her voice level.

The guards paused, heads tilting downward at the human that was standing in front of them. It took a moment, but the one not holding the unconscious girl finally said, "The human was expelling the contents of her stomach," he answered, voice deep. Both guards were wearing masks over their mouths so it was difficult to see their expression.

Danny relaxed his stance, noticing the others losing their tense positions as well. "She was throwing up?"

"Number two is expected to recover," came the answer from the other guard who finally pushed past Danny.

Danny watched closely as the guard not holding Caroline reached into a pocket on his suit and pulled out a card. Once the card was held up to the door, it opened.

Plan two started to come together in his mind.

The door closed behind the ghosts with a loud slam, hiding their unconscious classmate from view. "Well this wasn't exactly the plan, but it works," Danny said, turning around to face the others. "As long as she wakes up eventually."

"I just hope she didn't take too much," Mikey worried.

Hunger overriding their concerns, the teenagers settled down at the picnic table again. "Mia, have any of you tried staying in your cells before?" Danny asked.

She swallowed before answering, face scrunched up. "Why in the world would we want to stay in there?"

Danny nodded. That meant the guards probably went to get Caroline not because they knew she was in trouble, but because she didn't move from her cell. They must have just noticed her being sick and figured something was wrong.

"So what next, kid?" Rodney wondered, looking at Danny.

"I have at least part of a plan," he answered. "But I need to know how strong you guys are."

The others looked at one another. They had two thin models, one small nerd, and one tall, but impossibly thin guy. Valerie was the strongest looking with hardened muscles and abs everyone was jealous of, but even Danny was short and thin- although no one knew how much his ghost strength could help him lift.

"Yeah," Danny sighed, running a hand over his face. "We might have a problem."

The sound of a door opening had everyone looking towards the ceiling. Knowing what was coming, the others jumped back in time, but poor Danny the newbie was suddenly crushed under the weight of two huge bodies.

Despite the breath leaving his lungs, he was coherent enough to recognize the leatherjacket being worn by the jocks above him.

"Well hello there solutions," Rodney cheered, leaning into the faces of the two unconscious teenagers. "Man you two are thick!"

"Not these guys," Valerie complained, looking at the ceiling as if questioning her own existence.

Danny was slowly losing the ability to think. Apparently oxygen was important. "Little… help…" he wheezed from beneath Dash and Kwan's bodies.

Rodney and Valerie worked together to roll Dash off him as Paulina and Mia moved Kwan to the side. Mikey struggled to pull Danny out by his hand. Once free, the short teenager heaved large gulpfulls of air.

"I could have gone my entire life without knowing what it felt like to be underneath Dash Baxter again," he groaned, flushing when Rodney burst out in surprise laughter.

"Ohhhh my god," Rodney cackled, leaning over his knees. "Kid, I am liking you more and more each day."

Danny's ears were red. "I didn't mean it like that." He had been thinking of the time when they fitness buddies and had been shrunk together. Dash had passed out on top of him because of Skulker.

At least he was able to break the uneasy tension; even Paulina seemed amused by his unintentional joke whereas they had all seemed scared before. Caroline was who knows where and now they had two new classmates imprisoned with them. It didn't take a genius to notice that two at the same time was a definite escalation to the Zookeeper's kidnapping spree.

"How long until they wake up?" Valerie asked, only having been here two days now.

"With ghost kid here being the only exception, it's usually about an hour," Rodney answered thumb pointed at Danny who stood frozen. "We counted."

Valerie growled, "Don't call him that."

Rodney raised an eyebrow at her. "Why not? His parents are ghost hunters." Obviously he meant it as an affectionate nickname because of his parents occupation, but man had it freaked Danny out for half a second.

Valerie crossed her arms, grumbling something under her breath. Danny knew she was upset because Danny Phantom was often called "ghost kid" by her as the Red Huntress.

The irony was almost comical.

"Can we use them in your plan?" Mikey asked, changing the subject.

Danny walked around the slumbering jocks, sighing deeply. Of all the people to be sent here, it just had to be his school bullies. "They could certainly help us fight the guards, but I doubt they'd listen to anything I say."

Valerie was cracking her knuckles. "I'll make them listen."

Reminded of the time they had all worked together to take down Ember and Youngblood when their parents had been taken, Danny shrugged. "Who knows, maybe us being kidnapped together might change things. It's not like anyone else at school would know if they decided to be nice."

Paulina giggled. "I would love to see Dash try and be nice. He's hated Fenton since like the third grade."

"Great," Danny groaned, sitting down. "Can't wait for the hour to be up."

They sat around eating and talking to each other for what felt like longer than an hour. Despite Rodney saying they had counted it out before, time was still something they weren't able to keep track of while trapped. Their discussions were short and meaningless, no one wanted to talk about another plan until they got details back from Caroline, and several of them felt the need to wind down after so much tension.

Deep in the back of their minds, however, each student was concerned with how many teenagers this guy was taking.

The kids knew it was almost time to head back for more of the viewings which prompted Rodney to bet which would happen first: Dash and Kwan wake up or Caroline comes back.

Paulina was the only one to bet on Caroline. "What? I've been to sleepovers with these guys. Nothing wakes them up," she explained at their incredulous looks. When the single door to the left opened, everyone ignored her cry of triumph.

Caroline walked slowly, followed by the ghost guards. Her hands were wrung together in front of her body, a nervous gesture, and she looked like she was shaking. The guards hardly paid her any mind, moving instead back to their original posts as the door to the teenager's freedom shut firmly behind their watch.

Mia made it to her first, carrying a small bag of food. "Hungry?" she asked.

Caroline shook her head, sinking to the floor in front of them. Valerie moved to rub her back. "You doing okay? Did the doctor give you medicine?"

Another shake of her head, except this time she looked up to face them. "I- I was given a stomach settler. After I threw up all the paint. T-they said it was silly, but not unusual for… us to do this type of thing," she whispered, eyes wide.

Danny knelt by her side. "Did you get a good look around?"

"No, they wouldn't l-leave my side."

"The Zookeeper or the doctor?"

"The vet," she spit, shoulders shaking.

Everyone paused. Had they heard that right? "I'm sorry, the what now?" Rodney questioned, eyebrows rising.

Caroline let out a choked noise that sounded less like a laugh and more like a way to keep her centered. "The veterinarian. We have a vet for when we get sick," her voice was bitter as she raised her head to watch their expressions. "Animals don't need doctors, after all."

No one could speak for a long time after that.


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A/N: Oooooooo! Tension! Only one escape attempt this time. Dash and Kwan are here now and there'll be two attempts next time! It'll be a longer chapter :D