Chapter 08
It was a miracle, a divine gift, the heavens were shining down upon him, and for once the universe was turning a blind eye instead of playing a huge cosmic joke upon him. In other words, Mr. Green, for some weird possibly body snatcher kind of reason, had decided not to phone his parents after the field trip to Axion Labs and inform them of their son's misbehavior, and destruction of property, while on said field trip. Danny arrived home with Jazz as anxiety had his palms sweating and his throat feeling too tight. But when he walked into the house, he didn't find his parents waiting with arms folded, feet tapping impatiently, and daggers glaring at him with disappointment in their eyes. It was almost as if the incident at Axion Labs hadn't happened, and he was free to go about his Friday night doing the usual thing like every other Friday night.
"We should be home by ten," his mother said as she and his father headed for the front door.
"Uh huh," Danny responded distractedly, his eyes glued to the television as he hit buttons on the game controller, moving his character around the screen and trying not to have it die brutally.
"And don't spend all night playing that game," his father said sternly. "It might be a Friday night, but that's no excuse to blow off your homework until the last minute. Didn't you say you had a big report due on Monday?"
"Yeah," Danny glanced briefly at his parents, shrinking only slightly under their glares. "I'm going to get to it. I just wanted to relax a little before diving into such stressful work."
His mother sighed eventually, letting up on her glare. "As long as it gets done and we don't hear anything bad from your teachers." She gave him one last pointed glare before she pushed her husband out the front door.
Danny rolled his eyes after hearing the door shut behind his parents. They could be a bit pushy about keeping up with his studies, which he found highly annoying, but he got passing grades, so they didn't have much reason to worry. His opponent rounded the corner in his video game, and before he could react, his character took a bullet to the head. The screen turned red as YOU LOSE flashed in big letters.
"Oh, come on!" Danny complained in frustration as he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. One moment of distraction had cost him the round, and he could practically hear his opponent gloating over the victory, even though he had muted his headset while his parents were talking to him.
"Having problems with that game?" his sister asked when she hit the bottom of the stairs. She didn't look at him as she rifled distractedly through her bag.
"Eh," Danny shrugged his good shoulder as he accepted a second challenge from the same player. Thankfully, he had managed to get away without his family noticing the injury, which would have led to questions demanding answers, especially from Jazz. "You know, the 'rents chatting and distracting me. Let the guy sneak up on me." He flicked his gaze to Jazz. "I think Mom left us some dinner in the fridge." He turned his attention back to the game with enough time to manage dodging another sneak attack, which would have definitely ended in his brutal defeat.
"I've got a study date tonight," Jazz said, closing up her bag, "so you're all on your own." She grabbed her coat from the front hall closet.
Danny bolted up straight from his lounging position and snapped his head around so fast to stare at his sister something could have popped. He forced back a wince as the pull of his shoulder muscles aggravated the injury. "Study date?" He quickly got his character into a safe spot so he could glare at his sister fully, doing his best impression of their father's glare of disapproval.
He guessed his sister would be considered pretty with her long auburn hair and bright aqua colored eyes, shining with her eagerness to learn. Elected class president, head of the debate team, member of several different clubs and activities, her involvement in their high school made her younger brother look like the ultimate slacker. It was infuriating sometimes, being in her shadow and having people compare him to her.
"Do I need to do the thing where I stalk you to make sure nothing untoward happens on this 'study' date?"
Jazz rolled her eyes at him. "Do I need to call a babysitter to ensure you stay at home and behave yourself?" After pulling on her coat, she shouldered her bag as she gave him a flat glare. "Anyway this study date is with Maggie. She needs help with her calculus homework and wants to go over a few things before our test on Monday. You," she pointed a finger with a threat almost entering her eyes, "stay here. And don't get into trouble."
"Pfft!" Danny snorted and rolled his eyes as he turned back to his game, thankfully his opponent hadn't found his hiding location. "I'm not going to get into trouble."
"Good." His sister walked toward the front door. "And don't forget to do your homework."
"Yes, Mom." Danny made a face, and his sister returned it. Then they both laughed and said goodbyes as Jazz left the house. When he was alone with only the sounds of the game filling the house, he tapped the headset to turn it back on as he focused on the match against his opponent. The first thing to meet his ears was loud laughter on the other end.
"Hello," the man's deep voice sang out, "earth to AstroNerd! Did I lose you? Are you off orbiting the planet? Should I call up NASA to send a search party to find you?"
Danny tried but couldn't hold back the laugh that burst out of him. "I'm back," he assured his opponent. "Just had to get rid of some distractions."
"Oh, OH! There you are!" A bullet nearly struck Danny's character, and only his quick reaction saved him. "That was sneaky! You have to tell where your magical hiding spot is. I swear I ran all over this stupid map and couldn't find you."
"Heh." Danny grinned, firing back, but his opponent was well skilled at the game and did some freakish acrobatics to escape the kill shot. "You tell me how you do stuff like that first."
"Ha! You ain't cool enough to steal my moves."
Then his character was charging toward Danny's, shooting out a barrage of bullets that made Danny have to duck behind a building on his rooftop to avoid getting hit. He could still see his opponent's character from the camera angle, and his mouth dropped as he watched the character vault the gap from one building to the next. Then he vanished out of sight. A scream was the last thing he heard before a splat sounded and the words YOU WIN screamed across his screen. Danny laughed so hard tears nearly ran from his eyes.
"I can't believe you just did that!" Danny managed to say between fits of laughter.
"I totally could have made that jump in real life!" his opponent argued.
Danny snorted, struggling to calm himself after the spectacular suicide his opponent just did. "I don't advise you try it."
"This game is clearly lacking in some serious realism if it thinks a man can't make that jump," he argued, actually sounding like he might be pouting. "I feel highly insulted."
"Aw!" Danny tried to keep the amusement out of his voice and sound sympathetic. Honest he did! "Maybe you should write them a complaint informing them of their errors."
"Ha! Maybe I will!"
Danny shook his head with a wide grin on his face. "Well, my formidable opponent, I shall leave you to that then. I have some work to take care of."
The man gasped in a wounded manner. "You have something more important than me?"
"Sorry." Danny frowned, only because he was enjoying talking to the man. "I only have a short window to work before I have people around to ruin things."
"Ah." Disappointment lingered in the man's tone. "Well, I have a bit of work I should be doing now too. And I'm now adding AstroNerd to my friend list. I never actually thought I'd used the thing."
"So... What? I'm the only friend on your list?" Danny blinked in surprise.
"Ja." The man tried for a German accent but failed miserably. "And how many do you have, Mr. Big Shot?"
Danny opened up his friends list and frowned at it. After a moment, he added his opponent to the list. "Three now," he said with a satisfied feeling. Tucker and Sam were the only people who he knew, and random opponents generally didn't want to add him to their friends list. He had run across his fair share of jerks.
"And you were going to make fun of me?"
Danny's face heated, and he was glad the man couldn't see him. "Yeah, yeah," he said, going for cool and aloof. "At least I'm not the loser going around being known by an initial."
"Oh!" There was something wicked in his voice, a deviousness that made Danny nervous. "You totally want the D."
Danny nearly choked. "The D?" He laughed, awkwardly and strained and prayed the man didn't catch it. "Do people even say that anymore? I thought that died, like, five seconds after it started. Dude, that was really lame." He shifted on the couch, feeling flustered. "That totally wasn't a come on, right?"
"What? No! The D is so still a thing. Are you trapped on the moon or something?" A smirk slipped into his voice as he added, "If you want it to be."
Danny eyed the television as a strange laugh forced itself out of him. "Uh, yeah, so I have that thing still to do. I guess I'll catch you sometime later?"
"You bet!" D sounded a little too happy, almost like he was bouncing with excitement. "Don't get lost amongst the stars, AstroNerd."
Danny snorted. "Yeah, I'll try." After goodbyes, he shook his head as he yanked off the headset. He pushed himself off the couch, carrying headset and game controller over to the entertainment unit. Once the game system was shut off, Danny grabbed his bag from where he left it by the couch. A slow smile crept onto his face as he hurried into the kitchen.
With his parents off to a meeting and now with his sister gone, Danny had plenty of time to do a little poking around without his parents being the wiser. When he reached the door leading to the basement, he crouched down and pulled out two thin bits of wire from his pocket. His tongue poked out of his mouth as he moved the wires about inside the lock, working the tumblers until he heard the familiar click signaling the release. With a wide grin, he pushed open the door.
"One of these days, I should thank Aunt Alicia for teaching me that." Danny stuffed the lock picks back into his pockets then bounded down the stairs into the basement, almost able to ignore the soreness in his shoulder. The lights came on the moment he hit the bottom of the stairs, shining off metal surfaces. His parents' laboratory. It took his breath away every time he sneaked into it for a little peek at their research. It was like stepping onto the set for some futuristic movie with technology they couldn't even imagine yet, like when he was at Axion Labs, but his parents' laboratory had a much different feel to it. With some of his parents' mess around, the laboratory had a far less clinical atmosphere.
Danny dropped into a chair, pulling out a worn notebook stuffed with a million extra sheets of paper from his bag. He flipped on the computer before him, and while it was booting up, he put on his glasses and sifted through his notebook to find a clean page, which was far more difficult than he would have thought. Pages upon pages of the book were filled with his notes on his parents' research. Currently, they were studying the uses of ectoplasm, which was fascinating, though the scientific community at large believed their research to be the stuff of science fiction. The other scientists didn't believe in such "nonsense" as ghosts, but it didn't stop his parents from digging into everything they could about ectoplasm, which wasn't a lot and samples were hard to come by. They believed it could have many uses, such as their theory on it providing a self sustaining energy source. A fact he knew Sam would love to hear about since she was all about saving the environment.
Once the computer was up and running, Danny grinned like a child about to open Christmas presents. With a crack of his knuckles, he got to work, bringing up new files on his parents' work. He jotted down notes while he read through the files, occasionally crossing out some parts to rework equations. Every once and a while, he had to pause in his work to scratch at the back of his neck, right over the bandage. For the last few hours, he had tried to ignore the growing itch, but he eventually had to cave when the sensation became too much.
Focusing back on his book, he wrote out his own thoughts along the margin of the page, and within minutes, he had to flip to another page. Time ticked by fast than he realized, and an hour passed in the blink of an eye. Danny stretched his arms over his head, cringing as his injured shoulder screamed in protest. Then something on the screen caught his attention. He clicked on a file hidden behind another one. His blue eyes flicked over the information, and he nearly laughed. He spun around in the chair, and his eyes zeroed onto the overly obvious doors set into the wall on the other side of the laboratory.
"They finally finished it!"
Danny hopped up from the chair then walked over to the octagonal doors of yellow and black stripes. According to his parents' notes, they had tested the invention a number of times without success since its completion. Danny stared at the doors before him with a mixture of apprehension and excitement building inside him. Hesitantly, he reached out, and his hand hovered over the red button next to the door for several long moments before he finally pressed it. The doors whined as they broke apart and slowly opened, and he got his first sight of the metal interior. It was amazingly intricate work, and Danny's eyes widened as he tried to take it all in at once. He had witnessed its progress over many years, but it was only bits and pieces then, not the completed product currently standing before him. The machine was designed to punch a small hole between dimensions, his parents hoping it would allow them to "summon" a ghost, like some bizarre demonic circle, so they could further their research on ectoplasm. This was all theory though, since they had no proof of an alternate world made up of ghosts actually existing.
Dropping his gaze, he looked around until he saw the wire lying on the floor. Unplugged. He shook his head at himself. Of course it was unplugged. His parents wouldn't leave the machine plugged in while they weren't there to monitor it. Crouching down, Danny picked up the wire to the machine then pushed it into the extension cord reaching around to the nearest socket. His eyes turned toward the machine, but he only saw a small spark, which fizzled out quickly.
With a frown settling upon his face, Danny walked over to the machine. Their theory seemed sound enough to him. So what was preventing the machine from working? Going against his better judgment, Danny stepped through the open doors. He frowned as his fingers brushed over the work his parents had done, still in awe over the fact that his parents finally finished it. But after nearly half an hour, he had searched practically the entire inside of the machine only to find nothing seemed out of place. None of the components were damaged, all wires were connected, and everything was firmly built into its proper place. He scratched the back of his neck, the irritation of the cut increasing by the minute, as he tried to understand where his parents' theory could have gone wrong.
"I just don't get it," Danny mumbled, frowning in disappointment. Maybe they still had a lot of research to do before they could get the machine working after all. He pressed his hand to the wall as he stood from where he had knelt to look at some parts of the machine.
The doors slammed shut with a resounding bang. Danny stumbled back a few steps, nearly tripping and landing on his butt in his surprise. When he rushed forward in his panic, he banged into the doors in the darkness.
"Ow." He rubbed at his forehead, but the whirring of a machine starting up sent icy dread sliding down his spine. He clawed at the doors with little luck of prying them open. He couldn't even get his fingers into the small crease between the closed doors.
Then every muscle in his body tensed, the hair on his arms standing on end, when he heard a sharp popping. He recognized that noise. It was like the time they went to the science museum and he saw the exhibit where bolts of electricity danced around the room. Swallowing thickly, Danny turned around, pressing his back against the doors. Another pop of electricity echoed in his ears, flashing before his eyes and striking too close to him for comfort. For a moment, the whole chamber filled with a green glow before everything faded back to darkness. His heart hammered in his chest as he watched and heard the pops of electricity sing out within the machine, making his ears ring. The itch on the back of his neck, right where had was cut earlier, grew maddeningly worse as the electricity came over nearer to striking him. He ducked as another bolt shot at him. If he stayed within the machine for too much longer, he - Danny froze, his breath catching in his throat. The doors refused to open, and they were the only exit from within the machine.
"Oh. Oh, this is ba - GAH!" A scream tore from his throat, and he hit the metal floor hard on his knees. He curled into a ball, wrapping his arms around his sides where the bolts had struck him. His body trembled as he sucked in shaky breaths. He clamped his eyes shut and tucked his head down, though he doubted it would save him from what was happening. He couldn't escape. All he could he do was hope he somehow survived.
It sounded like the fourth of July, the big finale with a thousand fireworks all exploding at once, and Danny's ears rang with the noise. Every crackle of electricity felt drawn to him, striking his body from all angles. Screams were ripped from him as if someone shoved their hand down his throat and tried to tear out his vocal cords, scratching sharp nails up his throat on the way out. Fire spread through his body, consuming him in a heat which made his skin feel like it would melt from his body and leave his ashes blowing away in the wind. Ice crept into his bone, freezing them straight down the marrow and making his joints ache at even the slightest movement, and despite his best effort to remain as still as possible, every shock of electricity made his body jerk until he collapsed onto his side and his body twitched in uncontrollable spasms.
Unconsciousness was a blessing, floating in darkness where he was numb to all the pain assaulting his body. But all too soon, it felt, the pain came back as he stirred. Danny gasped, his fingers twitching and clawing at the metal floor. His skin tingled everywhere, fire and ice mixing in a strange effect that left him shivering and sweating. His mouth and throat were badly parched, and he dimly wondered if this was what it felt like when someone ate about a dozen cotton balls. Or, in his case, he would likely have them rammed down his throat by Dash.
With some effort, he managed to tear open his eyes. Light filled the inside of the machine, the world appearing dull and gray to him. His brain couldn't process the fact at first, too much like mush to make any connections. The doors of the machine had opened while he was unconscious. Danny stared toward the opening. Just how long had he been unconscious? Minutes could have passed, or hours could have gone by.
His heart stopped as a thought stabbed through the haze of his brain. What would his parents say if they came home right then to find him collapsed on the floor of the machine? They would know he had sneaked into the laboratory! He knew it was a stupid thing to be concerned about at the moment. He had just survived massive electrocution, but he only cared about not letting his parents know he had gone against their orders and messed around in the laboratory.
Danny pushed himself up on trembling arms but immediately dropped back to the floor. He groaned, a whimper escaping him at the weakness he felt as everything in him cried out in pain. Slapping a hand onto the floor before him, he pulled with the minimal strength he had toward the exit of the machine. The tingling sensation of pins and needles danced around his legs. They felt weightless, and Danny's stomach churned at the idea that he didn't even have legs anymore. Gulping, which had a sort of metallic taste, Danny dared to turn his head. The breath rushed out of him when he saw his legs laying limply behind him. At least he wouldn't have to figure out some sort of excuse to explain why he didn't have legs. Unless they no longer worked.
Dread settled over him, almost leaving him cold and breathless. Danny concentrated, his brow pinching together and his eyes squinting at his legs. Then his left leg gave a jerk. He sighed out, dropping his head to rest on the floor. Legs worked. Good. He turned his head to rest on the side and stared at the machine around him. It was dangerous. He saw no evidence of it opening a doorway into another dimension, specifically one where ghosts resided, but it was incredibly dangerous. He couldn't risk his parents trying something like what just happened to him. What if they didn't survive an accident like that? How did he survive it? That much electricity striking his body all at once, he should be dead! He stared at the arm laying before his head. His skin was pale and smooth, hardly looking like he had gone through any sort of traumatic experience.
He lay there for some time, gathering up his strength before he dared trying to stand. When he got to his feet, his legs shook under him. He wobbled into the wall of the machine and leaned against it as he caught his breath. Exhaustion whispered to him and told him to simply lay back down and sleep for a month. But he couldn't stay in the laboratory, and he definitely wouldn't be able to sleep on the floor of the machine. He shuddered thinking about it. He took several trembling steps toward the exit of the machine, but he stopped before reaching it. He fumbled with the side of the machine, his fingers having difficulty grasping the edges of the panel. It popped open easily once he could get a hold on it, and he stared at the cylindrical container inside the panel. It was about the width and length of his forearm from elbow to wrist.
Originally, it was filled with almost all the ectoplasm his parents had managed to acquire. They still maintained a small sample to experiment with, though that would hardly fill the container halfway. But now the container barely had a few drop of the bright green substance inside it. The ectoplasm was the key to the machine working. Without the container full of ectoplasm, his parents would never get the machine operating. He pried the container out of the panel, awkwardly holding it to his chest with one arm. Then he slammed the panel shut, hoping his parents wouldn't check it if they tested the machine again.
Danny wobbled out of the machine, stumbling and nearly dropping the container when his foot caught on the wire. He looked down to see he had yanked it free from the extension cord, and a sigh escaped him. That saved him the struggle of having to bend down to unplug it. He wasn't sure at this point if he would be able to stand back up again if he crouched or knelt. When he reached the computer where he left his things, he checked the time and gasped. Half past nine. He was down here for that long? His parents and sister had left around five, and he had only looked through the computer for about an hour or two, possibly three, which meant he was unconscious for at least an hour and a half.
After he cramped the container and his notebook into his bag, he shut down the computer. He had to get out of the laboratory and leave it like he found it to keep his parents from discovering his secret activities. He could imagine the lecture already about disobeying them and messing around with dangerous inventions like they were toys, and he cringed. When he finished, he tossed his bag over his shoulder, and the added weight made him stumble.
"Ugh, homework is going to have to wait," Danny groaned, glad tomorrow was Saturday. The climb up the stairs to the kitchen felt like hiking up a super steep mountain. The lights flipped off as soon as he reached the top of the stairs, and he kicked the door shut behind him, hearing the click of the lock. The time on the microwave read ten minutes to ten. He did his best to hurry up the stairs to his bedroom before his parents returned home from their meeting. He wanted to at least give the illusion he went upstairs to work on his homework like they had wanted. The front door opened as he reached his bedroom, and he ducked inside, carefully closing the door behind him so it didn't bang.
"We're home," his father called from downstairs.
"Uh, w-welcome back!" Danny called back, his throat still feeling raw from screaming. "I'm just doing some homework." He waited, listening, but his parents seemed satisfied with his lame response. After tossing his bag in the general direction of his desk, though it dropped about a foot from where he stood, he walked over to his bed and collapsed onto it. Sleep hit him at once, all the energy in him draining out in an instant.
Kuronique Misaki: Good guessing! XD
The freedom girl: Danny can't help it. XD Being a hero is in his nature. Not quite yet for Elle, but she will be showing up again! I do like Dash and Danny as a couple. XD
midnight: Well, Dash does enjoy watching romance dramas with his chihuahua. XD;;; Poor Danny has a bit of an inferiority complex.
Tetractys: XD Nah~ Not really a romantic development there. Just Dash giving Danny a few respect points. XD;;
kirahphantom: Dash being nice is pretty mind blowing, isn't it? XD;;; Who knows if Danny will tell them~? 8);;
