Dick stood up from his place on the metal floor and surveyed the room. Time to get traught. Even if he didn't have the mask or the gadgets, it was time to be Robin.
He took one more long look around the room, carefully assessing the layout. "Are they watching us?" he asked.
"No, I don't think so," Danny responded, still sitting inside his force field cell. "Everything down here is self-contained, no external connections. Even the power is generated here, with nothing connecting it to the outside world. Someone could only be watching us if they were here."
"And if they're invisible we have no way of knowing." Dick frowned as he considered this snag.
"Well…" Dick looked sharply at the other boy as he hedged. "I can sense when ghosts are nearby. Most of them anyway – it's difficult with Plasmius sometimes, but even with the collar on I should know if any ghosts were here."
Dick raised his eyebrows inquiringly, "And they're not?"
"Right. As far as I can tell. As I said before, Plasmius doesn't allow any of the other ghosts down here anyway."
"I guess that will have to be good enough." And with that, Dick walked to the opposite wall of the metal room, got a running start, and did a magnificent jumping flip that landed him squarely on top of Danny's prison. He slid a little along the smooth surface of the force field and winced at the mild static shock that shot up through his socked feet.
Danny sat there staring, his jaw hanging open a little. Dick barely paused before taking another flying leap toward the ceiling. His hand hit one of the light panels hard, forcing the flat plastic panel up just enough to allow him to grip the metal edge supporting it. He swung there by one hand for a moment, before reaching up to work at the light panel with the other until it was loose. He pulled it out and let it fall to the floor with a clatter. Next was the hard part, because he couldn't see where he was reaching. He worked his hand around inside the light fixture, pulling out some wires and prying a thin length of metal free from the frame, both of which unceremoniously joined the panel on the ground. Then Dick too dropped, hitting the floor with a tuck and roll and ending up on his feet.
Danny shook himself out of his stupor. "Man, I feel like I should applaud or something. That was awesome."
Dick took a little bow and gave a self-deprecating smile. "Well, I did grow up in the circus before Bruce took me in."
"Really?"
He nodded as he picked up the thin metal bar and brought it over to the edge of Danny's cell. "My family were trapeze artists: The Flying Graysons. I used to perform with them."
"Cool."
"What about your family? You mentioned they invented stuff?" Dick quickly changed the subject, not wanting to go into more details about his history at the moment. He bent down to examine the floor.
Danny hesitated before answering. "Well, they invent lots of stuff too, but mostly they're ghost hunters. My parents at least."
Dick stopped and stared at him, "Wow. Does that have something to do with why Plasmius has you here?" A ghost holding a ghost hunters' son captive. That couldn't be a coincidence.
Danny looked for the right words. "It's complicated," he finally muttered.
Dick frowned at the evasion. "But if they're ghost hunters, that means they can defend themselves if Plasmius or Phantom comes after them, right?" he speculated.
Danny gave a big sigh, and Dick noticed the despair creeping back into the other boy's eyes. "Sort of. They'll try, but Plasmius and Phantom are two of the most powerful ghosts outside of the Ghost Zone." Danny bit his lip. "My parents have probably increased their ghost defenses since Phantom attacked them last time though… so, maybe." Danny sounded like he was trying to convince himself.
Dick looked questioningly at him, "Last time?"
Danny tensed, obviously recalling something distressing. His voice shaking, he reluctantly explained, "I wasn't very cooperative when Plasmius first sent me here, so he… he sent Phantom to attack them. My dad the first time. My friends the second." Danny curled into himself again, hugging his knees to his chest, eyes staring widely at nothing but the memory. "I'm not really sure how they are, although I know he didn't kill them, so Plasmius could keep his leverage over me."
Dick stood there, looking at the traumatized teen, unsure what he could say or do to reassure the other boy. From his reaction, Danny had actually seen the attack or some evidence of it afterwards, and he fully expected it to happen again for helping escape with Dick. Sometimes even Robin was at a loss for answers.
The battered older boy had slipped into a melancholy trance again, not responding to any of the questions or comments Dick threw his way in the past half hour. Dick internally cursed at having pushed the subject. Danny had seemed so much more cooperative once he had decided on a plan of action. Hopefully he hadn't changed his mind.
Dick had returned to his previous task, feeling along the floor, muttering to himself, "Where it is? I know it was here somewhere. Aha!" He grabbed the metal bar, tested how flexible it was, then jammed it against the floor.
"What are you doing?" Danny asked listlessly, but at least finally acknowledging his surroundings again.
"There's a faint seam here in the floor. I think it's an access hatch, if I can just pry it open." With a soft scraping sound, a section of the metal floor shifted a tiny bit as Dick pried at it. "Yes!" he hissed to himself. He quickly forced the thin metal further into the gap and pushed the plate back until there was enough room the grip it with his fingers and slide it all the way off.
"What a mess." Dick stared into the hole with dread. The circuitry looked like it had been assembled by 5-year-olds. There was no apparent rhyme or reason to it at all. He knelt down and leaned in to get a better look. "I don't even recognize half of these components," he said in disbelief, a knot forming in his stomach as he realized this was going to be much harder than he had anticipated.
Danny walked to the closest edge of his cell and tried to peer down into the opening, but it was difficult to see from his vantage point. "If you can describe them to me, I can probably walk you through it," Danny offered. Dick gave a determined nod and smiled, relieved at Danny's resumed willingness to help.
AN: Thank you to all followers and favorites, and especially to the reviewers! This chapter was going to be twice as long, but I decided to split it to get something up (and it's as long as any of the rest of mine anyway). The good news is the next part is mostly written, just struggling over a few details. No promises, but more should be up soon.