Before Danny could react, a blur of orange and black darted out of the dark, and headed straight for him. Danny left it almost too late; he jumped to the right just in time as half a tonne of predatory muscle, fully equipped with sharp teeth and claws, soared past him. Getting back to his feet, Danny turned to see the largest cat he'd ever seen turn and face him; a tiger of about three metres was staring intently at the comparatively tiny teen.
Damn, thought Danny. It's even bigger than the panthers.
"What is it with you and giant cats?!" Danny shouted up at Hunter.
"What can I say? I like dangerous animals." Hunter said with a shrug. "Speaking of which, you may want to watch out." Once again, Danny dodged out of the way just in time, but the tiger had learnt its previous lesson. Instead of following on its momentum, it brought round a clawed paw and raked the air where Danny's head would have been if he had not seen it coming. Thinking of only one thing he could do, Danny decided to apply the same tactic he used when facing one of the panthers at the beach; he began to circle around the arena, the tiger mirroring him. They kept this up for several minutes, until Hunter began to get impatient.
"Come on Danny," he said, feigning a yawn. "I brought you here for some entertainment, not to see you walk around in circles." He waved his hand towards the top of the arena, where Sniper was perched. The next thing Danny knew, a bullet hit the ground in the middle of where Danny and the tiger were circling each other. The resounding bang was more than enough to frighten the tiger into attacking blindly, with Danny being its target. It moved with frightening speed towards the teen, but Danny was ready this time. He may have been weapon-less in the fight, but he was not without skill. Danny then did something which took everyone by surprise, even Hunter; he charged the tiger. Just as they met, the tiger pounced but Danny slid on his knees under it, the tiger sailing over him. The tiger roared in frustration and charged Danny again, this time anticipating the same manoeuvre as last time. However, after having been thrown into and through buildings more times than he could count for doing the same move twice in a row, Danny tensed his legs and launched himself over the tiger. This time, the tiger couldn't correct itself and skidded into the side of the cage with a bang. Danny took full advantage of this; he ran to where the tiger was attempting to stand up, gripped its shoulders tightly and gave it a powerful head-butt, knocking it out clean.
"Enough entertainment for you?" Danny spat out, looking up at Hunter. Once again, Hunter merely shrugged.
"Not sure yet. I haven't decided. What do the rest of you think?" He asked the audience. All of Hunter's associates shook their heads and then left, leaving only Hunter and Striker. Danny's friends could only nod, still not fully believing what they had just witnessed.
He took on a tiger, and won. Thought Frank, his mouth still slightly open from shock. "How did he do that?" He asked.
"He outsmarted a tiger." James said with a shocked expression.
"And then knocked it out with his head." Said Max, his facial expression identical to that of his twin's.
"How could he have possibly done that?" Ellie asked, her mouth agape as much as Danny's classmates'.
"Trust us." Said Eric. "We've seen him do that with four panthers and we still don't know how he did it."
"He never even told us how he got rid of the Komodo dragon." Said Kwan. They all turned to Sam, Tucker and Valerie for explanations but were given the silent treatment instead; all three sets of worried eyes were fixed on their friend below them.
"I have come to a decision." Hunter declared all of a sudden, gaining everyone's attention. "I reckon you have done enough to earn meals for half of your classmates. There wasn't really enough excitement in that last challenge. You will need to accomplish another task for the rest of them to get food."
"I figured as much." Danny said quietly as he watched the brothers Tracer and Raider drag off the unconscious tiger. "What have you got next for me? Anything more exciting?"
"I'm sure I can light a fire under your feet." Hunter said ominously, an evil grin adorning his face. "For now, bring out the guns. And best lower the Wall as well. Just to be on the safe side." Before Danny could question what Hunter said, four hatches in the floor opened up. Danny heard a whirring noise of something mechanical, getting steadily louder. Then, out of the hatches, four people emerged in silver suits, carrying guns that could put the Fenton Bazookas to shame. Danny was then further confused by the giant glass wall spreading down the inside of the cage, but only on the side where there were spectators.
"I guess you're wondering what's happening?" Came Hunter's voice over an intercom system. "This Wall is here for our benefit. And I'm not surprised you don't recognise my associates. They are currently wearing state of the art, fireproof suits." Whilst Danny's face dropped as he put two and two together, the rest were just confused.
"Why will they need fireproof suits?" Asked Paulina, causing Hunter to chuckle.
"They're really not clever, are they?" Hunter asked aloud. "They need the suits because they are currently carrying flamethrowers." This time, everyone's jaws dropped.
"You're seriously sick, aren't you?" Asked Sam in disgust.
"Guilty as charged." Hunter said cheerfully. "Now, back to Danny-boy. These aren't your bog-standard, military-grade flamethrowers. These babies are high-powered, laser flamethrowers. They reach temperatures of about one thousand degrees. That's just about your average volcano. Just a few more souvenirs from the boys at NASA. They were planning on using them to cut and shape Martian rocks whenever we landed on Mars."
"So, what?" Asked Danny, eying the gun-wielding men in suits warily. "You want me to take them out before I burn to a crisp?"
"No. Nothing so crass." Hunter said, shaking his head. "You just have to last a full two minutes without being burned to a crisp."
"That's it?" Queried Danny, suspecting a catch. "Nothing else?"
"Well, I suppose I should tell you the other rules." Smirked Hunter. "There are only two rules. Number one; under no condition are you to attack my men. If you do, well. Let's just say things may get a little bit ugly up here." Everyone scoffed in disgust.
"So let me get this straight," began Danny. "Your men are going to be attempting to roast me alive, and I'm not allowed to do anything to defend myself?"
"Didn't I just say that?" Hunter asked mockingly. "Did I stutter or something?"
"I guess not." Muttered Danny, resigned to the fact that he was dealing with a purely psychopathic fruitloop.
"Now onto my second rule. If, at any time, you get burned by one of those ferocious looking guns down there, the two minutes will restart, and you will have to begin again." That pushed the audience over the edge.
"Don't be an idiot Danny!" Sam shouted through the glass.
"You don't have to do this!" Shouted Tucker.
"We can share the food!" Agreed Valerie.
"Something tells me it's not going to be that simple guys." Danny said, shaking his head. When he looked at Hunter, Danny knew his feeling was right.
"Danny is perfectly within his right to give up now." Hunter said, holding his hands up. "Of course, if he does, I will count it as a forfeit."
"Forfeit?" Asked Mr Lancer worriedly.
"Oh yes," confirmed Hunter. "And a proportionate forfeit must be imposed. And that will be a forfeit of life."
"That was never part of the agreement!" Danny shouted angrily up at Hunter, his fists beginning to shake.
"Must have slipped my mind." Hunter said calmly, inspecting his nails for dirt, as if that was more important than the challenge itself.
"You sick, son of a b-" Cursed Danny, but was cut off by Hunter.
"Nuh uh Danny-boy." Hunter said, wagging his finger in the air. "No foul language please. If you are rude to me again, I shall endeavour to be rude to our guests here. And trust me, it will be more than just words that cut through them." Everyone gasped in horror at Hunter's words, now worrying for their own safety as well as Danny's.
"Fine!" Shouted Danny. "Let's just get this over with." As he said this, a giant, digital clock appeared on the glass protecting the spectators, with two minutes being shown.
"I never could resist a ticking clock." Hunter said gleefully, clapping his hands together. "Commence." As soon as one second passed, Danny heard the buzzing; a split second later, a jet of fire erupted from the gun nearest him. Throwing himself to the floor, Danny felt the intense heat as the fire whooshed over his back.
Bloody hell! Thought Danny, rolling back onto his feet, moving around the arena, attempting to get all the silver-suited guys in his sight. They then began to circle Danny until they had him surrounded; Danny realised too late that they had him boxed in. Danny was confused by their actions; if one were to fire, and Danny avoided it, the man directly opposite would bear the brunt of the blast.
Unless their suits are more than capable enough to withstand the intense temperatures of those blasts, Danny thought with a sinking feeling. His question was answered when he heard a buzzing from his left; turning, he ducked down just in time for the blast to sail above him. He looked behind and watched in horror as the blast engulfed the man standing opposite the shooter. Danny watched in shock as the man calmly walked through the flames, and laughed at Danny. No screams, just laughter. While he was preoccupied, Danny failed to notice the guy fire up his gun again. It was only as Danny realised he couldn't see the guy who shot first, that he turned and saw the barrage of fire heading straight for him. Danny moved too slowly this time; he had just enough time to turn on his feet as the very edge of the beam grazed the front of his ruined shirt, setting it, and the grimy bandages alight. Working quickly, he removed his top and ripped off the bandages, exposing his healed and horrifically scarred chest and back; he would worry about questions regarding his healing rate later when he wasn't being barbequed.
"I'm afraid that counts as a hit Danny." Hunter's voice came over the intercom system once again. "And you had only lasted half the time. Bad luck. Oh well, time to start again." Danny looked up to that the clock had indeed reset itself back to two minutes; the next second, he was on his back again as a shot of fire came far too close for comfort.
Just great, thought Danny. Now I'm even more exposed. Good thing I'm not self-conscious. Danny was brought out of his musings as two of the men shot at the same time, forcing Danny back into the centre of the four men. Danny chanced a look at the clock and saw that only fifteen seconds had passed; cursing himself, Danny once again focused on the deranged lunatics shooting fire at him. The men then began to play with the teen. Only shooting short bursts at his feet, making him dance around the arena. When there was only thirty seconds left, three of the men shot directly at Danny; Danny, seeing only one way out it, launched himself into the air and back-flipped over the jets of fire. The jump would have put an Olympian to shame. A round of applause erupted from the spectators, only to be replaced by screams of horror as Danny was blindsided by the fourth man who hadn't shot initially, engulfing his right arm in scorching hot fire. Danny screamed out in pain as layers of his skin began to melt; he fought with all his willpower to not grab it.
"Ooh, bad luck Danny." Hunter said cheerily. "I'm sure you're aware that counts as a hit. But I am not a cruel man. I'll give you a brief breather and let you get composed enough before I reset the clock." Whilst Danny brought his breathing under control, the audience, minus Megan were watching in morbid fascination at the scene below them. Ellie had since covered her eyes as soon as Danny was hit by the fire.
"Fenton's had it." Dash said quietly, shaking his head. "There's no way he can come back from this."
"Look at his arm." Squeaked Paulina. "It's all burnt and gross looking." Sam went to stand up, but Valerie brought her back down.
"It's not worth it Sam." She said quietly.
"She's right." Said Star, surprising the Goth. "This is how Paulina is. When she's scared or nervous, she defaults back to appearances."
"And you're wrong Dash." Tucker said, tearing his eyes away from his injured friend. "This is when you see Danny for who he really is. It doesn't matter how badly or how much he's hurt, he always comes back stronger."
"Why do you think he continues to stand up to you at school?" Sam asked sarcastically, causing Dash to hang his head.
"As much as I want to agree with you, Dash here has a point." Said Max, a nod of agreement from James. "If Hunter isn't joking about the temperatures those guns can get to, that burn has to be third degree, maybe even to the bone. He must be in excruciating pain. I got a second degree burn on my arm from a burst water pipe once, and I couldn't lift it for a week."
"Then tell me this," Sam began again, her eyes back on Danny. "How is he stretching it right now." Everyone looked back down and saw Danny rolling his arm around and flexing it, without as much as a visual flinch. Sam wasn't strictly telling them the truth that Danny's body was already beginning to heal itself. She just didn't like it when people kept trying to put Danny down when they knew nothing about him. Or what he goes through on a day to day basis, constantly protecting their little town from ghosts.
"I reckon you've had long enough Danny," said Hunter, having listened to the entire conversation between the group of survivors. "Time in." Forcing back a chuckle, Danny once again focused on the situation at hand. This time, he had a plan. Every time one of the men shot at Danny, but would hit another guy, they would hide their guns behind their backs and take the full force of the attack.
"Their guns can't handle the external heat." Danny said to himself. With this new realisation, Danny felt confident that he could beat them at their own game. He began to jog around the arena before the men could get back in formation, thoroughly confusing everyone present. The men were getting frustrated as they couldn't pin Danny down, and had on more than one occasion almost fired at one other's gun.
"He is good." Muttered Mr Lancer, quietly enough that everyone but Hunter and Striker could hear him. "He has figured out how to do it. I have no idea how he is thinking clearly with the seriousness of his injuries, but he has done it. Oh, he is good indeed."
"What are you talking about sir?" Asked Michelle, talking on behalf of everyone present as they had no clue as to what Danny was trying to achieve.
"Observe what he is doing. He is confusing them and making them angry; causing them to make an inevitable mistake." Then Nathan had a eureka moment.
"The guns." He said excitedly. "He's trying to make them shoot each other's guns. They're not durable enough to handle the external heat."
"How on earth did he figure that out?" Asked Bradley, once again impressed by Danny's ingenuity under extreme duress.
"Who cares?" Said Craig. "Danny's now got a fighting chance." To prove Danny's theory right, one of the men got so frustrated, he shot blindly and hit the man next to him, melting his gun instantly. There was a roar of triumph from the audience, and a shout of fury from the two men. Danny looked happily at the clock as it showed only five seconds left. Then, to his disbelief, the clock reset itself back to two minutes.
"Sorry." Said Hunter. "My finger slipped. Carry on." Instead of shouting in rage, Danny screamed in pain as the entire left side of his body erupted in flames, boiling his skin away.
"Ooh, that looks a bit nasty." Said Hunter, faking concern. "Once, again. I'll allow you a few minutes to recuperate."
"No." Murmured Danny, pushing all the pain deep down.
"Sorry? Say that again. I must be going deaf."
"I said no!" Shouted Danny, getting to his feet, wavering only slightly. "Start your damn clock!" As soon as the clock restarted itself, Danny launched himself at the nearest man, surprising everyone that he could be even slightly mobile on his injured leg. When he reached him, Danny hurled himself into the air and over the guy's head. Leaving him in his dust, Danny kept on running and climbed up the cage walls, almost all the way to the top to where Sniper was perched. This way, they couldn't shoot straight up because they could risk hitting one of their own. When there was less than ten seconds left to go, the men got desperate and began to shoot at the wall itself, hoping to heat it enough to make Danny fall before they melted the entire cage with the extreme heat. Unbeknownst to them, Danny was using his ice powers to keep his hands and feet cool as he clung on to the bars, making their desperate attempts futile. He was also using his ice powers to keep his skin cool, so to lessen the pain he was in. A klaxon suddenly sounded as the clock finally hit zero.
"Alright, fair play to you Danny." Said Hunter, gesturing to his men on the ground. "You outsmarted them. You're free to get down." Danny fell the last couple of feet, but he didn't care as the pain on his left side flared up. He had survived. The four men, disgruntled at their defeat at the hands of a teenager, walked off to the side of the arena and punched in a code on the wall. A portcullis-shaped section of the cage wall began to sink into the ground, revealing a long, dark tunnel which they walked down and eventually vanished from sight. The molten mess of a gun was left behind. Danny stopped using his ice powers, his eyes returning to their usual blue, long enough to glare at Hunter for the torture he had been put through. When he felt he had made his feelings known, Danny activated them again and made his way to the door he had entered through. Just as he reached for the handle, an ear-splitting trumpet noise echoed from the tunnel and into the arena, followed by gently increasing ground shakes. As soon as the tusks appeared from the darkness, Danny knew he had seen it all.
The elephant thundered out of the tunnel and began to charge around the arena in an erratic manner, causing Danny to rush to the middle, a permanent look of surprise on his face. He looked up at Hunter, who just shrugged.
"Looks like one of our elephants has escaped. Be a dear and sort it out for me please?"
"You have got to be kidding me!" Shouted Danny. That was his first mistake. As soon as the noise left Danny's mouth, the elephant came to a sudden stop and faced Danny. As soon as he saw the elephant's face, Danny knew he was in trouble. Its eyes were bloodshot and it was constantly salivating; without hesitating, it charged at Danny. Danny, frozen to the spot by this enormous creature bearing down on him, moved too late and was struck to the side by its tusks, sending him careening into the wall. Pain instantly flared up all over Danny's burned areas, forgetting all about using his ice powers to cool them down. Looking down at his right arm, where he could just about see some bone showing through, Danny could see that a lot of dirt had now entered the wound, aggravating it even further
"What the hell did you do to it Hunter?!" Bellowed Danny, looking up at Hunter, who shrugged once more.
"I think that might be the one we gave an advanced form of rabies to. Can't be sure though to be perfectly honest with you." Danny was about to shout more profanities at the man, when he heard the elephant make another go for him. This time, Danny rolled off to the side, causing the elephant to head-butt the cage walls, becoming dazed in the process. It carried on like that for a while, but Danny was slowly tiring as his wounds were starting to get the better of him. He was too focused on not being crushed by the rabid animal in front of him, that he wasn't putting any concentration on cooling down the burned areas.
"He's horrifically burned and took out a tiger for you. And now you're expecting him to take out a fully grown elephant?" Demanded Valerie, shaking with fear as she watched her friend fight for his life.
"Yeah, I suppose I am." Hunter said casually. "Should be fun." This time, Sam succeeded on getting up and charged Hunter, but was instantly stopped when a bullet hit the ground at her feet. Hunter just laughed at her attempt.
"A rather vain attempt, don't you think? Had you forgotten that Sniper is watching everything up there and making sure nothing happens that we don't want to happen?" He asked in a smug tone. "Now sit back down, and enjoy the show. This one should be electrifying." Everyone picked up on Hunter's tone of voice, especially the way he said 'electrifying'. Meanwhile, Danny was maintaining his Matador act with the elephant, dodging out of the way just in time. He knew he had to put it down somehow; keeping it alive in its current state was cruel beyond all reasoning. However, whilst Danny was thinking of ways to get close to the elephant, Hunter was growing increasingly impatient; leaning down, Hunter pressed a button on the side of his chair. Just as Danny was about to make his move, he was instantly stopped and his body began to convulse, his knees hitting the ground. Then the pain hit him and he knew what was happening. He had experienced this feeling more times than he would care to remember. He was being electrocuted. Struggling, he lifted his head and saw the same thing happening to the elephant. That's when Danny saw red. There was only two things he truly despised in the world; those he cared about in danger, and being electrocuted. In that moment, Danny snapped and he felt his inner-ghost screech out in pain. As soon as he could move his muscles voluntarily again, Danny sprang forwards, with no thoughts about his own wellbeing, towards the elephant, who had the same idea. Unexpectedly, Danny jumped into the air and delivered the most powerful head-butt he could muster under the circumstances. Staggering back, the elephant trod on the destroyed flamethrower, horrendously burning the already damaged animal. Danny hung on to its tusks for his life and afterlife as it rampaged around the arena. Then, using whatever remaining strength he had, he tugged at the tusk he was clutched to. Eventually, creaking could be heard just before the tusk splintered and was ripped off, fully enraged the elephant. Screeching in pain, the elephant tossed its head into the air, throwing Danny off at the same time straight up. Discretely and quickly encasing the tip in ecto-ice, and using the momentum from his drop, Danny plunged it deep into the elephant's head, killing it instantly.
There was a moment of silence, before the audience once again erupted into a deafening applauding frenzy, as Danny rolled off the dead animal. Everyone but Sam, Tucker and Valerie applauded his accomplishment; they knew just how much turmoil Danny was in right now, through the combination of killing something and the amount of pain he was bound to be in.
"I must admit Danny. I am extremely impressed." Congratulated Hunter, standing up and joining in the applause. "You are truly the most remarkable individual I have ever had the good fortune of meeting. You have definitely earned enough meals for all of your friends." Danny remained silent, just staring at his shaking hands.
"It's the adrenaline." Hunter remarked. "It'll wear off soon enough." Yet, Hunter was mistaken. Danny's shaking hands wasn't out of adrenaline, but out of pure, unadulterated rage. When Danny looked up, everyone, including Hunter, felt a chill run down their spine.
"Not just for today, but for every, miserable, stinking day that we're stuck here." Danny didn't even shout, but his tone was more than enough to set people on edge. It was dark, cold, and extremely dangerous. His classmates were more scared now than they had been watching Danny risk his life for them.
"No more ridiculous challenges. No more death threats. I've had enough." Danny demanded. "If you ever threaten any of our lives again, I will make it my personal mission to make your life a living hell." Images of pain, torture, fire and suffering, everything that Danny had experienced in the last half an hour, flashed through his mind. He looked Hunter dead in the eye and directed all those pain-filled images straight at him. Danny looked on in horror as he saw Hunter violently flinch, his eyes wide with fear, almost as if he had seen the images in Danny's mind. Trying to maintain some degree of an authoritative façade, Hunter waved his hand in what was supposed to be a carefree manner for Striker to take Sam, Tucker and Valerie to go down and collect Danny. Only Danny saw how truly terrified Hunter was at the moment. When the three got down to the arena, they found Danny just staring off into space.
"Danny?" Sam asked tentatively.
"Dude, you alright?" Asked Tucker.
"Danny, what's wrong?" Valerie asked. None of them wanted to touch Danny, which could cause him more pain. Up close, they could see just how badly Danny was burned. The areas around his neck and face had first degree burns as they were only slightly pink in colour; his chest and back showed signs of second degree burns where the flesh had begun to bubble slightly. The areas which were directly hit by the fire blasts were the most gruesome; the three of them wanted to throw up when they could actually see a small section of Danny's lower arm bone.
"Danny," Sam began softly, so not to alert Striker. "We need to get your arm cleaned out. We need to help the healing process." She placed a hesitant hand between Danny's shoulder blades, an area which wasn't as badly burned as other areas. This broke through to Danny; he turned and followed his friends out of the arena and down the maze of corridors back to their cell, Striker at the helm. Upon entering their cell, they found that the others hadn't been brought back yet.
Perfect¸ thought Sam. We can get Danny cleaned up before the questions start. To their surprise, a medical kit and several dozen bottles of water had been left on the table, along with a note:
Danny Boy
This should help with all those nasty little burns of yours. We wouldn't want to lose our favourite source of entertainment now, would we?
But do not despair; I am a man of my word. Your food will arrive later on tonight, after you've had a chance to rest.
We'll talk again soon enough.
Hunter
X
Sam was thrown off by the use of a kiss, but crumpled it up nonetheless and threw it into the corner of the room. She was also worried about Hunter saying that he will be talking to Danny again soon.
"Come on." Sam said, leading Danny over to the corner of the room. "Let's sort you out." She sat him down and began to unpack the medical kit until she found what she needed. Sam did notice that there were copious amounts of burn cream in the kit.
"Sarcastic git." Sam muttered, throwing all but one of the useless creams away.
"What are you doing?" Asked Tucker, surprised what Sam was doing. "He needs those creams."
"No, he doesn't." Valerie spat out. "You can't use burn creams on second and third degree burns; he even has a fourth degree burn on his arm. It can only make them worse. We can only use them on his neck."
"Tuck, Val," Sam started again. "I need you to rip up these bandages. Ok Danny, this may hurt a little bit." She began to gently pour water over the worse of Danny's burns as the minor burns had already half-healed. She was shocked when he didn't as much as flinch at the contact, especially when she poured water over the dirt-clogged wound with bone showing. He didn't even flinch when Sam began wrapping him up in the bandages.
"Danny, I need you to use your ice powers and cool your burns down. It'll help the healing process." Sam asked once she had tied off the last bandage. When he didn't respond, but continued to stare off blankly into space in front of him, she waved her hand in front of his face. "Danny? Can you hear me?"
"I think he's in shock." Said Tucker, noticing Danny's vacant stare and lack of response.
"How can you tell?" Asked Valerie.
"I don't know. Being half dead makes it difficult to diagnose anything with him. He's got the vacant stare and the unresponsiveness, but I can't tell any difference in heartbeat. It's already low as it is. It could have slowed down due to shock or blood loss."
"I did something to him." Whispered Danny, surprising his friends, inspecting his newly bandaged arms, chest and leg.
"What do you mean?" Asked Sam, fearing that Danny might begin rambling.
"I was angry and I was hurting. When I threatened Hunter, I pictured all that pain and anger and aimed it at him."
"What are you saying Danny?" Asked Valerie, worrying about her friend.
"He saw it. Everything I thought of, he saw it. I saw the fear in his eyes as those things went through his head."
"How would that even be possible?" Asked Tucker. Danny turned his head and looked his friends in the eyes so they knew he was being serious.
"I think," began Danny. "I may have developed a new ghost power."
I hope this chapter was long enough to sate everyone's desires for a longer chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. Until next time.
Lord Pugsy.