Warning: This chapter contains vivisection, which may be distressing to some readers, especially since the victim is conscious throughout the procedure. I have included a brief summary at the bottom of the page if you do not wish to read this chapter.
Halfa
It took over four hours for Jack to reach Maddie's lair. In that time he had managed to run into no less than six ectopusses, one of which he suspected was an ectosquid, considering the fact that it had been startled by Jack's close proximity and squirted ectoplasm throughout the area. It coated the hunter's hair and clothes and smelled utterly ghastly, somewhat like the soup goop had. Speaking of soup goop, Jack noticed that particular blob of ectoplasm and misplaced aggression sulking on a rock about half an hour's descent from the Fenton portal – it hissed as he passed, but didn't budge from its perch.
Jack's ectoplasm-coated glove left green residue on the door handle to Maddie's lair, and as his foot passed over the threshold a sleek cat with brilliant white fur and glowing blue eyes appeared on the doormat and hissed loudly. Jack grinned, clucking his tongue. The animal hissed again and grew to three times its size, to which Jack threw up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, just calm down. I'm Jack Fenton." He removed his gloves and presented his hands for the animal to sniff. Satisfied that Jack was permitted by its mistress to enter her lair, the cat shrunk back to its original size and wound itself around the hunter's ankles, purring.
Jack ignored the cat, heading straight for the shower and a fresh change of clothes. After half an hour of searching through wardrobes clad only in a towel Jack admitted defeat, resignedly dressing himself in grey jeans and a red shirt. Uncomfortable at the lack of hazmat, the hunter appraised his suit. The ectoplasm had begun to corrode the fabric, and Jack sighed before throwing the garment into the fireplace where bright green flames had appeared upon his arrival at the lair.
The fire produced a dusky scent that reminded Jack of gloaming in a forest during Summer, and the man lowered his aching body into a dark blue armchair. He glanced around guiltily, feeling sick and lost as his gaze was met with bookshelves covering every wall and the fluffy white cat curled up on the cushioned windowsill. The animal stared at him before getting to its feet and sauntering over, demanding loudly to be picked up. The man sighed and obeyed the plea, settling the cat in his lap and beginning to stroke its soft fur. The fire sent waves of warmth through his limbs, and Jack fell asleep to the cat's purring.
His dreams were full of darkness and the terrified screams of his wife and son.
...
Danny woke to his mother's muffled cries. He sat up and rubbed a fist over sleepy blue eyes, blinking owlishly at the scientists gathered around the tube. Maddie was being restrained halfway across the room by five of them, and the missing teeth and bloody noses of these men indicated the level of her upset. Danny yawned and got shakily to his feet, eyeing the barrel of the ectogun that an agent held inches from the bridge of his nose. "M-Mum?" the halfa stuttered, taking a step backwards and pressing his burning back against the glass.
Maddie's response didn't make it past the moulded metal gag fitted over her mouth.
Danny tensed and gasped as a collar snapped shut his throat, binding his power. As his head was tilted back and his mouth prised open by gloved hands, Danny whimpered and wrapped his tail around the wrist of the hand that held a metal bit and gag. "Leave him," a familiar voice commanded, "we'd just have to take it off again to put the oxygen mask on."
The agents grudgingly stepped back from Danny, leaving him alone in the tube. He glared at the man that had spoken, practically spitting the words "What the hell do you want, Fruitloop?"
Vlad chuckled. "My dear Little Badger, you must learn to control that temper of yours." He held up a finger and shook it from side to side, the smirk never leaving his thin lips. "Somebody might be offended if you don't!"
"Go to hell," Danny hissed, the tip of his tail flicking back and forth and his eyes narrowing to slits.
Vlad spread his hands, shrugging and looking around in an exaggerated fashion. "I believe that we're already here, my boy." His gaze returned to Danny, who bared sharp teeth and pressed back harder against the glass. Vlad tutted and motioned for the tube to be raised. As it lifted off the ground, Danny stepped back further. He halted on the third step, hissing as the wires tugged at his core.
Vlad came forwards, placing a firm hand on the teen's shoulder and using the other to grasp raven locks, twisting a squirming, yelping Danny around to face the wall. The younger halfa gave a screech, his knees buckling and hitting the floor as the sockets were tugged by the movement. Vlad rolled his eyes before producing a key, using it to unlock and remove each of the wires connected to Danny's back. The boy shuddered with every disconnection, screwing his eyes shut and swallowing his vocal reactions. As the final wire pulled away from his body Danny slumped his shoulders, feeling his wings relax and fall open to rest on the floor. He bowed his head, staying perfectly still as Vlad clipped a chain to the collar, tugging on it in an obvious command for the boy to start walking. "That's it," Vlad soothed, "come with me and we'll get this over with."
Danny got shakily to his feet, his limbs feeling like the life was seeping out of them. I should be trying to rip out Vlad's spleen through his nose. Why can't I muster up the energy to give him a hard time? The cold metal around his throat seemed to thrum with contentment, and Danny sighed in defeat. Stupid collar, it's sapping my strength…
The boy and his mother were led – and in the case of Maddie dragged – to the operating room where Danny had first woken a handful of hellish hours ago. The teen got his first proper look at the place and cringed, trying in vain to pull away as Vlad led him to sit on one of the two operating tables that stood side-by-side in the centre of the room. Danny laid back on the hard surface as though in a dream, his head swimming as his wrists were clipped into place above his head. Extra straps were cinched tight around his hips and shoulders, trapping his wings and preventing most movement. His ankles and tail were also restrained, and the young man flinched as needles slipped into his right forearm. He recognised the sensation of mild sedative within seconds and watched through bleary eyes as the clear plastic bag containing said concoction was hung from a metal frame above his head. I'm going to die. The thought was fleeting and almost non-existent, but not altogether unwelcome.
Danny turned his head, watching with mounting horror as his mother was fastened to the neighbouring table in a similar fashion. They're going to kill us, he realised. Tugging slightly at his restraints, Danny felt lethargy steal over his limbs. They're going to paralyse us and then kill us slowly.
As trays of stainless steel tools were wheeled into view the teen could no longer ignore what he had known since entering the room. The panic set in and he tried to move but found that his body wouldn't obey him. "N-no…" he gasped, the simple action taking great effort. "P-p-please…"
It would kill him. He couldn't go through this – not again.
Vlad tilted his head towards the boy and Danny realised that whilst he could barely move, he could still hear, see, and feel perfectly. "Phantom first," the billionaire murmured, fitting an oxygen mask over Danny's mouth.
"V-V-Vl…" the teen wheezed, feeling his mind kick into overdrive as his shirt was torn away to expose a scar-riddled torso. No, anything but vivisection! He tried to fight the sedative, struggled to form a final plea. Damn it!
Vlad laid the scalpel against the top of Danny's pelvis and applied pressure, raking it upwards towards the boy's face and terminating the incision when the blade hit the sternum. Danny screwed his eyes shut and screamed bloody murder as tears streamed down his temples to soak into messy black hair.
...
Vlad calmly continued to make the Y-shaped incision, a fixed smile gracing his features as though in trivial conversation regarding the weather. Danny sobbed and screamed at every twist of the blade, tear-filled blue eyes shut tightly and limbs heavy with mild sedative. The man tried to make it as neat as possible, following the marks left by a previous vivisection. I'm not vivisecting him anyway, Vlad justified, merely operating. If it were vivisection I would remove samples of all of his organs and several bones.
It still left a sick feeling in the billionaire's stomach, but he studiously ignored what were no doubt muffled insults and threats thrown at the back of his head by an irate Maddie, concentrating on the task at hand. If he dwelt on the implications of the scar that he followed, Vlad doubted that he would be able to continue. To think that he's already been cut open like this… He's going to be furious later.
Vlad performed the procedure unassisted, quietly cutting away at the helpless teen. Danny's voice was slowly growing hoarse, and as the man finally reached and nudged his core the younger halfa let loose a scream of such intensity that it seemed to tear his throat in two – his subsequent expressions of pain were small sounds of agony whenever he opened his mouth. There was just no voice left to scream with, and for the first time Vlad wondered if Danny might have rendered himself temporarily mute.
Vlad laid the blade against the designated area of the pulsing vine of gelatinous blue light that was Danny's core and twisted once, dislodging a piece about the size of a little fingernail. Danny's eyes flicked open as his face lost all remaining colour and he threw his mouth wide, a high-pitched sound leaving his throat before his voice gave way entirely.
For the first time, Vlad felt truly bad about this. He hadn't used a stronger sedative because anything that blocked out pain or induced unconsciousness would cause the core to spread through Danny's chest, effectively making it impossible for a piece to be removed. But the magnitude of Danny's suffering had torn at something within Vlad, and the man found himself questioning the necessity of such physical and psychological abuse.
Vlad sighed before placing the sample on a petri dish. He motioned for phase two to commence and silently a scientist in white hazmat stepped forwards, keying a command into the panel on Danny's collar. The teen's eyes widened and his breathing stopped as a ring formed around his waist, thickening to the point where it was about to split before halting in its progress. Vlad quickly reached through the light and dislodged another piece of core, watching anxiously; Danny's face contorted and he screamed silently, expelling any remaining air from his lungs.
The older halfa placed the midmorph sample in a second labelled petri dish, nodding to the scientist. A second command was keyed into the collar and Danny's ring split in two, travelling over the halfa's ravaged body. Danny gasped for air as the lights winked out of existence, staring at Vlad with terrified green eyes. His mouth worked but the only sounds were faint, ragged whimpers. Even Maddie had fallen silent, but Vlad refused to look at her just yet – he knew that his actions were inexcusable, and the accusation in her eyes could easily be enough to make him falter.
The final sample was dislodged swiftly, and Vlad immediately began to stitch up the helpless child's bleeding body. Danny's eyes were growing dim, the glow surrounding his body and flickering between the strands of ivory hair beginning to darken. The teen stared at his tormentor with reproachful eyes, his confusion and utter terror seeping through the atmosphere and staining the back of Vlad's throat with a sour taste. Then, as suddenly as a switch being flicked, Danny finally lost consciousness.
...
Maddie lay still on her back, scowling at the perfect white ceiling. The surface she laid on was soft and warm, but the slight weight of the blanket resting over her body caused pain to ripple through her mutilated chest and stomach. She clenched her fists, shutting emerald eyes tightly as tears continued to drip down her temples.
She was going to murder every last one of them.
Vlad had not vivisected her – he stitched Danny up and removed the sockets in the teen's back before leaving the room with a strangled sound. His guilt had left a cloying scent that stuck to the back of Maddie's throat and made it difficult for her to swallow.
One of the scientists – the woman with flaxen hair – was the one to cut Maddie open, copying Vlad's procedure to the letter. Maddie had fainted as the third sample was taken, and woke in the position she was in now, free of all collars and restraints but bound in place by her own broken body.
The bed was the biggest Maddie had ever seen, and her son slept beside her. Danny's face was ashen, his breathing lighter and slower than the mother would have liked. Occasionally phantom grimaces flickered across his visage, but Danny's features always smoothed out quickly. His eyelids fluttered rapidly, and Maddie found herself wondering what her child dreamed of.
...
Clockwork floated impassively in front of the halfa. "Jack Fenton will be here soon."
"Jack Fenton? What does he want?" she sneered.
The ancient ghost was not in the mood for small talk. "You will help him." Clockwork held up a hand and the leader of the Thalassic Clan shut her mouth wordlessly. The Master of Time continued. "I understand your laws, and I have here a way that you can help him," he stated.
With a slightly unnecessary swish of his cloak, Clockwork materialised a golden glove from its depths. Gems glittered in their rightful positions and the woman stirred in wonder. "The Reality Gauntlet? But how would that help us to help him?"
The cloaked figure swallowed his sigh, holding out the glove as he spoke. "Use this to change him. You cannot kill him nor do anything that would alter the time stream, but I can allow you to change him to meet your regulations."
The woman took the glove with wonder. "You're entrusting me with this?" she breathed.
This time Clockwork did sigh. "I am not permitted to interfere. This is the most that I can do."
The woman bowed to the ancient ghost, twin locks of glacier-blue hair falling forwards to hide glowing mauve eyes. "Yes, Sir."
Clockwork inclined his head and disappeared in a whirl of purple light.
...
Danny woke slowly, blinking his eyes in bewilderment. "M-Mum?" he rasped, his voice almost non-existent as he tried to sit up. The halfa regretted the mistake instantly as pain ripped through his chest and along his back. "Mum?" he gasped, his throat searing at the use of damaged vocal chords. Danny gritted his teeth and screwed his eyes shut, panting slightly from the exertion.
"I'm here, Sweetie." Maddie's gentle hand smoothed back messy white locks, and Danny opened his eyes and turned his head towards the sound.
Maddie lay on her side next to him in a massive white bed. Her face was grey with pain and faint lines creased her forehead as she continued to stroke her son's hair. Maddie's chin was cupped in her other hand, supporting her head whilst her elbow rested on her pillow. The blankets pooled around the woman's waist, and Danny realised with slight embarrassment that her torso was covered in nothing but stark white bandages. His gut clenched and his eyes widened in horror. "Not you too…" Danny breathed.
Maddie followed his gaze to her bandages, her mouth tightening into a thin line. She said nothing, finger-combing her son's hair softly.
The burning, sickening sensation of flesh being slowly ripped away from his ribcage…
"I-I need the bathroom," Danny gasped, unable to speak above a whisper.
Maddie frowned. "You can't move, and neither can I."
His sternum being snapped in two with a very audible crack…
"M-Mum, I'm gunna b-be sick," he whimpered.
Maddie pressed cool fingers against his sweat-covered brow before shifting with an audible groan. She managed to sit up, biting back the yelps that formed in her throat. Then came the herculean effort of getting to her unsteady feet, a shriek slipping past her lips at the pain that tore through her.
The cold wrongness of that blade continuing to slice deeper…
Maddie leaned heavily against the side of the bed, pulling her son to his feet. Danny nearly passed out from the pain, a strangled gasp the only sound his battered throat could produce as he tried to scream.
Vlad's hand brushing past his stomach, cold fingers actually touching the slightly warmer organ…
They leaned heavily on each other, and Maddie half-dragged Danny the dozen steps to the bathroom, feeling her stitches begin to tug and knowing that her boy's would be the same. She pushed the door open, lowering their broken bodies to the floor in front of the toilet.
The sharp little blade pressing into his core, twisting once and dislodging a chunk…
The bile rose in Danny's throat and he unceremoniously dumped the acid that had been roiling in his empty stomach into the porcelain bowl. Maddie raised her hand to rub circles on his back but paused at the recollection that he had injuries there as well. She slumped against the floor, giving way to her pained gasps as Danny retched and wrapped his tail around her wrist.
Once he was finished Maddie steeled her resolve to get to her feet, but found that strong arms encircled her form and lifted her into the air. She gave a cry before realising that it was one of the agents trying to get her off the cold tiles. Another agent entered and managed to pull Maddie's shuddering son to his feet and press his head down near the faucet. Turning on the tap, the man proceeded to splash cold water against the teen's face and wash out his mouth.
That done, both halfas were carried back to the bed and placed in their original positions. Vlad was standing at the foot of the bed, wringing his hands. "How stupid can the two of you be?" he cried, practically hopping from foot to foot.
Danny cringed away, fear flitting over his face. Maddie shifted painfully, resting her hand against his wrist beneath the covers. Danny wound his tail firmly around her ankle, turning his face towards her and away from Vlad.
The older halfa stepped forwards, stretching out a hand. "I need to check your stitches."
Danny whimpered, shifting closer to his mother. His utter terror soured the back of Maddie's throat and she squeezed his hand before growling at Vlad, "Our stitches are fine. I swear, Plasmius, that you're going to pay for this, and I'll be there to see it."
Vlad paused in his approach, staring at the huntress with open mouth. Maddie felt Danny shudder and she shifted even closer to him, silently daring Vlad to take another step forwards. The man took the hint and backed off, soundlessly exiting the room. The two scientists followed, leaving Maddie and Danny alone.
Slowly, painfully, Maddie wrapped an arm around her terrified child.
...
Jack floated in front of the doorway that marked the official offices of the Thalassic Clan. In front of him rose a large silver door emblazoned with purple flames. All a bit theatrical in the hunter's opinion, but he wasn't about to say anything out loud.
Will Ashray floated in front of him, a scowl crinkling her pretty features. Her stark white hair was pulled back into a no-nonsense braid, and blue eyes glowed from beneath a sensible fringe. Jack quailed slightly as she pointed a finger at him – ever since his engagement to Maddie, this woman had scared the living daylights out of him.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded, placing her hands on slim hips clad in plain black slacks.
Jack flinched as though he had been struck. "I-I need help."
Will flicked her braid over her shoulder and turned to re-enter the gate. "Go elsewhere. Nobody here is going to help you."
"Please!" Jack cried, falling to his knees on the rocky ground at Will's feet and raising his hands as though in prayer. "I'm begging you; please help me to save my family!"
The woman paused, turning back to face the hunter as tears began to crawl down his cheeks. When she spoke, her voice was soft and dangerous. "What happened? What have you done to my sister?"
Jack cringed. "The Guys in White took her, and Danny too! They're going to really hurt them!"
"The Guys in White…" she breathed, before shaking her head slightly. "Well, that's not my concern. I don't know who this Danny is, but Maddie chose to leave this clan for you, and if you can't protect her then you only have yourself to blame! Now get out of here!"
"Wilhelmina," a quiet voice sounded from behind her. Jack shuddered at the tangible power in the air, staying on his knees as a cloaked ghost with hair of the palest blue materialised. Will fell silent, touching her feet to the ground and bowing at the waist before kneeling in one fluid motion.
The newcomer regarded Jack with eyes that matched the sunset. The man ducked his head, panic fluttering in his stomach. This must be the leader of their clan! What did Mads say her name was again? "Jack Fenton, you come here for our assistance?"
"Yes, ma'am," Jack breathed.
The woman sighed and knelt in front of him. "You must know that you do not currently conform to our laws. As long as you have no spectral heritage or power we cannot assist you."
"Please," Jack implored, his voice cracking, "I'll do anything!"
The cloaked ghost inclined her head. "That's what I was waiting for." She rose, motioning for the two kneeling figures to rise. "Come, Jack. I have an offer for you."
Jack followed her through the door without hesitation, looking back at his flabbergasted sister-in-law as he did so. The doors began to close, leaving her to resume her everyday activities. Just before they slammed shut, Jack grinned and poked his tongue out.
This caused Will to fume for the better part of the next hour.
Summary: Jack reaches Maddie's lair, and rests for a bit while he decides what to do next. Vlad vivisects Danny, removing several samples of his core. Maddie is also vivisected, though this is not detailed. The two halfas are stitched back up and put in bed to recover somewhat, and Danny suffers from a PTSD attack. Clockwork gives the reality gauntlet to Asima Ashray, the head of the Thalassic Clan (the clan that Maddie comes from). She has specific instructions, and can only use it to change Jack to conform to their laws. Jack reaches the clan's territory, and exchanges insults with Maddie's sister until Ashray lets him into the official headquarters.
In addition to the mature content of this chapter, later chapters include Danny's PTSD attacks in regards to the vivisection, and he recalls brief moments. If you are uncomfortable with this, please PM me, and I will send you a list of the chapters which contain such content. Upon request, I will also provide summaries of those scenes, as they are significant to the plot.
As always, thank you guys so much for everything!