Author's note: I still work on this fic pretty regularly, don't worry. I'm just working on a bunch of other fics too.
Dissembled
I used to sing you lullabies.
She would hold him in her arms, rock him gently, check that he was breathing to know he was still alive. If only she could check to see if he was breathing now.
…
Something was humming. It sounded familiar.
Danny's head pulsed with a throbbing ache that could only mean the scientist had once again sucked him into a Fenton Thermos but had now so graciously released him. So kind of her.
Danny massaged his scalp with one hand and used the other to rub the grogginess out of his eyes.
He froze.
Why were his hands free?
He sat up, realizing he could. He ran his hands all over his body. No shackles, no belts, no restraints. Even his suit had completely reformed and was covering him again.
He wasn't on a table, he was outside on dirt—
And the air, no longer stale and sterile but fresh—
He blinked up and around at the green ghost shield that surrounded him, the source of the humming. He gazed at the darkness of the sky just beyond it, at the few trees that were also trapped inside the shield with him.
Trapped with him and—
Her—
He wasn't alone in here. The scientist stood at the other end of the area blocked off by the ghost shield, her hood drawn tight over her head and her goggles reflecting the light of the shield, huge glowing orbs that glared at him.
He stayed still, remained in a sitting position on the ground, afraid that if he moved, she would notice he wasn't tied down and shackle him again.
"Take your time, Phantom." Maddie crossed her arms. "I won't rush you."
Danny furrowed his brow. "Won't rush me to what?"
"To get ready."
"Get ready for what?"
Maddie huffed. "You think I cheated to capture you, so fine, we're gonna do this fair."
"What—I don't—"
"You. Me. A fair fight right here, right now. You without your powers, me without my weapons. Just hand-to-hand combat, natural strength and skills, nothing more."
Danny's jaw slacked. "What? Are you serious?"
"I'm serious."
Danny turned over onto his knees and lifted himself off the ground one leg at a time, groaning as his knees remembered how to support his weight. "You want to fight me? You want me to fight you?"
"Yes. I can't make it any clearer than that."
"But why? What for? I mean, what happens after?"
"If you win, I'll let you go."
Danny stared at her.
"No more lab, no more experiments," said Maddie. "You'll be free."
No more—
Free—
No more fractures, no more incisions, no more extractions, no more IVs—
No more sore throats, no more chains, no more belts—
No more probing gaze roaming over his body, no more unwanted touching—
No more no more no more no more—
"If I win," said Danny. "If I beat you in a fight. You'll let me go? That's it? You'll let me have my powers back and everything?"
"Yes. I'll turn off the ghost shield, take off that ankle weight so you can fly again, give you back your ghostly wail, give you the cancelling agent for the Fenton Solidifier." Maddie's goggles aimed right at him. "If you win."
Danny swallowed, a lump bumping against the paralyzing device still clamped to his neck. "And if you win?"
"I take you back to the lab and finish what I started with you. And you'll just have to accept that you belong to me. And you'll stay mine until I kill you."
Danny's chest twinged with a chill.
"Which, if you behave…" Maddie raised her palms with a shrug. "Won't be that far off. I can finish with you more quickly if you just give in and obey me. Or you can continue prolonging your suffering by being a snotty little brat, I honestly don't care. How you choose to behave is all part of my research anyway. But at least you can't say I didn't earn you."
Danny glared at her. "That's only if you win."
"Yes." Maddie adjusted her goggles. "So let me know when you're ready. I know you probably need to do some stretching first. I don't want you complaining later when you're back in the lab that I didn't give you enough time to loosen up and get used to having control over your body again."
When he was back in the lab—
He couldn't go back—
He had to win.
"I'll wait over here. I won't bother you," said Maddie. "Just let me know when you're feeling good enough to start."
"You know, you did break my leg not that long ago," said Danny, looking down and noting the weight around his left ankle.
"Your leg is fine," said Maddie dully. "Don't try to use that as an excuse. It looked completely healed in the X-rays, and the skin has closed up."
"Well, you half blinded me, too." Danny shut one eye, then the other. The vision in his left eye was nothing but a blur of dark colors.
"What are you trying to say, Phantom?" asked Maddie. "Do you not want to do this? Because I can just take you back to the lab now if you think you can't beat me."
"I'm just saying that I'm not exactly in top condition right now."
"You were in top condition when I first caught you. That didn't seem to help you then."
"I told you: You cheated. It's not really winning when you're the only one with a gun."
"I'm only giving you this one chance, Phantom," spat Maddie. "So either stop complaining and fight me now, or I can just take you back to the lab and get some work done."
He glared at her for another moment, his fists lightly clenched. She did not move at all. He couldn't even tell if she was glaring back from behind those orange goggles.
He turned away and looked out at the scenery past the ghost shield, wishing he could see its true colors without the green tint of the shield, wishing he could see the stars past the murky energy pane.
Maybe he would soon. If he could win.
He stretched out his back and groaned. God, it felt so damn good to stretch again, to arch his back in pleasure instead of pain.
He popped and cracked and rotated his joints and knuckles. He could reach every part of his body again, could scratch all the itches, rub all the sore spots, bend and flex and extend.
And breathe real air again, he hadn't even realized how much he had missed that. But it felt so refreshing in his lungs, so cool against his throat that still ached from the paralyzing device attached to his neck.
He placed a hand on the device and pulled at it.
"Don't even try," said Maddie. "It's stuck on there tight, and if I get even the sense that you're trying to cheat with your ghostly wail, I will suck you back in the Thermos immediately."
Danny looked at her but said nothing. He imagined screaming at her, sending an undulating shock of lethal energy in her direction, knocking her against the ghost shield, possibly breaking her neck in the process if he got the angle right.
He shook his head. He couldn't do that to her. Even if he had access to that power…
He didn't want to imagine he could kill her.
But she could kill him. So gladly, too.
And she actually planned on killing him eventually.
He panted slightly as he looked at her again. Her goggles obscured half her face, her hood covered her head.
He wouldn't be killing his mother. Just the scientist who had been torturing him for a week.
He sharply gasped and turned away. No, no, no, he couldn't be thinking of killing he was still Phantom still a hero still a good person—
He had given up freedom just hours before to prove to Vlad and himself he was good.
He had to be good.
But he could be good and still win this fight.
He tested out every part of his body, reminding himself how to use them. His elbows could bend and extend, he had nearly forgotten. He could round his back, such a pleasant feeling traveling up his spine. His ankles could rotate, even the one with a weight surrounding it to prevent him from flying and engaging his anti-gravity core.
He could do this. His body still obeyed him and he could do this.
He could win. He could be free. All without Vlad's help.
He dropped to the ground to test his strength. One push-up, two push-ups, three, four—
"I did say you could take your time," said Maddie. "But delaying the inevitable isn't going to help you."
Danny hopped back on his feet with a spring. Being free just felt so good! "You didn't think I'd have all my strength after everything you put me through, did you?"
"No, I knew you'd have your natural strength," said Maddie. "You have good healing abilities. Plus I've been taking pretty good care of you."
Danny pursed his lips. Taking good care of him? That was what she called slashing his eye and breaking his leg and then surgically resetting it without anesthetic?
"I'm really not scared of you, Phantom. I'm not afraid to fight you." Maddie shrugged. "But with how long you're taking to get ready, I'm starting to think you might be afraid to fight me."
"Well, forgive me for taking some time to get ready after being strapped to a table for a week," Danny spat.
Maddie cocked her head. "You know it's been a week?"
Danny kept a straight face, but his skin was prickling. Shit. What explanation could he give? He couldn't tell her Vlad had told him. That would lead to more questions, questions he couldn't answer without revealing and shattering everything.
Maddie shrugged. "I guess you have a better perception of time than I thought. Maybe that's something I can test once I have you back in the lab."
Danny released his breath, not realizing he had been holding it.
"So how much longer are you going to stall, Phantom?"
He stared at her. Stall? Stall what?
"Are you ready yet, Phantom?"
Ready…?
His body filled with cold. All his confidence and euphoria from being able to move again dissipated as he understood all at once how real this was.
Are you ready?
If he closed his eyes, he could pretend for a moment this wasn't happening. That he was free. No restraints holding him prisoner. Outside. The incessant buzzing was just the ghost shield surrounding his house because that was where he was right now, safe at home.
If he closed his eyes, his vision wouldn't be half blurred. He could pretend she hadn't nearly blinded him.
If he closed his eyes, he could pretend she wasn't here at all.
"Phantom."
But he could never block out her voice.
And he could never erase who she really was.
"Are you ready?"
Danny curled his hands into fists and widened his stance as he faced her. Maddie's red lips smirked beneath her goggles as she also readied her position.
She was right. He had been stalling and he was not ready.
He never would be.
Maddie came at him quickly with a punch followed by a kick. Danny hopped back and blocked her blows. She threw more at him from below, above, the side. Danny continued stepping back, either evading or stopping her hits with his arms.
"Is this how you think you're going to win your freedom, Phantom?" Maddie didn't let up on her punches. "Just cowering like this? Backing up and blocking me? Is this your plan for the whole fight?"
Danny flinched as one of her fists connected with his wrist.
"Can you really just not fight without your powers?" Maddie barked out a laugh. "I knew you were all talk back in the lab."
Her hits kept coming, never slowing. Danny saw openings, so many of them, so many chances to move in with a jab or uppercut, so many times to lay a knee into her.
Next time, he kept saying to himself. I'll get in next time.
Her knuckles sailed toward his chin. Danny turned his head and dipped below it.
Her face was right there. Open. Orange lenses staring at him.
Next time.
Her other fist came for the side of his head. Danny parried it with his forearm.
Her torso was open.
Next time.
Her knee bent then straightened as her boot moved to collide with his upper leg. Danny countered it with a cross of his arms.
Her head, all of her hair locked under that hood. Open.
Next time.
Next time.
Next—
Her leg came in a fast swing toward his middle. Danny caught her shin in his hands, the force creating a small sting in his palms. Now what? He had her now, could take her completely off balance and knock her to the floor, maybe even pin her—
Maybe he didn't have to hit her to beat her. Maybe he could just tire her out.
Not next time, this time—
Maddie leaned back against the ground with one arm and kicked her free leg up toward his face, slamming right into his chin and nose with the heel of her boot. Danny's head snapped back, his body flying and hurtling into the ground. He skidded a short distance before coming to a stop on his back, a cloud of dirt kicking up around him and coating his airway. He coughed and sputtered, his chin throbbing as a sticky wet glob of ectoplasm trickled from his nose into his mouth.
Danny wiped his nose with the back of his arm and studied the glowing green ooze smeared across it. Maddie stood at a distance from him and placed her hands on her hips, smirking beneath round orange lenses.
He had no idea who this woman was. Just the same scientist who had been keeping him prisoner and torturing him for a week.
And she had no problem with hurting him even more now.
Why was he holding back for this complete stranger? This cruel, heartless, sadistic woman?
No reason to hold back.
Every reason to beat her and regain his freedom.
He groaned and pushed himself off the ground and onto his feet. He staggered to the side before centering his balance and wiping more drizzling ectoplasm from his nose.
Maddie shot forward with her fist curled. Danny blocked the blow with his arms. She came at him with her fists again, again, again.
He came at her just as fast. She punched, he blocked, he punched, she blocked. So many blows, no landings. Too much adrenaline to even notice just how much his arms were bruising from her punches.
"All right, this is better," said Maddie, not even panting as she continued with her punches. "Who taught you how to fight, Phantom?"
"My mother," Phantom spat under his breath. But if she heard him, he had no idea. She swung again, her arm extending, her fist moving past his shoulder as he dodged.
He saw an opening.
Next time?
No.
This time.
He clenched a fist and socked it to her lower face near her chin. He could feel his knuckles cracking against her jaw, bone to bone. Maddie made a strange sound, one he had never heard from her before, a crying shriek, a shocking gasp.
A sound of weakness.
Pain.
She cradled her jaw against her palm for only a short second. But it was all Danny needed to see.
He hurt her. He actually hurt her.
That meant he could beat her.
He could leave this place. Tonight.
He would leave this place.
He was going to. He just had to—
Maddie sprang forward.
—hurt her again—
Danny leapt to meet her.
—and again and again and again—
Their limbs clashed and tangled.
—over and over and over until she was through—
She pushed him back a few steps, her hits coming in a flurry.
—until she was gone—
He dug his heel into the ground and grabbed her incoming fist, twisting it until her joint audibly popped. Maddie cried out.
—until she was in as much pain as he was—
He curled his free hand and jabbed it hard toward her face. Maddie ducked her head to the side. His fist connected with the cheekbone just in front of her ear. A line of blood fell and dripped off her jaw.
—until she was as broken as he was—
She screamed and dropped to the ground. Still holding her fist, Danny was forcibly lowered with her. She swiped a leg at his feet, felling him. Danny released his hold on her to catch himself as his mouth met the ground.
—because he didn't even know who she was—
He spat out dirt and a couple blades of grass. Maddie raised her boot high above him. Danny rolled away just as she brought it down, her heel striking the ground and kicking up a cloud of dirt.
—only a complete stranger, an enemy, would try to hurt him, would want to hurt him—
He jumped to his feet and held up his arms to block her blows as she ran at him. His skin was breaking and chafing under his suit.
—no one who loved him would hurt him like this—
He grabbed hold of her fist again. He aimed his own fist for the center of her face and did not let her dodge this time.
He was hurting no one important.
His knuckles smashed into her goggles. The lenses cracked, spidery lines spreading out through both of them.
No one important to him.
Maddie staggered backward and held her face with her fingers hooked over her goggle frames.
No one. She was no one. She was—
Maddie moved her cracked goggles up and off her face, threw them off to the side past the ghost shield. She slipped her hood off her head and shook out her hair. Strands of her matted bangs stuck to her forehead over her eyes—
No one, she was no one—
Eyes he could see, eyes he knew—
No but she was no one he knew—
She advanced on him. Danny stepped back. No, why was he stepping back? He held still and raised his fist, waiting for her to come to him.
He didn't know her—
She threw harder punches at him, faster, more adept. Danny held up his hands to block but he couldn't hit back. Why couldn't he hit back? His body wasn't obeying him.
She stepped forward, he stepped back. One step, two steps, another. She was backing him into the ghost shield, backing him into a corner. He screamed at his legs to move ahead. His fists wouldn't ball, his arms wouldn't shoot toward her.
He didn't know her, it was okay to hit her, he didn't know her!
He had to win, the only way to win was to hit her back, to bruise and break her body more than his, it was the only solution, the only cure to his pain, he had to—
The glow from the ghost shield lit up the silhouette of her hair. He knew that silhouette, that hairstyle. She had kept that style for so many years now, he couldn't even remember if she ever wore it differently. She liked it short so it would stay under her hood, short so she didn't have to spend much time styling it. All for work, all for her research, didn't matter what she looked like as long as she could work.
Her fist connected with his shoulder near his collarbone. The pain thudded beneath his skin in a coiling knot. But he could hit harder, he knew he could, there was an opening, he just had to—
Her expression twisted, her lips snarled. But he recognized that shade of lipstick because she always wore it, that deep red color that was often left behind on the rims of drink glasses he would load into the dishwasher.
His arms were shaking, pumping with something that prevented control. He couldn't move them, couldn't get them to obey, couldn't force them to hit her and beat her so he could win and leave.
Because that face, those eyes—
His mother.
Her elbow slammed into his face. Her boot rammed into his abdomen. Danny's back hit the ghost shield, shocking fire through all of his nerve endings. He crumpled to the ground on his knees and leaned over the dirt dry heaving, all the nausea curling in his stomach threatening to spill out.
Not the first time she had brought him to his knees.
She towered over him, her breathing heavy. Danny didn't dare look up at her, didn't want to see her face again.
He had tried to convince himself that she was just a scientist he didn't know but the truth was that his mother wanted to kill him.
The heel of her boot swung into his head, smashing it into the ground. She continued kicking and stamping at him, taunting him, ordering him to get up. Danny crossed his arms over his chest and brought in his knees because it was all he could do. He couldn't get up, he couldn't fight back, he could only let his mother hurt him and mangle him and cut him open until he was nothing more than bits of skin trapped under her nails and splashes of ectoplasm staining her hands.
Why did he think he could win? Of course he couldn't win. She was his mother and she had to win and he was her child and he had to lose. She always knew what was best for him, she was always in charge.
And right now, she wanted to hurt him. She wanted him to lose.
He had to obey.
The tears came hard and he couldn't stop them. Too much pressure, too much weight drilling his eyes. Another blow from her boot stomped his head and suddenly he was sobbing. Misery and agony and frustration and confusion and submission and defeat gushed down his cheeks in harsh streams. He pressed his gloved hands to his face, abrading and rubbing the skin around his eyes, pushing and crushing the pain but it wouldn't leave, it wouldn't go, it just kept coming and coming.
He struggled for breath while wishing he could just stop breathing altogether. Let her finish with his body however she wanted while he no longer had to feel any of it.
The onslaught of kicks stopped. His mother now stood motionless above him.
He didn't stop bawling. He couldn't. There was just too much of it to keep in.
His mother continued to stare down at him.
He didn't stop crying when she shut off the ghost shield. He didn't stop crying when she forced him off the ground and dragged him back to the lab. He didn't try to fight her, didn't resist.
He obeyed his mother.
Against the same wall she had chained him to when she first brought him here, she locked his wrists into the restraints and left him without speaking a word. The lab lights shut off and the door closed.
He was down on his knees once again because that was apparently the only way his mother wanted him to be.
And he just couldn't stop crying.