The story so far: Takes place after "Great One" (Chapter Two). Maddie has discovered that Danny has ice powers but that's the extent of her knowledge. In this scene, Maddie and Danny have been captured by Walker and are in the middle of breaking out of his prison...
Jailbreak
The alarm was a low, continuous wail, like a ghoul moaning through a loudspeaker. At first, Maddie was certain it was about their escape. She grabbed the door's handle – forgetting that she could have run straight through the door – flung it open, and sprinted down the hallway, one hand wrapped around her son's wrist and dragging him along.
The halls were empty. The cells were empty. There was not a ghost in sight. After a few seconds of running, Maddie and Danny both slowed down and came to a stop.
"Where is everyone?" she murmured. "The other prisoners? The guards?"
"Uh, cafeteria? Out in the yard? Does it matter?" He sounded worried; obviously it did matter. "We need to find the Speeder and get out of here." This time it was Danny who snatched Maddie's wrist, and he led her down the hallways at a steady jog.
They turned several corners and stuck their heads, literally, through several promising doors along the way but found nothing and no one.
"He'll have put it with the other Real World contraband," said Danny as they moved, "if only we could find where that is. We just need to make it to the main hall…"
"I thought you've been here before?"
"Yeah, once!" said Danny, poking his head through another door, taking it out again, and shaking it. Negative. "I'm actually not in the habit of getting arrested, thank you. Besides, it would help if I knew where we even are right now. This place is a freaking maze!"
Upon realizing that Danny had no idea of their direction, Maddie started keeping a map in her head. It wouldn't do them any good to be running around in circles.
She was becoming increasingly anxious about the guards, or lack thereof. She tried to remember – had there been guards in their cell block before they broke through the bars? The angle had been bad; it had been impossible to see.
A few more minutes of fruitless searching brought them to the largest hallway yet, possibly the heart of the prison.
"Finally!" Danny exclaimed. "I know where we are – that way's the gate, that way's Walker's office-"
"Shh!" said Maddie.
Her son's eyes widened and he clamped his mouth shut. It didn't take him long to hear it, too. Somewhere nearby was the distinctive sound of a large, unruly crowd and ectoblasts. Lots of ectoblasts.
They looked at each other. Danny seemed to have the same question in his mind as was in hers. Should we check it out or steer clear?
"We need to find the Speeder," Maddie said firmly. "Whatever's happening, we don't have any weapons, and we're not prepared to deal with it."
Danny hesitated and finally nodded. "You're right." His hands twitched, and briefly Maddie watched her son clench and unclench his fists.
She placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled reassuringly at him. "We'll be fine. We're going to make it out of here."
He nodded. "Yeah. I know." His gaze lingered on the hallway from which the sound was echoing. "I just hope whatever's happening isn't happening where I think it's happening… Because the room we need is on the other side of that."
"Where is that?"
He grimaced. "The cafeteria."
Danny continued warily toward one end of the hall, footsteps calculated and silent. Maddie followed at his side. Every step brought them closer to sounds of mayhem. Gradually, they began to hear Walker's booming voice, the exact words muffled under shouting, thuds, crashes and explosions.
Soon they were approaching two purple double-doors with a character that was distinctly 'institutional meal hall'. The sounds were almost deafening, and shadows mixed with flashes of green and blue light through the window panes on the doors.
"Great," Danny groaned.
"Isn't there another way around?"
"Not exactly. This part of the prison is on a cliff. The only thing outside the cafeteria walls is a plummet into the abyss."
"Why is the Real World Objects room on the other side of the cafeteria in the first place?" Maddie couldn't help but wonder aloud.
"Heard it used to be a gymnasium. Only place big enough to keep all that junk, I guess."
A second later, something slammed into and through the double doors. Maddie pulled Danny aside in time for the shape to fly past them and skid against the floor down the hall. The doors quickly swung shut again, cutting them off from the mayhem on the other side.
The ghost that had been thrown through the doors groaned and rose to its feet, giving Maddie a clear view of the monster. She was surprised to recognize it; then again, it's hard to forget an eight-foot-tall wolfman. The last time they had met, this particular ghost had been working with Phantom to attack Amity Park's mayor, Mr. Montez. Disoriented, the ghost shook its head, snorting, its black fur standing on end.
"Wulf?" gasped Danny. Instinctively, like a soccer mom in a minivan, Maddie put an arm across her son's chest.
"This is a powerful and extremely dangerous ghost, Danny."
What Danny did next completely shocked her. He grabbed her arm, simultaneously throwing it aside and ducking underneath it, to run straight for the ghost.
"No," said Danny over his shoulder, "he's a friend!"
"Danny!" Armed with nothing but her fists and her wits, Maddie Fenton ran after him.
The ghost noticed Danny, who was completely dwarfed by the giant beast, and grinned. "Danny!" it growled, before grabbing the boy and pulling Danny tightly against its chest. "Friend!"
This was unpleasantly similar to their meeting with Frostbite the day before. Did her son have a penchant for befriending ghosts that looked like Bigfoot's cousins?
"Oof!" Danny squirmed out of the wolfman's arms, and his prison shirt was almost pulled over his head in the process. Patting down his clothes, he grinned blatantly at the monster. "Good to see you, too, big guy. What are you doing here?"
"Walker," growled the ghost. Its snout curled in a snarl.
"How do you keep getting arrested? We talked about this!"
The wolfman looked positively repentant as it lowered its head. It mumbled "Sorry" and some other words in a foreign language.
A crash reverberated in the cafeteria behind them. "More importantly," said Danny, and he jerked a thumb behind him. "What's going on in there?"
The ghost proceeded to give an explanation in that second language, accented by a wide array of hand gestures. Danny listened, nodding, and his expression grew concerned. When the ghost had finished talking, Danny translated for his mom: "According to Wulf, there have been natural portals opening around the prison all week. Not very many prisoners have escaped, but Walker didn't want to take chances. He ordered his guards to stick to the remaining prisoners like glue. So, when a portal opened in the cafeteria today in the middle of lunch, all the guards and all the prisoners were there, and, well… this happened. Prisoners are trying to escape, and the guards are blasting them to bits." Frowning, he turned back to the ghost called 'Wulf'. "You haven't been opening these portals, have you?"
"No!" said the ghost, waving his hands. "No me!" Pointing to his neck, where there was a thick electronic band, he added, "Collar!"
"Wulf," said Danny, "my mom and I need to get to the other side of the cafeteria – to the Real World Objects room. Think you can help us out?"
The wolf monster grinned menacingly, flexing his arms. Glowing claws like blades sprouted from his fingertips. Bloodlust made his green eyes glow brighter. "Wulf help friend. Like to fight Walker goons, too."
"Awesome," said Danny, patting the ghost on one of his bulging, furry arms. Looking at his mom, he added, "Wulf is one of the good guys."
"We're going to have a long talk about this later, young man."
"Later!" said Wulf. "Now is fight!" On his own cue, the giant wolfman lumbered forward and burst back through the doors.
Maddie traded looks with Danny, and they both ran after him.
The cafeteria – if it could still be called such – was in total disarray. At the opposite end of the room, clustered around the edges of a portal in the floor that was at least ten feet in diameter, a battle was raging. Identical ghosts in riot gear with shields and batons were defending the hole against several dozen ghosts of all shapes, sizes, and species. A few were familiar to Maddie, such as Technus and Ember, but most were new faces. These prisoner ghosts were fighting a war on two fronts, because on their other side, the one nearest to Maddie and her son, there was another line of guards headed by the ghost warden himself. Most of the cafeteria furniture had been overturned, incinerated, or adapted into creative weaponry. Lumps of food, or possibly some ghosts' spilled guts, were splattered over the floor, walls, and ceiling.
Wulf's bulk shielded them from sight, although Maddie and Danny were both short enough to duck under his arms to get a good view. He pointed across the room, at a door, and turned to Danny. "There. Room."
The door was precisely on the other side of the portal.
"You've got to be kidding me," said Danny.
"No. No is joke."
"It's an expression," breathed the boy weakly. "How are we…?"
Maddie frowned, squinting thoughtfully at the scene. "We don't need to go through the door. If we make it to the opposite wall, we can phase through it, correct? We just need to skirt the edges."
"Great. We still have to get through a seven-layer ghost dip. Great." At his mom's incredulous expression, he said, "Food jokes. Cafeteria. Couldn't help it."
"Wulf," said Maddie. The ghost seemed a little shocked to be addressed by her. "You keep Walker busy while we make our way to the wall."
Wulf looked at Danny, expectant. "Uh, yeah," said Danny. "Do what she said."
"Kun plezuro," growled Wulf. Then he roared and tackled the warden like a giant, hairy linebacker, sending several smaller guards flying in the process.
"Let's go!" Maddie yelled. She scooped up a couple of broken table legs, tossed one to her son, and darted to the right-hand side of the mob.
A guard immediately intercepted her. Unfortunately, several of the guards had turned at the sound of Walker being attacked, and they were ready to head off the escaping humans. Maddie swung her improvised weapon right into one ghost's head, and the whole thing disintegrated in a cloud of mist.
The others weren't so easy. Before she had completed her swing, another was bearing down on her with its baton, and sidestepping the attack, her back slammed into another's shield. The ghost with the baton raised its club for another hit, so Maddie ducked and tumbled out to the side, landing in a crouch. The two ghosts were surprisingly slow; she had a free shot at the shield-wielder's head, and threw her table leg, sharp-end first.
Like its companion, it vanished into smoke.
But Maddie's weapon was gone.
Danny suddenly appeared at her back, sparring with another guard, exchanging blow for blow. Maddie, who had failed for years to teach her son any lessons in combat, was both impressed and bewildered. She didn't have time to think much more about it, not then.
"Be careful about their batons!" Danny shouted. "They don't just hit, they also shoot-"
Her son was blasted away by a bolt of hot green ectoplasm.
"Danny!" Maddie yelled. It was her mistake to let her attention drop. Her last opponent had aimed his baton, and the next second he fired.
Maddie slammed into the surface of an overturned table. She and the table both skidded back a few feet, and her head knocked against the surface, causing stars to dance in her vision. On her left side, her shirt smoked, smoldering with green fire; the skin underneath was scorched black, and a nasty smell filled her nose.
Danny appeared crouching next to her. "Mom!" he said. His clothes were also smoking, but otherwise, he seemed unharmed, to Maddie's relief.
Four guards were flying toward them, already taking aim. "Danny," she said, nodding her head toward them.
Danny spun and straightened. He stepped forward until he stood at the end of Maddie's feet and adopted a wide stance.
"Alright," he said. Goosebumps rose on Maddie's skin. Danny's voice was completely level, but there was an edge to it, a menace, that she had never expected to hear in her son. "Which one of you hurt my mom?" He looked at them, waiting for an answer. The other ghosts faltered, but not for long.
"No one's gonna fess up? Well then." Danny cracked his knuckles, and spread his hands to either side. "I'll have to beat up all of you."
The temperature plummeted, an icy wind blasting outward with Danny at its center. Danny's whole body began to glow white, and blue energy gathered in his hands while the floor under his feet frosted over. Maddie watched as the frost slithered toward the ghostly prison guards, who only realized what was under them when it was too late. Three of them started to advance, one tried to flee, and Danny ripped his hands upward. Shards of ice splintered out of the floor. Two of the ghosts were frozen solid on the spot, while the other two were ripped into smoky shreds.
The fighting in the room stopped, all eyes turned toward them. Then Technus's nasally voice cried, "It is the ghost boy! The battle is ours!" All of the prisoners cried out and began to fight more ferociously. Several of the guards were knocked backward into the portal, and a few prisoners poured along after them.
Danny turned toward Maddie, who immediately paled. His eyes glowed solid cold blue; she could not see his pupils, his irises, the whites of his eyes. Frost still danced at his fingertips.
For one horrible second, Maddie wanted to run away from him. Her fingers wanted a gun so she could shoot him.
Snowdrift's words returned to her: You obviously don't know what your son is capable of.
He frowned down at her, expression changing from severe to puzzled. Then a massive white shape loomed up behind him, and he was forced to turn and face Walker.
Wulf sprinted to Danny's side. He no longer seemed so huge.
"I should have known," growled the warden, his voice echoing even above the sounds of battle. "Who else would have the gall to start a prison riot in my cafeteria? No one but a lawless, disrespectful, impudent punk like you."
"Look, I get you're still sore about the last time. But I swear, Walker, I didn't do this."
Walker's eyes narrowed. "How did you get out of your cell?"
"Yeah, I'd ask for your money back," Danny retorted. "Ghost-proof, human-proof, but apparently not ice-proof."
The warden's expression was murderous, which was a neat trick for a skull face. The entire cafeteria seemed to darken around him.
Danny shifted slightly, and a wall of ice sprang up in front of Wulf, Maddie, and him just in time to deflect a massive ectoblast from the warden.
"Wulf," Danny said hurriedly. "Get my mom to the Specter Speeder. Now!"
The wolfman nodded before leaping toward Maddie, scooping her into its arms, and bolting away across the room, easily jumping over and on top of heads as he moved. The guards, the few who were left, were too preoccupied with the escapees to do anything. Danny disappeared from Maddie's sight until all she could see was a writhing crowd of ghosts and Walker's towering back.
She knew she should protest. She was afraid, though, that Wulf would actually turn around and go back.
They neared the wall, and Maddie wondered how Wulf planned on getting through it, if ghosts couldn't use intangibility in the Ghost Zone.
It wasn't a problem. With one set of his fearsome claws, he ripped a hole right through the cement bricks.
They landed among the rubble of their entrance and piles upon piles of human junk. There were items anywhere from rubber bath ducks to piano fortes, all covered in a hefty layer of softly glowing dust. Near the door, like they had been dumped there to save time, were the Specter Speeder, Maddie's weapons, and all of their clothes.
Gingerly, Wulf placed Maddie on her feet next to the Speeder. The ghost bent down and looked into her eyes; it took all of Maddie's nerve not to flinch. "Vi estas lia panjo?"
She shook her head. "I don't understand."
Wulf worked his jaw, then said, "You… Danny… mom?"
"Yes," Maddie breathed, still thinking about his eyes, the power that had radiated from him.
The ghostly wolfman engulfed Maddie in his arms, squeezing her tight against him. Her wound screamed, but she didn't dare protest. When Wulf released her, he held her by her shoulders and said, "Good son. Thank you."
Wulf looked back through the hole, glanced at her, and leaped away, stirring the ectoplasmic dust in his wake.
A victorious cheer erupted in the next room, followed soon by Walker's furious cry of "No!" Then all was quiet.
"I'm going to kill you, ghost boy," said Walker, his voice echoing through the room. There was a flash of green, and the floor buckled under an explosion.
Fear clenched Maddie's heart, but a fear different to the one she felt earlier. It was only relieved when the light from the other room changed to blue, and her son's voice called out, "I'd like to see you try!"
Maddie opened the door of the Speeder and threw all of their belongings into the backseat before climbing onto the driver's bench. A glance in the glove box confirmed that Walker had not found the Infi-Map; she slammed the box shut again and fired up the engines.
Despite having designed and built the vehicle with her husband, it was her first time to drive it. The Speeder rose unevenly into the air, and when she urged it forward, first went too slowly and at once shot ahead. It was only due to Maddie remembering, at the last second, that the wall wasn't really solid that saved her from crashing full-speed into it.
She emerged into the next room, and yanked back on the controls to bring the Speeder to a mid-air stop. The scene was havoc. In the middle of the room, a Walker that was twenty-feet tall, shimmering into green smoke at his edges, was stooped over, firing blasts and throwing punches at the ground. Under him, using blasts of frosty wind to propel himself over pathways of ice, her son was simultaneously dodging the attacks and shooting ice at the warden's legs. Maddie realized that Walker's feet were now frozen to the floor. Wulf was darting around the edges of the battle, slashing Walker at times and at others throwing sharp debris into the warden's face.
The natural portal sparkled green. There were no ghosts around it, only helmets, shields, and batons scattered about its edges.
Walker roared. Green fire exploded around his shoulders.
"It looks like someone lost their cool!" said Danny. He slid sideways to avoid another blast of ectofire and unleashed a volley of ice. "I can help with that!"
Banter? Why did that seem…?
Maddie shook her head. They needed to get out of there. Maddie threw the Speeder forward and pulled up at the edges of the battle, opening the passenger-side door and yelling, "Get in!"
Danny glanced at her over his shoulder and then threw a barrage of ice shards at the Warden's face – they weren't necessarily destructive, but the sharp ice made Walker jerk backward and throw up his hands to shield his eyes. It was enough of a distraction. Danny had time to sprint for the vehicle and throw himself through the open door.
He landed heavily on his side. "Go!"
"What about your friend?"
"He'll be fine!" said Danny. As if the wolfman could hear them, he turned and grinned, briefly and fiercely, before leaping at Walker's throat with his extended claws.
Maddie nodded, and the Specter Speeder rocketed across the room. Danny scrambled to sit up, but when he was able to see through the windshield, he yelled.
"Where are you-?!"
"Nearest exit," said Maddie, and they dove through the natural portal in the floor.
A/N: I'm trying to get back into writing after a month or so of producing zilch. What better way than posting a new scene from "The Ice King"?
I wrote most of this story back in 2016/2017, so it feels a little less polished than my newer stuff. But this is still one of my favorite scenes. As for whether I will ever finish this story, I don't know, but it's likely I will share one or two more scenes from it in the future.
By the way... I created a tumblr last week. My page is shaping up to be a lot of randomness, but if you're into the same sort of random stuff I am, feel free to follow me. You can find me under "The Full Catastrophe" or "breynekai-tfc".
T.F.C~