Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, favorited and followed!
Responses to Reviews:
Fluehatraya: I'm glad you like my writing style. I'm trying to keep everything as close to what the POV character would think as possible.
Umbra-Luna: Thank you so much. Here's your update.
VampireFrootloopsRule: To confirm, it was not Cy, BB, and Robin at the end. Sadly, I didn't get around to them in this chapter either. Hopefully the next one. I hope this chapter is good enough to hold you.
I combined this and the second chapter because they really went together. To the story!
Chapter 1: Waking up
.
The classic high-pitched alarm bell rang throughout the entire facility. The lights went out and metal covers slid down from the ceilings covering all exits. Prisoners were filed and counted. Everyone scrambled through the halls in ordered chaos, searching. The doc. ran up from his lab and stood beside a taller man.
"What the devil is goin' on?" he asked. His glasses were falling from his pointed nose and his white hair was sticking out on all sides. The black beady eyes behind his circle glasses were wide with fear.
"Prison break," his company said leaning against the wall and looking outside of the limits of the facility. There was nothing out there for miles besides a watch tower and an open field. Jump City itself, the closest civilian area, was sixty-eight miles away.
"What? How can you stand there so calmly? We have only have a short window before they reach-"
"Relax Doc, they never get far," he said confidently. He was growing tired of the doc. He was too worried all the time about the safety of his experiments. He considered them to be his precious lab rats and it was the end of the world if one of them even had a scratch on them if it wasn't from testing. The man didn't even have military experience. For god's sakes he asked what a magnum was not even an hour ago. That's probably what annoyed this man the most about the doc.
"If they've found a way to control themselves again, they'll be deadlier than ever and uncontrolled. If they break through the defenses-" There was a loud crash and a classic Humvee was suddenly racing away from the border. "They've broken through!" screamed the Doc. He raked at his hair and bit his lip as he saw them go. Honestly, the doc. seriously underestimated this facility's military.
The man lifted a radio and said, "Halo, give me a count on the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle."
"You can just call it a Humvee," said a static voice from across the radio.
"Halo," he emphasized the name as a warning. "Give me a count."
"Basic Humvee, pre-1996. No weapons, no armor, no armament carriers, no roof. This is a Jeep with camo paint. Five prisoners escaping…"
"Fire at will," a sly white smile slid onto the man's face with the sheer satisfaction of having so much power at the press of a button. The power of life and death at his fingertips with a single phrase was a truly beautiful thing. What was more beautiful is the exact kind of people he had the power of life and death over.
A loud crack in the distance rose over the alarm system. The doc. couldn't see any people, only figures, but they seemed to all lower a level crouching down in the back of the truck. "Four prisoners…" another crack echoed through the open. The Humvee swerved for a moment before it managed to round back to a straight path. "Three prisoners…" Crack. The Humvee began to swerve and did not stop. "Front right tire blown out…" Crack. "Front left tire blown out. Sir, shall I continue?"
The doc. looked from the Humvee, which had come to a complete stop, to the man beside him. The man raised the radio to his lips, "That'll be all, Halo, standby." He changed channels, "All units detain surviving prisoners. They've just earned themselves a week of solitary confinement. Shoot to kill if there's resistance," he said. There was an affirmative from a few different voices. The man lowered the radio. "You see, Doc, I've been running things my way for about ten years now. None of your little experiments will escape from this place any time soon."
"It's comfortin' to know you have a sharp-shooter, but that's not goin' to-"
"It will. Nothing get's past Halo. Believe me, Doc."
"…I suppose I haven't got much of a choice."
"Good. Besides, you shouldn't be worrying about a few brave souls. I hear you got yourself a new subject. How's the work on our newest prisoner coming?"
"He should be almost fully recovered by tomorrow. It would have only taken four days but that wound on his leg had to be treated. We've kept him under for the other four to heal it properly, but I'm not sure how well he is going to be able to function when he wakes. I was goin' to request another few days of artificial physical therapy."
"No."
"No?"
"Most of these guys manage to use their legs in the hour; he'll be no different, maybe better. That thing you put in their arm only contains their outer actions. He has advanced healing as one of his talents. Just wake him up a little earlier and wait for him to get used to the basics."
"And, in between that time," the doc. hesitated. His voice was softer and more uncertain as he spoke. "S-should we keep him… in the mad house?"
"No, schedule the test to proceed as planned. As long as he's healthy, nothing will go wrong," he said plainly.
The Doc peered through his glasses as he turned through papers on the clipboard always clamped in his hand. "But, sir, if he just wakes up in that state and has to…I mean…the other subject is…he could-"
"You should go back to your lab, Doc."
The sharp stare from the man made the old scientist adjust his glasses and nod nervously. "Yessir."
.
.
"Good morning Jump City. It's 5:00 am on a beautiful Saturday on July 7th. It's currently 65 degrees but there's going to be a high of 75 and sunny all day. Yep, it's going to be a great day today. To get everyone in the…"
A shot of static blocked out half of what the reporter was going to say but the radio persisted.
"On the latest news in Jump, today marks the one year anniversary of…"
Something flicked on and the back of Danny's eyelids turned red. He opened his eyes slowly. The first thing he saw was a pure white light over his head.
"In later news, we've heard of disturbances over in Jump City's downtown area. A series of gang fights have been taking place under the west-side bridges. Three civilians passing by were killed in the crossfire yester…reports of several muggings have flooded in from the eastern…A woman was raped today just off of Queen Ave…the bus did veer out of control and crash, but luckily no one was hurt. As for your daily traffic report, don't take the 43 Main Road unless you want to be late to work. There was an accident off… hour delays are guaranteed. There was an accident between Millard Street and Dixie Crossing causing a massive traffic jam throughout the city. Workers are moving fast but take the…Moving onto sports, the Rangers were…"
The static radio kept going with bits and pieces of the report missing because of wavelength interceptions. The sports victories and daily tips to make your day better blurred in Danny's mind until it didn't even sound like English. It was all just meaningless words he'd have to repeat in his head fifty times over to understand.
Squinting, he slowly tried to raise a hand to block the light. His limbs were too heavy. Everything was sore and he felt something singeing his arm. His heavy breathing was drowned out by the sounds of banging cells and electric zaps. Danny had to make an effort to sit upright. His leg felt like a truck had run over it, which had happened once. Shouldn't it be in pain? Burning pain sprouted from Danny's right shoulder as if a thousand hot red knives had just been concentrated and cut into one compact area.
He winced and clutched his arm, but that just made it worse. He had to wait a few moments before the burning cooled and he was left in peace. Wait-the announcer just said it was Saturday in July. He was being transferred on the last Thursday in June. What the hell had happened for the entire week and a half that he was out of it? Danny reached up to his shoulder to see if there was any blood stains. Instead, he was in a pure white shirt. He didn't remember changing into something like this.
There was that man…the one with the glasses…and someone else…Shepherd…Danny had tried to escape and then-he had, he had…no. He couldn't think about that now. He had to concentrate. What had happened? There was nothing, a black void in which nothing happened. He looked down at his surprisingly trouble-free leg. Rolling up a set of white pants, which he did not remember putting on or ever seeing before in his life, he noticed that just above his knee cap, where a bad gash from the pistol should be, there was nothing but a purple bruise. He experimentally tried to kick his leg forward. His leg wouldn't move. There was no response for his next couple of tries. All he was doing was being an idiot that was staring at his knee. What happened there?
Looking around, the first thing he spotted was a sink, and then a metal bowl attached to the wall. There was a lot of white brick. That was the entire room. White bricks everywhere. Oh great, did they put him in the loony bin? This was going to be terrible. He looked down at the floor. It looked like cracked concrete. He looked to the right and next to his cot was a set of metal bars. Prison? This was much worse. What kind of prison was this one? The last one he was in was basically an energy field box with a bed in the middle. If he touched anything but the floor or bed and a nice electric shock knocks you out.
He shuddered at the thought. All he had to do was take things one step at a time. He pushed himself slowly off the bed. The moment his feet touched the floor, he realized he only had a numb recall that there was something underneath him. It was probably just cut off circulation. He tried sliding off the cot and putting his full weight on his legs. Immediately, he collapsed to the hard cement floor and was hardly able to catch himself. "Dammit," he said between his teeth.
He lay there listening to the radio's static elevator music from god-knows-when as he tried to push himself back up. He shifted his weight to his arms, which were in a slightly more stable state, and tried to pull himself up onto the cot. It took a great amount of energy, more than he'd have liked. By the time he stood straight up, he was out of breath. Taking time to recover, he looked over at the bars that were begging to be broken open. The white paint was chipping off in clumps revealing a slightly rusted under coat while pieces of gum stuck under the horizontal strips of iron or whatever they made this stuff out of.
Danny leaned forward to touch the bars next to his cell carefully. He braced himself for the energy field that would send a shock through his system. Instead, there was nothing. His hand moved straight through the iron bars. A small smile crawled onto Danny's lips. It was perfect! What had he done to disserve this? Did it matter? He could easily fade through these bars and leave this place without issue.
Danny tried to use his powers concentrating on simple intangibility. Yet, there wasn't that light feeling or any sort of rush through his entire body. There was no odd sensation to indicate that he was intangible. He tried lightly touching the bars, but his fingers tapped the cold surface. Great, his powers were shot. It was probably from the stupid gunshot. That had been… a week ago? That kind of stuff didn't last a week. He was missing something.
Danny took a look outside of the cell. There was nothing but an empty white hall behind the bars. It was too white. The sight of it suggested someone had bleached the world and this was all that was left. At the end of the long narrow hall was a metal door. He was in a confined hallway with walls that seemed to be closing together with every second.
Danny tried to take a step forward towards the bar but his legs still collapsed on him. His arms hardly caught him. He was just dangling with his legs in an awkward bent position and his knees hovering inches from the ground. It was like his foot had fallen asleep way past the point of having a thousand little needles stab his nerves. There was just that weird heavy sensation that was supposed to fade in a few seconds.
Danny was in a small cell space where he could walk maybe three or four steps with a death grip on the cell bars. It took him what seemed like an eternity to get feeling back at his feet. The cold ground was uncomfortable and grinded against his dragging footsteps. Time passed frustratingly slow as his progress seemed to go at a snail's pace. A single step needed so much delicate attention. It was an agonizingly slow process, but Danny managed to walk slowly from the bars to the cell wall without holding any sort of support after a while.
There was a loud buzz over his head and the cell door swung open with a screech. Danny looked at the open space curiously. They had just opened the cell. In the last prison, the cell door was never open unless there was a guard right next to it and there were those weird ectoplasmic cuffs around his hands. What was going on?
This had to be some kind of a trick. Danny grabbed the bars of the cell just at the opening and lightly placed one foot on the concrete ground outside. Nothing happened. Danny was expecting a shock, a barrier, a force field, anything that would make this a trap. Instead, it was just him and a white hallway. Something was going to go wrong, Danny knew it.
The walls were too white, the cell was too normal and the elevator music bouncing off the walls was too calm! Danny took a cautious step out. His legs didn't give out but walking felt like the most unimaginable task in the world right now. His heart was racing and his mind was buzzing in all directions. Frozen in front of the cell, he waited for something to try to attack him. Something always fazed through the walls and attacked in Amity Park. Danny touched the wall closest to him with one hand still grabbing on the bar. He concentrated on using his intangibility, but his hand simply slid against a smooth white surface.
Danny looked at his hand as he concentrated his energy to that one area. No beam of energy formed. Danny looked hesitantly back at the door. He'd wait until he got his powers back. Right now, he could hardly walk. He'd be an idiot if he went outside of this place without his powers.
Just as he took a step back into his cell, a man's voice interrupted the elevator music. His voice was so static-filled that Danny could hardly understand what he was saying. He enunciated a few times until it was just comprehensible. "Subject Phantom, proceed to the door."
"Subject?" Danny whispered to himself. He was used to being called "Phantom" but "Subject" was usually something you'd call someone on a test trial or just a category in school. Danny looked from the cell to the door at the end of the constricted hallway. Whatever was back there was kept behind a metal door for a reason.
The voice repeated it a few more times and Danny stepped forward. That shut him up. Hesitantly, Danny walked through the narrow hallway. His blue eyes darted from left to right anticipating some kind of ghost to appear. It wouldn't really matter would it? His powers weren't working. Just a few steps in he began to grow more and more paranoid until he found himself panicking at the closed space.
Practically sprinting to the door, Danny touched the cold metal with a sense of relief when he finally arrived. Then, his stomach dropped as it swung open to reveal a weird-looking metal room that would only just fit him. It was some kind of containment box. Danny hesitantly touched the metal sides. No reaction. Seriously, where was the security here? He was the Halfa! Eighteen years old and better at his powers than ever! Okay, that was a little conceded but still! Of course, he had no powers now.
"Subject Phantom, step onto the elevator," said the voice.
"Stop calling me 'Subject'!" Danny called.
"Step onto the elevator," the voice said so loudly it bounced off the walls and he had to cover his ears. It probably was a bad idea to talk back.
Danny hesitantly did as he was told. The metal space rushed up and Danny was blind in the black box. As the doors slid open, a pure white light blinded him. He squinted and held his hand over his eyes. Still seeing spots, the voice came on again. This time, there was less static.
"Subject Phantom, Subject Roth, step out of the elevator." The voice bounced off the walls and floor giving it a hollow feeling.
"Subject Roth"? What was "Subject Roth"? Danny stepped out from the elevator and onto a pure white surface. It was cold as concrete, but smoother beneath the soles of his feet. Another white wall maybe four stories high was dented in a few noticeable places and there were burn marks here or there. Paint peeled off some places. It was scrapped off in others, revealing a metal surface. To his right, at the very top level of this box-of-a-room was a black screen. Behind it, Danny could just see the outlines of figures behind the cover. They were observing him? Observing what?
Danny heard a hissing sound as the elevator retreated into the ground. Danny flinched. He looked back up at the people behind the screen and tried to count them. Their figures were too blurred with the actual panels that he couldn't tell if there were four or ten. Danny could only imagine what they were going to do to him here. It was a giant warehouse painted white and if a jet could fit in here, which it probably could, then they could practically do any sort of weird thing they wanted.
"Subject Phantom, Subject Roth, turn to face each other," said the voice. That time, Danny could have sworn he'd seen one of the shadows move. Maybe he was the one talking. "Turn Phantom," he said a little harsher.
Danny didn't see why he shouldn't obey unless he wanted the volume to go up. He didn't feel like getting shot in the back any time soon. He braced himself to see some hulking guy-in-white with a pistol to his back and ready to fire on him at will. Preparing to run in any other direction to avoid the bullet when it came, Danny took a breath and slowly turned. Nothing could have prepared him for what he did see.
"Sam?" Danny whispered looking at the figure in front of him. No, it wasn't Sam. The girl had the same black hair chopped at her shoulders and the same violet eyes, but she was too short and her expression was too cold. She stood up straight with her arms by her side. Something about her seemed wrong. She had the same starch-white pants and shirt as Danny and she seemed to be around his age, but there was something wrong with the way she looked at him. Discontent and anger was burning in those violet eyes and they were looking straight at him. Her stare on its own was intimidating. Danny wasn't even sure what he had done to disserve it. Looking back at the condition of the warehouse and then back to the short girl, Danny managed to piece together a few things. Oh no, they don't expect me to-
"Date: July 7. Place: Testing facility 10. Subjects: Phantom and Roth. Experiment: control and use of powers in versus. Inflicting mortal wounds: optional," the man relayed. "Begin experiment in 3…2…1…." There was a loud buzz overhead that signaled the start. Shit.
The girl in front of Danny crossed her pale arms and looked up at the observatory. "Why do we have to engage in something so pointless?" she said. Her voice was flat and annoyed.
The girl suddenly yelped in pain and clutched her arm. Breathing heavily, she staggered trying to keep balanced. She looked back up at the black screen with her teeth gritted. Danny looked up himself. All he could see was dark shadows, but this girl looked as if she was staring down a menace. What did they just do to her? She looked so helpless clutching one shoulder with her frail hand as her legs started to shake. It looked like such a hard thing for her to do. Danny actually took a step forward to see if he could help her. Her head whipped around towards Danny with malice in her eyes.
The girl was almost instantly consumed in black energy. Her eyes glowed white as she started to levitate off the ground. Whatever delicateness she had had vanished in that one instant and was replaced with pure intimidation. Danny ran as she formed a large black band of energy in front of her. How come her powers worked and his didn't? How was that remotely fair?
He heard the girl's voice behind him. "Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos!"
"What the-" by the time Danny turned around a large wall of flat black energy slammed straight into him, sending him flying backwards.
Danny saw the incoming floor and instinctively tried to fly. He knew it was pointless. Something was wrong with his powers and he was going to fall to his death! Just a few feet above the ground, he stopped and was hovering with his arms and legs outstretched. He let out a sigh of relief just before he caught the word "Zinthos" behind him. Danny turned to see a shadow of black energy headed towards him. Danny hardly managed to dodge as the shadow smashed into the floor. This place was insane!
Danny concentrated and he saw two rings of light spread across his body shifting him into his ghost form. His powers were back! He wasn't going to question how because they were back! The girl stopped dead in her little chant, surprised. Danny looked from the girl to room where the shadowed figures stood. They watched every move expecting him to fight. This wasn't the 1400s. Gladiators weren't around anymore…maybe it was before that? The point is: this sort of thing is barbaric!
He wasn't going to waste his time here. Flying towards the ground, Danny turned intangible and tried to phase through the floor. But just as he touched the surface, a slight shock sent him backwards. His back was the first thing to hit the ground and it sent a sharp pain through the rest of his body as he skidded to a stop. Great, they had him locked in here.
"I knew it was too good to be true," Danny said bitterly to himself as he picked himself from off the ground.
Before Danny could even stand, black energy surrounded his torso and he was lifted into the air, slowly being crushed. Danny took shallow breaths as the grip tightened. It took him a moment to clear his head and think about turning intangible. Instantly, he faded through the shadow. The girl gasped and looked from her hands to Danny. She gritted her teeth and sent a large whip of black magic in his direction. He kept himself intangible and flew behind the other subject. She whirled around and the black energy around her grew more intense. She let loose shards of black energy as she built them and all that Danny had to do was sit and let them phase through him.
Looking at the girl and the room itself, Danny wasn't even sure he wanted to fight. What's the worst that could happen if he just floated around when she couldn't touch him? They couldn't keep the two of them in this room forever. Then, as if the man on the microphone was reading his thoughts, the speaker voice boomed, "Subject Phatom, participate."
"Or what?" Danny yelled, now angered. "What's goin-"
A shock from his shoulder made his body turn back to its normal density and he began to plummet to the ground. The agonizing pain of the shock was drained by hitting the hard surface of the floor yet again. Danny definitely tasted blood in his mouth. Something was probably broken or at least twisted. Alright, he got the picture. Fight and win, everyone goes home. Don't fight means corrective shock.
Danny reluctantly powered a beam of energy in his hand. The girl was already building up her own burst of black energy. "Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos." Danny released his beam of green ghostly energy with some reluctance. He expected the green energy to fade through her black wall but instead, the two powers clashed in the air and now Danny could feel strain as a force pushed against him. The two of them had to fight. They had to push against each other and hope that their energy was more powerful than the other's. They had to think of ways to outsmart each other in between. Danny found himself planning his next move and he knew she was doing the same. He wasn't even doing it on purpose. It was just instinct. Danny glanced over at the black observatory. They were watching all of this like it was a show!
Danny's loss in concentration lost him the miniature battle and he was knocked hard into a flat surface that was as hard as a brick wall. He was flung backwards and too dazed to concentrate on flying. He was about to crash into a wall when black energy surrounded him again and dragged him back to the girl.
She wasn't a ghost. She used the wrong type of energy. Most ghosts had at least the same wavelength of green energy. The thing wrapped around him was nothing like that. This energy was cold, harsh, and he may be crazy but it felt angry. Subject Roth's eyes glowed white and her hair flew in all directions. Overall, she was a menacing sight. If only he knew exactly what she was. She couldn't be a human, but what'd that leave. Some freak experiment gone wrong? What was she? "What are you?" the girl sneered tightening her hold on him.
"Very confused," Danny said turning intangible and fading from her grasp. Danny fired a beam of green energy. She was thrown back with a grunt and hit the other wall of the warehouse. The sound of creaking metal echoed through the room. Danny was concerned that a girl as small as her couldn't even take that hit as she slumped against the wall for a moment. Danny flew over, becoming tangible again, and touched the girl on the shoulder. He was about to see if she was okay when four red eyes suddenly opened filled with anger and hatred. That wasn't human!
Her hand snatched up and grabbed a choke hold around Danny's neck. There was no time to think. Instinct made him claw back at the rough grip to fight for a few breaths of air. Black energy radiated from her and all around her arm until it completely consumed him. Danny had to get out of here. He had to get away from the four-eyed creature. He tried to turn intangible but this time, nothing happened. He focused his energy on his hands but there was no green beam of light. Danny could feel the sensation inside of him that something should be happening but there was no effect. His powers were gone! Did she do that? How? Did the guys from the observatory do it? Looking at the black energy that was consuming him, he figured out what the problem pretty quickly.
The four-eyed girl was snarling as her hold on him tightened more and more. Danny realized he could still claw at her hand and struggle. That ment he could move. He threw his leg forward with everything he had and his foot connected with the girl's stomach. She gasped and her hold loosened. That's all Danny needed to escape. He jumped from her grasp and the black energy. She had figured out how to hurt him and he knew how to affect her. Danny jumped into the air and the girl followed.
Now, it's a contest of flight. The girl's attacks of black energy are powerful but they were in short bursts. They're usually just as inaccurate as his ghost beam at this high speed. The girl was just as fast but not as nimble as Danny. Whenever she released a wall of black energy, it usually missed. The one time that it did graze across his arm, Danny realized the energy was spreading around him like water on rock. It was a different sort of attack from the other ones. Instead of a flat board of energy that Danny could avoid, this one was finding a way to overwhelm and consume him. The only reason that one didn't get him was because he burnt it off with his ghost beam first.
The girl was firing an entire barrage at him. Every single one that missed hit and hit against the ground created a temporary black stain until half of the warehouse was spotted. She wasn't used to this kind of attack. As Danny navigated through the air, he always tried to find a way to circle around the girl and shoot a beam of energy in her back. She was always one step ahead of him as she navigated through the air. Whenever he tried to double-back she was there, angry as ever. She was good at dodging too. Whenever Danny tried to confuse her by throwing a beam of green energy behind him, she evaded without losing speed or momentum. The few times it did hit her just fueled her red eyes even more and she was flying faster, with a vengeance.
Then something happened. She said those three words. "Azarath. Metrion. Zinthos." In a blur, Danny looked back and could only just see an odd energy forming around the girl. It turned into a bubble around her and expanded out. Danny didn't know if that thing could touch him or not, but he didn't want to find out. He flew faster as the black energy expanded further. Danny realized that he wasn't going to be able to out fly it and turned to face the thing. He formed a green shield of energy instead of turning intangible. When the black bubble touched his small green concentration of energy, it ruptured and sent Danny flying backwards. Before he had time to scream a firm hand clutched his throat. Something hit hard against his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. A punch lands on Danny's jaw. He's sent flying across the room and skidding to a stop on the rough floor. The taste of blood filled his mouth and he has to spit the disgusting metallic substance out. His vision is blurred and when he pushes himself onto his hands and knees, he could see the girl flying forward with that fierce expression.
Danny concentrated last minute. He sent a burst of green energy towards the girl shouting, "Get back!"
It knocked her square in the chest and she collapsed from the sky onto the floor with a thud. Danny falls back onto four limbs. His arms shakily supported him. He was so tired. Looking up, Danny can just see the blur of her red-eyes. Black energy was pulsating around her. As she walked metal squealed and screeched as black energy mangled and twisted it. She surrounded one board in black energy, it twisted and dented, but it didn't come off. This girl was going to kill him if that's what it took to satisfy the people up there. Danny knew it'd take a lot of energy, but he's almost out of options here. He opens his mouth as if to scream and unleashed his ghostly wail.
The girl is thrown back against the wall on the opposite side of the room. Before Danny could stop himself, a shock on his arm did. The pain from his shoulder makes him cry out. Two white rings of energy flickered in front of him. When he raised a hand, his hazmat suit was gone and he was looking at his blurred bare hand. His vision was darkening. Danny hadn't gotten completely exhausted after that trick for years, maybe tired, but he always kept his ghost form. Even though he was tired to begin with, it shouldn't have done that! Danny had taken on worse ghosts before. He knew it wasn't the ghostly wail that did it. He had years to master it! Maybe the shock sent him into this form.
He felt weak again. No. He was not going to pass out! He refused! He wasn't going to miss something important all over again! No! He needed to stay awake! His vision was failing and he could hear his shaken breathing. The intercom over Danny's head crackled and the man said, "Subject Roth vs. Subject Phantom. Time: twenty minutes, thirty-two seconds. Injuries: recoverable. Result: inconclusive."
Danny was exhausted. He'd admit it. But whatever this was, it was over. He leaned back staring at the white ceiling. His eyelids were heavy, but he wasn't going to let them win. He was going to stay awake.
After a long while, Danny heard a hissing sound and shifted his head to his right. In the direction of the sound, he saw two square metal pods, the kind that Danny had been lifted into this place with. From each pod, a person appeared. Completely dressed in a white jumpsuit with a gas mask covering their faces, they looked anything other than human. They were unarmed and walking slowly, with purpose. Their breathing sounded more labored than Danny's as one of them moved towards him and another in the opposite direction towards the girl.
Danny heard the intercom voice crackle, "Subjects Roth and Phantom are dismissed from the testing facility. Return to cells in the mad house."
Mad house? Like for psychotic people? Danny thought. Why would I be sent to a mad house? His eyes flicked up towards the man in the gas mask. He was holding a cloth and shoved it in Danny's nose. Danny struggled for a few moments trying to push the cloth away, but his rapid breathing only quickened the process. In moments everything turned black.
.
.
"Good morning Jump City. It's 5:00 am on a beautiful Sunday on July 8th. It's currently 55 degrees and we're expecting showers later today. Pack the umbrellas and don't wear those nice shoes. If you're going jogging we suggest using that gym membership card you probably abandoned..."
Static muffled the guy's words. This was all so weirdly familiar.
"Jump City is looking a little gloomy today, but we've got plenty of songs to keep you going. Before that, we'd like to take some time to give you the daily report. Recently, a man in a top hat has been seen robbing most of Jump City's banks. Police have tried to detain the criminal, but he has yet again managed to evade…" Static cut in.
Danny's eyes burst open and all he saw was pure darkness. This was too familiar. He couldn't be in that facility could he? Was that all a dream? No. It was Sunday. What would have happened on Saturday? Could he walk without falling like a ragdoll?
Danny sat up without any trouble. When he slid to his feet, he was perfectly balanced. He walked a few experimental steps before allowing himself to believe it. Suddenly, lights flicked on over Danny's head and outside. The heavy sound of a switch was followed by the sound of groans and murmurs. People were here!
Danny had to blink a few times before his vision adjusted. He was facing a white brick wall. Looking around, he realized he was in a cell. It looked the exactly same as the last one he had been in. Looking out of the metal bars, Danny prayed he wouldn't see a white hallway again. He didn't. Instead, there was a brick wall some distance away and a metal railing blocking most of it. To his left and right was a line of metal bars and white cells. Some were empty while others had sleeping figures hiding beneath the sheets. Bars. Cells. Prison. He was in a prison.
"Police have managed to arrest leaders of the gang fights that have been taking place under the west-side bridges. When asked to comment the four teenagers said they'd thought the law had run off. Ain't that entertaining, folks? It's also been reported that…or your daily traffic report. The expressway is jammed again with the morning rush hour. We predict at least hour delays if you're not already on the road. There are no accidents this morning so keep your fingers crossed and hope everyone is a sober driver at 5 am…"
Danny was perplexed. Had he dreamed up yesterday? How did he get here? Where was he? Well prison obviously, but what prison? What was going on? He was asking that last question to himself too often. He looked at his hand as he tried to turn intangible. There was no sensation. He touched a wall and nothing happened. He tried invisibility, same result. Great, his powers were shot again. They probably gave him a "corrective shock" before putting him in this place. There was a loud buzz over his head that interrupted the radio. The door to his cell swung open and the sound of that squeaky metal echoed a hundred times over. There was a clamor of footsteps and people filtered down metal steps on the opposite wall. Danny was still trying to figure out what was happening. He waited until the movement died down before leaving his own cell. Leaning against the railing, he looked down towards a hum of noise.
Just below his view on the balcony was a series of cafeteria tables with tons of people, male and female, in clusters talking quietly while guards in a standard blue uniform paraded up and down the bars that formed a perimeter. Every prisoner was released but Danny couldn't spot a single ghost in the mob. What kind of ghost prison didn't have any ghost? It had to be a ghost prison. They'd never put him in a regular prison unless they were insane. Then again, there was no energy field. And hadn't he…no. That all must have been some weird dream. That girl couldn't be real. She was just a figment of his imagination. A freaky villain concept coupled with an image of Sam.
Danny looked up to see yet another balcony over his head. Straight ahead was a staircase that looked a lot like a fire escape. From what Danny could tell, it was probably four floors total. People pushed past him as they crowded into the vast space on the first floor. He could hear a few people's steps on the floor above him, but no one was talking over a hushed whisper.
Instead of walking around and trying to find a way to escape, he had time to confirm that it obviously was a prison judging by the uniform each prisoner wore. No matter how large or misshapen -and some of these guys had eight legs- they all had white pants and a white shirt fit to their size. No tears, no stains, just pure white. Danny could see a group of men playing cards in the corner. They gambled cigarettes along with money from probably six different countries, judging by the different colors and sizes. A cluster of girls sat in one gym table laughing as they watched some green kid trip over his feet when running from something. Danny didn't bother to see what or who it was. Another group of boys just below him were fighting over an issue of playboy, greedily grabbing at the pages to get a better view. There was always the one guy trying to jump over everyone's shoulders to get a glimpse.
Overall, the place seemed weirdly normal. Not to say that dudes with too many limbs, a green guy, and a woman with horns coming from her head wasn't weird, but these people just looked like freaks. For all Danny knew, it could be a birth defect or some kind of weird way for them to express themselves. Some weird documentary Sam made him watch was going on and on about some chick that got horns implanted into her skull for the hell of it. The girl in the corner of the room could have been her. They weren't using any powers. They weren't plotting to escape. They were walking everywhere they went and talking like regular people. No bad punch lines and quick one-liners most heroes, such as Danny (to his regret), usually talked in.
Someone whistled and the prisoners began to file into a single line.
Seriously, what was this place?
Suddenly, another guard grabbed him by the shoulder and started pushing him forward. "Hey!"
"Get down there!" said the guard shoving him. When Danny looked around, he noticed he was the only one on the balcony.
What had happened? The guard kept shoving him and making Danny stumble forward through the people until he was right were the guard wanted him. Apparently it was common because by the time the guard pushed him to the first floor, he heard a few people mutter, "Newcomer." Most people just laughed though. Great, he thought he had gotten out of high school but it was coming back to haunt him.
As Danny walked slowly in the back of the line, a guard kept him on a forward march. They walked down two halls before they came to a large food line. Danny felt like he was in a factory station. One section gave him a tray, move down. The second threw a block of some kind of food on the greasy tray, move down. The last dropped a bottle of water on his tray, get out of the line. Danny made it a point to sit as far away from everyone else as he possibly could, down the meal and try to figure this out.
I hope you at least get a sliver of the picture from this. I suppose if you have any questions I can answer without giving much away. Let me know what you think about this chapter. Reviews really do give motivation. Oh and happy summer to everyone!