Paaaaaart 2 is here! Fast enough for yah? Yeah, I'm trying to make up for all of this time I've spent NOT updating... BLAME THE DOCTOR! I've been very into Doctor Who lately, so it's part of my reason XD Schoolwork is the other one. Lack of motivation is yet another one.

OK, enough excuses! As I've previously said, this chapter is divided into THREE PARTS, meaning by next update you will have the entirety of Chapter 8. :3

I've had a lot of sources of motivation! XD Yay. So please enjoy~ PLEASE REVIEW, TOO! Only one review for the last part. Reviews are good for motivation, mah readers. C'mon, gimme 30 reviews! I estimate if I get 30 with this chapter I can get 35 by the end of the story. 40 would be better but I doubt it will happen XD

Geronimo!

Chapter 8- Prison Break (PART 2)

,.~*~.,

The days passed by quickly. Danny threw himself into as many practice fights as possible, trying his best to grow stronger, and perhaps even prepare some Fighters for the upcoming mission. He had a few more fights with John, and in one, John had even managed to beat him. Danny had congratulated him on the win, but demanded a rematch afterwards all the same.

He had even managed to defeat both Dash and Kwan, who were amazed at his improvised moves of both offense and defense. Danny was becoming quite a fighter, thin yet strong and quick. Some days, he would fight enough in one day that both Sam and Tucker agreed he was overworking himself. Sometimes, after those days, Danny would take a day to rest and eat something to gain energy rather than strength and skill.

Over the course of the next month, he became rather close friends with Brent, John, Sarah, and even Dash, whom Danny considered promoting to "commander of fight groups", or the man in charge of keeping Fighters organized when the "Big Three" could not.

Tucker had found a friend in Chris. The two made a brilliant team with both their technological skills combined.

Danny and Sam had bonded together as a fighting team and even closer as friends, and each seemed to know what the other was thinking. Some would believe that they were beginning to form a psychic bond to each other, unlikely as it seemed. While having partner practice fights, the two forgot their frequent bickering and thought as one mind; they fought as one body.

All of their wounds were now healed up enough that the bandages were no longer necessary. Danny was even able to open his right eye about halfway. Holes were wearing through the knees of his blue jeans, as well as some of the fabric in his shoes.

After another month, the scars had become a pinkish color, which was a whole lot better than Danny could have thought they would look. They didn't even hurt any more, and all the scabs had gone away. He could now open both eyes with ease. His once pale skin was turning golden-brown. He was, by this point, an excellent self-taught fighter. He was skinny, but wiry muscle lay just underneath his skin, making him much stronger than he appeared.

His team had undergone similar effects, but none had fought as often, nor as hard, as Danny. Sam would make sure that Danny would eat at least one bunch of leaves a day to keep his strength up.

One month later, however, a chill was setting in. The leaves were beginning to dry out and fall. It was becoming increasingly difficult to find birds while hunting. Fighters began to go hungry again. Many browsed through garbage cans and dumpsters and compiled the finds together at one blue dumpster as the day drew to a close.

The steady diet of meat and leaves was finally drawing to an end as each Fighter had to settle for a much less healthy, and much less abundant, diet of stale crusts and half-eaten bits of everything else. More time had to be dedicated to finding food than to practice fighting.

Danny was quickly falling back into his old habit of not eating. Sam could sometimes manage to get something inside him, but it wasn't often. Now, Danny sat atop his dumpster, sword in hand. He had been thinking. And after three months of training, he felt he was ready. It was time. The mission was tonight.

Danny's hair had grown longer still, now almost at his shoulders. He was slightly taller than both his best friends now, giving everyone the idea that he had really grown up over the course of a few months. And it wasn't just a physical change. Five months of leading a team through trials and troubles had gotten him accustomed to leadership and commanding. Most Fighters respected him and quite liked him.

But Danny no longer cared what his team thought of him. The time for first impressions was long over. Danny was who he was. Nobody thought he was selfish, as the teen had once feared they would. He had proven himself over and over to be a caring, generous, friendly leader to his team. So when he would bring up rescuing his family, they would see a leader who loved and cared for his family enough to risk himself for them. So Danny had decided that they were ready.

He hopped down from the dumpster and walked out of the alley, a serious expression on his scarred face. he walked down the streets, signaling "Come with me" to every Fighter he came across. Soon, all forty-four Freedom Fighters had congregated in the vacant lot beside what used to be the warehouse.

The Big Three stood in front of the crowd of trained Freedom Fighters. Danny stepped forward. "Tonight is a big night, Freedom Fighters," the leader said. "Tonight, a group of us will attempt to do something so crazy, it'll seem impossible."

The excited muttering began. "My parents are locked away in this torture prison. They're both fighters, and... I care about them so much. And I think we can all agree this team needs a mom and dad." Danny's voice cracked. "And besides that, who knows what information they can give us? There has to be some reason as to why Carpathan's kept them alive for so long."

Nods of agreement followed the statement. Danny raised his voice. "We break them out tonight!"

The team had been craving some real action, so this elicited quite a noisy reaction. Teens whooped and hollered; others clapped and raised their fists. They're so happy to follow you to their deaths, a thought in Danny's head said. Danny forced it out with a grin. He didn't want to think about that.

"I'm excited too!" he exclaimed. "But we have to be aware of the dangers we'll have to face when we get there." The leader took a deep breath, hesitating. He forced his next words out. "Some of you... could die."

"We know all about death," said Ben's twin brother, Remy. "So much blood, and the glassy eyes..." He shuddered.

"Are you sure you want that to be you?" Danny inquired gravely.

Remy hesitated, but then nodded. He looked up at Danny. "In the name of freedom, I'll pay that price."

Clapping followed Remy's simple, yet powerful statement. Danny nodded. "And in the name of freedom we fight," he said. "We are Freedom Fighters, after all."

"All three of us are going," Sam said, motioning at her two friends.

Then Danny added, "Due to the method of our entrance, only slender or small-framed people can go on this mission. "Dash, Kwan, Billy... sorry." The three muscular boys sighed.

"I'll go," Brent declared.

"And me," Toby volunteered.

"I want to go, Danny," a female voice announced. "Never know when you could use some backup." The voice belonged to Valerie. Danny liked Valerie; she was tough. He had fought her before during practice, and lost a number of times to her. He found that he really admired the girl's strength and cunning. For a girl once in the popular crowd, her skills had really surprised him.

"Sure, why not?" the leader said. More joined in- Ben, Remy, John, Amy, Ashley, Ivan, Cole, Jenni, Griffin, and others. Danny lifted his voice once more. "For the rest of the day, this group will train for tonight. Practice sneaking, fighting moves, lock-picking... anything that'll help us out there. But before that, we need to explain what needs to be done. The rest of you can go."

As the others departed, Danny joined his two friends. They and the rescue team came closer into a tighter group. Once they were all gathered around, Danny spoke. "Here's the plan," he began. "When we get to the prison, we break up into two teams. One will search the main areas while the other searches in the more obscure places, where you'd least expect to find prisoners. They probably keep torture devices in those areas."

"Why would they be around there?" asked Tucker, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He had been doing that a lot since he broke his glasses in a practice fight.

Danny shrugged. "To keep them hidden away, most likely," he replied. "Anyways, I'm taking my team to those obscure areas."

"I'm going with you," Sam said.

Danny gave her a partially frantic look. "But Sam-"

"Please. All those practice fights we've had together? You know I can put up a good fight," the girl said. "You'd do better to have me with you. Never know what could happen."

"I'll lead the group searching the main areas," Tucker said. "There's bound to be security cameras in need of knocking out, and who knows what else."

Danny nodded to both his friends. "Who's with Tucker?"

"I'll co-lead with him on that," Brent offered.

"All right," said Tucker. "Remy, Amy, Cole, Jenni, Toby, and Brian, you're with me."

"The rest of you are on my team," Danny finished. He was joined by Valerie, John, Ashley, Ivan, Griffin, and Ben. The numbers evened out as eight for each team.

Danny began to explain the rest of his plan. "Main search team will go through the regular prison cells and solitary confinement units," he said. "If you find my parents, tell them you're with me. They'll ask you to take them to me, but insist on not doing that until we're all safely out of the prison. My team will meet up with yours outside." If they survive.

"My team is searching the obscure areas, and any other area where no one would expect to find cells. Carpathan probably wouldn't expect us to search there." Or he could know exactly what you intend to do and kill everybody, then force you to breathe their blood.

"Go on and train," Danny finished, forcing his dark thoughts away for the time. "I'll meet you all back here as soon as the sun goes down." The other Fighters all went their separate ways, off to practice until sunset. Soon, all that remained were Danny and his friends Sam and Tucker.

Danny sat down on the ground and sighed, then wrapped his arms around his knees. "Danny? What's bothering you, man?" asked Tucker, sitting down next to his friend.

"Yeah," said Sam. "You look really sad."

"We're gonna rescue your parents tonight. You should be excited," said Tucker.

"I am excited," Danny said, looking down.

"Could've fooled me," Sam retorted, folding her arms.

"But I'm also worried sick for you guys. What if you both die? What will I have then?"

"We'll be fine, Danny," said Sam, sitting down at Danny's other side.

"Yeah," added Tucker. "We can handle ourselves. Just you watch. Every one of us can make it out alive."

"Just because you can doesn't mean you will," Danny muttered, pressing his face against his knees.

"We'll try," said Sam. "But... if we do die, you've got to promise not to blame yourself. Blame us, not yourself."

A humorless laugh rattled from Danny's throat. "I'm not willing to make promises any more," he said. Because I don't trust myself with them. I'll just break them all and prove what a failure I really am. He didn't say the words out loud because he knew it would start an argument. And Danny knew he would always lose.

"Well, I guess you two can go train," said Danny. "I just need to think. Go help the groups. I'll catch up with both of you soon." All Danny wanted to do was rest before the night began, but he knew he should prepare for the mission himself.

After his friends had gone, the boy sighed, reaching under his long hair to rub the back of his neck. The teen leader had been suffering from tension headaches for a while now, no doubt because of all the stress he was under.

Danny stood up and looked around, taking in all of the damage and chaos around him. He breathed deeply. he thought about how many people had died already. Then he thought about every person that could die. He clenched his fists. "I'm not gonna let anyone else die. I'm not gonna fail," he said out loud to himself. "I can't... I can't let myself. Not this time."

And then, his own words came back to haunt him in a scary, bitterly real way. Just because you can't doesn't mean you won't.

,.~*~.,

End Chapter 8 Part 2! Hope you enjoyed.

Keep in mind MY ART CONTEST IS STILL GOING ON! FIND DETAILS ON THE OFFICIAL FRONTLINES WEBSITE!

Official Frontlines website: .com

Find fun facts, exclusive artwork, and the latest news on the trilogy at that address above! And, as previously mentioned, details for the FRONTLINES ART CONTEST are found here! Go on, check it out! ^^

...You are all going to kill me after reading part 3...