Danny shivered again. He felt unbearably cold. Jimmy had been gone a long time now. They'd made their plan. Jimmy had explained that he'd taken unnecessary amounts of time to examine the power unit previously so he'd have to work slowly to prevent any suspicion. Danny was extremely happy to learn that the power units couldn't contain his energy after all making the entire process of taking it from him pointless. On the other hand, he was angry that they were just wasting something so valuable. They were just taking his energy, exhausting him, to allow that energy to be dissipated into the air. True, he had to do that occasionally to keep his energy levels from building out of his control. But it was different when the energy was stolen first leaving him exhausted, unable to do much more than sleep or think quietly in his corner.
Unfortunately, now he had the opposite problem. His leg was healing quickly, unbelievably quickly. However it was still too weak to hold his weight just yet. Unable to walk and unable to use his powers, his energy levels were building in his body too fast for him to expel. Danny suspected why. He'd spent a week trying to regain his energy as it was stolen from him. His body was still compensating despite his energy not being stolen right now. He felt extremely restless. His flesh buzzed uncomfortably with his energy trapped inside him.
His fingers tapped rapidly behind his back, his foot twitched almost constantly. It was only his injury stopping him from pacing or something similar. But he was gradually growing colder also. Danny bit his lip worriedly. He hoped this wasn't what he thought it was. The bolt screeched open and Jimmy was pushed into the room. Jimmy picked himself up and dusted off his jeans. Jimmy frowned and hugged his bare arms.
"Is it cold in here?" he asked. Danny's stomach lurched. Jimmy could feel it too! Then it wasn't just Danny. Jimmy shrugged to himself and walked over to Danny, he shivered again.
"Jimmy, maybe you should keep your distance," Danny suggested worriedly. Jimmy frowned in confusion.
"What? Why?" Jimmy questioned, a little hurt in his tone.
"I think I might be the reason this room is getting cold. My energy is building and I can't let it out. And I'm worried that that's including my ice energy which is dangerous," Danny warned.
Jimmy faltered. He shivered again as he considered the teen.
"When you say dangerous?" Jimmy prompted with concern.
"I mean I could make this room colder than the arctic. Unable to release that energy, I will start freezing myself over. I don't want to hurt you. Humans can't withstand that kind of cold," Danny explained honestly. There was no point in lying. The child should know how dangerous this situation was. Jimmy gasped and backed away to the opposite wall. Danny nodded in approval.
"How did it go this time?" Danny inquired a few moments later. Jimmy nodded.
"Alright. I studied the inner mechanics of the power unit. I have a pretty good understanding of it now. But I think what they're asking is unrealistic. The unit would be hard pushed to contain any more energy than it already does. The unit would need to be bigger to hold more and then it wouldn't fit in the collar," Jimmy explained before pausing and scratching his head in embarrassment.
"But that's not what you meant is it?" Jimmy muttered.
"Not exactly, keep going," Danny confirmed with a warm smirk. Jimmy nodded and rubbed his arms slightly.
"I started the plan. But I couldn't finish it since I took my time studying the power unit first. I'm gonna build it to look like a prototype replacement for the power unit so I might need to build a few redundant structures to sell it," Jimmy reported. Danny nodded.
They fell silent. Danny tapped his foot rapidly and shifted his position regularly while making sure to be mindful of his leg. Jimmy quickly became lost in his mind, not noticing how much he was starting to shiver. After a while, Danny got to his feet and started to pace, his bad leg limping. He couldn't sit still any longer. He needed to burn off some energy. However he made sure to keep his distance from Jimmy.
"Danny?" Jimmy called worriedly as he watched the teen pace restlessly.
"Yeah?" Danny replied without stopping his endless pacing.
"Are you alright? You're kind of acting weird," Jimmy pointed out.
"Sorry. I'm just restless. I have so much energy in my body I can't sit still. This should hopefully stop me cooling the room as quickly," Danny assured the boy. Jimmy nodded slowly as he watched Danny pace at a near run, his fingers tapping almost constantly behind his back. It was like he was an angered tiger desperate to hunt something. It unnerved the boy genius.
Jimmy quickly became lost in his thoughts again, able to block out Danny's pacing and finger tapping. The teen's leg was obviously growing stronger too as he gradually stopped limping. It was only when he heard the screech of the bolt on the door that he noticed the frosted path Danny had made from his pacing. Cheshire stepped into the room and tossed the bag of bread and fruit and a bottle of water to Jimmy, shrugging off her surprise that the boy wasn't sitting near Danny. She turned to Danny cleared her throat.
"Pacing like that isn't going to help heal your leg," Cheshire pointed out.
"Leg's healed. I have to do this. Unless you take off the collar and cuffs," Danny retorted, pausing his pacing only long enough to give the woman a quick glare. Cheshire watched Danny as Jimmy ate.
"Don't you… don't you want food?" Cheshire asked nervously.
"No. I'm trying to burn off energy. Eating will do the opposite," Danny answered firmly. Cheshire frowned at the teen before shivering.
"Why's it so cold in here?" she muttered.
"That's me. I'm radiating cold because I can't use up my energy fast enough," Danny told her. He was far too distracted by his now frenzied pacing to even try lying. This was life or death. He had to get rid of his energy or he might cause Jimmy to get sick with hypothermia or something. He really wanted to run but the side of the room away from Jimmy wasn't big enough for that.
"Stop pacing like that! You're making me nervous," Cheshire snapped testily. Danny stopped and glared at her, his eyes burning bright green and his bright white aura made it difficult to look directly at him. A second later Danny started jumping on the spot. Cheshire growled in annoyance.
Jimmy sipped at his water, surprised by how chilled it was. He glanced at Danny's feet and saw the frost growing beneath the teen so rapidly that it was becoming a sheet of ice. Cheshire snatched away Jimmy's empty bag and waited for the boy to finish his water.
"Cheshire. Is there another cell here?" Danny wondered out loud. Cheshire stared at Danny in shock.
"You want to move cells? Forget it. I know what you're doing. You'll make a break for it," Cheshire retorted. Danny shook his head quickly, wincing as the needle in the collar pulled on his muscles.
"No. I want you to move Jimmy. It's too dangerous to leave him here. Unless you start draining my energy again or remove the collar and cuffs so I can burn it away fast enough," Danny corrected. He'd prefer to be exhausted and violated by his energy being stolen than put Jimmy in harm's way.
Jimmy stopped drinking from the bottle in shock. He knew exactly how much Danny hated his energy being harvested from him. He didn't think Danny had lied about how dangerous his energy building could be, but it was hitting home about how urgent this matter was. Cheshire folded her arms and considered the hopping halfa.
"There aren't any more power units. You've filled all the ones we had. We didn't anticipate how much energy you had. That's why Jimmy's here. He has the last one left for research and study purposes," Cheshire admitted honestly.
"Then move him. It's too dangerous for him to stay," Danny retorted immediately. Cheshire glanced at the boy before turning to Danny again.
"I don't follow your orders," Cheshire muttered sharply.
"I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important. I mean it Cheshire. I can't burn off my energy fast enough. Even with all this pacing and jumping. You lot have messed up how fast I build up my energy," Danny growled in clear anger. Cheshire tilted her head to the side.
"I'll ask the guys up top," Cheshire mumbled before snatching Jimmy's bottle of water and leaving.
Jimmy glanced at the door before turning to Danny who had already returned to his frantic pacing.
"I could try and help you use up some energy," he offered warily. Danny shook his head slightly.
"Thanks Jimmy but I don't want you getting too close. If you have any ideas, feel free to share. But I want to keep our distance right now. And um… Jimmy, we might have to toss our first plan. I didn't know this would happen if they stopped taking my energy. With the collar still stopping me from getting rid of it, it's too dangerous to wait. Fix the storage problem and figure out how to make its capacity bigger. And if you can get that distress call going, all the better," Danny replied. Jimmy pursed his lips tightly with concern but nodded. Danny glanced at Jimmy who nodded again. Danny gave the boy a grim smile and sped up his pacing.
Jimmy watched Danny worriedly and began to shiver violently. Jimmy knew it wasn't Danny's fault. But the teen was starting to chill the room to uncomfortably low temperatures at this point. Danny didn't stop pacing, his fingers fidgeted tirelessly behind his back. Danny had even added a jump to his pacing every time he turned around. Danny even started flexing his arms, stretching the blue stream of light between the cuffs repeatedly. With his hands bound, Danny had limited things he could do to burn his energy, especially when he had to keep his distance from Jimmy who had shrank as close to the metal door as possible. There was a slight breeze from the cracks which compared to the chilled room, was pleasantly warm for Jimmy. Both prisoners hoped Cheshire would return soon and take Jimmy from the room.
Oh no! Danny and Jimmy are in trouble! And it's all the kidnappers' fault. Any guesses who's behind it?
Let me know what you guys think of the story so far.
Until the next chapter.
