Danny had never been in that position before.
He sat in his ghost form – only family they'd said, so he'd had to sneak in – in an uncomfortable plastic chair, listening to the soft 'beep, beep, beep' of the machine to his right. There wasn't any family, not yet, so he'd have to do.
The worst thing he'd ever gone a hospital before in his entire life was that one time Tucker had broken his leg. Never, had he ever thought he'd be sitting at the bedside of someone who'd been shot. There was no one else to sit there, no family but the boy whose heartbroken screams were still echoing through his head, so Danny had to be there in his place.
'Beep, beep, beep.'
He was sure he'd never get that sound out of his head by the time this was all over. In the waiting room just down the hall, Sam and Tucker were waiting for some news on whether the man would get better or worse.
Richard was almost as pale as the sheets he was tucked under; wires hooked him up to the I.V and heart monitor and a whole lot of other things that Danny didn't even know the purpose of. He didn't know how bad it was, because the doctors wouldn't tell them anything, and now police were looking for Red who they'd listed as missing.
The whole thing was a mess, and Danny didn't know how to deal with all of it. Ghost hunting was easy, hospitals and police weren't even a factor unless you counted Spectra and Walker – Danny didn't count them.
Richard took a deep, shuddering breath and Danny slowly moved closer to the man.
"Richard?" Danny kept his voice low to keep the nurse loitering out the door from seeing it.
"Hey kiddo." Richard said just as softly, he waved his fingers, shooing Danny out the door before reaching for a button next to his bed.
The halfa turned invisible and watched the nurse hurry into the room. He was just out the door when he heard Richard asking about the kids who'd been with him.
Danny went back to his human form and went to the waiting room to, well wait with his friends until the doctors were done.
"He woke up." Danny said, plopping onto a seat next to the vending machine Tucker was extracting a couple sodas from. The geek had been eating or drinking something constantly to get his mind off the fact that they were, indeed in a hospital, but he refused to leave.
"How did he look?" Sam was reading through a few pamphlets on infection and medical aids.
"Alive." Danny ran a hand through his already messy hair. He felt like muttering a few curse words, just for the sake of it, he chuckled tiredly, Red really was a bad influence . "I can't believe this happened." He leaned back in the chair, resting his head against the wall and sent a sideways glance at the other person waiting for word of Richard.
Valery sat in a corner, a cup of cooling coffee in her hands while she stared at the clock ticking just above the information desk with red-rimmed eyes. Her cell phone beeped, but she took one look at the screen and put it away again.
"Anyone here for John Reed?" The A nurse ask and all four kids in the room stood up.
Tucker adjusted the strap of his backpack and shot a dirty look at Valery when she got followed along behind them to Richards room, but none of them did anything to stop her. The nurse let all of them into the room and smiled kindly at the man in the bed.
"You know this is against hospital policy." She said, glancing down the hallway.
"Thnks Hanna." Even looking on the edge of death, Richard winked at her. "You're th best"
"The patient still needs rest, so don't excite him." The nurse blushed bright red and ducked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
"I feel like I should slap you or something in Red's place." Danny chuckled and sat back in the same uncomfortable chair he'd spent however long in before.
Richard smiled weakly and leaned further into his cushion. "Later, Tucker still have my gear?"
"Yeah, I got it all here." Tucker passed held his backpack out to the injured man. Richard broke in to a coughing fit before he could reach for it, and Tucker quickly stepped aside so Danny could get the glass at his bedside and press it to the man's lips. "Dude, the nurse said you had to take it easy."
Richard took a small sip of the water looked back at the backpack. "Th'rsa screen init, tr'ckr." He slurred. "Find Red."
"What, do you have him micro-chipped or something?" Sam asked, rolling her eyes, then frowning at the his weak smile suspiciously. "Your family is so weird." The goth smirked.
His eyes slipped closed, and his smile melted away. "Sedative." He said, waving a hand at the worried teens. "Wait, backup."
"No way man." Tucker stepped forward and made a cutting motion with his hand. "Who knows what it's doing to Red's head, thinking he killed you."
"Bett'r planis time." Richards breath came out a sigh, then evened out as fell asleep.
Danny pulled the thin hospital blanket more snugly over his friend's brother, his jaw clenching when he saw the bandages cover in Richards chest. The man knew Red better than they did, and he'd wanted them to wait, if Danny had been better at damage control, they could have waited. If he'd gotten the gun fast enough, maybe Red would be safely tucked in the Fenton thermos.
"Freakshow's going to pay for this." Danny said, pulling the chair up closer to the bed and practically falling into it, resting his elbows on the railing while he rested his head in his hands. "I'm going to get Red back and rip that creep apart." He dug his nails so far into his scalp he drew blood.
"Yeah, well just save a piece for the rest of us." Tucker rifled through the backpack and pulled out what looked like a tiny, flat T.V screen, Danny shot him a dark look out the corner of his eye and the geek shrugged. "Not like he'd some powerful ghost, any one of us can take that scrawny freak."
"Freakshow?" Valery asked, and all eyes darted to the corner of the room where she was standing with her arms wrapped around herself. She flinched at the combined strength of their scrutiny before her face hardened and she glared right back. "He's my friend too!" Her fists clenched at her sides.
"We would have had him if it weren't for you." Sam said, pointing a finger right near Valery's face. "You're not getting near him."
"He was my friend when you were still convinced he was a monster." Valery countered.
Sam's face scrunched up, her dark frown falling away. "I never said he was a… a." She turned her head away emotions Danny couldn't place flickering though her violet eyes.
"You didn't have to." Valery stood a little taller. "I don't have to explain myself to any of you, but I will make sure I get the chance to talk to him again, now tell me what's going on."
Danny wanted to deny her request, keep her away from his friend before she could hurt him again, but then he remembered the way Red had held onto her when she'd 'saved' him from Richard. He through that maybe, just maybe that hadn't all been faked, and Red deserved to hear from her what her motivations were for handing him over to Vlad.
Tucker stepped forward to tell her off in Danny's place, but the halfa blocked his friend with one outstretched arm.
"Freakshow's a psycho with a ghost controlling staff." Danny said. "He's made Red do this." He flicked his fingers in Richard's direction.
"But Red's not all ghost." Valery said. "Shouldn't it be a little harder for this 'Freakshow' to control him?"
"And how do you know he's not all ghost?" Sam asked.
"I found a recording at the lab." Valery put one hand in her pocket and scratched at a discolored spot on the wall.
"Yeah, but you're not all ghost either." Tucker frowned at Danny. "He got you before."
"It doesn't make any sense that he didn't try again." Sam sat on the edge of Richard's bed.
"And Red went back to looking like a real ghost right before Freakshow took him." Danny looked over at Richard, who was smirking at them with something that really could have been pride. "Maybe, he can only control full ghosts now, but…" Danny huffed and scratched the back of his head. "It then it still shouldn't have worked", he raked a hand through his hair, "right?"
"Red's not a halfa." Sam lifted a finger to her lips. "He's just a human swimming with ectoplasm, it's why he looked so normal after Vlad got him with the plasmius maximus."
"So, if we used the plasmius maximus on him again, made him less ghost, would he be able to break free?" Valery asked, not meeting any of their eyes again and fiddling with something in her pocket.
"If it didn't, he'd still be easier to grab, maybe shove him in a footlocker till we're done breaking that staff over Freakshow's head." Tucker said, tapping on the screen.
"Red could do with a time out." Danny grinned, smacking a fist into the palm of his other hand, a grin forming on his face. "We just need to get it away from Vlad."
"No you don't." Valery took her hand out of her pocket , and the plasmius maximus was held tightly in her shaky fingers. "Can you find him with that?"
"Am I the most charming guy in this room?" Tucker smirked and made a few more exaggerated taps. "Finding Red'll be easy."
.
.
.
"You know, when you said it would be easy, I was kind of hoping it would be easy!" Sam had a vice grip on her the arm rests of her seat while Tucker swerved the specter speeder out of the giant, fire-breathing dragon's path.
"Hey, I'm not responsible for the ghost fighting, please direct all complaints to your resident super-hero." Tucker shrieked when an island drifted in front of him. They passed right through it and the boy sighed. "Phew, forgot about thaAAHHH." He fired the speeder's ghost-ray at the dragon than popped up in front of them again. The ghost disappeared a second later, replaced by Danny screwing the lid on the thermos.
"How much further is this place?" Valery groused, flying just close enough that her words could reach the halfa.
"Take a look for yourself." Danny slung the thermos over his shoulder and looked at the dark, looming structure visible in the distance. There were ghosts of all shapes and sizes gathered around it, drifting aimlessly in wait for their master's next order. He remembered how that had felt, cold and empty, not even having your thoughts to yourself. He was going to save Red from that, even if he had to break every bone in the other boy's body to do it, Red was tough, he could handle a beating.
Danny and Valery stuck close to the specter speeder while they moved through the crowds of ghosts, muscles tensed and weapons charged, ready for an attack that didn't come. The ghost's actually moved aside for them, looking at the teens passing by with a only a spark of dark emotion in their otherwise lifeless eyes.
The real world vehicle was able to fit through the tight halls by phasing partly through the walls while Danny flew up front and Valery stayed near the back, keeping an eye on ghosts they moved passed.
Freakshow wasn't hard to find, his ghost's were lined up in what was practically a trail of bread crumbs right up to a huge, fancy door. Danny didn't waste any time in throwing them open and all the ghosts in the halls scattered, flying away like leaves being shaken off a tree.
"Phantom."
The huge, ornate throne Freakshow was lounging in was softened by a pile of cushions. The room was the biggest Danny had ever seen, wider than a football field and with a ceiling so tall he could barely make out the decorative symbols scrawled all over it. The space was filled with piles upon piles of money and other valuables, but aside from Freakshow, there was no one else waiting for them.
"Where is he?" Danny did a pretty good job of reigning in his temper and still keeping his eyes on the disgusting man.
Freakshow smirked, an ugly expression that showed just how satisfied he was with the situation. He waved his staff at another, smaller door at the other end of the room. "He?" the man's grin grew even more ugly, and he bent over, starring Danny down with gleaming eyes. "You'll need to be…"
Valery wasn't so good at controlling her temper, and zoomed forward on her hover-board, crashing in into Freakshow and knocking his to the ground. "Play dumb and you'll regret it. Tell us what you did with Red."
"Red?" Freakshow choked out, lifting himself into a sitting position, he made as if he was deep in thought, trying Valery's patience to the point she was visibly shaking before he snapped his fingers and pointing one bony digit at her. "That's what you call that screaming clown? Oh you don't want that broken mess."
Danny had lunged forward and wrapped his hands around the man's neck before he even thought to move, he drew back a fist to pummel the creep into submission, but before he could make contact a pale red ghost shield popped into existence between his fist and Freakshow's face.
"Ya don't wanna do that, Danny." Red was hovering just above the doors they'd come in from, one arm still outstretched from calling up the shield and a dark smirk on his face.
Danny dropped the man and spun along with Valery to look at his friend. He barely took a step forward when Red made a cutting motion with his arm and a trail of red energy shot at the halfa. Danny threw himself out of the way just a little too slow and got a small cut on his cheek.
He got up and back on his feet, coming face to face with a fist already swinging at him. It was too late to dodge, so Danny rolled with the blow, wincing at the pain that exploded behind his nose. Jason made another swing, but was tackled back by Valery.
"Stop it, Red!" She ordered, staring him down.
"But Val." Red struck out with a powerful kick to her torso, knocking her into the far wall . "I thought you hated Phantom, don't you like seeing him bleed?"
"You don't." Valery's visor lifted up and she brushed aside a stream of blood trickling down her chin, flicking it off her fingers.
Red watched the motion closely, eyeing the little splatters of blood that phased through the floor, with a little spark of emotion in his otherwise dead eyes. "I don't have a home anymore." The smirk was back in place and he rushed at her, an arm pulled back for another hit. A blast from the specter speeder knocked him out of the air, and he went rolling across the ground. "Cute." He chuckled, pulling himself up, the his face morphed into fury. "You wanna get shot too?" He tried to rush at the speeder, but was blown back again.
"Don't start with that." Freakshow was back on his throne, waving his staff at the boy. "I don't want another day of screaming to deal with. "Get rid of them!"
Danny blasted Red away from the speeder and his more vulnerable friends before any of them could get hurt.
"Go ahead." Danny taunted ducking under one of Red's punches. "Richard could use some company in the hospital, someone had to keep him from flirting with all the nurses."
"What?" Red paused in his next swing, his fist hovering just in front of Danny's face. "He's…" He groaned and folded in on himself.
"He'd fine, Red." Danny said. "You shouldn't be surprised, seeing as he's 'your' brother."
A light fluttered into existence in Red's eyes, and this time it stayed there. A small, genuine smile worked its way onto his lips. Danny was sure that if he weren't under Freakshow's control, the boy would be laughing.
"No, cop's get sho…" Red's body spasmed and his eyes shot over to Freakshow."
"No more talking!" The man demanded his staff glowing brighter as he waved it, drawing Red's undivided attention. "No misinterpreting orders this time, ghost. I'm not telling you to play with them, or chase them off. I want you to destroy them." Freakshow growled and snapped his fingers.
The huge doors slammed open again with a loud BANG and all the ghosts that had been milling about outside filed into the room. Their screams filled the room, mixing in with Freakshow's laughter. Where there'd once been near silence, now there was so much noise Danny could barely hear himself think. In the middle of all of it, Red hovered stiffly, a drop of stillness in the middle of the chaos.
"You didn't listen before." Red ground the words out through clenched teeth, his hands twitching at his sides. "Listen now, and run."
A second later Danny's face was on the relieving end of another punch. He toppled backwards, almost falling to the ground, a sharp wave of red energy came at him, and left a deep slash in the tiled floor when Danny dodged. Red sent out more of the waved and Danny threw up a shield, to push them back at his friend.
Red twisted and ducked under all of the blasts, coming at Danny again with a ferocity he hadn't seen since their first fight when they'd met so long ago on Skulker's island. Danny dodged one punch and Red followed up with a kick that only glanced Danny's side, but still left him reeling from the pain. He didn't have enough time get his bearings and he threw up a shield to block the next volley of blows that came his way.
Red growled and began pummeling at the shield.
"You can't break through here Red." Danny huffed, Sam and Tucker were edging the speeder closer to Freakshow, maneuvering around ghosts they couldn't blast. Valery was surrounded, and her hover-board was nowhere to be seen. The halfa was left to face his friend alone.
Spider web cracks began forming on Danny's shield and he grunted, pushing it and Red back, then throwing another one around the other boy, giving his time to put some space between them.
"I'm not letting you hurt me Red." Was Danny's only reply to his friend's frustrated screams as he broke down the shield.
"Good!" Red's made more cutting motions with his arms, his red energy shattered the shield and flew at the halfa, followed closely by the other boy.
Danny dodged as best he could and fired off his own ecto-blasts, none od them his their target, but they didn't slow him down, buying Danny a few more seconds before Red crashed into his like a bulldozer. The back of the halfa's head was slammed into the wall, he bit his tongue and the coppery taste of ectoplasm filled him mouth. Red didn't slow down, bashing Danny's head into the wall over and over again.
Each hit was like someone taking a sledgehammer to his brain, leaving holes and filling his skull with fire. When it wasn't stars, Danny felt darkness encroaching on his vision. He blinked away the water filling his eyes and got a glimpse of Red's tear streaked face. Red would never forgive himself, but Danny had lost his chance to run, learned too late that he'd have to fight harder.
'You don't want to hurt your friends Little Wing.'
Danny slammed his own fist into Red's gut, letting loose a full powered ghost-ray and knocking the boy away from him. The reprieve from the pain cleared his mind, if only a little, enough for him to know it was pointless, there wouldn't be any backup.
Danny glided slowly to the ground, and dropped to his knees not far from the circle of ruined tiles his friend had crashed into. Red staggered out of the circle, his feet sliding back with every forward step he took, trying to slow himself down. The cloth around his chest was torn, covered in ectoplasm and ghostly dust from his impact. Richard really hadn't been exaggerating when he'd said his brother was trained to fight things more powerful than Danny. His knees hit the ground a few feet from Danny, and he looked up. Dizzy green eyes met teary red.
Red's hand lifted off the ground slowly, energy crackling at the torn edges of his gloved. He let out a choked sob and drew the hand back, and Danny heard the boy whispering apologies, to his friends, and Richard, and some other people whose names the halfa didn't recognize too. Danny made a weak attempt at being reassuring with a green tinged smile.
He knew what it was like being under Freakshow's control, he didn't blame his friend, not in the least. He wanted to say it, but his tongue was swollen in his mouth and he was too dizzy to force the words out. "'S'okay." Danny slurred. ""S'okay Robin."
Red's hand wavered and his sobs wracked his body, fat tears rolling down his cheeks, mixing with the ectoplasm covering his face and dropping onto the dusty floor. The hand shot forward and Danny squeezed his eyes shut. He had no time for his own apologies.
.
.
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The Batman sped through the strange green world. He didn't stop to look through the doors, or at the strange creatures floating about. Most things with any awareness to speak of steered clear of the menacing figure, and the few were brave enough to chance it didn't come back to try again, didn't leave their lairs for hours after he'd passed by.
He wouldn't stop for anything, wouldn't add another second on to the time it was already taking to get to the pulsating green dot on his HUD. A few seconds made the difference last time this time would be different. He was getting closer, was already so much closer to his son than he'd been in months and he wouldn't give anything the chance to get in his way when he was so close.
He wouldn't be late again, never ever again.