Chapter Eleven: Abuse…?

Danny was silent as Jack stripped him and then handed him a child-size diving suit. "Put this on." Jack instructed.

Danny nodded and took the suit, putting it on as ordered. Then he looked towards the tall tank that was in the room. 'That's gotta be 9 feet.' He thought, cringing as he pulled the goggles over his eyes.

"Climb up the ladder and lower yourself inside." Jack said, nodding. "I want you to lower yourself to the bottom. When I see that you're at your limit, I'll pull you out with that." He pointed to the claw-machine mechanism above the tank.

Danny climbed up the ladder, took a deep breath, and dove into the tank. He swam down to the bottom as ordered, looking out at his father holding a stopwatch. Since just sitting around was frustratingly boring, Danny started to swim around a little to entertain himself. He had no idea how long he was in there, but when he finally couldn't hold it for much longer he banged on the side on the tank with his hands. Jack nodded and went to the lever, lowering the claw.

As Danny clung to it for dear life and left the water, Jack turned off the stopwatch and looked at him. "Two hours. That's much better than most humans your age, Danny." He informed him.

Two hours? His dad had him in that thing for TWO HOURS?! Danny was shivering as he was lowered to the floor in front of the tank and gratefully accepted the towel when it was offered. After he'd dried off, he got dressed in a button-up shirt and pants and followed his father back to the lab.

Phantom was staring blankly at the ceiling and gasped when they entered, trying to sit up. "Danny! What did he do to you? You're…your hair is all wet!"

"I was submerged for two hours in a 9 foot tank." Danny said, shivering.

"Two hours?" Phantom cringed. "Any normal human our age woul—"

"That's exactly why I did the test." Jack said, tapping Danny's shoulder. "Now, I'm sure you're tired Danny. How about I show you your room here?"

"I have a room here?" Danny frowned.

"Do you want go back to the chains?" Jack gestured to them.

"N-No, but…Phantom…" Danny placed his hand on Phantom's, the ghost giving him a half-smile.

"Go on, Danny. I'll be fine, you get some sleep." Phantom said, nodding.

Danny looked reluctant, but his father took his arm and pulled him away before he could say anything else. Then he was pushed into a room with a bed, toilet, and an overhanging light. It looked like a prison cell, for solitary confinement. As soon as he was in the door was closed and locked from the outside, trapping him until the next time his father came for him.

As he walked to the bed and sat down, the realization of what had happened came crashing down and drew tears from his eyes. His father—his caring, loving father—had tricked him into trusting him completely, all to bring him here. This must be where he was always going; setting things up for when he was bring his stupid monster of a son to be experimented on. He let out a soft sob and buried his face in his hands.

Sam…Tucker…they'd thought things were odd, Tucker had been freaked out when he first told his dad knew…if only he was as perceptive as them! But, to ease their worries, he'd let them spend time with him before he was taken away forever, gaining their trust so they wouldn't suspect a thing.

Did mom know? He doubted it; she would be here if she knew. He curled up on his bed and sobbed into his pillow, thinking of all his father had done to him since getting here. While Phantom was out, he'd been cut open and stitched back up, but thankfully Phantom didn't see the stitches. Or did he? He was acting pretty furious.

Danny had heard of abusive parents, but usually they didn't take their kids to hidden labs and did experiments on them so…did this count? Would it hold up in court? Would it even GET to court? Did he WANT to go to court? Would he even LIVE to get to court?

Okay, that last thought was way too depressing, no matter how valid a concern. He needed to sleep. His chest hurt, but that was no doubt because of being cut open. He was awake for that, how could his father be so twisted? Sure he'd drugged him so he wouldn't feel it, but to see it…

It was all so surreal, like he couldn't believe any of this was happening to him. What was Phantom going through over there, and how loud was he screaming? The room seemed to be soundproof; he couldn't hear anything outside it.

Eventually, he grew too tired to think straight anymore and let sleep take him away, hopefully to where there were happier times…