Dash was smiling as he made his way home, a crown made out of paper napkins and plastic forks sitting on top of his head. He beat Foley by a landslide. Tucker might have a ravenous appetite, but he forgot that Dash was another growing teenage boy that was also on the football team. There was no competition.
He remembered the concentration on Danny's face as he painstakingly and carefully crafted the crown out of materials they had sitting at their table. He had placed it on top of Dash's head proudly but he blushed and turned away at Sam and Tucker's snickers.
Dash had declared that he'd treasure his crown forever and didn't take it off when they all went their separate ways.
His house was getting closer and he could see his dad's car in the driveway. He clenched his hands around his backpack straps. He hoped he could get upstairs to his room without his dad noticing him.
Dash walked down the street and up to the front door. He opened it quietly and listened for a few moments. He could hear his dad grumbling and making noise through the door to the garage so he slipped inside and quietly shut the door behind him.
He tiptoed down the hallway and up the stairs into his room. Once he had the door shut behind him, he let out a deep breath.
He took off his jacket and threw it on top of his bed. He had a bit before he would usually start his run, he could get some homework done before leaving again.
Dash sat down in his desk chair and started pulling his math homework out. As he bent over, the crown almost fell off of his head. He caught it before it fell all the way off of his head. When he sat back up he took it off and sat it on the head of the teddy bear that was sitting on his desk next to his computer monitor. He smiled at it and grabbed a pencil from the cup sitting next to the bear.
As he started working on his homework he thought about their plans to go hiking soon. They decided that this weekend was a bit too short notice to go. Tucker had plans with family and Sam's mom was trying to rope her into going to some gala thing. They decided they'd go next weekend instead. He was looking forward to it. Dash and Danny didn't get to hang out that much because they were both always so busy. He didn't know what it was that Danny was doing all the time, though. Dash always wondered what it was.
Maybe Danny just never really wanted to hang out with him. Maybe he was saying he was busy as an excuse to get out of it.
Dash shook his head and looked back down at his homework. He didn't realize he had stopped working on it while he was thinking. He looked over at his clock. He didn't realize how much time had passed already. He could go on his run now. Maybe it would help clear his head. He wasn't able to concentrate anyways.
He stood up and changed into his gym clothes. He opened his door and listened for his dad. He could hear the tv going in the living room. Dash walked out, turning off the light and shutting the door behind him. He walked down the stairs and past the living without his dad noticing him and he quickly opened and closed the front door.
Dash stopped and stretched. Today's run was going to be a lot more boring without Kwan to talk to. He hoped it went by fast today. Maybe he could've asked Danny to come with him. Danny didn't seem like he'd be interested in going on a run though, especially if he was still anything like he was freshman year when they took the President's Fitness Test.
He started jogging down the street. Danny did look pretty lean nowadays. Dare he say he even looked muscular. Maybe that was what Danny did when he was always busy. Maybe he just didn't like exercising in front of other people. That'd be reasonable.
The sun was beginning to set and it got darker the longer he ran. Soon he could see the Nasty Burger again, its neon sign lit up this time. As he got closer he could smell the food cooking inside and his stomach growled. He would have to eat something when he got back home.
Dash heard something weird as he passed the Nasty Burger. Down the street from him there was some shuffling in the alley up ahead. Garbage cans clanged on the ground as they were knocked over and he could hear some people shuffling.
Dash slowed down and stopped before he reached the alley. He didn't know what kind of business was going on in there but he definitely didn't want to find out what it was.
He was about to turn around when he saw the people start walking out of the alley. They were two men in white suits. Must be the GIW. The first was walking backwards, holding onto something. As they walked further out Dash's eyes widened as he could see what they were carrying.
Danny Fenton was held in between them. His wrists and ankles were bound and he was looking frantically around him, struggling, looking for anything to help him escape. His mouth had also been taped over but Dash could hear him mumbling from here. As Danny frantically turned his head again his eyes met Dash's and they widened. It looked like Danny was pleading with him, begging him to help.
All Dash could do was stand there.
"Holy shit?" He whispered, then a little louder. "What the fuck?"
Both heads of the GIW agents turned to look at Dash. The agent holding onto Danny's feet made a motion at the other and started heading in Dash's direction.
"Shit!" Dash immediately turned around and booked it in the opposite direction he had been going in.
What was this agent guy planning on doing with him if he caught him? Would they take him like they were doing to Danny? Why would they be taking Danny anyways? Were these two agents going rogue? What was going on?
Dash ran as fast as he could. He heard the agent's feet hitting the ground behind him, keeping a steady pace with him. He needed to lose him but how?
Looking around, Dash took a sharp turn into the alley on his left. He knocked over garbage cans as he ran by, trying to create any sort of obstacle that would slow the man down. He turned out of the alley and back onto the street and saw the next one he'd turn into. He crossed the street and ran into it. This one was blocked off by a fence at the end but he just needed to climb the things in front of it to get over.
He jumped on top of the crates that littered the ground in front of the dumpster that sat in front of the fence. Just before he hopped over, he turned his head to see the agent only just getting to the alley entrance. Dash jumped down and booked it down the street.
He was getting closer to his neighborhood. All he had to do was make it home. Just a couple more twists and turns and he'd be there.
He was so tired, his chest and his legs were aching but he couldn't stop now. He couldn't let these men take him too.
There! That was his house. He chanced another look over his shoulder but didn't see the agent that was following him anymore. He pulled his keys out of his pocket as he ran the rest of the way down the street. He fumbled with them, almost dropping them, before he found the deadbolt key and inserted it as soon as he got to the door. When he unlocked the door handle, he immediately wrenched it open and slammed it back shut. He locked both locks and leaned his back against the door, letting out a deep breath.
He heard a harsh thump coming from the living room and he almost jumped out of his socks. Had the agent somehow gotten here before him? How did he know where he lived?
"What's with all this racket?" A gruff voice called.
Dash wiped a hand down the front of his face. "Sorry, dad."
"Keep it down, would ya?"
Dash could hear him taking a swig of beer from his bottle and winced.
"Yes, sir."
He hurried quietly up the stairs to his room. He grabbed a new set of clothes and headed to the bathroom to take a shower.
The way Fenton looked at Dash was playing itself over and over in Dash's mind. Dash didn't know what he could've done. There were two men there and they were huge. Dash wouldn't have been able to take on two of them. At the very least he knew they took Danny. Someone knew. He could tell the police tomorrow, when he wasn't worried about the agents coming to find him.
He turned the water on and turned the heat all the way up. He took boiling showers when he was stressed. And boy, was this stressful.
He got in and took a quick shower and got right back out. He got dressed and walked out of the bathroom still toweling his hair.
He opened the door to his room and closed it, locking the door handle. Glancing at his desk, he saw the unfinished homework he had abandoned before he took a break to go on his run. Throwing his towel over the back of his chair, he ignored the papers and turned off his light. He crawled into bed and closed his eyes.
Maybe a good night's sleep would help clear his head. Help him figure out what he was going to do.