Bialya
June 30 17:13 UTC+2
Danny didn't feel good and the three guns pointed at him didn't help.
He'd gotten lucky and the villain's club had left him alone for most of the day since he was still recovering from the Ghostly Wail incident. Apparently, his advanced healing did come from his powers, and how they found out is that when they put a new inhibitor collar on him, his advanced healing had stopped. It just stopped working altogether, causing his fever (which still hadn't gone away) and his injuries to make his health plummet.
Ultimately, the medical team had no choice but to take the damned inhibitor collar off, which one would think would solve the problem. But as his luck would have it, go figure, it made it worse. For a reason, unbeknownst to him, his powers decided to go on the fritz as soon as the collar was removed; thus, destroying the medical wing in the process.
Which brings him back to the situation he now finds himself in.
"You're going to follow us to the hanger. We want this to be a nice and easy trip, kid."
Danny rolled his eyes as two of the three approached him, one with a set of handcuffs.
He had done so much damage to the medical lab, that they had to relocate to another base with a working one. But of course… he wasn't going to just let them take him. How else was he going to entertain himself?
As the guard reached for the teen's wrist, the latter quickly turned and, using the man's momentum, swung the other's hand toward the second guard.
CLINK!
When the sound of the one side of the handcuffs locked in place, the teen quickly ducked and slid underneath the other's arm. He then used that momentum to swing himself around and lock the other side of the handcuffs to the first guard.
Both guards struggled to get untangled as the third guard ran in after calling for backup.
The teen smirked as he used a swing kick to disarm the third guard and quickly dodged the other's sloppy attempt to grab him.
Danny managed to make it to the door where he was met with Deathstroke and four other guards.
"Stand down, kid."
He mentally groaned and let out an aggravated sigh to which all the remaining guards immediately took aim.
'They're getting smarter…'
He quickly shook the thought from his head and focused on the party with a glare. "I told you before, I'm not usually one to go down without a fight. And for the love of everything dead, stop calling me kid! I'm almost eighteen!"
The mercenary babysitter scoffed before reaching for his wrist guard.
"So you've said," he replied irritably.
Not even a second later, the teen fell to his knees with his hands covering his ears as a high-pitched whine bombarded his ears in waves. He could barely hear himself think with how deafening the noise was.
The guards didn't waste any time and immediately went to restrain him.
The teen's head shot up to reveal bright glowing green eyes. Just as the guards made a move to grab Danny's arms, the Halfa snapped and let out a ferocious roar.
SHOOM!
A massive green shockwave blasted the guards backward, Deathstroke being no exception, thus ending the horrid noise coming from his wrist guard.
Danny's eyes widened as he was shocked by his own display of power. 'Why does that keep happening?' he thought in awe.
Unfortunately, none of the guards were knocked unconscious and thus were able to quickly recover. One of the guards recovered faster than the others and was quick to give the teen a warning shot.
The teen let out a yelp of surprise as he crumbled to the ground holding his side. The green ray of light having knocked him back a foot or so.
'Green ray?' His eyes widened and his head shot up to look at the guard's weapon. 'Did Luthor not heed my warning?!' he thought, his fear spiking in his chest.
The rest of the guards, noticing the small window of opportunity, were quick to handcuff the Halfa's arms behind his back and hoisted him onto his feet.
The Halfa's expression changed from surprised to annoyed as he made eye contact with his babysitter again.
"I thought were you supposed to be letting me heal, Deathstroke," he commented pointedly.
The man's eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms. "I was ordered to bring you to the Hangar and you were being difficult. Not my fault you decided to try and run while injured. Besides, you can talk, you can walk. Now let's go," he ordered with a threatening tone.
Danny rolled his eyes as he let the guards lead him to the hangar.
Hall of Justice
June 30 08:22 EDT
'Alpha to beta, how far are you from the rendezvous point?'
'We're nearing the West Entrance now.'
'Copy. We'll meet you by the-'
"M'GANN LOOK OUT!"
Superboy tackled his teammate onto the ground as a green beam of light sailed over their heads.
"Found them! Hostages making a move to the West side! I repeat hostages are on the move to Wes-ACK!"
The man-in-black went flying across the room as Kid's yellow-after image zoomed across from them.
"Thanks, Kid! Beast Boy, get them out of here!" Superboy ordered as he covered Miss M.
The younger shapeshifter nodded and turned to the hostages with a determined smile. "Come on guys, follow me!"
Once the hostages and Beast Boy were clear, Superboy turned back to Miss Martian and helped get her back onto her feet.
"You alright?" He asked with a slightly softer tone.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. Just felt something was off, like back in Boston," the heroine admitted with a frown.
Superboy frowned as well but didn't get a chance to answer as another green energy beam flew by his head.
He scowled as he looked towards their assailant and made to run towards him.
PHEW!
"UGH!" The clone let out a surprised grunt as he was thrown backward by a shot to the chest.
'What the-that packed a punch? What was that?!' he thought incredulously.
His eyes widened in surprise as he looked down to see a burn mark on the front of his shirt.
"AHHH! OOOF!"
Superboy looked up to see the clad-in-black man had gotten thrown into the nearest wall before getting knocked out by Miss Martian's telekinesis.
"Superboy are you alright?!" she called as she flew over with a worried look.
"Yeah," he grunted as he got up and inspected the front of his shirt, his girlfriend joining him.
"What did he hit you with?" she awed as she looked him over. "I thought most guns don't work on you?"
Superboy scoffed. "Yeah, they usually don't. The only energy ray that ever managed to throw me back was…"
The world seemed to slow around him as his words trailed off, his mouth suddenly feeling dry.
There was only one person who ever managed to hold his own based on strength and power against Superboy. The only way his shirt could be singed a particular way- the green.
Both heroes shared a look as realization hit both of them.
Superboy's ears started to ring as he walked over to confiscate the weapon. But his worry quickly turned to anger as he heard rushing feet headed their way.
'They better not have laid a finger on him!'
'Laid a finger on who?'
The hero didn't have time to process his slip-up over the Mindlink as five men in black rounded the corner. All with the same type of weapons the other guys had.
Superboy saw red. He let out a roar as he leaped towards the approaching unsuspecting men.
One by one, all of them went down, but, for once, the clone didn't come out unscathed. Nothing fatal, nothing that broke the skin, but the bruises and few minor burns had far more serious implications than any cut would.
'Alpha to beta, hostages are secure. Where are you?' Nightwing inquired over the Mindlink.
Superboy turned away from the downed men and started stomping off towards the exit.
There was a beat of silence before Miss M responded. 'Got a little held up, we just cleared the West side of the building.'
'Copy. Delta is finishing up North, you two regroup with us at the rendezvous.'
'Understood. On our way.'
The shapeshifter turned towards him with a concerned frown.
"Are you alright?"
Superboy grunted in response and quickly grabbed a weapon from one of the downed men.
Without another word, he started making his way out of the building.
After settling everything with the proper authorities, the Team quickly found a secluded spot to regroup and recall the Bioship.
"Did all of the men have these?" Aqualad asked as Nightwing looked over the confiscated weapon.
"From what we could tell yes. However, Superboy was the one to make the connection between the weapons and Phantom," M'gann recalled.
"Do you think it could help us find him?" Wally asked with a tinge of guilt.
The second in command sighed as he finished scanning the item over. "Maybe… I'll have to wait till we'll back at the Cave to do some more digging, but I may be able to figure out where this was manufactured. It won't tell us exactly where he is, but it's definitely a start."
Conner scoffed. "A start?! Why didn't we just interrogate one of the guys back there?!" He demanded, still heated about the implications of the weapon.
Dick raised a calming hand. "I already planned on talking to the guys they have in custody later. However, based on their gear and how they took the hostages, they were either just the buyers or were given prototypes. They won't have the info on the source of the power, just the manufacturer."
The clone rolled his eyes but remained silent. It wasn't Dick's fault, he knew that, but the waiting game was getting a lot harder, especially since a whole week has passed and there was still no sign of Dann nor the Light.
"Do you think it hurt?"
The team turned to see Gar fidgeting in his seat.
Nightwing offered a reassuring smile to the youngest member. "From the initial scan, it doesn't look like anything other than an energy similar to Danny's was used."
Gar nodded but didn't comment as he looked back out at the passing clouds.
Conner shared a look with M'gann.
He knew what he saw, and felt. That was Danny's ecto-blast, through and through. But how they got that energy is what concerned him more than the weapon itself.
"Any word from Tula yet?"
Kaldur nodded. "According to Tula, as far as Light-related attacks or sightings go, we are sure of at least two instances in which they were involved. One at the Midway City Museum, and the other from the Central City Art Gallery. And while it's not confirmed, we at least suspect that the robbery of the piece from Jason Blood's apartment may also have been connected."
"Actually, about that piece from the art gallery," Artemis interrupted. "I did some digging on it. Turns out it used to belong to some king in Markovia before it was 'lost'. Since it didn't have any significant value, they forgot about it and it eventually found itself on the black market. The 'artist' that bought it had submitted it to the gallery as their work of art."
"Ouch. So any idea where that king got it?" Gar asked, Connor was relieved to see the youngest participating in the conversation rather than remaining silent.
"Sorry, I'm still digging," Artemis admitted with a sigh.
Kaldur nodded and gave her a reassuring smile. "It's alright. You found more information than we thought we'd be able to find, so thank you."
Z cleared her throat. "Guess it's my turn. I looked into some old scrolls and books about that artifact from the museum. Turns out that what the plaque said about it was mostly true. It was commonly used in old rituals to pay homage to their deities and ancestors. Other than that, it doesn't seem to hold any other magical influence, as far as the books state. Any other information would probably be from legends or folklore from wherever it originated from."
"Huh, for the Light to steal something regarding the past and not the evolution of humankind, is a little odd," Dick commented.
"Yeah no kidding. What about Blood's artifact?" Gar asked.
Zatanna shook her head. "Sorry Gar I haven't found anything yet. But I'm sure the more digging I do, I'll come across something."
"Well, we went over what was taken. But none of it seems like it would help the Light with trying to 'advance the human race'. Nor did any of the information help us find out where Danny could be," Kid sighed.
There was a beat before Gar snapped his fingers. "Hey Z, does that artifact you were talking about work for all rituals?"
Zatanna raised an eyebrow and put a hand on her chin as she thought. "Well from what I've been able to read up on it no. It only works for certain ones and you'd have to make sure the artifact matches-" Her eyes widened and she turned to the boy with a bright smile. "Gar! You're a genius!"
"I have my moments," he commented as he puffed out his chest proudly, the compliment immediately getting to his head.
"Care to clue us in?" Artemis raised an eyebrow.
Z nodded and looked even more determined than before. "Gar is suggesting that for them to use the artifact, they have to use it for what it was intended for. Most artifacts are location-based, due to the magic having to be precise. If we find out where the artifact originated from-"
"Then we may find Danny!" M'gann finished excitedly.
"Good thinking, Gar." The team leader smiled proudly. "I'll give Tula a call when we return to the Cave and see if she may be able to find out its origins."
Gar's smile was contagious as Connor turned to look outside, a warm feeling of hope rising in his chest.
'Just hang in there… We'll find you soon.'
Bialya
July 1 03:13 UTC+2
As he slowly began to come to, Danny noticed he felt uncomfortably warm.
'That's not a good sign…' he thought drowsily.
He slowly pried his eyes open and saw that they had dimmed the lights in his room.
"Danny?" a baritone voice asked unsurely.
The teen froze, body tensed and senses heightened when he realized he didn't recognize the voice. Usually, the guards or Luthor would wake him up (if he wasn't awake already). It had become almost routine, even if he hadn't been there for very long. So to have both the lights dimmed and no pompous CEO was a bit unsettling, to say the least.
Danny turned his head slightly, vertigo making his vision swim for a second as he tried to focus on the person sitting next to him.
Dark hair and three distinct scars came into slight focus-
"Marduk?" the teen rasped unsurely before his face contorted in pain as the room shook violently.
'Why was he there? Where were they? What-'
The events from the last two days slowly started to come back to him and he bit back a groan as his body was reminded of the onslaught.
"How are you feeling?"
'Not great.'
Now that he was slightly more aware of his surroundings, he noticed that he felt warmer than normal. Which, seeing as his ice core hadn't finished fighting off the fever or sickness yet, even after removing the collar, meant that something was seriously wrong. Another thing he noticed was that he was not in his usual bed, and instead was placed in a medical bed inside a humming metal room with a small oval-shaped window nearby.
His memories clicked in his mind, reminding him that he had boarded a plane and sometime after liftoff had fallen asleep.
'At least the fever will keep me from freezing from the inside for the moment…'
Danny opened his eyes again and attempted to sit up, only for his vision to swim again, and nausea built up in his chest.
He felt a hand gently push against his shoulder encouraging him to lay back down, and he froze as he was reminded of the other person in the room. Specifically who else was there.
Why was Marduk there? He vaguely remembered the man saying something about leverage, but some things didn't quite add up. If he was leverage, why didn't they use him as a hostage to capture the halfa before? Why didn't they introduce the idea that someone he knew was being held there before to force him to be more cooperative? Why-
'You're starting to sound like Wally.'
The halfa internally scowled as that thought crossed his mind. He wasn't a conspiracy theorist. He wasn't going to jump to conclusions without looking at all the facts.
He mentally groaned in exasperation as he realized he'd have to dig for more answers. 'I hate having to play the long game.'
"Danny? Are you alright?"
'Oh right, I didn't answer his question. Alright, Fenton, time to see if we've got ourselves the real deal.'
He sent the man a feigned appreciative smile as he reluctantly laid back onto his pillow. His body was grateful as he forced himself to relax to not appear weary of the man.
Knowing his eyes may give away his inquisitive nature, he quickly closed them with a slight grimace to feign discomfort.
"Feel sick…" he muttered, deciding that half-truths were the best way to go. Though to be completely honest, the warmth from his body was uncomfortable and it made the alarms in the back of his mind ring madly. He rarely got sick since he became half-ghost, as his advanced healing would burn out most infections. And even when he did get sick, be it a cold or flu, it would only last, at most, a day.
Danny flinched and shot his hand out as he felt something close to his forehead, he opened his eyes to see he had grabbed Marduk's wrist as he had gotten up to check his temperature.
He quickly let the other go with a mumbled apology, the other slowly placing his hand on the teen's forehead.
"You feel normal…" the man frowned with a look of concern.
The teen let out a bitter chuckle. 'So it's not just me, wonderful.'
He looked away from the man as he debated on whether or not to tell him more information. One thing he had to try to keep in mind, was that there may have been a camera or audio recording device somewhere. Therefore, any information he shared with Marduk, Luthor, and anyone else would be heard. However, he didn't exactly like how nauseated he felt; and they could accidentally harm him by simply not knowing his biology.
Danny frowned to himself. While he didn't like the idea that the only reason why the Light may have been keeping him alive was to weaponize him, he also wasn't exactly fond of the idea of dying… again.
He let out an agitated huff before turning to Marduk with, what hopefully looked like, apologetic eyes. "My ghost half makes me a little colder than normal humans. I'm supposed to feel hypothermic on a normal day," he explained softly, to not agitate his throat.
Marduk's frown remained as he stepped back. "I do not know if any of the medical team onboard has anything to ease your pain. Most of the equipment and medicine was destroyed in the lab last I heard."
Another wave of nausea hit him and he shut his eyes. Having not been sick in a while, the fever's effects were getting to him more than usual.
'This sucks… Wait, I forgot to ask a question to test if he was actually Marduk or not-'
He took a deep breath and waited for a second before shaking his head at the concerned man. "I'll be okay, my ice core will fight it off gradually," he explained with a weak smile before letting out a small chuckle. "Though I do have to admit, kinda wish Cujo were here."
The first part was mostly true. He could feel his ice powers as though they were behind a closed door, the cold just barely seeping through the cracks of it. The fever would be manageable; just sucked that he'd have to feel the effects for a longer period before his ice powers managed to cool him down.
The man beside him smiled sympathetically. "Did he often look after you in times like these? I remember you mentioning that he wasn't your companion, rather he just took a liking to you."
'Okay, so not a shapeshifter or a fake Marduk then. Still doesn't explain why they didn't use him as leverage sooner- unless he was just recently captured?'
"No, but he'd make for a great distraction for us to escape. Speaking of which, have they tried anything since you've been here? How long have you been here?" The teen asked chancing a glance at the man's reddened wrists. If the man was being genuine, he would have felt bad about being the cause of Marduk's capture. However, if he wasn't-
Danny mentally swatted the thoughts away. He was going to cover all his bases. He wasn't the Justice League nor was he Kid. This halfa asked questions before he threw a punch, and he wasn't going to treat this scenario any differently. Besides, the more he acted like he would in any other situation, the better chance he had at gaining some answers. Directly or otherwise.
Marduk raised an eyebrow. "No, they haven't. They've been keeping me locked away since I arrived the other day. After seeing how quickly you calmed down yesterday by seeing me, they wanted to keep me as close as possible. I believe they think by me being here, I could be used as a deterrent to keep you from attempting to escape again."
Danny couldn't help but roll his eyes at the idea. "Yeah well, it's having the opposite effect," he retorted before turning to his thoughts.
His brow furrowed as he turned to ask Marduk about something when he rather suddenly let out an anguished yelp, a wave of green and blue energy exploding outwards. The green caused anything technical nearby to short and spark while the blue covered most things in a thin sheet of frost or ice. The plane dipped for a second and turbulence shook the entire plane before it was able to right itself.
"Danny are you alright?" the man asked with concern.
The teen's face contorted in pain and his breathing became uneven as he tried to push past the lingering pain in his core.
He heard Marduk stand up and after a beat heard him ask firmly. "Danny, can you hear me?"
The teen opened his eyes after the pain subsided a little more and nodded, the fever making his vision blur slightly.
Why were his powers acting out? Were they doing that while he was asleep? How many more times was it going to happen? Has anyone gotten hurt?
"How long?" he muttered.
"I'm afraid I don't understand what you're asking in regards to." the man sighed.
The teen pointed to the window. "How long have we been flying?" he elaborated weakly, his fever feeling more prominent.
"About seven hours since the plane took off… we'll be arriving in roughly six hours," Marduk recounted.
Danny nodded. "Do… we know where?" he asked, the blurriness starting to clear from his vision.
The man looked thoughtful for a second before shaking his head. "If my memory serves correctly, I believe we are headed West. However, I am unsure of the exact destination."
He smiled gratefully as he closed his eyes, hoping it would relieve some of his nausea.
"Danny? Should I leave?"
He looked over and shook his head with a reassuring smile. "I'm okay, just feel worn out. Can't sleep though, too uncomfortable from the warmth… also worried they'll try something…" he half-lied groggily.
'Damn…' he frowned as he felt slightly irritated with himself. 'I forgot that fevers can make you tired...'
Marduk sighed and there was a brief silence before the man cleared his throat. "Well since you don't seem to want me to leave, may I ask you something?"
Danny didn't think much of the request and nodded. Anything to distract him from feeling sick was honestly welcomed at that point.
"How were you able to use your powers with an inhibitor collar on?"
The teen chuckled softly, it was a fair question. "To put it simply, my ecto-energy and ice powers aren't connected to each other… They both come from my core, but because I have an element-based core, my powers don't exactly follow the standard rule book."
He closed his eyes, wanting a break from the fluorescent lights.
"What is a core? I didn't want to ask while attending the Festival and seem impolite."
Danny offered a small smile. "No worries. A core is kind of like the heart of a ghost. But… also it's brain? It's kind of hard to describe. A core is what gives a ghost its powers, but also keeps it together. If a core were to be destroyed, the ghost would be too," he explained thoughtfully.
He heard the man shift his seat but didn't bother opening his eyes to check.
"I see… so would a core be a soul?"
Danny frowned as he opened his eyes. 'That's a new one…'
He looked over to Marduk and cleared his throat, agitating it slightly. "I don't know? I've never really thought about it that way. I was just told to be careful with mine since I'm not the standard ghost and we never knew if damaging my core could make me unstable."
"Unstable? How so?" The man's eyes widened slightly in what seemed like genuine surprise.
"I'm half-ghost and half-human. So I have to make sure I take care of both sides… My ice core, while it keeps me alive, also can freeze me from the inside out if there's too much built-up energy," he explained as he closed his eyes again.
"Like two halves of a coin," Marduk commented thoughtfully.
'Yeah, exactly. And it sucks even more because if these morons let my ice core build up enough I'll-'
The teen scowled and his eyes shot open as he came to a realization. "Shit."
Marduk seemed amused at the boy's sudden curse. "Is something wrong?"
Danny let out an irritated sigh. "Yeah, I just figured something out that I should've noticed a while ago. They're probably using an artificial fever in the sedative to keep my ice powers in check. It would explain why every time I woke up from being put under I had a fever… I mean, they were AT the Festival, which means they already knew I had ice powers. Ancients I'm so clueless at times…"
His nausea flared up again and he shut his eyes as his vision swam again when he accidentally shifted in place.
The two were silent for a few minutes, Marduk probably giving the other a chance to collect himself.
"Would changing help at all?"
The teen thought about it for a minute before shaking his head. "I don't want them to think I'm trying to escape and either zap me or take it out on you."
Marduk hummed in disapproval before asking another question. "I'm aware that you're different from other ghosts, but what similarities are there?"
Danny chuckled and sent him a teasing smirk. "You mean besides the glowing thing?"
The man smiled amusingly, making the teen feel a bit better knowing that he managed to get the man to smile.
He closed his eyes again as he thought over what was safe to say. "Well… I guess there's the core thing, though the current theory is that mine does act more like a heart than keeping my entire being together… Then there's the ghost powers, the sensitivity to emotions… and maybe the obsession thing? But I don't know if I even have-"
"Obsession?" the other interrupted with a tone of intrigue.
The teen opened his eyes and turned his head slightly to look at the other. "Depending on the ghost, some can have an obsession. It's kind of like a hyperfixation, only instinctive…" Marduk waited patiently as Danny waited for a small wave of dizziness to pass. "These obsessions are often a drive for a ghost, it's what helps them stay 'alive' so to speak… depending on what the obsession is, it can sometimes determine how strong the ghost is."
Marduk nodded to let the other know he understood. "I see, and what about yours?"
A light busted overhead, making his visitor look up with intrigue.
Danny winced as he felt a pinch in his core and an image of the ghost portal turning on flashed through his mind.
"Sorry," the teen apologized genuinely, his vision blurring again. "Didn't mean to do that… instinct…"
'Weird… the portal has been popping up a lot in my mind recently…'
Marduk looked back at him and nodded in understanding yet again. "It's alright… I should've known better than to ask such a personal question."
Danny shook his head. "Wasn't you're fault… didn't know," he muttered tiredly.
'Stupid fever… stupid Luthor… Ancients, I hate this game!'
His mind started to feel fuzzy, but he did his best to try to remain aware of his surroundings.
"You don't look well, Danny. I should go…"
The man trailed off after the teen shook his head again. "I'll be okay, besides… haven't answered your question…"
Marduk continued to look on with concern. "But it's too personal-"
"It's okay… 'sides… what can you do with knowing an obsession anyway? I'm different from other ghosts remember?"
'I mean… It is true. It's only a personal question since obsessions are often linked to a ghost's death- if they were previously 'alive' that is. Other than that… there's no real danger to knowing.'
The man seemed conflicted for a moment before finally relenting and nodding for the other to continue.
"Okay," the teen smiled embarrassingly. "But don't laugh, especially since it's so cheesy…"
The man smiled reassuringly.
"It's protection…" the teen admitted.
"Protection?"
He couldn't see the man's expression with his eyes closed, but he nodded. "Yeah… cheesy I know, but that's it. From what Frostbite told me, if I did have an obsession like some ghosts, it would probably be that… which according to him, is one of the most powerful and dangerous since it's such a broad instinct…"
"That's… very interesting," Marduk commented with a hint of amusement.
"And predictable," Danny chuckled.
A comfortable silence passed between them, during which Danny could slowly feel his fever starting to dwindle thanks to his ice powers. Though the 'sick' feeling still lingered which was starting to worry him.
"Fever starting to go down," he voiced out loud to at least try to reassure the man beside him.
"That's good to hear. I wanted to ask you, do you know why you're here?"
Danny let out a defeated sigh. "I know what Luthor told me was true, which was he wanted to find a way to use ectoplasm as a resource. For weapons, generators, whatever… But given that the standard ectoplasmic weapons can't really harm humans… I don't see what purpose they would serve. Me as a weapon makes more sense, but I don't have definitive proof. Besides that? No clue… but I'm working on it."
The man frowned and went to say something when the door swung open and two armed guards came in.
"Don't you guys know how to knock?" the halfa grumbled out loud, earning a small chuckle from the man beside him.
"Guess my time is up, I hope you feel better Danny," Marduk said with an apologetic smile as he stood up.
Danny smiled back and nodded. "Thanks, Marduk…"
They escorted the man out of the room, and the teen was left alone yet again.
He sighed out loud before allowing the hum of the plane to lull him back to sleep.