TW: Graphic Depictions/PTSD/Violence/Torture
Boston
June 27 04:00 EDT
'Man, what is this guy on?!' Kid exclaimed over the Mindlink.
Superboy roared as he tackled another golem to the ground. Beast Boy turned into a monkey and quickly snatched the chip off the thing's neck. With a shudder, the creature finally stopped moving and the clone was able to kick it away, the thing shattering into rocks as it hit the ground.
He looked over to see Aqualad and Rocket take down another plant golem, the thing turning into dirt once down, while Artemis was tying up the mad scientist to a nearby pole.
The Team had been sent on a mission to investigate a possible lead on an item believed to have been stolen by an associate of the Light. They had arrived at the giant greenhouse/research facility, but when they went to do some digging, the resident mad scientist 'Robert' had found them snooping around. One crazed monologue about 'getting a chance to test his latest ground-breaking experiments' later, and they were attacked by four golems. Two plant-based ones and two rock ones. It wasn't until Superboy was thrown over one did he figure out that destroying the weird metallic chips on their necks, caused the golems to lose function of themselves and deteriorate.
'Got to say, golems being made without magic? That's a new one for me, ' Rocket admitted unsurely over the Mindlink.
Miss M smiled sympathetically to her before being called over by Aqualad who had started to try to interrogate the crazed scientist.
"What did you do with the object you stole from the museum a few days ago?" the Atlantean asked with a threatening tone.
"I was asked to grab something for them so they would give me the tools I needed to conduct my experiments more effectively. Speaking of my experiments, did you enjoy them? Weren't they a force to be reckoned with? Though I do suppose while the source is a little unstable, the chips used made them much easier to influence and control. Do you perhaps know an easier way? Then again if there was an easier way, I'm sure I would've stumbled across it by now-"
"Robert, who gave you the chips?" Kaldur asked cutting the man off before he could go into another one of his ramblings.
"The chips? They were the trade you see. The trade-off to make-"
"'Ground-breaking resources known'. Yeah, you've said. But who gave them to you?" Artemis asked with a roll of her eyes.
"I don't see how they could be relevant to my experiments. They don't know the first thing about appreciating the unknown, let alone my research-"
"Okay, we get it. Moving on. How did you make the golems without magic?" Artemis demanded rather impatiently, though the clone honestly didn't blame her. The guy was starting to get on his nerves too.
"Magic?!" The man screeched, making Superboy grunt in pain as he held one of his ears.
The hero tuned out the man as he walked away to look for other clues. The man had lost it years ago, so he wasn't going to waste his time waiting around for someone to try to get something out of him. Better to just check the man's office or lab to find the answers.
As he walked out of the greenhouse and into the main research facility, he frowned as his mind turned to his missing friend.
It had been four days since he was taken and he still couldn't help but feel like it was his fault. What if they had just listened back at the Festival of Peace? What if they hadn't jumped to conclusions and just trusted that Danny would sort everything out? What if they hadn't been so hard on him before and during the mission? Would he have been more focused? M'gann had revealed to the Kryptonian afterward that he hadn't slept since they were kicked out of the Ghost Zone. What if they had just let him rest? What would have happened if he had just told Wally to back off and defend his friend? Could he even be called that at this point?
He scowled at himself.
If only had he just said something, then maybe Danny would still be there. If he had, maybe he wouldn't be worrying every second over whether or not he was even okay.
Superboy felt a gust of wind beside him.
"What's up, SB?" Kid Flash asked as he munched on a protein bar.
The clone rolled his eyes, admittedly a habit he had started picking up from Danny, as he opened up the office door with Robert's name on it.
"Looking for clues," he stated evenly as he started to search through the papers on the man's desk.
He honestly didn't want to talk to Kid. Not after everything that happened. Sure he blamed himself for a lot of it, but he blamed the speedster for starting the whole conflict in the first place. It was only because of his conspiracy theories that they had even started doubting Danny in the first place.
The speedster let out a bark of laughter. "Yeah, I don't blame you. It's gonna take forever before we get something out of that guy. I mean, I know I'm a skeptic, but the rant he started to go on regarding the subject of 'magic', was much, even for me."
After not finding anything of interest on the desk, Superboy started to open up drawers and cabinets.
"So magic you'll let slide, but not ghosts?" he pointed out, a little heatedly, as he pushed aside printer paper, pens, and spare mugs.
He heard Kid scoff behind him. "Despite 'claiming' there's a science behind it, I still find it hard to believe that a consciousness can latch itself onto a substance and form itself a new body or whatever. It's just not scientifically possible."
The clone's eyebrow twitched as he roughly closed one of the cabinet doors. "So then you don't believe in souls?"
"I mean, sure, but I won't delve into it because that's more of a religious thing than a scientific thing."
"That explains a few things," he muttered to himself as he opened the filing cabinet.
There was a brief tense silence before Kid let out a defeated sigh.
"SB, did I do something? Because while you're usually the quiet and grouchy one, I'm sensing a bit more hostility lately."
Superboy, yet again, rolled his eyes at the speedster. He stood up and turned to the teen, crossing his arms with a warning glare.
"I'm guessing that's a yes?" the other asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Gee, I don't know Kid. Maybe a certain missing person might be the answer?" he retorted.
The speedster's eyebrows furrowed. "That wasn't my fault," he stated firmly.
This time Superboy scoffed. "Really? Because last time I checked, if you hadn't been constantly antagonizing him and taking jabs at him, while he was already hurting , he might still be here right now."
Kid sent his own glare back. "Well, it's not my fault that he decided to withhold important information from us. I mean come on, we let the guy live at the Cave for an entire year and he didn't think, even once, that 'hmmm, maybe I should tell them about my other life just in case something happens and I can't be there to fix it'?"
"How was that information important? So what he wears a crown?! That doesn't mean he's some threat or that he was using us! He told us he was ordered not to say anything!"
"Oh really? Because last time I checked, he had no problem defying the floating eyeball's orders in front of them. So why couldn't he disobey orders here, huh?"
"Because of what happened back in his old-"
The other let out an incredulous bark of bitter laughter. "That again? Look, I don't care what Phantom said, he doesn't know our world. We wouldn't do something so- unethical - as that, as much as he wants us to believe. He was overexaggerating and was just trying to make up excuses to try to get himself out of trouble!"
The two were interrupted by a knock, and they turned to see Miss Martian and Beast Boy.
"Everything alright?" the telepath asked with an unsure expression.
"It's fine," Superboy grunted and turned back to the filing cabinet.
The speedster scoffed and gave an eye roll, but didn't comment further. Beast Boy shifted in place as he looked wearily between the two heroes.
Beast Boy had been quieter as of late. Whether it was because of self-blame or because he was missing his friend, the older hero honestly wasn't sure. But he could tell Danny's absence was really starting to get to the kid.
Miss M sighed but didn't comment further on the subject as he cleared her throat to continue. "Well, Aqualad and Rocket found a hidden entrance to a basement underneath the greenhouse. They wanted to group up in case there were any more golems."
The clone nodded and closed the filing cabinet back. He then brushed past Kid Flash without another word as he started to make his way back to the greenhouse.
Bialya
June 27 10:31 UTC+2
Danny let out an irritated sigh for the fourth time that day.
The first time when he had woken up to find that they had changed his clothes again, this time with a grey t-shirt and matching sweatpants and socks (he's fairly sure whoever was in charge of his recent wardrobe changes was OCD). The second time was when two guards came to escort him to another room without giving him time to throw on his shoes (which they had surprisingly let him keep). The third was when they had roughly sat him down and handcuffed him to a metal table, in a mostly empty metal-walled interrogation room (complete with a window he couldn't see through). And then was the fourth, he had yet to see anybody for about an hour and his boredom was starting to get to him as all he could do was stare at the empty chair across from him.
Though to be fair, it was technically his fault since he did knock out one of the guards after the guy called him a 'thing'.
The halfa sighed again as he decided to rest his head on the table.
'Let's go over what we know. I was captured by the Light. Luthor, Klarion, Sportsmaster, and possibly Count Vertigo are members. Luthor acts WAY too much like Vlad, so much so that their damn inventions look alike. The Light wants to make ectoplasmic weapons, and they want me to eventually join their supervillain friends club. Oh, and they got their hands on blood blossoms somehow.'
The last thought made him pause as he frowned.
'Given that Klarion was at the Festival, even though I was just theorizing out loud to Luthor earlier, that theory may not be far off. It was already confirmed that the Witch Boy had been going around and hiring mercenaries and such to follow people around or whatever else. Before I left, there was no other assassination attempt or really any super significant suspicious behavior. It all kind of stopped after-'
His frown turned into a slight scowl.
'It stopped after I sent the Team away. So it was all a distraction then. The Light knew that the Team had more familiarity with their tactics and needed them out of the way, so they created an elaborate distraction that would both keep us out of the way, but also lose trust in each other so we'd be easier targets. Now they probably have who knows how much ectoranium and blood blossom supplies.'
Danny's scowl softened as he remembered the previous day's conversation with the CEO.
'But why? Other than using those things to capture and keep me here, I don't see what other use they could have. Not against humans anyway. Also, I feel like they didn't really have enough time to experiment and implement a bunch of things with ectoranium given the time frame. So how else did they figure out how to ghost-proof my 'room' that quickly?'
CLICK.
The halfa slowly raised his head back up as he heard the door unlock. After a beat or two, an armored guard opened the door to let his visitor in.
"Good morning, Daniel. How are you feeling today?"
Danny rolled his eyes as he watched the bald man leisurely walk forwards and take a seat in the empty chair across from him.
"Fine; would've been better if I had woken up in my own clothes," the teen retorted with a slight glare.
Luthor gave him an apologetic smile before continuing. "I asked for you to be brought in here today so we could go over a few questions that our team of scientists and doctors have for you."
The raven-haired teen raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "And they couldn't ask me themselves why?"
Luthor's now polite smile didn't fault. "Alas, they believed it would be best if I approached you. Since, according to them, you seem to have had a particular dislike towards the labs."
Danny scoffed. "And you wouldn't, given my situation? Nobody is a fan of needles, Mr. Luthor."
Luthor raised an eyebrow but didn't comment as he pulled out a blue folder. He opened it up to reveal a handful of papers and a few blank sticky notes. He then took off the pen clipped to the top of the folder and laid out a few of the documents.
"It says here that your body temperature is averaging to what would be considered hypothermic. Is there a particular cause for this?"
The teen frowned but chose not to respond.
There was a small sigh from the CEO. "Daniel, they're asking these kinds of questions to make sure they are aware of what your 'normal' is in case something should happen. Despite what you may believe, we don't want to accidentally kill you."
Danny flared his 'scary eyes'. "Could've fooled me…" he retorted bitterly as he felt a small warning shock from the inhibitor collar.
The other sighed again but continued. It went on like that for another twenty minutes; Luthor asked a question, and Danny either refused to answer or gave a witty comeback. It went back and forth for a bit until Luthor finally seemed to grow tired of not getting any answers.
"Fine, Daniel. If you're not going to answer these questions, then at least answer this one-"
Luthor reached into a hidden pocket in his jacket and took out a small device. Danny's eyes widened as the gadget was fully revealed, the other gaining a triumphant got in his eye.
"If making using ectoplasmic energy is as improbable as you say, then would you mind explaining how this device works?"
'Shit…'
The teen stared wide-eyed as he tried to rack his brain on how the man in front of him came into possession of one of his ecto-guns.
After a few beats, the man seemed to grow impatient again as he cleared his throat and gave the teen an expectant look.
"Well?"
Danny opened his mouth but felt his voice die on him as he continued to stare at the invention in the man's hand.
'How do you plan on getting out of this one, Fenton? They obviously know that it's yours. Do they know I made it? Do they think I know how it works- Of course they do! Otherwise, they wouldn't be asking you how the heck the thing works!'
The teen flinched slightly as the man suddenly shifted in his seat and sighed with feigned disappointment. "Well so much for trying to make pleasant conversation."
The man stood up and placed the gun back into his pocket before turning to Danny with a more stern expression.
"Seeing that you're not willing to cooperate, we'll have to resort to other methods."
Luthor looked towards the window and nodded before walking over to the door with a stoic expression. Not even a minute had passed and there were two knocks on the door before it opened to reveal two guards posted outside the door and Sportsmaster with a small black case in his hand.
The blonde nodded and followed Luthor back into the room, one of the guards closing the door behind them. He then walked over and placed the case on the table across from Danny, opening it at an angle so that the teen couldn't see what was inside.
Sportsmaster then took out what looked like an oddly shaped metallic chip from inside the case and turned to the teen with a vengeful cruel smirk.
Danny glared defiantly at the villain as he started to walk over to him, a chill running down his spine as alarms started going off in the back of his mind again.
"We've been working closely with a scientist in Boston who had been tasked with studying how well some of our old projects bonded with a new resource," Luthor began to explain as Sportsmaster walked behind the tense teen. "That resource, as you already know, being ectoplasm."
Danny gasped in surprise/hurt as the blonde man slammed his head down onto the table and held him in place.
He heard Luthor clear his throat. "Careful Sportsmaster, we need him conscious if we are to study the results," the CEO warned sternly.
The teen heard a disgruntled gruff behind/above him but otherwise the other didn't say anything.
After a beat, Luthor continued. "We were hoping that the study could perhaps result in a stronger bond, however, we've found it didn't have the desired effects on a human host. It was unpredictable and was often unstable against anything with a sentient mind"
'Human host? Stronger bond?' Danny thought with a frown. 'What the heck are these people up to?'
"However-" The man's words cut threw his train of thought. "Given you're unique status as both human and ghost-"
Ice blue eyes widened as he connected the dots and immediately began trying to get out of his seat, Sportsmaster grunting with effort as he continued to try to hold the teen down.
"-And your unwillingness to comply, I figured it would be worth the time to see if Robert's experiments had any effect on you."
Danny felt something cold be placed against the back of his neck, making him freeze for but a second. But that second was apparently exactly what the man holding him needed as he felt the chip be pressed harder before he realized the chip was trying to sink into his skin. A freezing chill shot through his spine and he gasped as the cold started to spread pain throughout his nerves. It almost felt like-
Like a ghost was trying to forcefully overshadow him.
He briefly opened his eyes to see a dim green light on the table, which meant his eyes were glowing again, only this time not by choice.
"Is it working?" he heard the man holding him ask the other.
"Not sure… keep holding him in case he gets violent," the CEO replied thoughtfully.
Another shiver went through his spine as he felt a more forceful push against his mind, though it didn't feel like a telepath's mind touch. The push was more animalistic or feral-like than sentient like a lower-powered ghost was trying to overshadow him. Something akin to a 'bite' happened when he pushed back and he yelped in pain/surprise and tried even harder to get from underneath Sportsmaster's hold.
The presence and cold continued 'biting' him as he fought against its effort to take over, the chip on his neck starting to feel uncomfortably cold. The teen shivered and trembled from effort underneath the strong man's hold, the whole situation starting to make him even angrier than before.
'They can't get me to do what they want so they try to overshadow me? Are you kidding me?!'
"I don't think it's working Luthor," the man above him grunted irritably as the teen started to push harder against his hold.
A particularly nasty 'bite' made the halfa growl out loud as he flared his eyes mentally at the presence, threatening it with his ghostly aura.
'Get out! '
The presence/ghost seemed to freeze for a moment before it seemed to shake off the threat and started pushing against his will again.
But one more 'bite' was all the teen needed.
"I said get out!" he exclaimed out loud as he managed to break the man's hold and slammed his head back against Sportsmaster's nose.
"AGH!" the man cried out as he stumbled back holding his nose.
Danny then quickly concentrated his ice powers on the back of his neck and he felt the chip spark as it froze over and heard a crack before it fell to the ground.
He took a shaky breath, his eyes returning to their ice blue as his anger started to come down.
"Very interesting…"
The teen tensed up again as he shot a glare at the CEO, who he had briefly forgotten was present.
"You tried to overshadow me!?" the teen exclaimed furiously, his eyes flaring green briefly.
The man raised a teasing eyebrow. "Overshadow? I've never heard of the term before. But if you mean we tried to influence you using mind control, then yes. But I did warn you that if you didn't cooperate there would be consequences."
Luthor ignored the teen's glare as he looked over at a bloody-nosed Sportsmaster. "You were right Sportsmaster, it seems the chip didn't stand a chance against Daniel."
"No shit," the other scoffed with an angry glare.
"Language, Sportsmaster." Luthor then turned back to Danny with a stoic expression. "Seeing as how the chips are of no more use to us, we'll have to discontinue Robert's research project. However Daniel, you still need to face punishment. You have harmed several of our men, destroyed expensive and experimental property, and have also shown signs of aggression and violence towards me and Sportsmaster. All in all, you have been severely uncooperative today."
The CEO picked up the black case and walked over to Sportsmaster, handing it over. He then walked back to the door and knocked twice, the door opening to both guards unmoved. Luthor turned to one with a stoic expression. "Go find Psimon for me will you? And be sure to let him know that I'm having Daniel moved to the lab."
Danny's eyes narrowed as the remaining guard closed the door without a word.
'You just had to choose the long game, Fenton…' he thought bitterly.