Well this is a surprise, isn't it?

Yeah. I thought about it.. I decided the break will be later.

Anyways

This was probably one of the most anxiety ridden thing I've written in my life. It took so long, but the chapter after it took a lot longer.

Trigger Warnings: mentioned human experimentation, poorly written confrontational dialogue, slight panic attack

Chapter VI:

This Is Why

It's been a year.

A year.

He was in this godforsaken place for a year.

He hoped his concept of time was wrong. Then again that wouldn't be much better.

Either way being in this hellhole for anything longer than a month was maddening.

Day after day it was experiments and tests. Both could be in their own category of torture at this point. The inhibitors they kept on him made his healing abilities slower. Meaning, the wounds he got from each experiment would only heal completely after a few days. It didn't bother the agents or his parents much because the experiments would always continue like nothing ever happened.

Another thing to note: the inhibitors were messing with his healing in general. Any big cut or gash that was made would heal, but would also leave behind scars. He couldn't risk speeding up his healing with his stored up energy to try to avoid them either.

It was the middle of the night when Danny was looking at the newly made scars that he could see from his torn hazmat suit. A grimaced look on his face. One would have to look closer at his pale complexion. Though this year he was significantly paler, maybe skinnier even.

If these scars can be seen as Phantom, how would they look on Fen- on regular old Danny?

He pushed the thought aside. He didn't want to imagine how he would look when he got out of the GiW's grasps. But for now he'd have to—

He paused. Why for now? It's already been a year, or at least it felt like one. He didn't have to bear with the GIW or his parents any longer than this. Sure, he's been trying his best to rebel, struggle, and fight against his oppressors. But it wasn't enough. He has people to get back to. His sister has no idea where he is and is probably worried about him. Danielle. He'd rather not have her anywhere near the GiW. Then his best— his former best friends aren't even thinking about breaking him out. He took a breath as he stayed curled up in the corner of his cell. He was alone in this situation. His eyes glowing its ghostly radioactive green, filled with a new found determination. He was going to get out of here. He had to get out. He has to fight more. He just needed to wait for the right time. To fully fight back. But for now…

Danny's eyes glanced down at the chained up inhibitors on his wrists. He was stuck in Phantom mode for a while. Perfect. His tongue grazed over his teeth, landing over his sharpened canines. Fangs. He wasn't sure when they grew, but he was thankful they did. He brought his wrists to his mouth, using his newly discovered fangs to at least damage the tech. He knew that using his ghost powers would trigger a warning shock, so he tried his best not to use them. All he had to do was try to tear through without triggering any alarms. Easier said than done.

Time went by— he didn't have it in him to say or even tell how much— and eventually he felt some sort of relief on his core, a small breeze of energy starting to come back. The feeling was something similar to taking a gasp of air when finally reaching the surface of the ocean water. He smirked to himself and started to do the same to the other wrist. He tried his best to keep the bite marks hidden, as well as make it seem like the inhibitors were still on his wrists. Once that feeling of relief enhanced, he leaned his head back on the corner of the cell. His eyes closed as he breathed somewhat evenly for the first time in the year.

Once he opened them, he realized it was the next day. Did he fall asleep? Danny hurriedly looked around the room. No one was here yet. Must've been a nap at least.

He took the time alone to heal some of the wounds with a portion of the energy he got back. Only healing in small amounts to not use too much energy — as well as not gain any attention from the GiW. Last thing he wanted was to cause a scene where all their attention would be on him right after he got some energy back. He found it better to wait until he was sure that he could get out on what he had stored so far. Along with what he was able to get from damaging the inhibitors on his wrists.

So he did. He was mentally preparing for whatever torture he had to endure for the day. Instead, however, only one agent came into the cell room.

"Get up, freak!" Operative T commanded, glaring at Danny behind his sunglasses.

"Got up on the wrong side of the bed today, T?" Danny asked in a mocking tone as he did as he was told. Despite his tone, he was frowning at the agent. He didn't need anymore bruises on his arms from the agent getting him out. So he stood by the door to be let out. There was no response. (If a growl didn't count as one in this case.) Instead, Operative T opened the door to the cell and eyed the teen as he walked out.

Danny thought that they'd continue down their (mostly his) usual routine of going to the lab, pain and suffering, then back to his cage to just rinse and repeat. But oddly enough, they had walked right past the Lab.

"Uh," Danny looked back as they passed the lab door. Then looked up at the tanned agent. "You do know you passed the lab, right?"

"I'm aware." Operative T replied boredly.

That only made him more suspicious about what was going on. Missing a Fenton experiment was rare. In fact, during the whole year there, he'd only had two experiments less days and even then the GiW tried to perform one on their own. Keyword: tried. But this was different from those days. He could only come up with one idea. Something else was planned and knowing his luck so far.. he had a feeling that he wasn't going to like it.

Danny was stopped at a door, watching the agent open it before being pushed inside. He stumbled forward to keep his balance, eyes on the floor as he did so. Then he heard someone take a loud inhale, grabbing his attention. He looked up only to freeze at who he saw.

Before him, sitting together at a table, were his former best friends: Tucker Foley and Samantha Manson. Tucker was dressed in an outfit he'd seen repeatedly in the past year. The same white suit, with the same black tie and sunglasses. There was no red beret on the boy's head, just his hair being shown. Danny noted to himself that his hair seemed to grow from the last time he saw him.

Sam was a little more pleasing to the eyes. Instead of the repetitive suit, she wore a black suit along with a black undershirt and a white tie. Her dyed black hair was longer as well, but still kept in that same style. As pleasing as it was to see something different, he still didn't like the new look. Though, Danny was quick to realize that her sunglasses were in her hands. He came to the conclusion that she might have been fiddling with them before he came in.

Neither of them spoke. They stared at each other as if to take in their appearances. Surprisingly it was Sam who was the first to speak. "Oh, Danny.." she breathed out. Her pitied tone made the teen in question flinch. That's the last thing he wanted. Pity. Especially from them. From her.

"You look terrible, dude." Tucker said afterwards. Unlike Sam, there was no pity detected. If anything, it was more mocking.

Danny just rolled his eyes. He took a seat in the chair in front of them, when it was motioned to him. The air in the room was tense, to say the least. After a few moments, Danny decided to look at the wall. He didn't want to look at them with their new appearances.

"So," Sam spoke. "How have you been?"

..what?

"Other than looking and feeling like complete shit." Tucker added, motioning to Danny's haggard form with his sunglasses.

Danny blinked. His eyes turned to them.

"Do you want anything to eat? I brought some—"

This isn't happening right now..

"Sam, look at him! He does not want your grassy food!"

Oh Ancients, it is happening.

"What makes you think he wants your greasy food instead?! He might not have the stomach for it!"

"Why don't we ask Danny then?" Tucker huffed.

Soon both of their stares turned into Danny, making him freeze.

"Danny what do you think?"

He opened his mouth but quickly closed it. He didn't want to talk. If he talked, he'll say something dumb or worse. What would he even say? 'I'm fine'? It would be a complete lie. His heart was doing flips inside his chest the moment he saw them. He was happy to see them. He was even glad to see they seemed to be doing well. But at the same time, he wanted to scream at them. How could they act like nothing even happened between them? That they weren't the ones that handed him to the GIW on a silver platter. So he stayed silent, not wanting to blow up at them with all his anger and resentment that built up during the past year.

"Come on, don't you want to say something to us?"

His jaw clenched as he turned his gaze back to the wall.

"There's been lots of ghost attacks this past year."

Danny winced, but kept his eyes off of them.

"Good thing Valerie's there. But.. looks like fighting your enemies is tiring even for her. Well, minus the Box Ghost."

He bit the inside of his cheek as he narrowed his eyes at the wall. He was shaking.

"Danny… Can you please talk to us? At least look at us."

He did neither.

"… You don't actually blame us for this, do you?"

He froze.

"Don't you see? This is—"

"This is what?" Danny sneered. He was glaring at the goth the more she spoke. "'For my own good?' Is that what you were going to say?"

Samantha took in a sharp breath before nodding. "Yes. Because it is."

"Danny, we've been watching you ever since you gained these powers," Tucker jumped in. "It was cool but this isn't natural. The complete opposite really."

A dry laugh came out of Danny's throat. He knew that much, probably more than the two of them knew combined. "Watching me as if to see if I was dangerous?" The question slipped out of his mouth, making him mentally cringe. Only to physically do so when the two in front of him nodded. "So you two were what? Pretending to be my friends?"

"Of course not." Sam scoffed, folding her arms. Her gaze fell onto the table. "It's not like we wanted this to happen."

He stilled as another question formed in his mind. Did he want to ask it? Not really. He'd rather go through one of his parent's experiments than ask. Yet it was on the tip of his tongue and his curiosity only grew. Danny's voice was low as he finally asked. "Was this planned?"

"Not all of it." Tucker admitted with a nod. "But most were planned with the GiW."

"Who came up with it?"

"I did." Samantha's voice was soft as she answered.

Danny exhaled. "When?" Another question he wasn't sure he wanted the answer to.

There was a pause.

"That's not important." Sam said, looking up at Danny.

"Yes, it is. I'm the one the plan was about, so I should know."

"Danny-"

"Tucker," Danny interrupted, turning to his childhood friend. "When did you guys start planning this?"

Tucker glanced over at Sam, who shook her head, then looked Danny in the eyes. A brief silence passing by before he answered, "Since the accident."

There was a sudden loud 'thud' as a chair fell backwards to the ground. Danny, now standing, slumped over so his hands were pressed down on the table in front of him. His formally dull green eyes were now glowing as he stared them down with an uncharacteristic blank expression on his face. "The accident? As in the Ghost Portal accident?" Upon receiving a (shaky) nod, he took a deep breath. "Sorðinn," He loudly cursed as he struck the table with his palm. The action had made his former friends flinch, but he couldn't find it in him to care about how they felt at the moment. Danny eventually turned to walk off, muttering a string of curses.

Samantha stood once his back turned to her. "Danny, you need to calm down! I understand why you're upset but-"

"You understand?" Danny cut her off, whipping around to sharp glare at her. "I die and the first thing you do is plan how to take me down?! Please tell me how you understand?"

Samantha looked at him, visibly offended. "That accident affected us just as much as it affected you!"

Danny scoffed. "Do I need to clarify that I'm the one who died? After you," He pointed an accusing finger at his ex-girlfriend. "Made me go in there for a stupid picture!"

"In Sam's defense," Tucker spoke up. "No one knew it would actually work-"

"Thank you, Tucker." Sam said before turning back to Danny. "No one told you to fix it from the inside!"

Danny looked at her incredulously before he heaved out a long sigh, covering his face with his hands. "I can't do this right now." His voice was barely heard past his hands from how low it was. This wasn't the first time he and Sam had it. As sad as it was to say, he knew how these arguments went. They'd argue, but they would make up in the end. This time was different. He wasn't sure if he wanted to even look at her or Tucker after this. His dam might burst. Yet, Danny lowered his hands to see the goth teen going off on an anger based tangent. The halfa rolled his eyes and turned around. If this is what they wanted him for, he'd much rather leave.

"I can't believe I had to love a freak like you."

Everything in the room seemed to still as Danny stopped mid-step and turned back towards the table. He could barely hear Tucker hiss Samantha's name. His wide green eyes meet those bitter purple ones. His focus was all on Samantha as he repeated the words that stuck out. "'Had to'?"

The goth glared and huffed. "Danny, look at you! I mean, you're on the tightrope between life and that. Schrödinger's cat personified! It's unheard of. It shouldn't have even happened!" She took a breath to calm down then looked at Danny with a stern look. "You are an actual freak. And after seeing him, a monster too. How is anyone supposed to love that?"

Danny winced but had no physical response. He stayed silent as he repeated the words in his head. Surprise surprise. It hurt more than he might have wanted. He's been called a freak more than once during this whole year. It shouldn't affect him at all at this point. But seeing who said them, he knew why the words hurt him so much this time around. Not only was he called a freak by the person he loved, but was also compared to his worst nightmare of an enemy and called a monster for it. Though he wasn't hurt by it. No. In fact, he was pissed. It was no secret between the trio about Danny's feelings on him.. on Dan. The evil hybrid of him and Vlad from the far future. Or rather a future. He hated him with every inch of his body and soul. Sam knew this. He knew she knew.

So, it's just as much of a shock to him when he didn't blow up in anger. Even though he wanted to. Only wearing a tired expression on his face. He couldn't find it in him to outwardly be angry at anyone. He did wonder where the comparison came from. As far as he knew, he didn't do anything that could've reminded them of him. Was it his appearance? His voice? He was aware that it got deeper a year ago, but he didn't think it sounded like him.

He sighed. It wasn't worth thinking about. He just wanted to get out.

To leave.

"Come on, scum. Time to go back to your cell." That familiar gruff voice broke the halfa out of his thoughts.

Danny turned his head to see Operative T standing by the open door. He turned to his former friends once more before robotically following the agent out of the small room. Danny couldn't help but wonder if he was standing by the door the entire time? Did he hear all of that? … Did he say go back? Danny stopped breathing. Go back to the cell? And then what? Go back to the torture and experiments? Done by more people he loved. To be continually told that he couldn't feel pain? That he had no real emotions?

Danny was trembling.

He didn't want to go back.

Why should he?

Why would he?

He shouldn't have to. He should have the right. He should have the choice. He didn't want to go back. Not to the cell. Not to his parents. He doesn't even want to see Manson and Foley anymore. He didn't want to go back. He didn't want to go back. Hedoesntwanttogoback.

"No." His voice came out as a whisper, stopping in his tracks.

"What did you say?" Operative T turned with a frown upon seeing Danny. No, seeing that Phantom stopped walking. "Come on, I don't have all da—" The Operative reached out his hand, to grab the inhibitor on the halfa's wrist. But before he could, there was a flash of green as a force sent him flying backwards.

Danny stood there, chain broken, arm out with a small gust of smoke rising from his open hand. His eyes were glowing neon green as his stare bore into the Agents. He stalked up on him and grabbed T by the collar, using whatever strength he had to lift him off the ground. The other hand forms a tight fist.

"I said no." He raised his fist up and reeled back before punching the agent in the face, using enough force to knock the older out with a single punch. Seeing the head rollback, limp, he dropped him. "I'm not going back. Ever."

He took a deep (and shaky) breath as he searched over the unconscious person before he finally found that familiar card that he'd seen so much. There was a brief smile on his face before glared at the Operative as he turned to the opposite direction of the cell and ran.

*Sorðinn = Fuck in Old Norse (according to my sources. Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

Oh my goodness. This chapter stressed me out so much.

Was the inhibitor thing over conventional? Maybe. The first quarter of the chapter was already written (since it was originally going to be chapter 2) also I was like half asleep when I wrote it. I was half asleep for almost everything I've written so far. But my ideas get written better that way so I don't think I'm going to stop soon.

Anyways, the scene with Sam and Tucker was many things that imma leave up to y'all. My beta reader sucks ((she's depressed)) so I'm going no beta for however long it lasts.. probably for a while- (I'm sorry if you see this) so I'm going in this with no outside critiques. And I haven't written anything like this in over 5 years, so go easy on me plz

See you all next week! Remember to eat well and be hydrated! Have a wonderful day/night! 3

Next up: Danny's escape?