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th3sp4rr0w · 1 year ago

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Day Fifteen

A03 Link <- Starts at Chapter/Day One for those just joining us :))

Prompts For Day Fifteen Experimentation/Muzzle/Transformation

Alt. Prompt For Day Fifteen Self-Defense

Prompts Used for Day Fifteen All

Tw's; Medical Experimentation, Dubious Medical Accuracy, Injury, Blood Mention, Panic Attacks

Chapter Fifteen under the cut :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny tried to keep up a steady stream of Calm-Reassurance-Safe . Jason hadn’t reacted to anything since he’d seen that agent in front of him with the pipe.

After Agent J had patched him up, they’d left promptly. Danny had been trying to get through to Jason since. The boy was practically catatonic, and he was still utterly terrified.

He stood still as Danny carefully shuffled himself over, pulling him into his lap. The other boy let it happen, laying there as Danny ran fingers through his hair.

He slowly came back to his senses. He started breathing again; his fingers twitched, and Danny could swear he warmed in his grip. He kept up petting his hair gently and tried his best not to scare the other boy with sudden movement, taking care not to bring attention to his improvement. That might make the other boy nervous. Danny knew he got nervous whenever someone pointed out his improvement after an episode.

He looked around the room. The vent would be too small for either of them to get through. The door was very obviously...

He knew he heard the door lock from the other side; it’s why they never bothered to try it. That and it was highly likely that it would probably electrocute them if they tried. He wondered...

He carefully scooted Jason off his lap, ignoring the flash of Confusion-Disorientated-Questioning . He walked to the door, limping on his injuries and trying his best to stay upright, and touched it.

It didn’t shock him, but it was locked. He couldn’t turn the knob and he was pretty sure there were additional locks on the outside; that’s what he’d do if he kidnapped two people at least.

He looked back over to Jason, who was halfway up by the time he turned around. “Just checking something out,” he mumbled.

Jason tilted his head. Questioning-Confusion-Disorientation

“I wanted to see what kind of locks we were dealing with,” he mumbled. “You know, if they even locked us in here. They definitely did, but the door isn’t electrified,” he said quietly.

Jason nodded. Understanding-Disorientated-Fear

Danny frowned and placed his hand in Jason’s hair again. “Just relax, Rob,” he mumbled. “You’re okay.”

Safe-Calm-Reassurance-Protection

Protection-Calm-Confusion

Danny smiled a bit. They sat there a bit longer as Jason settled back into his body.

He noticed it had definitely been longer than an hour as they sat. Jason’s hand, the one that they’d splinted, was already a lot better than it had been. It was no longer a mass of bruising; the majority of it was gone, and he could already see Jason trying to move it. He started moving his own stiff joints as they sat and noticed everything wasn’t as sore. He vaguely wondered where the hell those two faux scientists were. He wondered if he even wanted to know.

Jason opened his mouth. “Phantom?” He whispered.

“Welcome back,” he teased. “You feelin’ better?”

Jason sat up, yawning as though he’d never gotten a wink of sleep in his life. “I feel like I got hit by a truck,” he muttered.

Danny nodded. “Panic attacks will do that to you,” he said.

He looked at him. “That’s what a panic attack is?”

He nodded again. “I’m pretty certain anyways. You were unresponsive for a long time.”

He whistled a bit. “That sucked. I’d like to never do that again, effective immediately.”

Danny snorted. “Yeah. They really suck,” he said.

Jason sharply inhaled as he looked the other boy over. “They-”

“Hey,” Danny said, forcing Jason’s head up to look him in the face. “Don’t think about it. It was my choice, okay? And I’d make the same one in any other situation, you hear me? I’ll always be here for you and there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s a threat,” he said, mostly joking at the last sentence.

It hit. Jason laughed a bit before stopping. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I don’t know what happened.”

Danny raised an eyebrow. “You’re severely traumatized because of a clown with daddy issues and had a panic attack after agents with mommy issues kidnapped you and tried to beat you with a pipe?”

Jason startled out another laugh. “Dude,” he wheezed out, “You’re fucking unhinged.”

Danny smiled. “That’s what I do best!” he said cheerily.

Jason reached out and grabbed his hand. “We’ll make it out,” he whispered. “I... the bat isn’t going to give up on us. The others won’t either. None of them will.”

Danny sobered. “We’ll make it out,” he echoed. “Even if we have to take matters into our own hands.”

Jason nodded and buried his head in the other boy’s shoulder. Danny pretended he didn’t feel it dampen rapidly.

One day, likely soon, he’d be the one in Jason’s position, and when he was, he didn’t want the other boy to say anything. He figured he could extend the same courtesy.

When the door opened next, they both jumped. Danny placed himself slightly in front of Jason seeing the agent with the scar through her eye.

Agent J was behind her. They looked at the boys for a moment before saying anything. “We’ve gotten results,” they mumbled. “Agent V, take the pictures,” they said distractedly.

Agent V sneered and pulled out the camera. She yanked on Danny’s arm; he pretended it didn’t hurt.

She stripped him of his suit and took the pictures. She did the same for Jason, taking pictures of his hand and head. Agent J stood writing in their notebook, observing... something. What Danny wouldn’t give to be able to take just a look. He hoped that they made a good show; that these people were entertained by their hurt, their pain.

He couldn’t help but feel the photos were nothing but a trophy of their capture.

“Okay,” the agent mumbled. “Not that I owe you an explanation,” they said as they started pulling things from their pocket, “But I’ve been told to see what medications would do to you.”

Danny and Jason shared a look. That didn’t sound like it was going to be fun.

They looked at the boys for a moment before scoffing. “Agent V, go see if we can get a couple cots in here. I’m not drawing blood on the floor,” they said severely.

Agent V gave a sarcastic, “Yes, boss,” but did as she was told.

A few minutes later, she was back. She had a single cot. “This was all I could get,” she said before the other agent could question her.

Agent J shrugged. “Works for me,” they mumbled, “Get on the cot, subjects F and T.”

The boys shared a look. Questioning-Suspicion-Fear

Danny raised an eyebrow. Confusion-Questioning-Paranoia

Agent V kicked him in the ribs. “Up, Maggots, do as-"

“Agent V,” Agent J said sternly. “If you cannot control yourself, then you will not work this experiment with me. Understood?”

Agent V nodded silently and walked away to stand next to Agent J. Danny and Jason shared another look.

Jason stood first, helping Danny up after. He allowed the other boy to lean on him as they walked over to the cot.

He helped Danny onto the cot first, then hopped up next to him, careful of his injured hand.

Agent J pulled out two needles. Before Danny could register what was happening, they ripped his sleeve off, getting to his arm. He physically bit his tongue to not say anything.

Agent V started on Jason’s arm, taking an alcohol wipe and swiping it on the crook of his elbow.

Agent J did the same to Danny’s. In near perfect unison, they inserted the needles. They each filled several vials. They labeled them neatly before putting them in a carrier. Once they were done, they put a square of gauze under some medical tape to catch any remaining glowing green blood.

Danny noticed Jason’s had gotten slightly lighter green, more neon rather than lazarus. He pointedly did not look at his own as they packed it away.

Agent J handed them each one tablet. “Take these,” they said sternly.

Both boys did as they were told. Danny tried not to tug Jason’s bonds this time as he sent out Suspicion-Help-Fear to Ellie.

He knew he wasn’t entirely successful as he turned to Jason, who was looking at him with an odd look on his face. Concern-Questioning-Okay?

He subtly nodded as the agents packed up and left. He was vaguely surprised they allowed them to keep the cot, considering they’d been on the floor like animals for a bit now.

Jason reached out and held Danny’s hand. Suspicious-Questioning-Untrusting

Agreement-Understanding-Questioning

They sat like that a few minutes. Jason slid off the cot, checking the underneath. He popped back up a few moments later, shaking his head.

“Not bugged?”

“Not that I can tell,” he answered back.

Danny looked around. “There aren’t any pillows or anything,” he muttered. “I think we’re good unless they shoved it in the mattress,” he said.

“I... want to be more careful about what we say, though,” Jason mumbled back. “Just because we can’t find them doesn’t mean it might not be in the metal of the cot or something,” he said.

Danny nodded. “Nothing yet,” he whispered into Jason’s ear. The other boy hummed, confirming that he’d heard.

He felt a cramping in his gut. It started out subtly but got stronger as time went on. He could tell Jason was feeling the same way.

Soon it was unbearable. It was like a fire that had been lit in the very center of his body, engulfing his being in flame.

He tried to transform back into his human form. It burned as he saw the familiar white light as he tried. He thought he could hear screaming; it took him a second to realize there was another. His throat burned.

He and Jason were both screaming. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. He fought against the urge to close his eyes as he looked over to Jason, who’d fallen from the cot, trying to transform by himself for the first time. If he was feeling anything like he was...

He could understand why he was screaming. It felt like he was back on that live wire. He tried to stop himself from attempting transformation, ultimately failing. His screams started anew.

He didn’t know how, but whatever those people had given them was forcing them to transform. They could’ve just asked; he’d probably have had to work with Jason for the other boy to get it right, but that was better than this; they couldn’t even complete it. The collars kept stopping them from completing their transformations, keeping them in that in between state.

This was such bullshit.

Agent J ran in, frantically taking notes.

“Fascinating,” they breathed, looking over the boys as they screamed and squirmed in pain. It was like they were looking at a rare species of animal, not two 15-year-olds in agonizing hurt.

Agent V came in shortly after, bored. “Can’t you just shut them up?” she rolled her eyes.

Agent J shook their head. “Agent V, that would just negate the purpose of the assignment,” they said as they crouched down to Jason’s level.

They picked him up as he squirmed and fidgeted, screaming.

“Help me hold them down,” they demanded, “I want to draw more blo-”

“Ugh, more?” Agent J muttered, taking Jason by his feet. “I’m going to need more help if you want it to stay still enough to draw anything from it.”

Agent J nodded, calling back up.

When the agents came in, Danny felt panic soar in him. It felt like he was in that basement again, restrained against a chair with his parents fighting right in front of him. Other than their yearly fight about Santa, they’d never really fought about anything.

He saw a hand coming towards his face. He did the only thing he could think of.

He bit it, hard. He fought as hard as he could; he wasn’t sure where he was. One moment he was in the basement, then he was in Freakshow’s circus, then Vlad’s basement, and oh, ancients, he thought he was going to die again. Dying the first time hadn’t been fun and he had a feeling doing it again would suck just as bad, even under different circumstances.

He felt something hit his head. He released his jaw, which was promptly forced closed. He could feel something being wrapped around his head; he couldn’t open his mouth. He vaguely panicked.

He felt something poke his arm. He strained against something. He tried to use his powers, only getting more pain. It was like that time he’d been captured by Vlad-

He didn’t want any more clone babies. Ellie had been enough. The others had already traumatized him from ever trying to have kids of his own.

He vaguely registered something grabbing his hand. Soothing-Calm-Affection

He snapped back to reality. He squeezed Jason’s hand back and tried to focus on that instead of the intense knots of pain and pressure making their way through his body.

Someone reached a hand to his neck. Exhausted, he let it happen. It’s not like he could actually breathe anymore anyway, he died in his parent’s lab and this was his punishment for it-

The pain and pressure dissolved in a white light. When he came back into his body, he was in human form. He could feel his skin and the soft hoodie he’d been wearing before. He felt the weight of the water bottles in his hoodie and pants. He leaned over the side of the cot and emptied his guts, green and red and something vaguely brown mixing together like a demented Christmas tree.

Ancients above, he hated Christmas.

He looked around when he was done, tears and snot dripping through the muzzle that stayed on his face. Agent J looked vaguely delighted in the corner, writing down notes in their pad. The other agents looked vaguely annoyed. He could feel the vomit and blood dripping onto his neckline. The smell was... well. The less said, the better. The copper mixing with the unique scent of the ectoplasmic blood and stomach acid bile was absolutely disgusting. It was worse than that time Sam dragged him and Tucker to the fair and they found a group of little kids getting sick from the teacup ride.

He felt Jason taking hold of his shoulder, rubbing it sympathetically. Agent V was in front of him suddenly, grabbing a hold of the muzzle on his face. “You, you little shit,” she hissed, “You fucking bit me!”

“Agent V-”

“Don’t ‘Agent V’ me- he fucking bit me!”

“He’s muzzled now,” Agent J rolled their eyes. “Honestly, don’t be so dramatic, it didn’t even break skin. Besides, you’ve already been very clear; you hit his head, and we were not supposed to harm the subjects for this experiment. You’re lucky you’re not off the case.”

Agent V glared, holding out her arm. The bruised flesh showed a clear bite mark; you could see each of the indents of Danny’s teeth. “Didn’t break skin?! Look at this shit! Look what that thing did to me, it needs to be put down like a rabid dog!”

He flinched back, his composure still gone in the haze. He felt like that time Skulker put him through a brick wall, but worse.

He heard Jason hitch his breath. His hand trailed down to grasp his. He squeezed his fingers.

“Agent V,” Agent J stated calmly. “Out. Now. You may have the chance to come back when you are proven to no longer be a threat to subject F’s safety. You will not even look at their door without permission. Do you understand?”

Agent V was silent.

“Agent V,” their voice was stern, “Do you understand?"

Agent V stormed out.

Jason and Danny looked at each other. Agent J looked at them, taking in their states. “My oh my,” they said quietly. They looked to Jason, taking in his apparel. “We really did catch a little Robin. I’ll have to make certain we don’t get... company while you’re here. That’d be bad for business,” they mumbled, beginning to trail their fingers against his mask.

He fought to stay still. Danny could tell he wanted to flinch back, but in a show of restraint, didn’t.

“You two have some nerve,” they said quietly, “Pretending you feel pain. You’ve already shown us you don’t; unless you were dampening your reactions? In which case you have remarkable pain tolerances,” they muttered, mostly to themselves.

“I will break you,” they hissed. “The queen doesn’t exactly see your potential yet, but I assure you, I will bring it out of you if I have to rip it out myself.”

He’d seen obsession before. This was like nothing he’d ever seen. Obsession came in all sorts of forms, but to be obsessed like this was nearly unheard of. He vaguely wondered if prolonged exposure to ectoplasm like this had made the agents liminal. They certainly had the obsessive nature down.

He took a deep breath. Being in ghost mode for so long had made him forget it was a thing. He already missed it; he was beginning to feel the ache of hunger and the thirst in the back of his throat. He struggled against the muzzle for a moment but quickly gave up, seeing the look they gave.

In moments like this, he couldn’t help but doubt anyone was coming. He was terrified; he was scared. He did his best to quell his fears, to stomp them down in his chest before they could travel to Jason, but it was nearly a futile effort. Where were they? Why had they been abandoned? Why did it have to be them? What if they were never rescued?

The agent laughed. “I see they’re truly kicking in now,” they said to the other agents in the room. “The transformation was an... unprecedented turn of events, but we’re getting the results we need.”

They wrote more in their little notebook. If he could just have five minutes, unrestrained-

He twitched. They were never going to go home. He was never going to get to meet Jason’s family, see Tucker and Sam, or Jazz-

Paranoia. It had been many men’s downfalls. Pariah Dark’s fatal flaw was his paranoia that he didn’t have enough power to protect what was his, and it had driven him mad.

Why was he surprised they’d use this against them? He had the sinking feeling if they weren’t rescued soon, it’d just be another drop in the bucket, so to speak.

He took a deep breath. They were coming. He wasn’t Orpheus waiting for Eurydice; he was Daniel... he was Danny. He guessed he couldn’t call himself a Fenton anymore, could he?

He focused on Jason.

Reassurance-Calm-Quiet

Jason nodded.

The agent hummed.

“You two seem awfully close,” they said, voice barely above a whisper. “It makes you wonder what you’d do for one another, doesn’t it? Would you really go to the end of the world for one another?”

He would’ve cursed if he didn’t have the muzzle on. They smiled.

“Well, we’ve got more ghosts to see,” they mumbled. “Thank you for your assistance, gentlemen. You are dismissed.”

“What about the cot?” a faceless agent asked.

They hummed. “Let them keep it,” they said. “It’s not like they’ll be able to do anything with it, and it’ll make my job easier in the long run.”

The agents filed out of the room. Jason looked to Danny, leaning in and whispering.

“You okay in that thing?”

He glared the best he could and shook his head, pointing to the pile of puke on the floor and pinching his hoodie between his fingers. Jason winced.

“You’ve got vomit in the muzzle, don’t you?”

He nodded. Jason began searching through the belt, pulling out his lock picking kit. He began pulling out tools and attempting to make a go at the lock on the muzzle. He stayed still.

“We’ll have to listen for footsteps,” Jason whispered. “But at least we can get you cleaned up.”

The lock came off with a click and they carefully unwrapped it from the boy’s mouth. He took a bottle of water out of his hoodie pocket and poured some water into his mouth, swishing it around before spitting it onto the puke. Jason looked around for something to wipe it out.

Danny spotted a roll of paper towels on the counter and stood up to grab them, his knees almost giving out for a moment before he stabilized. He managed to grab them.

He and Jason worked together to wipe out the muzzle. He took a few to wipe down his face and shirt, wetting a few with water before dabbing at the hoodie. He down the rest of the water.

Jason silently took the bottle from him. He went down and hid it in the back of the lower cupboard.

Danny began to clean the puke off the floor, pulling up his sleeves and using plenty of paper towels. Jason watched him for a second.

Danny looked at him. “They’ll probably be upset if we don’t,” he said, voice scratchy.

He nodded. He knelt down to help him.

They both kept an ear out, flinching whenever someone stepped a little too close to their door. The collars were itchy against their skin and the puke had made a wet spot that pressed uncomfortably against Danny’s neck.

Unable to do much more, they left the paper towels on the floor in a heap. Jason offered him a cliff bar.

What if it’s poisoned?

Danny shook his head. It was sealed. It was fine.

He ate slowly, taking the time to take in how each bite felt. It felt like forever since he had eaten anything at all; logically, it couldn’t have been that long since he had been stuffed full by Agent-… Jason’s grandfather figure. It certainly hadn’t been long enough for him to justify savoring a cliff bar the way he was.

He pushed the thought out of his head before it could form. What if it had already been long enough to forget about them?

Paranoid had never been his look. He was usually self-assured, and he never had doubts that he was loved before. Even now, he didn’t really doubt he was loved. Jazz and his friends had made that clear. Jason clearly still felt something for him, at least didn’t hate him; he didn’t abandon him and he didn’t sever their bond yet.

This was all new territory. He had never been the person to worry about logistics or think of worst-case scenario. He barely thought of the scenario to begin with; having time to stop and think about what might happen next was beginning to get to him.

He wasn’t used to waiting around like that. He almost felt like he was going nuts.

When they were both finished, they shoved the wrappers in the back of the cabinet. They weren’t sure what the agents would do if they found out about their little snack break, but they weren’t exactly wanting to find out.

The paranoia was enough to suffocate them. Jason seemed to be able to power through it okay, but he felt like he was dying again. It was like someone had fed him instant anxiety; it was nearly too much.

Jason held his hand until breathing felt natural again and he wasn’t thinking in the worst-case scenario.

He inhaled and stretched. “That sucked,” he said lowly. Jason nodded.

He hadn’t known Jason for long, but he’d known him long enough to know what that face he was making meant. It was the same one he’d had before he threw Molotov cocktails at the agents.

“What are you thinking?” he whispered.

Jason held something up. “This is a tracker,” he whispered.

Danny immediately understood. “The signal is going to be jammed. It might already be completely scrambled,” he whispered, scooting closer. “But... can I try something?”

Jason nodded. Danny made sure they weren’t touching, which caused Jason to raise an eyebrow. “What-”

“Shh,” he shushed. He concentrated, vaguely hoping he wasn’t about to fry himself for nothing.

He buzzed the tiniest bit of ectoplasm into the device. Not enough and it wouldn’t work; too much and it was liable to explode and/or come to life. Neither were pleasant scenarios to think about.

The collar, miraculously, didn’t shock him. The tracker didn’t come to life and try to eat them.

“... How do you know it’s working?” he asked softly.

“You don’t,” he muttered. “It’s supposed to be subtle, you know, in case I get kidnapped?”

Danny smiled a bit. “Why, Robin, who would be crazy enough to kidnap you? Batman’s sidekick!”

Jason tried not to laugh too loud. “Shut up,” he muttered.

“Um,” he said once they were done shaking with silent amusement, “I don’t know if it worked worked, but I did give it some juice. No clue if it’ll do the thing now.”

“So we wait,” Jason said.

Danny paused. “Yeah. We wait.”

It was silent for a moment. “I fucking hate waiting,” Jason muttered.

Danny snorted. “Same.”

They looked at each other a moment. They snapped their heads towards the door as they heard footsteps coming near it. Jason grabbed the muzzle when they heard them pause.

Danny helped him wrap it around his head as they heard a jingle of keys. They got it on, placing their hands in their laps as the agent walked in.

Agent J stood in the doorway. “Ah. I forgot that was deemed necessary,” they said vaguely in lieu of actually addressing the muzzle.

They took in the scene. “You two cleaned the puke?” they said, pointing to the pile.

They nodded in unison.

They sighed. “I could’ve sworn I told someone to mop that up,” they muttered. “No matter. I’ll have someone come in and do that; it would certainly be a factor in the experiment. We don’t have more tablets; what a shame.”

They grabbed Jason’s arm, pulling a needle from their pocket. “I’m nearly positive you are unable to understand,” they started, “However, I talk to myself constantly, so you will simply have to deal. I’m drawing more blood to check for certain enzymes,” they said to themselves. “If we figure out how human you are, and if you’re human enough, we can replicate your experiences and we can hopefully recreate the effects.”

Danny felt a pool of dread in his stomach.

They didn’t elaborate further as they drew three vials of blood and moved on to Danny’s.

At this point, Danny was nearly certain they only used different needles to avoid cross-contamination of their blood.

When the agent was done, they looked them up and down. “Do you want the muzzle off?”

Danny nodded cautiously. What was this?

They smirked. “I bet that’s uncomfortable, isn’t it?”

He nodded again.

“What do you say?”

He tried to beg. His muffled speech got more desperate as they shook their head and started leaving the room.

“I guess you don’t want it that bad, huh? Oh well, you can keep it on,” they laughed.

Danny grabbed Jason’s hand as he went to get up. He could only imagine what they’d do if Jason attacked right now.

Not to mention... he hated to say it, but he was beginning to feel the only way to get out was to play the long game.

Patience-Calm-Okay

Jason looked at him. “Fucking bitch,” he muttered, beginning to pull out the kit. Danny shook his head.

“What?” Jason asked. Danny shook his head again.

He pulled Jason by the hand until they were laying down together. He threw his hand around him, pulling him closer. Jason nodded.

They needed every leg up they could. Resting up could be the difference between living through another one of those or...

“I’m sure the queen wouldn’t mind if there was a little accident with one of you that left you full ghost.”

He wished it was the last remnants of lingering paranoia that called the words to the front of his mind, but he knew it was real weight and malice behind them. They were prepared to kill one of them to keep the other in line. That was something he was sure of.

Jason fell asleep easily. He figured it had to be a bat thing; dropping asleep like he did, waking up with near-perfect clarity in most situations. It had to have been something he’d been trained to do.

He vaguely wondered what his own hero career could’ve been like if he’d had the training to back up his natural skill. Sometimes, watching Jason, he wondered if he had any natural skill to begin with.

Jason sometimes acted like he was the only one to have ever been trained. The sole prodigy of several powerful people, having been given the tools he had. Sometimes Danny doubted he’d ever felt fear.

Of course, he knew that was false. Just earlier he’d watched the boy have a panic attack. He didn’t want to blame Jason for that; it was mostly his fault. He probably should’ve tried harder to find mentors in the ghost zone.

He thought of Pandora. He should probably take her up on her offer of combat training.

Maybe Frostbite would know somebody to train him further with his ice. He frequently forgot he had some of his powers, in all honesty.

He thought of his less... ideal powers. Overshadowing and duplication might’ve been the things Vlad had relied on most, and he may have a strong dislike for them, given his history, but he supposed they wouldn’t be bad to learn. He had an idea.

So far, it seemed like the most basic powers had countermeasures to the collar. He wondered vaguely what would happen if...

He allowed the frost constantly building in his lungs being next to Jason to blow out. It stuck to the mettle of the muzzle. It did not hurt him.

He let the frost form patterns on his skin. From the corner of his eye, he saw Jason shift away in his sleep.

He carefully got off the bed. He let the frost disappear on its own.

He took a deep breath. He allowed more frost to form on his fingertips, thicker this time. He could feel the buzz of the collar.

He couldn’t get away with a blast, but this...

He slowly pressed his fingers to the floor. It was slow, but he could build it up easily. He worked on getting it to disappear. He smirked around the muzzle.

They may not get out today, but he was beginning to form some sort of plan. He’d have to run it by Jason, and maybe do a few more tests, but if he was right it could be the key to their future.

He let the collar cool down from where it was buzzing up to let out a shock. Considering it didn’t affect the people that touched it, just them, he suspected it was ectoplasm. It could be molded. It could change.

It could be trained.

He brought forward his intangibility. Allowing his pinky finger to go translucent, he stuck it in the floor. He held it a few seconds. He pulled it out and let it go solid again.

As long as he did it in small increments, he could get around the collar’s defenses. Eventually, he could probably get it to where he could almost use his powers normally...

Considering they still had this as their main defenses, either it only worked with halfas, or nobody had figured this out yet. He suspected it was because most ghosts wouldn’t be stupid enough to try it to begin with; he could feel the stress on his core every time he was shocked. He knew too many of those too quick would destabilize him. They’d have to be careful; he’d have to be careful.

Getting caught doing this wasn’t an option.

Once he had gone through every power he thought he could practice without bringing attention to himself, he crawled back into the cot with Jason. The other boy whined a bit in his sleep and threw his arm around him, pulling him closer. He allowed it to happen, snuggling closer; he could rest easy for a while.

The next time someone opened the door, he blearily looked up. For once they were actually quiet; as though they hadn’t wanted to disturb them.

An agent he’d never seen before creeped in, pushing her finger to her mouth. Keys jingled slightly as she walked over to them.

“Hi, sweetheart,” she whispered, fiddling with the keys. “I just got in for tonight; I’ll take more pictures later,” she said quietly. “I’ll monitor the door; just knock three times when subject T’s awake, yeah? Then you guys can tell me all about yourselves,” she finally grabbed a hold of the key she wanted, bringing it to the lock on the muzzle. “I’m sorry you were stuck in this thing so long,” she muttered. “Those hard asses can be so stubborn,” she winked as she unlocked the muzzle.

Danny sat still as she carefully took it away. She brought a hand up to his jaw and rubbed softly. “Better?” She asked.

Danny nodded. He still thought this had to be a prank. “I-, uh, thank you?” he whispered out.

She nodded. “Nobody came in here to clean that up?” she asked, pointing to the pile of paper towels.

He shook his head. “No, ma’am,” he said quietly, freezing when Jason stirred.

She hummed. “I’ll wait until he’s awake, but I’ll call someone in for you. Hang in there, sweetie.”

She smiled pleasantly. “I’m Agent A, by the way. It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Phantom.”

With that, she left.

He stared at the door. If he strained his ears, he could hear three distinct clicks. That would be helpful.

He still couldn’t... why had she done that? He didn’t trust it. They may not have been here long, and maybe he still had some of that paranoia pill left in his system, but he knew a trick when he saw one.

It was nice to have the muzzle off. He stretched his jaw and looked over to Jason, still sleeping.

In a while, he’d wake. They’d talk softly, quickly, before they knocked. She’d keep her word, coming in and taking pictures of their injuries, dressing the few remaining wounds and marveling at their healing times. She’d call someone in to clean the puke. She’d sneak them some juice.

But that would be then, and this was now. Right now, Danny cuddled closer to Jason. He lay down to sleep, silently drifting off for the next hour. He dream of freedom, he dream of meeting Jason’s family, of getting to see his parents again, as they were. He was loved. He was protected. He knew he would be fine at the end of the day and he had a place in the world. He could grow up, he could be an astronaut, and he could be a vigilante on his own terms. He could be happy.

Dreams are funny like that. They can either rip your heart out of your chest and leave you for dead, or they could give you the hope you desperately need.

As Danny and Jason slept peacefully, Agent A walked down the hall. She came to an office with the door open.

A serious woman with a stern face and neat bun sat at an elaborate desk. She was doing paperwork. The calendar was set at April 27. The sun set through the window. Agent A knocked a single knuckle against the door.

“Enter, agent. This better be important,” she looked up. “Ah, it’s you. Did he take the bait?”

Agent A smirked viciously. It was the kind of look even a God would fear. “I think he’ll need a bit more convincing,” she said, vindictive satisfaction dripping from her words, “But yes. I think he took the bait nicely.”

The madame smirked. This was why the woman in front of her was the best agent; her cunning was to be admired. “Excellent,” she murmured. “And he suspects nothing?”

“If he does,” she said casually, “I think he’ll be over it in a week. The other one was asleep, so I couldn’t get a read on him.”

“That’s alright,” the madame said. “As long as you do your job, and do it well.”

Agent A looked her in the eye. “I always get my results.”

She chuckled. “You do,” she replied.

It truly was a marvel, where a little bit of kindness could take you. That had been something she had learned as a child.

Even with scum as low as ghosts and other ecto-entities, the same rule applied. They liked it when you did things for them. They liked being praised and they liked their egos stroked.

She went back to the room, listening for the knocks. Once they were more secure, she’d plant the bug, but for now, she listened.

She would wait until it was time to strike. Now was the time to be kind.

#dp x dc #ailesswhumptober2023 #jason todd #danny fenton #danny phantom #dc robin #robin #batman #ai less whumptober day fifteen #kite flies over the nightingale nest

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