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Danny tried to focus on his lungs. Carefully regulating the intake of air and shaky exhales. His mind narrowing to the erstwhile automatic motions of his chest for a few seconds, resisting the impulse to gulp air like a parched man would water. The distant voice in his head that had a distinct Jazz feel to it, admonishing him to not throw himself into a panic attack at the exact wrong moment. Still it was hard to focus while his brain tried so far to linger on the cracks he’d felt on the smooth, cold exterior of his core or the dent of the chip digging into it. no no don’t think about that, expand your chest, force your lungs to expand, kickstart the breathing, air goes in through the nose, down to the lungs, inflate them and circulate, helping pump the heart and the cardiovascular vessels --
The sharp yank and change in velocity throwing him against the taunt seatbelt punching the carefully drawn breath out of him, making him bring his focus back onto the two dark haired men with him as the glow of da-- Jack’s energy beam blaster shone a short distance from the car, sending a tremor through it as gravel and pavement was flung from the newly made crater.
The taller dark haired guy who was sitting next to him on the back seat was looking back worryingly with his head on a swivel between the other one driving and the GAV in hot pursuit.
“We need to lose them, RR” The backseat guy said with an edge in his voice that made the moment come into sharp details for Danny, though he wasn’t quite sure he understood the undercurrent in it.
“I texted O, she’s gonna get the cavalry. I’ll try to get us to a less busy area.” The shorter guy driving responded, taking a sharp turn and then another in quick succession.
The backseat guy was still alert, looking behind them with a grim look and something in Danny’s core responded.
“It’s okay. It’s gonna be -- okay.” The words stumbled out of Danny’s mouth before he could even consider them, wanting, no needing the kind people who’d risked their lives to get him out and away, to feel less anxious and look less fearful somehow.
That’s when he realized that his hand was still deep within his own chest, grasping tightly at his core. Tucker had tried to hack into the chip from Mo-- Maddie’s computer but to no avail, but... they hadn’t considered...
“I- I’ve got it. I know how -- I’ve got it...” He continued looking straight into the backseat guy’s eyes. Blue... like the sky on a clear day, ocean reflected, hiding the immensity of space...
“What?” The older male’s voice was soft, despite the noise (that blasted noise, high-pitched whine circling his head... oh... outside is screeching tires and revving engines, car honks and blaster screech... that’s not here... that’s inside...).
“Stop and let me out.” Danny’s voice sounded so firm to his ears, as though the confidence he didn’t feel was coming out in the calm of it.
“Kid they’re no less than 3 streets away right now.” The driver threw back him his while taking another turn at a red light causing some more noise behind them.
“I can get it out. I need t-time and space. 5 minutes and... nobody around.”
“5 minutes and nobody around, huh... I think I can do that..”
They take a couple more turns and drive some more before the car comes to a sudden halt, forcing a huff out of Danny as he feels the twinge to his core where his hand is starting to actually feel cold around it.
The backseat guy scrambles to open his door as Danny fumbles with his own before said guy just opens it for his, leaning over him to unclip his seatbelt when his eagerness to get out means he forgets. The ghost soaks up the heat from the warm body against him, feeling an ache at the back of his throat as he goes back to thinking about regulating his breathing so it does not come out as breathy sobs.
He gets out and take a few steps away, just as the noise of the chenil on the GAV can be heard beyond the containers the car is parked between. There’s no time and there are two human living, breathing, people at his back. They count on him, and he’s aching to HELP.
So with one last gulp of air through his useless lungs, he focuses onto his hand and his core and thinks about the cold and it emanating and dispersing from both in tandem and rising ... rising like a tidal wave... from goosebumps, to foggy breath, to numbness and blood retracting, to cells dying and shutting down -- THERE!!
He opens his eyes just as the GAV’s headlights appear at the mouth of the alley made from the surrounding containers. Just as soon, he rips his hand away from his core, taking with it the ice it had started producing and within said ice, the chip. Splaying his hand out towards the vehicle, the ice covered chip and a long lance of cold ectoplasmic ice slammed into the hood, spreading onto the front of the car and bouncing into a fan around the car and onto the containers.
The Ghost Assault Vehicle was heavily modified with the help of ectoplasm to withstand many things, but even then, vehicles can hardly survive a blast of focused and intended freeze reaching -85° centigrades, unless specifically designed for solely cold temperatures, which as an all-rounder GAV, it was not.
The GAV’s headlights remained lit, even as the engine died and the vehicle was stuck in a wall of ice taking the height of the containers blocking any approach beside from the top.
In the resulting silence (the ice thick enough to obscure sound and light, especially in the dark of Gotham), Danny wanted to scream, wail his Ghost Wail even, just to bring out the absolute betrayal and fear and agony of knowing nothing could ever come to be anymore, even if he let the wall down, his par... they would not calm down or slow down and would hunt him again and agAIN AND AGAIN
But his spiralling thoughts were cut short as a warm shoulder and body appeared under his arm and same under the other and he realized he was being held up by the two strangers, his legs having completely given up on him.
“The chip’s in that ice. We should ... be clear...” He huffed roughly, his tongue feeling heavy in his head and bring it lolling forward.
“That’s great, thanks kid. Back in the car we have less than 3 minutes before they can reach the other side of the containers and clock where we’ll go with the car. Let’s go” The driver said as Danny forced his head to turn to his profile, right there, uh shorter than him then, dark hair, blue eyes too but greyer, overcast days more than sunny.
“M’name’s Danny. Danny F-Phantom...” He slurred even as the creeping fuzziness around his vision finally won. The last thing he registered being distant cursing and movement before. nothing.