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Danny poked around the edges of the collar. There had to be a way to take if off, but he couldn;t feel any obvious latches. It must lock or unlock with a remote.
But he didn’t have the remote! He needed to get it off. He needed to escape.
His fingers traced the collar again. There was a thin seam near the back that he could just barely get his fingernail in.
He tried pulling the two ends apart, but he couldn’t wrap his fingers around the collar since it sat so tightly against his throat.
He took a deep breath, placing his fingers near the seam. Then he concentrated on the cold of his core. It was hare. The collar made it difficult to access his core, but if he could get just enough…
He felt frost spread from his fingers. He pressed them tighter against the seal, willing the frost to spread into the device.
He was panting, brow furrowed in concentration. The frost was seeping into the device. Just a little more. Come on. He could do it. He just needed to focus. Just a little more.
Then the lights turned on, and Danny’s eyes flew open as he dropped his hands, willing the frost to melt.
They stopped in front of his cage.
“It feels a little colder in here.” The agent stared at the collar around his neck. “That definitely looks like frost. What do you think?”
He crouched down in front of the cage and Danny scooted as far back as he could.
The cage opened and Danny’s breathing picked up.
Danny pressed himself against the back, but Agent E just reached in and yanked him forward by his hair, pressing his face against the side of the cage. Danny trembled as the man felt around his collar.
“We’d heard rumors about Phantom having power over ice. This just confirms it. But, Phantom,” He sighed. “You really shouldn’t have done that.”
The agent shoved him back and Danny hit his head against the cold concrete floor.
Danny opens his eyes and sees the man take out the remote.
No! No! Please, I'm sorry, I won’t do it again! Danny begs silently trying to convey his meaning with his eyes and gestures, his words trapped behind the muzzle.
The agent looks at him almost sadly, “You need to learn that actions have consequences, Phantom.”
He presses the button, and Danny’s screams are trapped behind his teeth
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When Danny returns to the land of the conscious everything hurts. The collar buzzes again and another flare of pain shoots through him. Breathing’s difficult through his partially clogged nose. He must have it when he was thrashing earlier for it to have bled.
The collor is still giving off a low level buzz of electricity, not necessarily enough to hurt, but enough for his body to keep trembling and seizing from the shocks. Every now and then, it gives a bigger shock.
He doesn’t know how long it lasts before he hears people enter the room.
He can hear voices, though they're muffled by the ringing in his ears.
Then one person leaves and the other approaches the cage.
He hears a click, and then the collar blessedly shuts off. Danny slumps, whimpering quietly.
“You brought this on yourself, Phantom. I thought you’d already learned your lesson, but I guess I was wrong.”
Danny tries to open his eyes, but they only open a tiny bit.
“And while the shock was an immediate consequence, there are also some long term consequences that we are going to have to apply.”
Danny sees the agent take something small and metallic out, but he can’t tell what it is through his blurry vision.
“The collar isn’t as powerful as we thought, that’s our fault. But don’t worry, we’ve found a solution that will keep you from giving in to the temptation to try to escape. Give me your wrists.”
Danny didn’t move. His whole body was trembling, and he didn’t think he’d be able to extend his wrist even if he tried.
“Don’t make me hurt you even more, Phantom.”
Danny shakily slid one of his wrists across the cage.
“There we go, good job.”
Danny trembled, but the agent just picked his wrist up gently and attached what Danny now knew was a cuff.
He groaned as it activated, feeling more of his core get locked away.
“Shsss. It’s going to be alright. Now, your other wrist.”
He felt dizzy.
“Phantom.”
Danny managed to slide his other wrist an inch forward.
The agent sighed, but reached in to grab his other wrist. “I understand you’re not feeling well, but you still need to try and obey.”
The other cuff clicked into place.
He breathed in sharply through his nose, keening.
Everything was wrong. He felt disconnected from his own ectoplasm, from his body. He couldn’t even feel his other half hidden away.
And he was so cold, and not in the way he was used to. This felt like that time when he was five years old and his parents had dropped him and Jazz off to play in the park while they worked even though it was freezing. He’d walked out onto the frozen lake, marveling at being able to stand on water before the ice had cracked and he’d fallen in. He wasn’t sure what had happened after that. One moment he’d been drowning, the next he was shivering in Jazz’s arms as she cried while carrying him home.
He doesn’t know how he can function like this. How long will he last, disconnected from his core except for the few times they allow it for their own experiments?
Everything aches and Danny barely registers Agent E running his fingers through his hair as he cries.