Choice of Prisoner pt 11
Danny was beginning to think that he might need to take Nora Fries case to Frostbite. The old ghost might know more about this mysterious ailment, but Danny was good with the cold. If he could get this damn collar off then he might be able to find Nora and investigate from a ghostly perspective. Then again, this was an aggressive form of cancer. The cold stopped the cells from replicating, but it had frozen everything else too. He flipped a textbook open to view the diagram depicting the Macgregor's syndrome corruption of the cells.
He could help her defrost safety...but the cancer? Chemo didn't work in the slightest. Nora was the only person who'd lived this long with it....if you could call living in suspended animation with no control over your fate living.
Danny glanced around his cell, dragging his chair to hide the call of "WULF!"
"BARK! BARK!" Someone answered.
"AWOOOOOOO!"
The resulting howl covered the sudden rip in reality which appeared within his cell. Wulf jumped free to bare his teeth at the cell. Danny dropped his notes, stunned. "I didn't think that would work!"
"Little hero!" He leapt forward with a beaming smile, wrapping Danny in a hug. "Little hero! Why are you in prison? What did Walker do to you? Why are they barking?"
Danny found himself sniffing into the Spanish styled cape as he realized that someone had come for him. Wulf had heard him calling. Wulk had come.
"Friend?"
"I missed you." Danny sniffled, and once the first tear had worked it's way out he found he couldn't stop. Burying his sobs against the furry chest while trying to hide within the confines of the cape like a child from the monsters. He stood there, weeping as Wulf gently pet the back of his head and gently cradled him close. When he regained some of his sense Danny managed to dry his eyes for a long moment. Wulf's concerned expression didn't shift.
"Hero?
"This is human prison. Can't escape.....family in danger. Take message to doctor snow?"
Wulf as always chuckled when Danny fumbled his limited Esperanto, offering a gentle nuzzle to Danny's hair which only prompted more tears.
"Frostbite will be pleased. Write a letter."
"Okay." Danny grabbed a notebook and dragged it closer so he could lean on Wulf as he wrote. It wasn't a long letter, but explained his situation, how he could send letters through Wulf if the werewolf agreed, and to please look over the notes he had regarding Nora's illness. Once he passed it over it vanishedi nto his cloak and Danny took a moment to breath the familiar scent of his friend and the Infinite Realms.
"I smell plants approaching. I must go."
"Okay." Danny fought back tears as Wulf licked the side of his cheek and vanished through another portal. He was still fighting them back when Pamela turned the corner with a stack of cookies in her hands.
"Hey! My girlfriend sent cookies! Isn't that great? Do you want some? They're probably not as good as Brucie's butler but....Danny?"
Danny hunched his shoulders inward, sniffing. He heard Pamela shuffle closer and set the cookies on the desk. "Hi, Pam...I'm fine."
"Do you think so?" She tapped his knee where tears had fallen to stain the fabric. "Kiddo?"
"I....I just was thinking about Nora." He lied. "Why....why he froze her. Why he started stealing and why he keeps trying to do it again and again....I wonder if she ever would have wanted that? If she'd be angry about the shit he's pulled? Why he did it or why....if it was just for himself because he couldn't manage it. I mean....she's a living dead person, Pam and he just throws himself against it again and again and I...when I go over his notes I see him spiraling. He's just..."
"Pathetic?"
Danny nodded, accepting the napkin to stem his uncontrollable tears. "Yeah. Tragic...miserable. I don't understand....I just."
"Look, kid. Vic's as fucked up as they come. I gotta tell you, it's nice that you're helping with the research and shit; but this isn't something....I'm not going to say you shouldn't be doing cancer research since you're just a teenager but holy shit, you shouldn't even be in Arkham so there's really no winning."
Scoffing past his tears he let her hug his shoulders. "Domestic terrorist and supervillain, remember?"
"Yeah, so you blew up a federal building, released prisoners, and some other shit. Who hasn't done that. You're the best of all of us Danny. I mean, youmcare about shit and people. You've got courage to piss all over the Joker."
"That was lemonade."
"My girlfriend says that a brick house who keeps giving about it's foundation stones to the neighbors is going to collapse inward. But I don't think it's just Nora that's got you upset?"
"No....I just....I miss my friends and my family. I only got one letter and it was from fucking Red Hood. My Mom and Dad and my sister don't even....send letters. They don't want to visit. They just wrote me off and I don't even know what they're doing. I thought they were supposed to love me? I thought they....I thought they'd love me even if I messed up and I know I messed up but...I miss my mom." The tears continued to trickle down his face and he didn't resist when he tugged his blanket over his shoulders to give him a moment's respite from the wicked world.
#$#$#$
Bruce Wayne needed to make at an appearance at one event, which had once been though to be a waste of time and money, particular project. Just to show the doctors and researchers that he hadn't forgotten them and hand out little awards. They had done an excellent job over the last few years. Working hard. Training new doctors. Working and studying to find something.
"We've arrived, Master Bruce." Alfred said gently as the car pulled up to the front of the research center.
"Thank you, Alfred. Good luck shopping." He scanned the area of potential threats and climbed out.
It wasn't long before the one of the managers fluttered to his side. "Mr. Wayne! Mr. Wayne! I'm so glad you could make it to this. It will mean the world to our team."
"I'm glad that I can make. Dr. Chambers. How is your daughter?"
"Oh! Fantastic! Well. She's fine. Teenagers. You know how they are."
Bruce nodded sympathetically. "Sure. Just remember to be patient. That will get you everywhere."
Dr. Chambers laughed the faint laugh of a woman on the edge. "I try. But we've got everything set up. I mean, the caterers handled most of it. I'm glad you decided to keep it quiet, Mr. Wayne. I'm just sick of the rouges trying to ruin every nice thing we have in this city. Not to mention it would put Nora at risk."
"How is Mrs. Fries?" Bruce asked. They entered the lobby. It had been roped off for the event.
"Much the same, Mr. Wayne. We've managed to find working research for so many other things by studying McGregors. You know. It's really hard to study since it really kills fast...but I think morale is low, Mr. Wayne."
Bruce nodded sympathetically. "I understand...more than you know It can be difficult to be staring a problem in the face that you can't fix, but I'll have to be a bit of cliche. The team has done so much for people with McGregors and those with other illnesses. We do what we can. They never thought there would be a way to cure lots of illnesses, Dr. Chambers. It's better to climb a mountain with a million tiny steps than have never tried at all."
She glanced upward, shock rippling over her face. "....who said that?"
Well, Bruce had. "Alfred, a real man of wisdom. I have to ask, did you send the notes to Arkham?"
"Oh, yes. Mr. Fries had some good ideas but Danny Fenton had some excellent insight. Maybe we've been looking at the problem the same way too long. His fresh eyes are very promising."
Bruce grinned even as his heart sank. "Yes. He's a promising young man. So, where are the awards?"
The research center was just that, a research center. It wasn't really designed for large gatherings with only a few conference rooms which could hold over 40 people. The caterers had set up in the outdoor lunch area where picnic tables, lawn swings, and the small garden were packed with people. A hush fell over the area as he arrived. Bruce offered a hearty wave to the crowd. Some were well-dressed. Some still in their day clothes, and someone who had been rolled out of the lab on an office chair. A huddle of janitors were clustered off to the side.
He stepped up to the podium and adjusted the mic. "Hello, everyone. "My name is Bruce Wayne. I'm honored to be here with so many talented and skilled people. To be able to honor the work you've all contributed on advancing the cancer research. No only with McGregors but others. I understand that this work isn't easy and I've been told that it's nothing short of frustrating. Nevertheless, your dedication and persistence is appreciated."
Someone rolled the cart over with the awards. Everything was hidden beneath a white box which could be lifted to reveal the details. Confused muttering rippled through the crowd. He knew they were in order, but they'd been put in order of importance. An order he didn't approve. Picking one at random he held the card up. "For the Ellert G Hazelworth award, Gothams award for Cancer Immunology I'm pleased to present this to Dr. Jean Packard."
Applause broke out for the woman slouched in the office chair. Someone poked her and she jerked sleepily awake. Accepting her reward, dead-eyed and tired, Dr. Packard ignored the journalists on site, shook Bruce's hand, and returned to her chair.
Bruce bounced between awards. Some of the more important wards were slotted in between the award for the receptionists and for the logistics manager. He picked up another box. "Alright, for their work with maintaining the rigorous standards necessary for a facility like this I am honored to award the Dedication to Quality to Custodian Teresa Mendez!" Custodians applauded as the middle-aged woman approached with a faint smile. She accepted the award eyes bright with tears.
'Thank you! This means...Mr. Wayne. No one ever...it's so nice to be appreciated!" She hugged the award to her chest
"Your work isn't easy when it's around work like this. Keeping it up to the necessary standards can't be easy. The work can't get done if nothing is clean." He remembered helping Alfred with chores. Cleaning bits and pieces of the manor and slowly understanding that it making the space to work was almost as hard as the work itself."
It wasn't much longer before everything had been passed out. He mingled long enough to get free of the social obligations before heading home.
"Master Bruce, you've received a call from Mr. Michailov. He has requested you call back at your earliest opportunity."
"Thanks, Alfred. I'll call him once we get to the manor. How was your shopping trip?"
"It went very smoothly."
Bruce nodded, leaning back in his seat as he considered the research center, Mr. Freeze, and finally Danny Fenton.
#$#$#$#$
Victor had been storming up and down the corridors, into the yard, and around the library room in a visible fury which Danny had taken to ignoring. It wasn't that he didn't care. But midterms were coming up and Danny was already behind. It wasn't until Victor tossed a newspaper onto the table that Danny bothered to look up.
"Have you seen this insult? How dare they? How could they? This is an insult to my Nora! To my work!"
Scanning through the article, Danny shrugged. "They had an award ceremony....what the problem?"
Victor glowered through his helmet. "They have not finished their work, Daniel!"
"It's Danny, but this isn't just about the work they do on Mcgregors. This is about a whole bunch of other things"
"You do not understand! This is my wife! They are congratulating themselves for having done nothing! NOTHING!"
"It's not nothing, dude. Half of the shit in this textbook was provided by the team at that research center." Danny gestured to the books which lined his desk. "Some of his stuff was only discovered a year ago."
"It is not enough! Those arrogant fools are leaving her die while they celebrate?" He gnashed his teeth together, fuming and pacing around Danny's cell.
Despite his breathing coming out in cold puffs of air he didn't feel as cold as he had a few weeks ago. Turning his attention back to the texbook he could only sigh. Victor had been doing this for a few years by now. Explaining to a bored Danny how much his research was hindered every time he'd have to rob a bank. Pointing out that they would probably progress better if he just cooperated with like-minded scientists hadn't been appreciated. Victor had also been sited as an example of supervillain related psychosis in a few of the books. Like so many others he was stuck in a descending spiral of obsession.
"It was probably some dumb corporate thing. I can ask Bruce next week."
"Bruce Wayne. Yes. That stupid, ridiculous man! He probably thought a few extra documents meant that they'd made progress. Stumbling along like idiots! Morons!"
"Yeah. Okay, Victor. I get it, but I'm studying for midterms. Why don't you go talk to someone or blow something up." Danny turned his back to the man and listened to him stomp down the hall. Looking at the delicate sketch of Nora Fries now glued to the wall with some chewed gum it was all he could to not to rip it down. "Ma'am. Your husband is nuts."
chapter 10
https://www.tumblr.com/planningconquest/809408062286905344/choice-of-prisoner-pt-10
chapter 12
https://www.tumblr.com/planningconquest/811128242700435456/choice-of-prisoner-pt-12
