Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Get these stupid things… off…”

Leonard had gone about ten minutes ago, leaving the rest of the broken Mud Dogs to question what was left for them. Their lives were surely going to end in that arena. Danny didn’t want to think about it, no matter how much his mind was forcing him to. No matter how heavily Heinous Green was breathing just a few feet away.

So, instead, he chose to busy himself with the devices restraining his hands. It was a simple practice, in places like prisons, to prevent a spellcaster from casting as a safety measure. Sometimes that took the form of mana blockers in the cells, but those could exhaust the prisoners and even cause long term problems. The more humane alternative was to place a physical inhibitor on the body, often in the form of a piece of jewelry or restraint.

What Danny had on his hands? He wouldn’t call it jewelry.

It was metallic, sure, glinting in the low light of the space. But it was torturous on his fingers. Instead of preventing the mana output entirely, the devices kept his hands splayed into wide fans, with bars preventing the fingers from even getting close to each other. To attempt to cast a spell with his hands bound like that would be miserable, and wouldn’t work anyway.

Mickey, sitting next to him, was still mostly curled up. His crying had slowed, his breathing more even. The full body binding holding him to the wall was plain and ugly; but gently carved with the necessary runes to keep a powerful mystic at bay. Mickey was usually underestimated when it came to his mystics, but it was clear that Big Mama was taking no chances. That, or she knew of Mickey’s power. Most likely the latter. Big Mama knew everything in this city.

And Heinous Green. The kaiju had hardly moved, just pressed closer to the bars, closer to Mickey. He couldn’t press too much, due to the sharp manacles holding his wrists and ankles. If Danny could see better in the darkness, he might even say that the metal muzzle on his snout had sharp edges, too. Those restraints weren’t enchanted, he could tell. They were practical. Even try to grow and break out, you bleed out before you can make it.

Danny had to stop in his struggle when Mickey finally broke the potent silence.

“Do you think… it’s my fault?”

Danny leaned harder into Mickey’s side, his face crumpling at the eel’s mumbled words. He let his hands fall to his sides. “What do you mean, Mick?”

Mickey was still staring down at the floor, eyes red from his earlier crying. A few tears were still fighting to get free, and a slight raspiness could be heard in his throat. “Do you think this is my fault? Us… being here?” Before Danny could take in a full breath to respond, Mickey barreled on in his thoughts. “I was the one that said something was up with Heinous Green. If I hadn’t worried, or- or if I hadn’t told you guys, maybe…”

“Mickey.” Danny held the sides of Mickey’s face carefully, not wanting to mess with the strange inhibitors. They met eyes. “Us being here is not your fault. And-” Danny had to pause to make sure his voice didn’t waver. “You only wanted to help someone in need. You didn’t intend any of this.”

“I didn’t, but m-maybe I coulda stopped it.” He curled up into himself further. “You said it yourself, it was my idea. If I had just listened to you guys-”

“Hey.” With a little shake to Mickey’s face, Danny’s expression hardened. “It isn’t your fault that we’re here, and I know that isn’t what’s really bothering you. Look, I think this is a long time coming.”

“...what?”

“Leonard. He’s been off ever since we met fake Heinous Green. Him snapping wasn’t your fault.”

“...that has nothing to do with this.”

Danny glanced side to side, off put by Mickey sobering up so quickly. “What do you mean? Leonard left.”

“He didn’t leave us.”

He couldn’t help but scoff. “Sorry, did that whole conversation where Leonard called me a senseless idiot just not happen? People don’t just do that.”

“He didn’t mean it.” Mickey wiped his face, his mind torn away from what was truly bothering him now. “I’m not upset because Leonard left, I’m upset because I made you guys fight!”

Danny had to pause. Mickey didn’t say things lightly. He only said what he truly believed in, but man, was that hard to believe. “You didn’t make us fight, Mickey. I promise. What happened there was going to happen anyway, it just happened to be here. In a dank cell below the Nexus.”

Mickey sniffled. “I didn’t mean to let things get so tense. I-I mean, I noticed Len was a little antsy, and you too, but I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

“You couldn’t have done anything to stop it. I think… we needed that talk.” Danny’s foot tapped on the floor, his hands twitching, trying to fidget. “You really think Leonard didn’t leave us?”

“Yeah, dude. He… he has a plan. And I think he wants to try to get all of us out.” Mickey glanced over. “Even you, big guy.”

Heinous Green hadn’t made a sound since Leonard left, but he huffed softly at Mickey’s assurance. His tail leisurely scraped across the stone ground behind him.

“He always has to have a plan, doesn’t he,” Danny grumbled, smacking his hands against his knees, as if that could do anything to the mechanisms. He stopped when he snagged the fabric of his pants. “He meant those things he said. I could tell. He was… he was really angry.”

“Maybe. But that doesn’t mean he wanted to mean them. Doesn’t mean he wanted to be angry.”

Mickey turned, meeting Danny’s eyes with that look that made him appear wise far beyond his years. Those eyes weren’t supposed to be able to see through people, in the way they did. Yet somehow, they always could. Mickey got lots of things wrong, to be frank. He couldn’t do math very well. Sometimes he forgot how to do the simplest things, like how he “forgot” how to wash the dishes right. He was still a teenager, no matter what. But the thing he never got wrong was people. Especially the people he cared about. He had a tendency to point out when Danny or Leonard were hurting, or pushing themselves too far. It was like he could read minds just by seeing the way your face wrinkled.

Danny couldn’t ignore that fact. No matter how much it stung to admit that Leonard had been hurting, wallowing in his own self-hatred, growing a hatred for the rest of them; Mickey had to be right about this. Leonard was Danny’s best friend, and he still couldn’t see things the way Mickey did. But he wanted to. He wanted it to be true. He wanted Mickey to be right with all his heart. And that hurt a little more than just accepting that Leonard was gone for good. Because if Mickey was right, that meant that Leonard was truly, terribly hurt, broken and angry- and he wanted to come back. He still wanted them to be okay, after everything.

And the more he thought about it, Danny knew Mickey was right. That stung. It was suffocating, worse than the things on his hands. Worse than being in a cell. Worse than knowing he’d be dead before the end of the hour, unless Leonard’s plan went well.

Leonard’s plans always went well.

“...so we just wait?” Danny tried to ignore how his voice cracked a little.

“Yeah.” Mickey wrapped a fin around his hand, as much as he could with the restraints. “We wait together.”

Danny took a deep breath, glancing at Heinous Green. The kaiju had calmed, and was sitting in what seemed to be a comfortable position. It was almost like he was… resigned to it. To whatever happened next, no matter how brutal or cruel. No matter who came to save him.

Silently, Danny pulled his hand away from Mickey so he could get up and sit between the eel and the kaiju, though still kept away by the bars and as far as Heinous Green’s restraints would let him go. He held a hand out, offering it to Heinous Green if he could reach, and left the other one for Mickey to hold.

Just before Danny was going to pull back, Heinous Green tapped a single claw to his palm.

What little light trickled into the space glinted off the restraints they all wore. They were utterly powerless now, victim to whatever fate had in store just around the corner. Their lives fully dependent on the decision of their friend, already heartbroken and damaged. With nothing to do but wait.

Once again, Danny’s hand twitched.

“...I’ve got a lot to apologize for, if Len pulls through.”

“He will.” Mickey said with certainty, squeezing Danny’s hand tight.

He did.