ellebossy

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Daily Excerpt: Hybrid Affinity

This week's chapter is the climax! I'm excited for you all to get to it. Less the 48 hours to go. >:) In the mean time, please enjoy this sneak peak from Chapter Seven: Containment Breach. ______________________________________________________

“I have nothing to hide from you humans.” The men spread out around the room to face the older halfa, and Danny fell back to ‘cower’ in a corner. The movement barely earned him a sideways glance from the agents. It’d helped he’d been quiet and too worn down to fight the last time they’d seen him. When the lead officer looked in his direction, he flinched and curled in on himself tighter. The jackass looked delighted by his acting. So really, it would be a riot when they escaped.

“I’m going to count to three, and you're going to hand over your contraband.” The agents pulled out a combination of guns and stun batons. “Any resistance will be met with severe physical discipline.” Oh, they were pretending this was ‘discipline’ now?

Vlad squared his shoulders and flared his aura, “You merely wish you were capable of subduing me.” There were suddenly shadows in the room, like the lights were being swallowed up by something in midair. He had to ask him later how he was doing that. The agents, save their leader, squirmed uncomfortably and glanced around at all the wiggling shapes. The older halfa’s smile held more than a little promise of violence, “I’m going to enjoy shattering your bones.”

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Chapter Three has been released! I'm looking forward to getting to hang out with you all on this journey through Hybrid. In this chapter, Danny gets a chance to talk to Vlad and the two attempt to come to an accord...

Still not sure if you want to read this story? Have a preview of this chapter below the cut!:

“I believe I’ve been captured. It’s the same reason you’re here, Phantom. ” 

“You don’t understand. You can’t be in here.”

“I’d prefer if I wasn’t as well, but if wishes were—”

“No, you asshole, I mean if you’re in here, who’s going to break me out?” Danny floated a little closer, drawn in by a combination of his frustration and the chill of another ghost. 

“Should you say something like that where they can hear?” Vlad replied.

“They don’t have audio in here,” Danny pointed up at the ceiling where the camera probably lived, “just video.”

“You’re certain?”

“They haven’t responded to a thing I’ve said in here yet,” Danny said.

“Small blessing. As for escape, I have a plan for that.” Vlad’s smile hadn’t gotten less infuriating in the time he’d been trapped in this hellhole. “All you have to do is work with me, and we’ll be out of here in no time.”

“I’m supposed to believe that? What? We’re escaping with the power of friendship?” He unclenched his jaw, and worked it slowly side to side. The injection had reopened fractures as well. 

“It’s far easier to escape together than separately.”

“And you’ll help me out of the goodness of your rancid little heart.”

“You’re testy, aren’t you?”

“I’ve been trapped in The Oven for the last two weeks!”

“You’ve been missing three.”

“That’s not my point! How am I supposed to trust your plan is going to get us both out of here, instead of just covering your own ass so you can use me to escape?” The answering glare on Vlad’s face didn’t make up for the last few weeks of torture, but it did boost his spirits. 

“I didn’t suffer the indignities of being transported in a cage and mocked the last few hours just to hear you doubt me, you little brat.” Vlad took a couple deep breaths, rolled the shoulder opposite the one with the injury, and rubbed at his temples. “They are pumping something into the air.” 

“Yeah, some kind of suppressant.”

“It’s...clouding my thoughts, and degrading my temper.”

“You don’t seem any worse than usual.”

“Well, I feel worse. Irrational, aggravated, and not just because you’re being obnoxious.”

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Chapter Six is out! If you haven't had a chance to read this fanfic yet, you should join us. We're two chapters from the end, but there's still about two weeks for you to catch up. In this chapter, Danny is returned to The Oven, and comes to an understanding with Plasmius about how to escape the GIW's custody...

The Climax is the next chapter, so I hope you join us before next Wednesday! Make it a Binge Weekend! Summary:

A momentary lapse of attention, a weapon's blast grounding him, an agent's boot heading towards his jaw... Danny has been the 'primary research subject' of the Area 23 facility for the past three weeks. Since he was captured, he's had no contact with the outside world, and no chance of escape. After complaining about a lack of conversational partners, his heated cage finds a second occupant: Vlad Plasmius. With his last chance at escape captured with him, Danny's hope dwindled until he heard the other halfa promise he had a plan. The only problem: He doesn't trust Vlad.

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Implied/Referenced Torture, Past Torture, Psychological Torture, Medical Experimentation, Medical Torture, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Angst, Hurt/Comfort

Rating: M

Still not sure if you want to join your fellow readers? Have a sneak peek of chapter six below the cut!:

He ached liked someone had scrubbed fine grain sandpaper over every inch of his bones. The skin across his ribs pulled with every shift, so he’d quickly tested if he needed to breathe in ghost form. He didn’t. He preferred it, though, and fighting down the instinct to do so every few seconds was distracting. As soon as I get out of here, I’m going to burn all of Dr. Bursen’s notes. They were digital, held somewhere in the GIW’s computer servers, but the loathsome little jerk hadn’t stopped dictating the entire time. He’d found his way to the top of Danny’s shit list, above even Vlad.

He was too weak to stand or float, and since they didn’t have the patience to wait for him to recover, his escorts had each snagged an arm and started pulling. His head flopped back as they dragged him back to The Oven, his boots squeaking across the linoleum tile in this part of the facility. They hadn’t even injected him with enough Radio-whatever to numb all the pain this time. Somewhere, dimly, he looked forward to getting back to his cell; the suppressant would leave him completely numb.

“Agent T, please prepare the door for transfer.” Danny turned his head to focus on the officer in front of him as the agent to his right dropped away. The other one’s grip didn’t budge a centimeter. The angle was starting to wrench his shoulder joint, and had already reopened a cut. The burly agent tapped into the keypad near the terminal, and the whole rigmarole to open The Oven started. The ache near his collarbone crescendoed into a burst of lightning. He bit back a groan when the returning agent jostled him when grabbing his other arm. “You’ve been quiet, HBC-1. Did Dr. Bursen really cut out your tongue this time?” The surrounding men chuckled as The Oven’s doors opened with a hiss and a buzz.

“Hurts.”

“That’s what shut you up?” The two men ahead of him parted, and the officer clicked his tongue. “Shame it won’t be for long. The scientists claim you heal quickly.”

“Maybe they can make a shock collar?”

“You’re right, Agent T, that could keep it behaved.” They tossed him through the opened passage. The ground rushed up and made friends with his nose before he could react. Their amusement echoed off of the walls of The Oven and through his pounding skull, a symphony of suffering carved into his bones. Thirty seconds passed. The vertigo and body aches abated enough for him to raise his head and look around. Vlad wasn’t where he saw him last. He turned his head to take the room, and found him slumped against the coolest wall, eyes very much still shut.

“Hey?” No response. He took in the trail of dark green painting the path from the spot he’d ended up during the fight and the wall. It was wide, bumpy, and uneven instead of a single, thin layer like the blobs left. It was a lot of ecto. “Can you hear me?” Still nothing. Something hot and needy crawled up his spine to wrap around his core.

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Daily Excerpt: Hybrid Affinity

The story continues with the next chapter of HA promising some angsty content involving Danny's return to The Oven. We are quickly approaching the climax, so I hope everyone enjoys the sneak peek of Chapter Six: Reciprocity

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“You’ve been quiet, HBC-1. Did Dr. Bursen really cut out your tongue this time?” The surrounding men chuckled as The Oven’s doors opened with a hiss and a buzz.

“Hurts.”

“That’s what shut you up?” The two men ahead of him parted, and the officer clicked his tongue. “Shame it won’t be for long. The scientists claim you heal quickly.”

“Maybe they can make a shock collar?”

“You’re right, Agent T, that could keep it behaved.” They tossed him through the opened passage. The ground rushed up and made friends with his nose before he could react. Their amusement echoed off of the walls of The Oven and through his pounding skull, a symphony of suffering carved into his bones. Thirty seconds passed. The vertigo and body aches abated enough for him to raise his head and look around. Vlad wasn’t where he saw him last. He turned his head to take the room, and found him slumped against the coolest wall, eyes very much still shut.

“Hey?” No response. He took in the trail of dark green painting the path from the spot he’d ended up during the fight and the wall. It was wide, bumpy, and uneven instead of a single, thin layer like the blobs left. It was a lot of ecto. “Can you hear me?” Still nothing. Something hot and needy crawled up his spine to wrap around his core. They would melt if they died in ghost form, right? He wasn’t breathing, but they didn’t need to while transformed. The thought didn’t help the fluttery bugs wrapped around his core calm down, though. I need to get over there. His legs still refused to work. He reached out an arm, and pressed it into the rapidly heating floor. It took ages to drag himself over in an army crawl, but he managed. This close, he could see the glow off the other halfa’s body. He felt cold. That’s probably a good sign. “Plasmius!” This time, he did get a response, a low, pained groan. He shouldn’t waste energy and ecto on tears, but his heart and his rational brain were having a disagreement about that. “Hey, wake up.” 

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Daily Excerpt: Hybrid Affinity

Just a little while longer until this blog explodes with activity! Green With Envy starts this Friday, and you'll see plenty of my art then. I'll also be joining Phic Fight, because why not? In the meantime, why don't you enjoy this Sneak Preview of Chapter Four: Kin Altruism

________________________________________________________ “They’re late today.” 

“What?”

“With the food. Not that you’d let us eat it.” Vlad floated in the middle of the room, legs crossed at the ankles, and seated in midair. It was starting to frustrate him how unbothered by the temperature and drugs he looked.

“How can you tell?”

“I’m not as cognitively impaired; so I’ve been keeping time.” 

“You always think I’m ‘cognitively impaired’.” It hurt to move his arms to gesture, so he let them flop back down into his lap instead of continuing to talk with his hands. They were still pumping in the higher amount of suppressant. He could tell by the fuzzy cotton in his head. Maybe he should be more concerned that his arms hurt through the anesthetic. 

“I think you are stubborn and irascible, not stupid. You’re just being drugged right now.” Vlad started to float over to him, and his whole being tensed. 

“What are you doing?”

“Something’s off with your energy.”

“Didn’t I tell you to stay away from me?” He forced himself to stand and put up his fists, “I swear I’ll kick your ass if you get any closer.”

“I’m sure you’d try, but I wouldn’t suggest it.” Still, he stopped a few arm lengths away. “Those injuries should have healed by now. You see? Didn’t I warn you about getting low on energy?”

“That’s my problem, not yours.”

“I need your help to escape,” he hissed, floating another few feet closer. “At least let me give you some of my energy so you can stabilize.”

“I do not want any of your disgusting vibes, Plasmius. I’d rather melt.”

“You’d transform before you melted. Although with the temperature in here, you’d probably wish you’d melted. It would be quicker.” He closed the last few feet, and a wave of icy power washed over him. Some of it sunk into his core, and the answering reduction in pain almost made him groan. “Stop being ridiculous, and let me help you.”

“You’re only out to help yourself.”

“I just explained I need you in better condition so we can escape. Can you not trust that?”

“Your plan definitely involves abandoning me.” Danny fought down the urge to move closer and suck up more ecto-energy. 

“If that’s true, then why do I need you in better condition? Wouldn’t be easier to use you as a distraction or leave you behind if you were weak?” Vlad grabbed a shoulder and ghost-handled him away from the wall. Before he could protest, they were floating closer to the coolest wall in the room. When he caught a wave of Plasmius’ energy this time, he had to bite his tongue to keep from groaning. “If you weren’t so intoxicated, you’d jump at the idea of strengthening yourself and making me weaker.”

“I’m not some weirdo cannibal like you.”

“You don’t think eating chicken is cannibalism.”

“I’m not half chicken.”

“You’re not half blob either, Little Badger.”

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Chapter two is live! We are 2/3rds through our Double-Feature Wednesdays, and this time we have chapter 2 of Hybrid and 22 of Passion. Inside, you'll find that Danny gets access to some useful information, and has his hopes of rescue dashed in a gutting way.

Still not convinced you want to read? Have a sneak peek of the chapter below!:

“Float faster, ghost.”

“Can’t you be a little sympathetic? He cut two whole strips out of my left arm.” He got a shove from behind on his left shoulder with the muzzle of the agent’s gun. Guess not. The door to his blistering cage came into view, and he groaned. The area around the cut didn’t have any jumpsuit over it; being exposed to the air inside The Oven was going to suck. The light turned green over the door jamb, and the gun at his back started to whine as he hesitated on the wrong side of the threshold. He steeled himself, and flew into the center of the room. “You could at least give me a cellmate!” The door hissed shut, and the temperature began to rise again, rapidly. They always turned it down whenever the door needed to be opened, but he paid for the few minutes of cooler air with the system overcompensating. Hard. He gave up having a view of the door in favor of the coolest wall in the room. No need to stress himself out while healing. 

“Ok, so there’s a serious problem. My parents definitely know where I am, but they can’t just use their credentials to get in. I’m guessing, since they haven’t bombed the place, just storming it won’t work either.” He leaned his head forward to get his neck off the wall, and tucked his injured arm closer to his body. “That rules out an immediate rescue, not one entirely. They have the address and know I’ve been captured, so they’ll be planning a big break-out. That’ll take time.” He tapped his index finger on his thigh, poking at the reopened wound at the top. Something they’d injected him with had caused it. Nothing else older than facility wounds opened up, but he’d gathered plenty of those. None of them were as deep as the original wounds, though, so maybe they’d stop leaking ecto in a day or two. That assumes they leave me alone that long.

“Wait, I know I said they have the address, but the only thing they knew is the GIW captured me and are looking for scientists to join the research team. They probably only announced the location to the scientists who were approved.” Shit. His parents and the rest of Team Phantom weren’t blowing down the walls because they needed more time to plan. They still didn’t know where he’d been taken. What could he do about that? It’s not like he could get a message out to them. Tucker, maybe, could hack something and figure out where he was…but there was no way he hadn’t already tried. Eighteen feedings, maybe two and a half weeks, was forever for Tuck. If he hadn’t found him already, then he wouldn’t just get lucky now. Or maybe he needs more computing power to get past the...fire wall? He honestly did not know how that techno-hacking stuff worked, but he remembered Tuck mentioning needing more ‘flops’ or something once. Something about ‘hashrate’ or maybe he’d been talking about ‘hashbrowns’… the food, not the algorithm he’d designed. God. The heat was not helping his concentration.

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Daily Excerpt: Hybrid Affinity

Things are going well as February winds down and the run up to the finale for Passion begins. To make up for the Passion black out, have some bits and bobs from Hybrid Affinity. This one is from Chapter Two: Enclosure Enrichment!

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His eyebrow itched; it had for the last ten minutes. He’d been trying to ignore it—what with being unable to move and all—but things were reaching an apex here, and the scientists weren’t doing enough to be distracting. Danny figured, since they’d strapped him down the moment he got into the room, they’d be eagerly prodding at him or slicing at something. Instead, he’d been left alone the last fifteen minutes to stare up into the eye-watering, bright lights and try to ignore the damnable fucking—“Hey, if you guys aren’t going to do anything any time soon, could you untie me?” The group of white coat clad scientists scuttling about continued ignoring him. “If you just wanted to observe me, couldn’t you do that back in The Oven?” Still nothing. Papers shuffling, a couple scratches of pen across some forms, and they kept their backs to him. “You can’t even ignore me in an interesting way? Like, maybe you could pretend you couldn’t see me, or—”

“Quiet.” Well see? That was something new. 

“Why? Am I breaking your concentration? I don’t see how; you’re not doing shit.” He heard the click of a button and the table lit up with white-hot pain. “Ok, table taser is a good reason.” He got another shock for the comment, and decided against making another. Danny took a few shallow breaths, trying to shake off the lingering twitches from the shock. Sassing the scientists didn’t usually earn him more pain. What was their problem today?