I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.

Amanda Waller, that was a well known name by the criminal underworld, though she was no criminal. Far from it, she was the prison warden at Belle Reve Penitentiary, the world's most impenetrable prison for super-villains. To villains she was the boogie man, cold and unfeeling at the best of times and more than happy to see them suffer for their crimes.

She was a larger than life African woman with a military hair cut, dark black eyes, and a scowl that some said she was born wearing. Legends were spoken about her after she beat the Batman in a staring contest. She wore a professional navy blue suit and gave off an air of complete superiority. Most of the super-powered people of the world would crawl into a hole and wait for the sound of her heels to die way if they knew she was coming.

Amanda was walking through her own prison flanked but three guards same as she did every week, over to the back of the prison to the solitary confinement quarters. Some inmates through insults as they passed but must just whispered. No one knew what she did to the solo convict that was kept in there, but they all had nightmares thinking about it. Even her guard was made to wait outside.

No one knew anything about that convict really. They brought him out from time to time for meals and to the contained areas for prison work, but he never said anything about himself or what he did. But whatever it was made him deserve triple the security measures as all the other prisoners, including three of the inhibitor callers that the inmates were forced to wear to suppress their powers. Even after almost a whole year no one even knew his real name, the guards simply referred to him as Cujo.

Amanda walked to the very end of the long hall of empty cells to the one that housed the inmate. She had never seen the need to put others in solitary confinement. It was amazing how fast a convict learned to behave when you electrocute them to the point where they lose consciousness when they even sneeze at you funny.

Turning she looked in on the prisoner. "Hello Danny." If any of the inmates could have heard the motherly gentleness in her voice then they would have died of shock.

The inmate looked up from a book he had been reading and smiled at the warden. "Oh Ms. Waller, it's nice to see you again. Has it been a week already?" The convict was nothing more than a boy, fifteen years old with messy black hair and gentle blue eyes. He looked completely out of place in the orange prison uniform. "How's your mother doing? Did the surgery on her hip go well?"

Amanda Waller chuckled lightly. "The old bird is already trying to get out of bed. They would need elephant tranquilizers to keep her down for long." She joked and reached into her suit jacket and pulled out three books. "I brought you some more books but you're going to need more room for them all soon."

"Oh, thank you." Danny said smiling kindly as he reached up and took the books. Amanda got a glimpse of the inhibiter caller that was around his wrist like the one underneath his neck. She never understood why Danny asked for the things he did.

Unlike the other inmates who were not permitted positions in their cells, Danny's was filled with books on all kinds of subjects; most dealt with biology and medical sciences, though there were a few on psychology, criminology, meditation, and books that were published by his own parents on 'Ecto-Engineering'. Though he had to push them all underneath his cot and have the sheets hanging down so that other guards couldn't see them whenever he was escorted to and from his cell.

Amanda smiled as she exchanged pleasantries and small talk with the young boy. But the little talk was coming to an end and she could feel the smile slipping and the same tired question waiting on her lips. It was a question he asked of him every week and to which he never gave a straight answer. "Danny, what are you doing here?"

The boy smiled looking over to his cot. "I guess I'm a prisoner." He joked. "The world is better off… safer with me in here." He said sadly.

"Why Danny. You say you murdered your family but I don't believe you." Amanda said looking at him boy. "You came begging me to put you away without telling the world about it. You said that you would serve ten years before you even let yourself have a trial. Why are you doing this, Danny? You're a hero. You're too good for a place like this." Usually Amanda Waller didn't care for heroes. The only one in the Justice League that even had a hint of her respect was Batman, but Danny was different. Amanda Waller was not the warden's real name. She had been aside that name as a fake identity to prevent anyone going after her family to gain information about Belle Reve, her parents and a sister who had a husband and two kids.

But when some villains had found her sister and her sister's family, the one that saved them was the same innocent child that now sat in her prison right in front of her. And he had been so kind to them and so much more human than the people in the Justice League. But when the authorities arrived he just ran away, not wanting to get involved in the politics of heroing. She had great respect for the young man, so it was a shock to her when the ghost boy flew into her office confessed to a crime and showed her his civilian identity before asking her to lock him up in secret to stop his enemies from trying to bust him out. But she did it all the same out a gratitude to him.

Danny smiled and shook his head. "It's just for nine more years. Please… I can't explain… but just trust me."

Amanda shook her head slowly. "Even after all this time I still don't understand you, Danny." She sighed. "Just make sure you stay out of trouble like a good dog." She said pointing seriously at him as he laughed and gave a small bark and even she had to chuckle. Danny had told her not to use his name anywhere, so he picked the name Cujo for himself saying that it was the ghost of a guard dog that was put down because people didn't want it anymore. "Goodbye Danny, see you next week."