The Phantom

The Rocky Mountains. Frigid and frozen . Any average human would have taken days, even weeks to navigate the terrain. I, however was not average. The suffocating Undergrowth did little to hamper my progress into the wilderness. Trees as tall as buildings enclosed me. The night sky not visible at all through the pitch black canopy. The wails and screeches of wildlife silenced the sounds of my footsteps. I trudged forward in total silence, my legs aching in exhaustion. I blocked out the pain however and continued forward like a machine. A ghost of a human, no real emotions or thoughts running through my head. All there was, was obedience and the mission.

After hours, I eventually came to a clearing. Kneeling at the edge of the foliage, I observed the location. In the center of the clearing sat a massive mansion. It's exterior resembling a medieval castle. If I hadn't known better I would have thought it was castle, were it not for the helicopter that nested on its roof or the various cars strewn across its driveway. "This place has a driveway? That would have been a more efficient means of entrance." Whatever, I'm already here. If the evangelical light caste through the windows were anything to go by, the target was active. Doesn't matter really.

I started forward at an even pace. At my left and my right, prismatic shadows followed my every move. After images of my self. Each dressed in the same gear. A high-tech black suit, weaved together with a plastic appearing material. Atop which sat black and white carbon fiber armor. Various straps and buckles fastening gear to my person and across the breastplate my identification number: P-D01

I came to the wall of the building, barely a whisp as far as the human eye could see. I walked straight into the stone with no hesitation. The identical figures around me flared and scattered as I moved through the concrete like a hologram. The interior of the Mansion was lively and warm. The room I found myself in appears to be some sort of trophy room. The walls lined with taxidermy animals. All frozen in scared positions like they were cowering from some unseen attacker. I moved through the rooms door. Striding down tall, meekly lit hallways.

after rounding a corner, I found the target. A man, though not like any other. His skin was pale and transparent, grotesquely billowing like the skin of a jellyfish. There seemed to be nothing beneath it. He glowed a toxic, radioactive green like a giant lightning bug. He floated ominously inches above the ground. As for the mans features he was a bulky muscular man. Wearing a sleeveless tank top with black cargo pants tucked into black combat boots. Across his chest was the strap of a hunting rifle. The most distinguishing thing about him though was the mask. An eerie foreboding mask, made out of a worn and scarred silver metal and shaped into a human skull. Behind the eyes however there was nothing, no eyes, no light, just two seemingly endless holes.

The target immediately noticed me and drew the hunting rifle, but before it could do anything I shot off two rounds, planted themselves in its chest. The target reared back in agony and collapsed to the ground stunned. I returned the smoking barrels of my pistols back into their holsters and spoke into my comms.

"phantom reporting, ectoplasmic entity stunned, ready for containment."

The huntress

To to say living in Amity Park was difficult would have been an understatement. It was more like impossible. It had once been a bustling city, with skyscrapers and massive cathedrals. But that had been in the past. On August 18, 2004 Amity Park had witnessed perhaps one of the most mysterious events in its history. The Fentons, a family of promising comprised of two promising particle physicists and their two young children had died in a massive explosion. The Fentons had rolled into town one day and bought a rundown hotel to convert it into their home/vaguely illegal laboratory. Rumors said that the fentons had been experimenting with a new type of energy when they lost control, causing their home to go up in a shimmering blaze. The families daughter Jazz was the only survivor, be adopted by the sympathetic Manson family. The poor girl was found in the rubble of the building, clutching onto the corpses of her parents. The boy was never found. Police reports theorized that he was vaporized by the explosion.

I could barely remember any of this because the tragedy was quickly overshadowed by perhaps the most horrific event in US history. I could remember the day with perfect clarity.

"mommy, what's happening?" I screamed when my mother pulled me into her arms and ran. Following the panicked crowd of people. Overhead, the sky had torn open like reality itself had melted away. The sunny blue sky ripped open to reveal a cold black ocean, not soothing like the pretty night sky, but barren and merciless like outer space. From the inky nothingness had come beautiful flowing things.

Looking like green and turquoise blobs, seemingly swimming through the air like jellyfish. Humanity was introduced to ghosts for the very first public event. Reports are hazy as to what happened next, but I remember being happy and curious at the wispy entities, who had danced through the streets with such amazing grace and elegance. Then the first gunshots rang out like thunder. With my ears ringing me and mother had witnessed the ghosts begin to viciously attack.

Soaring down like birds of prey. The ghosts plucked people of the ground, some to throw other to scoop up in their maws and tear into. The screams are what stuck with me the most as ghost after ghost came down slaughtered whatever was in their path. The streets chaotic as debris rained down, power lines shot flashes and sparks out and people were turned to ash after being struck by ectoplasm blast.

The terror running through me only evaluated as shockwave after shockwave resounded when ecto-blasts rained down and slammed into buildings. Explosions after explosions tore through the city. Massive Columns of smoke and concrete dust filled the air, covering the entire sky.

My mother ducked down into an alley, away from the massacre in the street. Screaming and kicking my mother out into a thankfully empty dumpster and shut the lid. I pummeled the lid for hours but my mother had done something to keep the lid closed. There I sat for hours incapable but doing anything but listen to the sounds of dying men, women and children as waves of emerald invaders butchered them.

Then there was the sounds of war in the distance. The telltale roar of jets soaring overhead, but I think perhaps the worst thing was the silence that came afterwards. I did somehow manage to get the dumpster open. As I crawled out on all fours I got to see the graveyard that Amity had become. The once bustling streets, lined with shops and quaint little homes was gone, now replaced with smoldering rubble and flames. The skyline, once filled with massive skyscrapers was now completely bare. Cars, trucks and trains were turned over or inserted into the ground. The smell of their charred paint leaving an acidic taste in my mouth. But most of all there was the bodies.

masses of chewed up and shredded meat lid in the street, dressed in crimson stained tatters, there was blood everywhere. Like the ghosts had tried to use it as paint. Every Now and again I slipped in the warm pools. I cried and cried till I couldn't feel my face and I called out to anyone till my throat was sore. That was how it was for hours as I stumbled through the city, a small elementary girl whose pants and shoes were soaked in blood.

I was eventually found and returned to my father, mother however was never found. The world had watched on as ghosts had laid waste to a city. The military barely scraping together a victory and as quickly as it appeared the portal above Amity had closed. In the aftermath the people of Amity came together to rebuild their home, though it still isn't as large as it had been. There was now only minimule building hastily put together, on the outskirts of the original city. Ground zero for the event has memorialized and the dead put to rest. The world of coarse had sent its hopes and prayers, but the thing that was really paid any attention was the ghosts themselves. People around the world went mad and superstitious as the world now knew: ghosts existed. New government agencies were opened and new weapons developed but after that the world mostly forgot about it. That was until the ghosts came back. No longer out in a gigantic army, they came one at a time. They haunted buildings and parks. They only ever attacked when engaged first, but they were everywhere! How could you avoid them?

That's where me and my dad came in. With his connections to Axion Labs, he was able to get all the gear he needed. Although hesitant at first. Dad eventually came around to letting me were the suit and use the weapons. The people came to know me as huntress. The vigilante devoted to hunting down any and all ghosts in the world. And yes I was going to hunt them all. They took everything from me. My dad despite his connections is still barely making enough money to keep the lights on. I have to work two jobs to support our house, but despite that I'll still continue to be Huntress.

I walked into the small red brick building; Casper high. There was a depressing amount of ghost puns in our towns names, but I guess AMITY park was kind of asking for it. In the bustling hallways. Muscular jocks teased and taunted scrawny nerds and pompous bitchs gossiped among themselves. the freshman so young they couldn't even remember the ghost invasion.

My first period went by the same as it always did. In bored silence. Lancer of coarse used to the classes lack of attention just sat at his desk and waited for our work to be finished. Paulina chatted with her friends, while Dash copied of some willing fool. My work was down at the nice, early hour of two in the morning. ghosts of coarse eating into my study time. My phone began to vibrate in my hoodie pocket. The screen flashing the text from my dad ghost at corner of Stephen and Silver with a resigned sigh I excused myself from class.

The Phantom

The sterile white concrete of my room was unpicturesque. Although the G.I.W. or Global Interdimensional watch. The organization founded as a response to the existence of ghosts. There main objective was to monitor and research any and all extra dimensional activity. They took me in as a child. When I had lost everything.

"Jack the particle accelerator is going critical! Activate emergency shutdown!" My mother yelled over the rumble of the machine. The basement to our house was large, with strong foundations. But now it seems to be falling apart. My parents machine was pressed against the far wall. A massive tunnel like structure with metal rings adorning each of its sides.

"Electron volts are off the charts!" My dad panicked. The whole world seemed to shake. My sister held me close, trying to lead me out of the room. We barely made up the stairs when I broke out of dashes arms, I didn't want mom and dad to be alone. I ran into the basement only to be hit with a wave of pure energy. It felt like my insides were being torn apart in the blinding white light, but then there was nothing. I woke up days later in the rubble. My home was gone. My family was gone. My town lay in ruins. A G.I.W. Agent found me later that day. But when they reached out to me their hands passed through me like they were passing through smoke.

The scientists Called it cellular necrosis based ectoplasmic replacement. But I think that makes it sound too boring. Every cell in my body is overtaken and replaced with ectomatter the moment it dies. In humans cells die and are replaced by new cells all the time, but mine are substituted with these...ghost cells. My skin was completely replaced in a matter of days, they say a new ectoplasmic Skeleton will take a decade and when everything that can be replaced is, they think I'll be nothing but a regular ghost with human parts and tissues swimming around in it. Some at G.I.W. saw an opportunity in my affliction. They built me a containment suit so I could control my ectoplasm, and trained me to be a stealth operative. They weaponized me. They sent me after ghosts but Sometimes they loaned me to the US government. I stole for them, spied for them. I killed for them. In Exchange for my soul, they are going to cure me.

It's not all bad most of my time is spent in a lab, testing my progression and testing new ecto-weaponry. There's an intern here in the base that helps me through everything. Tucker Foley is an engineering cadet helping the G.I.W. Build new technology. Mostly pertaining to my containment suit.

The room I live in is about as small as a room can be without being uncomfortable. All there is is a cot, a dresser. I'm not allowed to own any personal possessions. The only thing I have besides sterilized white scrubs is the suit that layer in a heap across the desk. The suit itself was pretty basic looking from a distance. All black torso and upper arms and legs with white gloves and boots. The most unique feature of it was the white hood that hid my mop of raven black hair and the face mask that hid my face, obviously. The mask had built in gas mask and night vision so the goggles that adorned it were green in color.

Pain shot through Danny's being as ectoplasm ate even more of his cells. A white hot searing pain that seemed to be everywhere in his body at once.

Danny doubled over in agony and tried to crawl towards the door, hoping anyone would come to his aid.

"HeLp"

"You know the drill, P-D01."

The robotic voice shot over the intercom. Danny cowered in the corner as the hatch to his room opened. Two men in all white gear stepped in. The first carrying an assault rifle with ecto-rounds, the second jamming a syringe into Danny's neck. The pain began to numb and Danny lost all control of his body. Slumping over unconscious. The guards retreated and left Danny in his broken state. Longing for comfort but only finding his bed to hold on too, once he awakened.

The door opened an hour later and Tucker stepped in.

"Hey"

"hey"

Danny mustered all his strength to lift himself up. The guards would tase him if he didn't report for testing. They'd also tase him for touching anyone so he tried to keep a restrained distance from tucker. Danny's adrenaline was still high however and his powers acted up because of it. Shimmering images of Danny surrounded his body and as he reached for the desk to pull himself up his hand sank through the metal.

"It's okay. Just breathe." Tucker soothed Danny. Whose hand became solid again. This time Danny pulled himself of the ground.

"Okay, anything new?" Questioned Danny.

"Just that skull hunter ghost you secured." Tucker answered.

"Skulker."

"What?"

"I named him Skulker."

"Okay, Skulker then."

"You find out who the targets location site belongs to?" Danny was curious as to how the hunter had ended up in the expensive home. The two made their way through the concrete corridors, passing guard after guard.

"Vlad Masters. No priors, but the FBI tells us he's deep in illegal technology and corpse trafficking." That made sense. If Vlad was running ghosts then he'd need a lot of imprint material. Ghosts didn't just start out as copies of dead things, they needed a sample of a decaying cell to base themselves around. This was called an imprint and imprint smuggling had become big in criminal organizations.

"We've managed to track Vlad through some of his associates, he's holed up in the most active area for ghost activity, Amity Park." Tucker handed Danny the new targets file. "You leave at 0400 hours."