Whew! So sorry I didn't get this up sooner, things kept coming up … yeh, here's chapter two! For the record, the name of each chapter is the name of an actual song, and that song can be considered the 'theme' for each chapter… just some random thing I came up with… anyways, I hope you like this chapter and if you'd like to read the comic version, simply copy and paste this - http:// www. deviantart. com/ deviation /43777341/ - without the spaces of course. Yeh, and please feel free to review!
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Chapter two
'Whisper'
'Catch me as I fall,
Say you're here and it's all over now,
Speaking to the atmosphere
No one's here and I fall unto myself
This truth drives me into madness
I know I can stop the pain if I will it all away…'
-'Whisper', by Evanescence
Two Guys In White agents lounged in the hall, one calmly drinking coffee while they didn't discuss the information that Ms. Gray hadn't gotten. Both were the perfect GIW image of stoic detached agents, completely emotionless seeming.
"You people sent me into a hysterical, schizophrenic, insomniac ghost's cell… WITHOUT TELLING ME FIRST!!!???"
The agent's jumped and the one with coffee promptly spilled it on himself. So much for stoicism.
Down said hall, Valerie's delayed reaction had hit rather hard, especially for the poor GIW who had happened to be walking. Valerie, now holding him by the collar and seemed about two seconds away from throttling him, was feeling very, very pissed off with the whole agency.
Kwan was nervously edging up behind her as she glared death at the trembling agent in her grip.
"Uh…" Kwan started, paused then gathered his courage (he remembered Valerie's rage from high school and had no intention of turning on himself) "Phantom also has Oneirophrenia, which causes persons affected by it to have a feeling of constant dream-like unreality which in it's extreme forms may cause delusions and hallucinations. It's a schizophrenia-like acute form of psychosis-"
Valerie looked over her shoulder at him; momentarily distracted from the GIW she was inflicting a near-death experience upon.
"I don't care if it means he farts fireballs!! Why didn't anyone tell me?"
Valerie's victim decided at that point to try to save his skin, stuttering out an excuse
"W-we weren't notified you were uninformed about Phantom's psychological ailments- ack…" he choked slightly when Valerie tightened her grip on his throat. Kwan immediately stepped forward to prevent any unfortunate events, prying her hands from the agent's collar and pulling her by the shoulder down the hall
"Yes, yes, come on Valerie, they won't make that mistake again…" he coaxed to the fuming ghost hunter. "The receptionist told me your employer sent your driver and he should be here any second now, so, let's go."
"Hmph" Valerie grumbled as Kwan more or less pushed her through the double doors that led outside.
After barely a minute of waiting, a black mini-limo pulled up around the entranceway, having mad it past the security checks successfully. Valerie rolled her eyes at the rather fancy car. Her employer had a taste for the grandeur that she didn't share. Very likely this was the plainest car he had to offer.
"Sorry you couldn't find out what you wanted from phantom." Kwan said to Valerie as she climbed into the backseat "hey, if you need anymore access to our facility, just give me a ring, alright?'
Valerie nodded appreciatively before closing the door. "Thanks Kwan. Guess I'll you around."
Kwan waved as the car pulled away. He gave a rather wistful sigh.
"Why didn't I just take her to that dance back then?"⑴
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Valerie stared glumly out the window. She'd directed the driver to drop her of at her apartment complex, but it was at least an hour drive. She'd learned absolutely nothing of interest from Phantom other then that he was mentally unstable and had some sort of connection with this 'Clockwork' ghost. And, of course, she was seriously irritated with that fact that that name was enough to make Phantom get a bit hysterical, so she couldn't really ask him to clarify beyond his rambling what Clockwork was.
A beeping from her pocket distracted her from her musing and she pulled her cell phone out, immediately answering when she saw 'DALV' glowing on the screen under caller ID.
"Hello? Mr. Masters?"
She listened for a moment to whatever it was the Vlad Co. CEO was saying before answering
"Yeah, I was trying to find out more… I managed to talk to Phantom, since you said he might know, but-"
She was interrupted, and a puzzled expression came over her face as she listened.
"Huh?! You were the one who said… Yeah, of course I knew where to find him, wait, didn't you-"
Valerie paused when all she could hear was silence.
"Mr. Masters?.." she asked after a moment. After a couple of seconds passed the man answered, apologizing, that his thoughts had drifted off for a moment. Valerie continued with what she had been saying
"Sir, aren't you funding that particular branch of the GIW? How is it you weren't aware Phantom was…"
She was once again interrupted, quick instructions sounding from over the phone.
"Oh. Yeah, yes sir, I'll get right on it."
Valerie heard the click that indicated her employer had hung up. Snapping the phone shut, she stared at it for a few moments before looking out the window again, an anxious expression on her face.
"Weird…" Valerie muttered. Mr. Masters had seemed shocked to discover that he was in fact the financer to the very building Phantom was being held within. But he usually seemed to know everything about anything he was involved in. for him to be in the dark about something as big as this was extremely unusual.
Valerie shook her head to clear it. None of it mattered right now. She had other things to take care off.
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Danny sat slumped near the corner of his cell farthest from the door. He felt the haze descending on his mind again, making every thought seem blurred and fuzzy.
It's quiet…. He mused silently, closing his eyes. Everything… it all seems so vague…
He closed his eyelids tighter. …?...I feel dizzy…
"Danny…"
Danny's eyes snapped open. He blinked, startled by the sudden noise.
Wait… that voice… is it?
He couldn't not recognize it, how could he? He didn't dare turn to see if it was-
"Danny… look…" the sound echoed from off to his right again. Danny felt a surge of happiness.
That's-
"Mom!" he yelped cheerfully
He whipped his head around to see the source of the voice, an excited grin on his face
"Mo-"
He stopped short, staring, shock forming on his face as his eyes went wide. The expression shifted and became utter horror...
Drip
Drip
Danny's ears couldn't pick up the sound of the blood drops hitting the floor, but his mind insisted there was a noise.
Danny started to tremble as he looked at the nightmare standing before him, a horror that took the shape of his mother, drenched in her own blood from various wounds covering her body. She/it was holding her hands up to her face, looking vacantly between them at Danny.
'Oh, sweetie…" the apparition said, an sad half grin on her/it's face, blood running down it "Look at what you've done to me…"
She stretched a bloodied hand till she was almost touching the side of Danny's face. Danny felt his slow, barely existent pulse increase with fear, even though he knew- he knew – this wasn't real, just another hallucination visiting him. But the terror that was gripping him had its claws in tight and he couldn't get away.
"Danny… why?..."
The hallucination's hand was barely a centimeter from his face when Danny unfroze from his shock.
"AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!" Danny screamed and threw himself as far back against the wall as he could, the ghost-proof pads covering it refusing to wield against his attempts to sink through. Danny shuddered and squeezed his eyes closed as tight as he could, turning his head to the side, away from the bleeding image of his mother.
"N-no!" Danny gasped, "I-I didn't… No, go away!!!" he curled up, pulling his knees up to his face "Please… go away, disappear, disappear, oh god, please…."
He shuddered, gritting his teeth. Shaking his head in an attempt to rid his mind of these images.
"I don't want to see, disappear, please, you're not real, please, disappear, I don't wan to see…"
Silence. The 'sound' of dripping blood was gone, Danny realized. After a minute, Danny opened an eye a little, peering through his hair.
He wished he hadn't.
The nightmare visage of Maddie had leaned down so she was directly face to face with Danny. She/it smiled sickly as she/it gazed at him.
"All your fault Danny…"
"AGGHHH! Danny yelled again and scrambled to the side, struggling to stand up without the use of his arms before tripping and falling flat on his face.
"S-stop… leave me alone…." Danny muttered as he pulled himself up slowly. He knew, KNEW she/it was just a illusion brought to his eyes by his own broken mind but it hurt… he didn't wan to think, didn't want to see… didn't wan to hear words accusing him of some terrible act that resulted in the fatal injury of someone he had loved.
Danny threw back his head; eyes squeezed shut tight and screamed
"LEAVE ME ALONE!!!"
He gasped, a jolt running through him. The green-eyed ghost blinked and saw what was standing in front of him for the first time. A powerfully built African American man dressed as all GIW agent did except for the strip of short unshaven hair running across the top of his head like a Mohawk was holding back Danny's head as he pulled the tranquilizer syringe from Danny's neck. The tiny amount of the substance left on the needle glowed a sickly violet, hinting at the use of ectoplasm in its formula.
Danny swayed for a moment, eyes wide as the sedative circulated his body before his eyes dulled and he swayed slightly before collapsing completely with a groan.
Danny's sight weaved in and out before him as the GIW agent leaned down to stare at the set of straps holding Danny's arms, a flicker of concern crossing his otherwise emotionless face. After a moment, the man turned to go, stomping purposefully out of the cell. Danny struggled to lift his head to watch him go.
As the man walked, he passed by the blurry, disappearing form that had appeared on seconds before to be an undead version of Danny's mother, now vanishing into nothing.
Danny let his head fall with a thump and smiled remorsefully.
"Good… Ridd… Ance…" he managed to mumble as is thoughts clouded and the room became even dimmer before his hazy eyesight.
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Kwan Li had graduated college with a masters in ecto-biology, specifically in psychology; although he had by no means been at the top of his class at the time a mere 4 years ago, he'd been hired almost immediately by the GIW to help keep the ghosts they captured under control. In exchange, he was paid generously and allowed to record anything he discovered that applied to his field of study.
So now, here he was, peering into the cell of a creature with enough power to take out a city in a matter of hours as his boss calmly walked in to subdue it unarmed except for a tranquilizer needle, and two more agents quietly arguing behind him (something about which type of bleach left their uniforms cleaner).
They immediately shut up as the cell door opened and Supervisor Marshall, the agent in charge of the facility stomped out.
"Has the Lab reported whether or not the new ectodraining restraints are finished yet?" Supervisor Marshall growled (his normal form of speech).
"We haven't heard, Supervisor." One of the present GIW men said before Kwan could say anything.
"Well, find out!!!"
"Uh… Sir?" Kwan raised a hand as if in school in hopes of getting his boss's attention.
The two combat agents interrupted him
"We'll try to get things to hurry up, Sir, but it might not be a good idea to make it a rush job. For safety issues."
Kwan blinked in frustration as Sup. Marshall turned to address them again
"Well, try anyway."
"Uh… Supervisor?" Kwan sputtered, thoroughly indignant at being ignored in favor of a couple of combat agents "Sir? EXCUSE ME?!"
All three of the other GIW turned to stare at him. After a moment of awkward pause, Sup. Marshall spoke.
"What is it, Dr. Li?"
Kwan sighed with exasperation.
"Those new restraints were finished two weeks ago. It'll only take a few minutes to get one for use."
Mentally, he cursed that even though the actually usefulness of the combat agents would fall to pieces without the contributions of the lab scientists, they were still often given more credit in the ranks. Stupid favoritism.
Sup. Marshall didn't even blink an eye at Kwan's statement and nodded curtly.
"Very good. Here, hold this while I retrieve a set of the restraints then." He said, tossing the still not-completely-empty tranquilizer syringe he'd used on Phantom at Kwan, who yelped and fumbled with it for a moment before managing to get a safe grip upon it.
As Kwan breathed a sign of relief for having spent years of high school playing football, one of the combat GIW hesitantly began to say something before stopping, getting his nerves together and poking Sup. Marshall's shoulder to get his attention.
The agent cringed when Sup. Marshall turned to glare at him.
"Sir, wait…" the GIW asked "we're going to change Phantom's restraints now?!"
"Isn't that rather dangerous?" his partner added.
A troubled look passed over Sup. Marshall's face as he turned completely so he staring down at them (being easily 6 feet and 4 inches tall)
"Oh?" he muttered, "well, think about this." The troubled look changed to one far more intimidating. "He's begun to break his current restraints. When I sedated him, I saw one of the major straps had already snapped in half."
The combat agents paled. The restraints weren't just ghost-proof after all; they actively suppressed a ghosts powers to 25 of its normal abilities and had the strength to hold an enraged bull elephant.
"That's… unsettling…" one agent said, glancing at his partner
"What a monster" the other agreed, pulling on his collar slightly.
Kwan stared at the syringe in his hands, turning it over and looking at the few drops of glowing lavender substance within. "If that's the case,…" he said, face serious "we should defiantly change them now, while Phantom's sedated…"
There was another quiet moment before Sup. Marshall glared at the combat agents.
"WELL?! GO GET THOSE RESTRAINTS!!!"
"Yes Sir!!!"
The two GIW dashed off in the direction of the science department. Sup. Marshall watched them for a moment before looking over his shoulder at Kwan.
"Dr. Li, go get another tranquilizer and an ecto-pistol you know how to handle."
Kwan blinked in surprise. "Huh? Sir? What for?"
The look on Sup. Marshall's face was giving Kwan a serious case of the creeps. The only time he'd felt more nervous was whenever he needed to go into a ghost's cell to question them for his research.
Uh-oh. Wait a sec…
"You'll need them…" Sup. Marshall said with agonizing slowness "because you're coming in with us as precautionary backup."
Five minutes later, Kwan was trembling like a leaf during hurricane season in front of Phantom's cell while Sup. Marshall punched the entry doe into the pad next to the cell door. The two GIW agents from earlier were standing on both Kwan's left and his right, giving him the uncomfortable illusion that they were there to keep him from funning away.
The agent on his left noticed Kwan's chattering teeth and peered curiously at his terrified face.
"Dr. Li, You've spoken alone with Phantom before, haven't you?" the agent asked with what was almost a puzzled frown "why are you so nervous if that's true?"
Kwan gave him the type of grin you generally give people when you're freaked to the point that you almost want to laugh
"Y-yeah, but he always had EctoDraining restraints before. This is a bit different!!!
At this point, Sup. Marshall had finished typing in the code and had had his DNA identification confirmed by the small scanner at the bottom of the keyboard. The door swung open automatically, casting light directly onto the ghost lying in a heap on the floor of the cell.
Kwan flinched as the door also shut automatically once the motion detector over it had recognized that they were all inside. It would take less time for them to get out due to the small remotes they each carried, but it would still take more time then Kwan wanted to feel was necessary.
Sup. Marshall stepped forward, staring at Phantom's apparently unconscious form.
"Agents 22A and 22B, hold the ghost up" he addressed the GIW men before addressing the ecto-psychologist attempting to hide behind them "Dr. Li, be ready with the ecto-pistol, and the sedative in case we need them"
"Yes sir!" the agents chorused, stepping cautiously forward until they were standing directly next to where Phantom lay. With the odd teamwork the GIW agents so often seemed to instinctively possess, they calmly propped Phantom up onto his knees, supporting him with a hand on each shoulder. The white-haired ghosts head lolled forward, casting his face into deep shadows.
Sup. Marshall leaned down in front of them, holding up a small device he'd picked up while Kwan was getting the backup supplies and agents 22A and B were getting the new restraints. He gave took a deep breath, showing his own first sign of nervousness.
"Alright then…" the large man muttered before pressing the button on the small device.
Immediately, the restraints binding Phantom already snapped off and fell to the floor in response to the silent signal given off by the control and Phantom's arms fell from their crossed position to hang by his sides for what might have been the first time in years. Agents 22A and B glanced nervously at each other at this point, obviously unable to deny that they weren't worried that Phantom was not only returned to full power but also un secured.
Sup. Marshall seemed to ignore this however, unlocking a silver briefcase he's brought in with him while Kwan swallowed anxiously behind him. The case opened to reveal a straitjacket like item folded carefully within it.
Kwan watched, the ecto-pistol in hand, as Sup. Marshall took the new restraints from it's case and, kneeling behind Phantom's still form, began to carefully fit it onto the ghost, wrapping it around the ghosts arms so that they were completely immobile. The two GIW agents had stood back and drawn their own ecto-pistols while their boss worked, standing ready in case Phantom were to prove dangerous even in such a sedated state.
Sup. Marshall stood back suddenly, the clasps on the back of Phantom's straitjacket snapping together. The man stood, breathing a sign of relief
"Good." He said, surprisingly relieved sounding given his usual more-or-less emotionless-ness "it seem we were lucky… I was a little worried his immunity to tranquilizers would kick in, but it didn't so…"
Agents 22A and 22B followed him as he marched towards the cell door. Kwan just stared ahead for a moment, blinking.
"Huh… wow,…" he murmured as the three GIW passed him. He had been the one to report that Phantom usually revived from the tranquilizers used on him hours before expected. And so of course, he was the one who had been worried even the new dose they'd just put phantom on wouldn't have been enough.
"Uh, nothing happen- EH!?" Kwan stopped midsentance,
"Nnngh…"
Kwan couldn't help starting to tremble again at the noise that came from the ghost in front of him as Phantom raised his head and looked groggily at him, eerie eyes blurred.
"So… Is that… All you guys… Came for?" the ghost's deep voice slurred slightly due to the sedatives' effects still being present.
Kwan took a step back, hearing that the GIW agents had already left, even though the door would still be unlocked for him.
"N-No w-way!!" The psychologist gasped, "You… you weren't actually CONSCIOUS that whole time?!"
Phantom cocked his head to one side, and looked confused. If Kwan hadn't been utterly terrified by now, he would have laughed at how the ghost actually looked almost drunk.
"Oooh... So that stuff… it was supposed to knock me out?" Phantom actually giggled a little "Oops…"
Kwan didn't hear Phantom's comment, too busy looking around at lack of GIW combat agents and generally freaking out
"B-But how long did that tranquilizer work for???" he yelped, finally looking back to Phantom, who had been shaking his head to clear it more.
Phantom stared solemnly back at Kwan, earlier humor lost.
"Didn't you… Hear me? It never worked… Insomnia… Remember?..." Phantom's expression grew even graver. "I can't sleep… Not ever…"
Kwan blinked, remembering, yes, Phantom did indeed have a chronic case of insomnia. Heck, come to think of it, he'd never heard of Phantom having slept in the eleven years the ghost had… been… locked…
Kwan's eyes widened as a sudden moment of realization came over him.
"Wait… then…"
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Insomnia…
The digital clock in the corner of the computer screen blinked 2:30 AM and the glow from the screen cast an eerie light on Kwan's face as he browsed his own research files.
Kwan sighed as he closed another page, not finding anything of real worth in his search.
If Phantom were human, the insomnia could be considered the cause of his other illnesses… he scowled at apiece of his writing that, in retrospect, made him wonder if he'd been drunk when he'd written it. But since he's a ghost… and I don't actually know when the insomnia set in…
It all depended on which disorder had begun affecting the ghost. If Kwan was right, and the insomnia had been first, a lot of controversy over Phantom's state could be cleared up. A stroke of inspiration struck him and he typed at the keyboard, logging off his own personal account and accessing a different one.
What does the Records Department say?
Kwan smiled as the files opened right up before him… then the smile turned to shock.
"What… What the hell?!"
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PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!!!! Yes, I know, it's a cliff hanger in only the second chapter, but… it was necessary! Plus, a good portion of this story is suspense and… yeh. Anyways, please R&R!