A/N: Holy crap! 5 years! 5 YEARS? Dude... whoah. Cheers to the peeps that reviewed the first chapter and put this on alert, I'm so sorry. Life caught up with me... This is a quick thing I threw together after finding the first chapter on a harddrive, I'm going to edit that chapter soon as well.
I forgot to do this in the first chapter, but the song is Watch Over Me by Bernard Fanning, I can put a link up to a Youtube clip on my profile if you so desire.
Disclaimer: It's been years since I've had to write one of these, unless you count annotated bibliographies for research projects as disclaimers... So, yeah, not mine... Anyhoo, onward!
A light began to shine, fuzzy and indistinct at first, but sharpening into a bright window. It streamed into the darkness, ebbing and flowing with the powers that governed its existence. It didn't seem like there was a particular reason for its sudden appearance; things like this happening only randomly throughout the years, and never in the same place twice. But for the lone entity that drifted nearby, it had seemed like fate had had a hand in it.
Edging slowly, cautiously towards the light, wary of a trap, the creature began to examine the phenomenon before him. It wasn't like the balls of light that drifted randomly throughout the Zone. Floating around it, the window didn't change at all, it was like an illusion, no matter what the angle, the perspective stayed the same. A swirling matrix within a shifting circle.
The figure grabbed an object floating past and quickly lobbed it at the phenomenon. Shock registered as it flew through and disappeared. The head tilted as it checked below the phenomenon for any signs of the item. When there were none, the eyes cast a considering gaze over the entity's surroundings, and then strayed back to the window. With one last look around, the figure turned and shot toward the portal, not knowing what he'd find on the other side.
This was not his day. He couldn't even remember volunteering for the job; it was only when the costume was shoved into his arms that he realised they needed someone to fill in for the regular guy. He cursed his bad luck as he hung from the goalposts, he didn't even get to meet any cheerleaders to soften the blow. The breeze pushed past his figure, making the duct tape around his costumed feet squeak as he swung from his position. Tucker grimaced as he took in another breath; the suit smelled like sweaty feet and failure and the blood rushing to his head was beginning to make him feel faint. He hoped Sam would arrive soon.
Make that now. Tucker heard them before he saw them and groaned in dismay. The jocks were back from the change rooms and looking for a scapegoat to take their frustrations out on. He gripped his ever present PDA tightly as he squeezed his eyes shut and prepared for the worst.
"Hey guys! A raven piñata!"
"Let's hit him til the candy comes out!"
With a chorus of chuckles, the group advanced upon the helpless teen, wielding bats. Just as the lead jock was about to take a swing, something smacked into the back of his head. He spun around to see a pair of goggles lying innocently on the ground behind him, lenses winking in the afternoon sun. The teen growled "Who did that? Did any of you see?"
The others shrugged, looking around in different directions.
"That goth chick might be hiding somewhere."
"Dude! She's so scary!"
"I know right? She looks like she'd bite you or something."
"You'd probably enjoy that Ed."
Guffaws drowned out Ed's protests as the group forgot about the unknown assailant. After a moment, they remembered the tech geek hanging from the post like a ripe fruit and proceeded to advance once again. The leader raised his bat to strike.
Tucker had opened his eyes at the mention of Sam, when it was apparent that she wasn't there his heart sunk a little. He hoped the stupid costume would help pad his body a little. He saw the lead jock raise the bat once more and shut his eyes, bracing for the blow. That never came. A flash of bright light shone through Tucker's eyelids as the teens around him yelled out in surprise. He cracked his eyelids open to peek and they widened as he took in the scene before him. The jocks were in a jumbled heap on the ground along with a strange figure in what looked to be some sort of jumpsuit. As soon as he got out of here, this was totally going on the internet.
Confused and bewildered, the fallen teens began to sit up and look around. Their attention was soon drawn to the stranger amongst them, lying still upon the grass.
"What the hell just happened?"
The stranger grunted and levered himself off the ground with shaky arms. He raised his head and the group stared.
He took in the situation; the last thing he could remember was flying towards the window and now, this. The people didn't look very friendly and seemed to have been doing something with the bats scattered around on the grass. He turned his head to see the boy stranded in the suit and narrowed his eyes. He stood up to his full height and glowered at the stupefied teens. Seeing the eyes blazing with unnatural fire underneath milk white bangs drained whatever courage the teens had left in them. They ran off with screams, yells of ghost! and mummy! drifting back to the remaining two.
The teen watched them flee with a vague smile on his face, before turning and stepping towards the stranded Tucker. A shriek issued from the costume as the teen inside fought to escape.
The thing! The ghost was coming closer! Oh my god! Tucker wriggled frantically, trying to get free before he died horribly. He looked to see two iridescent eyes staring at him, the ghost had crept up while he was panicking and had bent down slightly to get a better look. Tucker froze, maybe it was like Jurassic Park, and he wouldn't be seen if he didn't move. They stayed like that for a moment, before the ghost raised a hand. This was it. Oh damn. He hadn't even seen the latest version of Doom yet! He was too handsome to die! He felt a cold, gloved finger push briefly against his forehead before he swung backwards. Opening his eyes Tucker saw the ghost's face creased in mirth as he swung back towards him.
Fear turned to annoyance as the ghost poked him again. When he began to swing towards the ghost again Tucker snapped. "Would you quit it already?"
The ghost pulled his arm back and rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish look. Looking around him, the ghost spotted something on the ground and bent out of sight to pick it up. It was the goggles. He held them out and peered through the lenses before pulling them over his head with a satisfied noise.
Tucker stared. He cleared his throat audibly and waited for the strange ghost to face him. "Um... if you wouldn't mind... could you...uh?" he gesticulated to the tape securing him to the goalposts.
The ghost obligingly fired a thin beam of energy at the bonds, quickly melting them and sending Tucker crashing to earth.
Sam had seen what happened at a distance and had quickened her pace when she heard the jock's cries of ghosts. As the ghost shot at tucker, she was at the base of the stands, her eyes widened and she grabbed the nearest thing she could find, launching herself forwards and hollering a battle cry.
He had just freed the human, and was about to help him up when he heard a noise. Spinning around just a moment too late, he saw a girl swinging a bat towards his head before pain blossomed and he sank into darkness.
"Sam!" Tucker exclaimed, picking himself up from the ground. He saw her standing over the ghost with one of the discarded bats. "What did you do that for?"
Sam stared at him incredulously. "It was going to attack you." She waved the bat. "It did attack you!"
Tucker smacked a feathered palm against his forehead. "He was helping me!" He stared down at the fallen figure. "I'm not sure how he got here, but he scared the jocks off and got me down from the post."
Sam looked at the ghost, guilt shading her features. "Whoops."
Tucker looked at her. "What should we do with him? Call the Fentons?"
Sam blanched at the mention of the overly enthusiastic ghost hunters. "No, we can't do that to him. We'll have to get him out of sight and figure out what to do from there. If he was helping you, he can't be all that bad."
Tucker nodded in agreement. "Change rooms first, I need to get out of this before anything else happens."
With the ghost in between them, they made their way over to the shelter of the stands and into the rooms. They lowered him on to a bench and Tucker began to remove the cumbersome suit.
Sam wrinkled her nose at the smell of body odour and old socks that permeated the air. "Gross. It smells like something died in here."
Tucker inhaled deeply after removing the rest of the costume. "Smells like sweet freedom compared to the suit. Blergh." He looked down at his would be saviour. "Where should we hide him? He can't stay here."
Sam's brow furrowed as she glanced down at the strange ghost. "We can bring him to mine, my parents won't notice, they're away for the week and you're coming over for a movie night anyway."
Tucker nodded in agreement. They bent to pick the teen up again when Sam signalled to wait. Trotting over to a shelf; she picked up an oversized white shirt and some baggy sweatpants.
"Won't draw quite as much attention as that will." She gestured to the jumpsuit. "Help me put them on so we can leave, there's bound to be someone coming to investigate sooner or later."
Tucker hoisted up the limp form carefully as Sam began to wrestle the shirt on. "Gosh he's cold, hope I don't get frostbite!" They soon had the makeshift disguise on and made their way out of the change rooms and towards Sam's house.
As they reached the front door they were red faced and panting slightly. Through the door they headed to the lounge room and deposited their cargo on the couch. Tucker and Sam flopped on to the couch opposite and took a moment to catch their breath.
"Whew. You sure must have hit him hard Sam, he didn't even stir on the way here."
Sam made an inelegant gesture with her hand before it flopped back down onto the cushion. "Well, you know, picketing signs at protests are great for upper arm strength I guess."
Tucker smirked at this, pulled out his PDA and began to fiddle with it. "How long do you think he'll stay out?"
"Sam shrugged. "Who knows? He's a ghost, so I guess he might be different. We'll just have to wait and see. TV?"
Tucker grunted his assent as his eyes stayed locked on his beloved technology. Sam rolled her eyes and flicked the channel onto an action movie as they settled down to wait.
Alalalala I am a special person... I also blame university. Liked it? Hated it? Questions? You know what to do :)