I Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts

Chapter 8
Misery

Danny peered around, trying to get a bead on the ghost. Reaching out with his power, he finally found something. He chuckled weakly. He recognized that ecto-signature. How could he not? It was—

"BEWARE! For I am the BOX GHOST!"

"I know who you are, Boxy. We've done this dance for three years, and frankly, I don't have time for it right now. I'll let the Ghostbusters handle you…"

"But I have to talk to you!"

Danny, who was starting to fly away, stopped dead in mid-air. He whipped his head around, confused.

"You want to talk?"

"YEAH! I've been looking for you all night!"

"Boxy, it's nearly nine…in the morning…"

"Yeah, I know it's not night anymore. So?"

Danny stared at the blue specter, still in a state of shock. Finally, he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Look, can we do this later? I have a previous engagement."

Danny floated off, but Box Ghost followed him.

"I'm not going to stop until we talk!"

"Noted…"

"I'm serious! I need to talk to you. It's REALLY important."

"But I have something more important to do…"

"What could be more important than the super-serious nature of what I, THE BOX GHOST, have to-"

"HOW DOES THE POSSIBLE CURE FOR SOUL-CRUSHING ANGST SOUND?" shouted Danny, whirling around and getting in the Box Ghost's face.

Boxy paused, then spoke.

"I can wait…"

"Good…"

"But I'm coming with you."

"Great…just keep out of sight."

The Box Ghost floated after Danny, continuing onward to the firehouse. Suddenly, Danny ground to a stop, his ghost sense flowing out.

"That doesn't feel like Slimer…"

"What's a Slimer?" asked Boxy, but Danny ignored him.

"Feels like…oh, great. Just what I need. HER!"

oOo

Everyone gathered on the first floor, eyes darting to and fro. The younger members had Proton Packs ready, as did Egon. Janine clutched a particle thrower herself, the pack it was attached to laying on her desk.

Roland calmly inserted a fresh canister into his thrower. Unlike the first Proton Packs, the new models used by the current team used charges contained within the backpack. It wasn't the most efficient system, but it was necessary to fight the ghosts of the day. This didn't stop Egon from trying to find a way for the old system to work, if only because it could hold a charge for much longer than the canisters.

"That green blob has to be somewhere," said Roland.

"And this time, we aren't hunting Slimer because he ate something special," said Eduardo.

A few glares were shot his way.

"Just trying to lighten the mood."

"He's around here somewhere," said Egon, "Class 5 shape-shifters are good at hiding."

"Understatement of the week," said Kylie.

"I thought the phrase was year," said a red-eyed blob with fangs.

"LIGHT HIM!" shouted Garrett, sending stream the blob's way.

The blob dodged it and the subsequent streams. It had been like this for the past fifteen minutes, with the Ghostbusters only getting a few shots in and the blob dodging the rest.

"You guys aren't that good at this, are you?" asked the blob.

"No, they aren't, Bertrand," came a voice like poisoned honey, and a wraith as black as coal appeared beside the blob.

"Quite the team of misfits. A cripple who can't accept when it's time to step aside and let people with whole bodies take over. A slacker who is trying so desperately to run from the trials of life. A naïve mechanic who thinks he can fix any problem. A Goth girl who can't reach out or admit any feelings. An old scientist, trying to relive his glory days. And a middle-aged woman who's still hopelessly pining for a Vulcan. You're all WEAK!"

The shadow raced around talking to each of them in turn. First, Garrett…

"You are the weakest link, despite your boasting," said the shadow, her sickly sweet voice digging at his eardrums, "One little tip, and you crumple, leaving your teammates to pick up the slack."

The shadow punctuated this by pushing him over. Garrett toppled out of his wheelchair, and the shadow moved on to Egon.

"The scientist always. Logical at all times, even when he does not wish to be. You don't know how to deal with people. Maybe that's why the old Ghostbusters went their separate ways. And now, like an old guilty man, you're trying to rewrite history with these new Ghostbusters. But they, like you, old man, won't last long."

The shadow moved on to Kylie, whispering something in her ear. Kylie dropped to her knees, trying told hold back tears. The same thing happened to Roland and Janine. The shadow was taking them down, one by one, playing on their deepest fears, be it loneliness, their self-image, or whatever. The shadow said anything she could to make them miserable, and with every fallen Ghostbuster, she seemed to grow bigger and more powerful. Finally, the shadow turned to Eduardo.

"Slacker. Never amounting to anything. Always taking the easiest way possible, no matter the consequences. Your brother is right about everything. Your family is ashamed of you. You never learn, do you?"

However, instead of joining the others, Eduardo gave a small smile.

"Actually, I do. Get some new material, lady. I've heard it all before."

Then he shot her at point-blank range. The shadow hit the wall and groaned. Finally, she peeled herself off and growled at Eduardo.

"I see I'll have to do this more personally."

The shadow's hands lit up, green energy flowing from them. But before she could make another move.

"Still playing that game, aren't we Spectra? Pick at their insecurities, telling whatever lies you can, and feed on the misery it causes. You're a parasite, you know that?"

The shadow, obviously named Spectra, whirled around and growled at the newcomer.

"Phantom…didn't expect to see you here. I guess Plasmius' suspicions were correct."

"So does he know I'm-"

"No, but after I finish here, I'll tell him. He wasn't going to send anymore forces here, in case the Ghostbusters were too powerful, but I'm sure he'll come personally when he hears about this."

Phantom narrowed his eyes.

"Except he won't hear about this."

"You think you can stop me?"

"You remember the last time we clashed," asked Phantom, cracking his knuckles, "It didn't end well for you."

"True, but I can feel the misery inside you. Misery I can feed on!"

Spectra flew forward, but Danny leaned back under her charge and kicked his feet out, sending Spectra through the ceiling.

"Everything she's been saying is a lie! Shock them out and they'll be fine!" Phantom shouted to Eduardo as he flew up.

"How am I supposed to-"

A splash and a yelp from behind him caused Eduardo to whirl around. A heavyset blue man in overalls floated there, hands clenched around two glasses of water as Roland and Egon, dripping wet, looked around blearily.

"Cold water seems to work fine," said the floating man.

At that moment, Bertrand struck, attempting to attack Egon. The floating man reacted a half a second faster, barreling into Bertrand and shoving him against the wall.

"BEWARE! For the Box Ghost shall not let the injustice of Plasmius go un-avenged!"

Bertrand transformed into a bear and struck, knocking the Box Ghost to the ground.

"You think YOU can help them? You're nowhere NEAR my league!"

The Box Ghost growled, and felt a strange energy seep into his hands. Bertrand gave a questioning growl before being blasted off. The Box Ghost stared at his hands before grinning.

"HA-HA! Finally, I, THE BOX GHOST, have gained the power to shoot ecto-energy. AT LAST! Now you will TREMBLE before my corrugated cardboard might!"

"Actually, that's not very scary," Eduardo interjected, who had finished reviving Kylie and Garrett.

The Box Ghost was silent before pointing at the young man.

"I'll talk to YOU later."

"Less talking, more BLASTING!" shouted Garrett, "Light that blob!"

Five proton streams and one large, box-shaped mass of energy slammed into Bertrand, knocking him into a wall. But the shape-shifter was nothing if not versatile. He slid around the next volley and struck, sending the Box Ghost to the ground. He phased through reflexively, falling into the basement and into an old box, which for some reason had been left open.

Boxy groaned and stood back up.

"What did I land on?"

He peered around at the objects that broke his fall and grinned.

Meanwhile, Bertrand had turned into a large snake and had Janine trapped in his coils. The Ghostbusters lowered their throwers, unwilling to take the chance of hurting her.

"That's right. Put those away and we can—WHAT?"

A vortex had appeared from behind, tearing him from Janine and sucking him in. He screamed once before two small doors snapped shut and a beep echoed around the room.

"BEHOLD THE POWER OF BOXES" shouted the Box Ghost, yanking the old, box-shaped Ghost Trap toward him and waving it around, "Now to help Phantom…"

oOo

"Your little plan is doomed to failure. Your friends are too weak to hold Amity Park on their own, and they will fail and die! The city will fall, and the blood of everyone will be on your hands. So much blood, because you weren't there to save them."

"NO!" shouted Danny, "They can do it! Valerie alone has enough firepower to send most ghosts packing, and Sam, Tucker, and Jazz will back her up. The city will survive. I have faith in that."

"Well, what about you? Will you survive? You're alone, all alone! You can't take the pressure of it all. Your family is shattered, you've left your friends behind, and the woman you love can't wipe your tears away. Face it, Danny. There is no one you can turn to, no one to help you. You're alone!"

This had been going on for awhile. Danny and Spectra continued to go at it atop the roof of the firehouse.

And while Danny didn't want to admit it, Spectra was getting to him. She was pushing all the right buttons. It didn't help that Danny was fighting off depression, fighting a misery-parasite while his mind was in turmoil. The more Danny fought, the worse it got. He just wanted to curl up in a ball until it all went away, but he knew he couldn't do that.

As the battled continued, Danny's blows got sloppier as Spectra's words continued.

"All that power, and you can't defeat a ghost like me? I'm surprised. I'd have thought you would want to hold back, so you don't, you know, blow up a building?"

That was the last straw. The look on Danny's face told Spectra that she had an opening.

"The power's the problem, isn't it? You're afraid of it, what might happen if you lost it? Wow, going into exile was a worse idea than you thought. Now your friends and family can't even warn you when you're getting too close to the brink."

Spectra struck, claws slicing across Danny's chest.

"You can't even fight back!"

The more Spectra talked, the harder Danny found it to concentrate. He could barely form a decent ecto-blast anymore. Finally, Spectra had him pinned.

"You're a failure, Danny," she whispered, her hand at his neck, "You're too afraid of your power to do anything. You can't save these Ghostbusters, you can't save Amity Park, and you couldn't save your father. You didn't even have the guts to avenge him. No, you even failed to make Plasmius pay for what he did. You've failed your own father, and right now, he's looking down on you with shame."

That proved to be a mistake.

Danny's eyes, closed against the pain of Spectra's words, snapped open glowing brightly. Spectra was nearly blinded by the sudden wave of rage coming off of the young man. Danny's now-energized hand whipped out and grabbed the shadowy ghost by the neck. His vise-like squeeze cut her off guard, causing her to release her own grip on Danny. His other hand glowed white-hot with ecto-energy and began to slam into the sadist's stomach repeatedly, every blow ringing with Danny's rage, against both Spectra for dragging everything to the surface and himself for letting it all happen.

"You can hurt me if you want, beat me and break me if you can, but DON'T…EVER…BRING…MY…FATHER…INTO…"

Danny tossed Spectra into the air.

"THIS!"

That final word was screeched at Spectra, and waves of raw power poured from Danny's mouth, power that, if used for evil, could tear an entire city asunder.

THE GHOSTLY WAIL.

The Ghostbusters and the Box Ghost arrived on the scene just as Danny was breaking free from Spectra's grip. They saw and heard his declaration, and it brought confusion on them.

Except for the Box Ghost, who only felt a mixture of sadness, pity, and shame.

When Spectra landed, Danny continued to beat her. Tears fell from his face, and ectoplasmic blood stained his gloves, but he didn't process either. All he knew was blind rage, rage at this sadistic b**** who took everything he had been feeling since his father's death, everything that had kept him awake at night, and threw it in his face.

Finally, as his fist was swinging up, a hand caught it. Danny's head spun around and met Kylie's eyes.

"Stop. You won. It's over. You don't have to fight anymore."

Kylie took another look at him before adding something else, a complete shot in the dark, but considering Spectra's MO and the tears on Danny's face, it was a good guess.

"And you don't have to keep it all in."

Danny's eyes kept letting off tears, but this time, he knew it. A soft noise began to escape from his mouth, and he let Kylie lead him away as Eduardo and Roland took care of Spectra, oddly enough with the same old trap Boxy had used earlier.

The rest of the group let the two pass, silently amazed that such an obviously powerful ghost could cry so heart-wrenchingly.


This chapter was hard to write. Spectra's decent for angst, but difficult to write.

Oh yeah. And Boxy gets to be a hero! Stranger things have happened…