It Can't be Helped: Chapter Fifteen
Almost without consent, Red Arrow could feel his eyes narrowing in suspicion. This was supposed to be a simple job, he was expecting some bored punks as the transgressors. Or thorough grave robbers at worst. But ghosts?
"How do you know this?" he questioned, nothing about their environment even suggested the possibility of ghosts. Then again, what would he know?
Danny appeared to be getting more and more nervous, fidgeting his hands restlessly and kicking the dirt below him.
"I just do. I can't really explain it, it's just... what was that?" he interrupted himself mid-sentence and glanced about him as if looking for culprits in the dark. Though Roy suspected that the young half-ghost was just being paranoid, for Red Arrow would have already noticed any potential threats before even entering the graveyard.
He wouldn't risk running a mission, no matter how seemingly simple, with a newbie without assessing the perimeter first. He found nothing.
Perhaps he had been wrong to bring Danny along. Even though he's heard good things about him and his counterpart in the League (Plasmius, he reminded himself) was incredibly powerful, didn't mean that the younger one would be able to live up those expectations.
Later though, Red Arrow would take back and swallow each and every one of those thoughts. He could feel his cheeks wither as a large, mechanical... thing rose up from the ground from right behind the boy he had just been criticizing.
Danny's spine went rigid and froze as a chill emitted from his mouth. Then, even though he could not place it for the life of him, an overly familiar voice of some unknown third-party spoke.
"Well, look what we have here. It's been a while, hasn't it. Whelp."
Everything froze, but Red Arrow couldn't afford to do so.
He may have been going by a new alias, but that certainly didn't mean he was no longer living up to his former one. The chief of the Navajo tribe had been a good teacher, and his skills had only become more honed as he practiced under and fought alongside by Ollie.
Quickly, speedily, he had notched an arrow into his bow and had it aimed directly at this newcomer. In some ways, this contraption of a being was similar to Danny. The same vibe, the same aura surrounded them both.
Was this the ghost that Danny had been talking about? If so, then he knew that his arrows would be next to useless, regardless of how fast he was with them. And he was pretty damn fast.
Which would mean that he would have to leave the majority of this battle up to the other ghost.
Letting his eyes glance away from his target for just a moment in order to assess how Danny was doing, he was left somewhat assured as whatever nervousness that had visibly gripped him before had melted away leaving nothing but resolve to take its place.
Fists tightly clenched, Phantom wasted no more time and made as if to attack. Twisting around, he threw himself back a few feet and fired with as powerful a ghost-ray he could manage in such a short amount of time. The mechanical ghost was taken by surprise and barely had enough time to dodge it, though he still took a hit to his shoulder.
"Argh! I'm not here to fight you, whelp!" he had growled out angrily, holding one palm against the spot where the ray had hit. Red Arrow took advantage of this distraction and shot two exploding arrows at him, both of them making their mark. Though the arrows appeared to do little damage other than infuriate the mech. ghost even more.
"For fu**'s sake, stop attacking me!"
Red Arrow opted to do so, but only because now he wanted answers.
"Why did you dig up these graves, ghost?" he concentrated so much venom into the last word that even Danny flinched at it.
If their visitor had any visible pupils, Danny imagined that he would have been rolling them considering the tone that he had answered with.
"You think I did this?"
"Give me a reason not to. I don't see anyone else around," the archer replied, so far unfazed. That is, until the bow in his hands had suddenly vanished and he was left looking quite silly miming a weapon that was simply no longer there.
"Well try looking harder," a female voice had ordered from somewhere in front of him, she later appeared next to the first ghost, leaning against his shoulder with bow in hand.
The mech ghost was one thing, but she was completely something else. She resembled Phantom more, as in she was a lot less metal and more flesh. Not saying that her appearance wasn't metal, just not the elemental kind.
"Damnit, Skulker," she said, directing her reprimands at the first ghost, "why'd you have to go and pick a fight with the dipstick and this guy?" she demanded, nodding her head towards the direction where Red Arrow stood.
"Me?" he replied, incredulous, "Ember, they started it!"
She made a doubtful face, and with her attention on him and not them, Roy carefully slipped his hand into a pocket and slipped something out. With it still concealed in his palm, he frowned as realized that he was pretty sure he recognized the girl.
"Give me my bow back," he warned, and to the left of him he could see Danny building up another ghost ray to back up his threat.
Ember directed her attention back to them and raised a single dubious eyebrow. Not wanting to pick a fight with the boss' kid and his friend, she shrugged and tossed the weapon over.
"Take it. Just don't point it at my boyfriend anymore."
Roy caught it with the hand that wasn't conspicuously holding the flash bomb, which apparently he wouldn't have to use. Phantom powered down his ray as well, unsure of what to do now. Neither of them were expecting such compliance.
Something like a strangled cry of frustration wracked through Danny as he shuddered once more. He was slowly growing to hate his "ghost radar" if it was going to off like this every other minute. However, this time it signaled something much more dangerous and threatening than the two other specters that were standing before them.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Dread filled every fiber of Danny's being as he recognized the voice as none other than Vlad's. Groaning, he craned his neck up to look for him, he who was undoubtedly hovering a few feet just above the group of four. Cursing Red Arrow's name for coaxing him out of the Cave, he kept his eyes at anything else other than Vlad as he came down.
Now standing in the middle of it all, Vlad assessed the situation as it seemed that no one was going to fess up any time soon. Skulker seemed nervous beyond belief, Ember simply oozed boredom and indifference, Red Arrow kept an eye on him just as critical as his own, and Danny... well, that better have been guilt.
Had he not told him to not leave the Cave? To avoid a situation exactly like this, no less.
"Well?" He asked again, letting his question trail off in order for someone, anyone, to pick it back up. Ever the brazen one, Red Arrow volunteered.
"Something suspicious was going on here so Phantom and I came to check it out. That's when we found your... friends."
Both Ember and Vlad snorted at the last part and muttered a snide "As if.", leaving Skulker to anxiously glance between his temperamental girlfriend and hot-headed boss. His life was not an easy one.
Never the silent one, Ember let her popstar-attitude get the best of her and was more than glad to kick it up a notch and point an accusing finger at Red Arrow.
"Your shoot first, ask questions later method is gonna get you in a lot of trouble one day, punk. We were here for the same reason, and you're just getting in the way."
Skulker merely groaned, knowing that this was going to escalate fairly quickly judging by the "punk's" similar temperament, who was probably just as stubborn as his girlfriend. And he knew (experience was a cruel teacher) that once Ember got into this kind of mood, there was no stopping or calming her down.
Danny backed away as well, wary of Red Arrow's temper, and moved to stand beside Vlad. Vlad; however, was in no mood to play referee to a shouting match, and quickly made to stop anything before it even began.
"Silence!" he demanded, punctuating his order with a crackle of electricity bursting from the palm of his hands. "Since we are all here," he said pointedly, his eyes on Danny, "why don't we try being productive? Skulker, do you have evidence that he was in this area?"
"Uh, yes," the metal ghost replied, bringing an arm up which transformed into a small computer, it reminded Roy a lot of Robin's little hologram wrist-computer, only this guy's was actually embedded into his wrist, "traces of his ecto-signature is present. Along with a large amount of traces with unknown sources," he read off the little machine steadily, having regained his composure.
"If you're here," Red Arrow interrupted, referring to Plasmius, "then you're here on League business. And I'm not going to become a part of it."
Plasmius was quick to deny this.
"I assure you, young man. The League has nothing to do with this, nor are they going to hear a word of it. This is strictly my business. If you choose to get involved, then so be it; if not, then all the better," he said, bothering to actually offer a choice only because he knew how people like him operated.
If Vlad had flat out forbid this Red Arrow from sticking his nose into it, then he would simply do the exact opposite and go behind his back to find out what was going on. Offer him some respect and a choice; however, and he would not only cooperate but maybe even prove to be a valuable asset.
Vlad knew this because the young man was a lot like himself.
Red Arrow seemed to have chosen the former option because he made no move as if to go.
"Very well. Now then, Skulker, you said that there was an unknown source?"
"Yes, fairly recent if I had to guess. Primitive."
Plasmius made a "hmm" sound in reply, and fell deep into thought as he processed this. Like Danny, he was able to sense the energy surrounding the graveyard, though unlike Danny, his ability was far more acute. It was a skill that so far seemed to be exclusive to half ghosts.
Able to tell apart different levels of energy concentration, he almost physically felt the the spike of it directly in the center of the cemetery. He knew the Fright Knight was clever, but what would he be doing hanging around old graves?
To draw on their residual ectoplasmic energy, perhaps? In order to become even stronger? But if that was so, then the older halfa would have been able to sense him further. The Fright Knight had done too good of a job of cloaking his powers if it was pure and raw. The fact that he had the ability to mute his powers in such a way that Vlad could no longer even perceive them was token enough of the power of the Fright Knight.
He didn't know. All he knew was that he had to be stopped.
"Who exactly are you after?" Danny spoke up for the first time since Vlad's arrival, voicing both his and Roy's concerns. Plasmius sighed, suddenly appearing much older.
"An ancient and powerful ghost by the name of Fright Knight. We thought he's been defeated once and for all before, but it appears he's been released. There's no telling what he's going to do, just what he could do."
Roy could only assume total annihilation of all that is good and living, and tried to ignore the small part of him that said that perhaps the League should get involved. Whatever concerns he may have had though were soon assured.
"If we could simply find him, I should be able to stop him. He may be a threat, but that does not mean he can not be easily trapped," Plasmius said, his thoughts on the Fenton Thermos.
They didn't have to defeat the Fright Knight, just weaken him enough for him to be contained. While every Fenton Thermos has been either destroyed in the fire or taken by the GIW, Vlad had been working on his own replica. It was tricky to get the technology just right, but he was coming pretty close to a breakthrough.
Vlad was forced to give credit and recognition to Jack for his ingenious design. He would have liked to believe the more likely possibility that Maddie had invented it, but every scientist had their own personal flair that spoke through their inventions. And the design of the Fenton Thermos simply reeked of Jack's influence.
While Red Arrow and Plasmius were sure of themselves, Danny did not as readily agree. Keeping something like this from the Justice League simply felt wrong. Weren't they their allies?
"So what now?" Roy asked bitingly.
What now indeed? It was true that there were certain places in the human world where a large number of ghosts could get together, and that the Fright Knight could be at any of these places.
Abandoned buildings were a favorite of most ghosts, as there was enough ectoplasmic energy to anchor them to the Earth. Old hotels, bars, and restaurants were especially attractive because of the strong emotions that had built up inside of them from when they had been thriving with people and feelings. After a while, a building would sort of take on its own personality and aura, calling ghosts from all over as a beacon.
Though Vlad already had informants set up in all the regulars, ready to warn him at the mere mention of the Fright Knight.
It was just as possible that the Fright Knight had simply found a building, abandoned of life and death, to call his own where he could not be disturbed.
"Now, there's nothing else we can do. If he doesn't want to be found, he won't be. We simply wait."
"That's it?" Roy replied disbelievingly. Play the waiting game when there was a potentially very dangerous ghost on the loose?
"Listen, I'm the expert here, and let me tell you that going up against a ghost is not the same as fighting Jack Frost. If there is anything that you think you can tell us, then by all means proceed. Until then."
Roy was left speechless, as he had nothing to contribute. He has yet to ever fight against a ghost, so knew not what to do. Which continuously frustrated him, as this was not just a new enemy, but an entirely new type of enemy.
Vlad had ended up leaving on a bad note, him not being the only frustrated one.
Red Arrow left back to Star City, Skulker and Ember returned to the Ghost Zone, while he and Danny went immediately back to Wisconsin. Danny knew that he was in trouble, and stayed quiet for the entire duration of the trip.
Now, both in their human forms, Danny and Vlad had found themselves in the kitchen. Danny sat at one of the bar stools placed around the granite-topped island while Vlad was currently pouring himself some scotch in an expensive glencairn glass at the counter.
"... I'm not angry with you, Daniel," he said finally, now leaning against the counter in order to face the younger halfa sitting across from him on the other side of the kitchen. His voice was much more gentler, much soother than before.
"But when I 'grounded' you, if you will, I did it to protect you. I have reason to believe that this Fright Knight may come after you."
This caused Danny's head to shoot up, confusion etching his eyes.
"What would he want with me?"
Vlad allowed for a small sort of smile to curl his lips as some memories grabbed him.
"Believe it or not, you actually caused quite a bit of trouble for him before. Skulker and Ember as well. And just about every other ghost we knew."
"I did?" Danny asked, not sure if he could see himself going around picking fights with anyone. Not without good reason anyway.
"Oh yes. They would always try and find some way to torment other humans or just cause you grief. You would always stop them. I suppose being the hero was always your calling card."
As Vlad lost himself in the nostalgia made unusually more alluring because of the alcohol, Danny kept his eyes trained on him. This was the first time that the older man had even mentioned anything that was remotely related to the past.
So he beat up the bad guys. It was his calling card to do so, but then - what was Vlad's?
AN: I have no excuses for the wait that you haven't heard before. I'm sorry, and I tried to make this chapter a bit longer (though unfortunately not by much) than usual. Anyways, I've decided to bring someone in that a lot of people have been asking for. At first, I was against it, but this character can really help move things along. Hopefully, she'll appear in the next chapter or the one after.