Summary: Valerie hunts for a lead to prove Officer Walker is responsible for the incident at the precinct.
Characters: Valerie, Vlad, and Dan
Written: August 2015
Note: This is set after chapter 66 of Spectacular Specter.

Chapter 66.5

Valerie lifted her head when she heard a light rap on the doorframe of the hospital room. She glanced over, not surprised, to see Mr. Masters standing in the doorway. The man bowed his head as he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him to give them some privacy.

"No change in his condition?" Mr. Masters questioned as he took a seat next to her in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs.

Valerie shook her head, her gaze drifting back to her father. "There was a moment," she said quietly, "we thought maybe he would wake. But-" She shook her head again, not wanting to think back on the brief hope that was quickly extinguished. "You're not thinking of trying anything, are you?" She shot him a sideways glare.

"No, no." Mr. Masters held up a hand. "I've learned my lesson. I wanted to do something to help the medical community. How great would it be for families suffering, not knowing if their loved one will ever wake up, if they could be woken by a simple procedure? I took advantage of Mr. Technus' misfortune and used him as a guinea pig for this idea. I don't blame him for wanting to seek vengeance on me."

Valerie eyed him for a second longer. "It's good to know you're not so stubborn that you can't learn from your mistakes."

"Well, the three of you made it hard not to see the error of my ways when you were yelling at me." A small, crooked smile crossed his face.

"It seemed like the only way to get through your thick head." Valerie shrugged.

"It was quite effective." Mr. Masters placed a briefcase on his lap. "But I suppose we should stop with the small talk now. I've kept you waiting, but I hope that wait was worth it." He popped open the briefcase, and Valerie leaned over to get a better look inside it. "Your average concealable dagger." He picked it up and drew it from its sheath, showing off the short, sharp blade. "Perfect for hiding in a boot. This one," he touched the second sheathed dagger in the case, "is especially made for fighting close quarters with a ghost, in case you're ever in a situation where you'll need something like that."

"But this is the fun one." Valerie picked up the three sectioned staff. With ease, she snapped the three sections together, making one long staff. It wasn't anything fancy, but she was used to wielding the staff and knew how to fight with it. "What's that one?"

"Ah, this." Mr. Masters picked up what appeared to be a wristwatch. "It's an ecto ray laser gun. Just push the buttons here." He pushed the top two buttons on the watch, and a small gun suddenly popped out of it. "It may not be as powerful as that rifle, but it'll still pack a punch. And these," he gestured to the remaining items in the briefcase, which looked like colorful golf balls, "are similar in idea to a smoke bomb. You throw them down, and they break, dispersing a smoke. But you'll want to be sure to throw them at your enemies. Because once you breathe in the smoke, you'll have about a minute before it knocks you out. Those hit with it will sleep for about, maybe, half an hour."

Valerie nodded as she listened to his explanation. "There's only three?"

"I was hoping you wouldn't need to use them too often."

Valerie disassembled the staff back into its three sections for easy storage. She frowned slightly as she replaced the item back into the briefcase. "Why did you do this for me?" She side eyed him suspiciously. "Not that I don't appreciate the help. But I'm not the one you need to be making amends with."

Mr. Masters shook his head. "This isn't about making amends. And yes, proving Walker is responsible for putting your father in the hospital would benefit me greatly. But can you say doing so wouldn't benefit the entire town too?"

Valerie, of course, couldn't argue the question. Having Officer Walker in charge as the temporary Police Chief was bad for everyone. She could only assume he bought, or threatened, his way to get the position after what happened to her father. "Then I guess I better do my best to find a way to bring him down."

"I trust you and Phantom will be able to do it." Mr. Masters offered a genuine smile.

Valerie didn't quite trust Mr. Masters after everything she witnessed at his house, but he provided her weapons and kept her secret, so maybe he wasn't such a bad of a man after all. He could become a better man, a better father. Valerie hoped, for Elle's sake.

Valerie double checked that all her weapons were securely in place: the knives in her boots, the three sectioned staff strapped to her hip, the sleep gas bombs in a pouch on her belt, and the watch on her wrist. Then she sneaked into the apartment, hardly making a noise as she slipped through an open window. Her hover board folded back up, and she tucked it into the back of her belt. The apartment was small but kept neat and spotless. The black leather couch looked comfy, and the variety of magazines were stacked on the coffee table. Valerie stepped lightly as she made her way through the living area of the apartment where the owner of the apartment was not.

She crept through the room and entered the hall. Someone blocked her way. Instinctively, Valerie grabbed her staff, snapping it into its full length. Almost, she swung without thinking, but the black and white suit made her hesitated enough to catch herself. What was Danny doing here? It didn't make any sense. But then she took in who was standing before her. The man, though similarly costumed, was taller and buffer than Danny. Valerie snapped her staff at him, jamming one end under the man's jaw.

"Who are you?" she demanded, narrowing her eyes.

The man didn't respond right away, but when he did, it was with a chuckle. He knocked the staff aside, causing Valerie to stumble. Off balanced, she barely managed to dodge the elbow aimed at her head, but his foot caught her in the gut. She hit the ground with a grunt. The staff clattered on the hardwood flooring. The man didn't give her time to be dazed. Already he was lining up for another strike. Valerie rolled to her feet, snatching up her staff. She blocked the next punch to come her way then countered, striking at him with her staff. He deflected the attack, pushing away the staff. His next punch struck her in the side. Valerie winced, biting back a yelp of pain. The muscles weren't simply for show. His hits had a lot of power behind them, and Valerie knew she would be nursing some bruised ribs for a while. She thrust her staff forward, stabbing hard into the man's shoulder.

"What is going on here?"

Both of them stopped at the shout with the man about to lunge forward at Valerie. They twisted their heads to see the apartment's owner standing in the living area's doorway with two bags of groceries in his arms. He was young, maybe about twenty-seven, and in good shape. And not too happy about coming home to find two costumed strangers in his apartment. His mouth pursed tightly as his dark eyes glared coldly at them.

"She started it," the costumed man said, pointing at Valerie.

"What are you? Five?" Valerie whacked him sharply on the head.

"Ow!" He rubbed at his head. "You were the one to jab your little stick at me first." He pushed the staff away from him.

"If you two want to fight, can you please take it somewhere else?" asked the man with a tired sigh. "I don't want to have to clean up any mess you make. And I really don't want to have to pay for damages to the apartment."

"I just came to ask some questions."

Valerie frowned at the costumed man. "That was my reason for being here. Why do you need to ask him questions?"

"To clear Phantom's name," he answered like it was obvious. He folded his arms, leaning toward her like he was eying her suspiciously. "You're not here trying to do the same, are you?"

"No," Valerie responded with a snort. "You can have Phantom. Though I think he's already got a boyfriend in mind." She smirked when the costumed man gasped like she wounded him.

"Is this some kind of prank?" asked the apartment owner dryly. "Because I hate pranks, and I will call the cops on you."

"Mr. Eaton, you were at the police precinct when the attack went down that landed the Police Chief in the hospital, were you not?" Valerie questioned, taking charge as she stepped up to the man.

"No," Mr. Eaton replied quickly. Shaking his head, he pushed past Valerie. "No, no. We are not doing this. Get out of my apartment."

"You know something." The costumed man folded his arms. "Right after the incident, you stopped going into work. Why is that?"

"How do you know about that?" Valerie demanded, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at him.

He shrugged. "You have your ways of getting information, and I have mine."

Mr. Eaton put his groceries down on the coffee table. "And both of you can get out of my apartment." He shooed at them with both hands. "I have no answers for you, and we are not doing any interrogations about anything."

"You obviously know something," the costumed man pressed.

"Are you really okay with letting the blame fall onto someone who's innocent?" Valerie questioned. "You can't tell me you agree with the way Officer Walker is running things."

Mr. Eaton sighed, running a hand over his bald head. "No, I don't agree with it. Since you looked into things, you clearly know that I was fired after everything went down. Was it because I'm black? Or is it because I'm a trans man? Or could it possibly be because I actually openly opposed Walker taking over temporarily as Chief Police? I'd put my money on all three reasons."

"Well, all of that sounds like bull shit reasons to fire someone." The costumed man huffed, disgusted by the idea of Mr. Eaton being fired for those reasons.

"Those are completely unfair reasons to fire someone," Valerie agreed, trying to be more delicate about the matter. "And Police Chief Gray certainly never would have used that information as a reason to discriminate against someone."

Mr. Eaton hesitated then nodded. "Police Chief Gray is a good man. Despite any complaints about my being trans, he believed that didn't matter as long as I did well at my job, which I did. He never had any complaints about my performance as a cop."

"Then why won't you speak out against Officer Walker?" Valerie asked, a hint of pleading slipping into her voice. "You were there. Did you see what happened? An eye witness would go a long way to clear an innocent person's name and take down the true culprit."

"Maybe I did see, maybe I didn't." Mr. Eaton shrugged as he frowned.

"Why keep silent?" The costumed man tapped his foot impatiently, and Valerie's gaze flicked to the sword strapped to his back. She hoped he didn't think to resort to whipping out the sword and threatening Mr. Eaton with bodily harm if he didn't talk.

"Because I wouldn't put it past Walker to do something worse than firing me if I spoke out about what he did."

"We really need someone who was there to say what actually happened. With so many other officers carrying those weapons to defend against ghosts, finding the weapon used in the incident doesn't really prove much unless we can provide evidence that places it in Officer Walker's hands at the time the incident happened." Valerie had gone over that train of thought for more hours than she cared to admit. She considered tracking down the weapon, but Officer Walker wouldn't be dumb enough to allow such an obvious piece of evidence to be found. The weapon was likely destroyed by now.

"I talk, and Walker will come for me."

"Officer Walker and his goons wearing white don't care about the people of this city," the costumed man pointed out. "Sure. He catches criminals." He muttered under his breath, "With Phantom's help."

"But he also doesn't care if innocent people get hurt in the process," Valerie added. "And he's hurting businesses with this stupid curfew. He acts like Phantom is some horrible villain, but he's just trying to help protect people. And," her shoulders hunched, "he does a lot better job of doing it than Officer Walker." Danny might have been involved in the accident that landed her father in the hospital, but Valerie knew the reason was only because they both shared that same trait. They would risk their own lives to protect someone, which was what happened with her father at the precinct.

Mr. Eaton glanced between them. "Look. I was one of the cops that didn't have a bad thing to say about Phantom's activity. Two weeks before he showed up, my partner got shot while trying to arrest a suspect of an armed robbery. Two inches to the left," he drew a finger across his chest until it rested over his heart, "and he would be dead now. So if Phantom wants to deal with some dangerous criminals and leave them all nicely tied up for us, I'm not going to complain too hard. I'm not saying I want him to do our job for us, but sometimes it's nice to have a little help. Of course, to the public we have to argue against his activity. We don't want everyone taking up a mask and running around as a vigilante. We don't need a hundred of you. No offense."

"Yeah," the costumed man agreed, scratching the back of his head, "you really don't want that."

"I was there when it happened," Mr. Eaton continued, deciding to gloss over the comment, "though I don't think Walker realized I saw him shooting at the Chief and Phantom. Naturally, his aim was to take out Phantom, but the Chief tried to keep Phantom safe. Immediately after the Chief was down and Phantom had bolted to avoid being captured, Walker busted up the camera in that hall and ordered one his subordinates to erase the security tapes that showed what happened. Perfect opportunity to make Phantom the villain. I've stayed silent because if he can do that to the Chief with no remorse, I doubt he'll feel anything taking out someone like me to keep the truth buried."

"But if we get the truth out there, that will cripple his power," Valerie argued.

"With a man like Walker, the best way to get him out of power is to have the testimony come from the Police Chief himself," said the costumed man, rubbing thoughtfully at his chin.

"So we have nothing until he wakes up from the coma?" Valerie's shoulders drooped. How was she supposed to get justice for her father and protect the town from Walker's tyranny?

"I wouldn't rule things out just yet," Mr. Eaton said, drawing Valerie's gaze back to him. "Walker's cocky. He'll slip up eventually. You just have to be there at the right moment. Then you'll have him."

"I like your thinking." From his tone, it wasn't hard to imagine the man grinning behind his mask.

Valerie frowned. "I suppose I could use the help keeping tabs on Officer Walker." She would rather do it herself without having to rely on someone, especially some masked man she didn't even know. But she and Danny had school during the day. They could use someone who could watch Walker during that time. The costumed man mentioned he was looking to clear Phantom's name. Danny might trust this man. But could Valerie trust him?

"I'm going to be watching him whether you want to work together or not. I'm clearing Phantom's name. One way or another."

"Just," Valerie's mouth pursed as she wondered just how Danny came to know this man, "don't kill anyone."

The costumed man held up his hands in surrender. "First Phantom. Now you. I get the picture. Killing's a no-no. I'm not going to do something to make things worse for Phantom."

Valerie could almost hear an unspoken, "If I can help it." She eyed him for a moment then sighed. "I'm assuming you know how to reach Phantom, so you can pass any information to him and he can get it to me." She turned to Mr. Eaton. "I'm sorry for putting you in this-"

Mr. Eaton held up a hand to stop her. "I understand your reasons for questioning me. But I hope you can understand why I don't want to risk speaking up."

Valerie nodded. She didn't want to endanger someone's life just to take down Officer Walker. "Thank you for telling us what you know."

YumiStar: It wouldn't surprise me if he did know! XD He might do stupid things at times, but Vlad's a pretty smart guy. All the pieces are at his disposal. He could easily figure it out.

Guest: Yeah! XD And we definitely don't want the GiW snatching up Kwan because he's been digging into old ghost research. I kind of see Elle as not being as caring about popularity as Danny was. So she'll kind of float between the two. She's already friends with Danny and then with Val and Kwan, so she could fit into both.

Tetractys: Yes~ I'm glad Elle and Vlad can work things out now~ 8D Not too much advancement for Val yet though.

jessiejr21: Thanks! =D