Dragging myself from my grave. I live! The bus I was supposed to be on this morning got in a crash with another bus. So that happened.
AlecGateway: I've got a need, a need for cliffhangers. Anyway thanks for the review, and yeah Dark is spooky time travel.
Guest: my family's been trying to get me to watch supernatural, part of me wants to so I can write a fic—that's why I watched YJ, just to write this fic—but there's so many seasons.
Warnings: swearing. Like. Lots of it. Me forgetting the warnings... umm too many commas maybe bad grammar and violence.
Momentum
Chapter 21
A Break, A Pause
In which retribution is attempted, and
the ghost zone has odd effects on the mind.
-0-
Amity Park
Four months since the explosion.
Being in the ghost zone, simply existing in the zone was disorientating. Madeline had once woken up unsure of whether she was facing up or down. The scientist in her head was going crazy, all the things she could learn. One of the first things she realized was that, in a way she was a ghost here. If she focused hard enough she could phase through solid objects, or turn invisible. The easiest thing for her to do, she found, was flying. Which was why getting disorientated was almost laughably easy.
She knew already, that something in her and Jackson had changed. The slight glow in his eyes when the green sky turned to a darker shade was one pointer, or how she could catch herself almost sensing ghost before they showed up. This brought her to where she was currently, speeding through the zone in the spectrespeeder, already the food rations they had collected before the explosion were wavering. Part of her cursed Jackson for eating so much. Another thing she noticed. Emotions. If it was true that they were becoming more ghostly, it made perfect sense. Ghost were emotional creatures, and she did find herself becoming more emotional. Violent, intrusive thoughts seemed more and more common. She breathed a sigh, the molded, recycled smell of the air making her yearn for the real world.
Jackson was in the back, sleeping. He had fallen ill some point about halfway through their journey, leaving Madeline to find a way out of the dimension. She couldn't sense portals unfortunately, and her skill of sensing ghost wasn't very good. Either that or the ambient ectoplasm in the air was making her senses fuzzy.
The possibility of a half human half ghost was baffling. Although technically, it was impossible. A Schrödinger's man, if you would. How that would be possible, she wasn't sure. Maybe if you exposed someone to enough ectoplasm without killing them. A knock from the side of the wall brough Madeline out of her musings. What? She quietly mouthed, glancing at the wall.
Something was outside of the speeder.
There was another almost unsure seeming knock. Tap, tap tap. Madeline drew her eyebrows together. Moving her foot to push down harder on the pettle. There was no way she was opening the door for some random ghost. Tap, tap, tap. She narrowed his eyes, pushing down on the pedal harder and harder. Not today ghost.
Sometimes she wondered what happened to the other people in Amity. Most of them had chosen to evacuate after the first warnings. The notices send out by the G. I. W letting the town know that there were almost dangerously high radioactivity levels in the ectoplasm at the labs had sent most of the richer family's running. The Manson's were already eager to leave the town that had claimed their daughter to its stones. She knew the Foleys were a little more hesitant.
Part of her thought about what it would've been like if they had just packet up and left, but they couldn't. There was a chance, one that most of the remaining town folk were holding onto, that Phantom was going to come back to save them.
Tap, tap, tap.
Madeline let out a frustrated growl, turning on the digital ghost sensors. She, personally didn't sense anything but that didn't mean there was nothing. There was a beep as the speeder sparked with electricity.
Nothing.
No ghost, no creature, no monster. Absolutely nothing. They were clean, and yet she could've sworn she had heard something. Madeline drew back on the pettle slowing the speeder to a much safer speed, making a note to keep the sensors on and at high alert. The last thing she needed was to be attacked.
Tap, tap, tap.
A glance at the sensor told her there was apparently nothing out there, yet she could've sworn she had heard something. "Jack?" She asked into the back of the speeder, when she heard him grunt to signify that he was awake, she continued. "Do you hear that?"
Tap, tap, tap.
Jackson sat up, blearily glancing around the speeder as he gained his bearings. "Heard what?" He asked, sleepiness obvious in his voice.
Tap, tap, tap.
"That!" Madeline exclaimed, glancing at the walls trying to figure out which direction it was coming from. The noise seemed to get louder and louder, happening more and more.
Tap, tap, tap.
"I dun', I don't hear anything Mads." Jackson reported from the back. The makeshift bed creaking under his weight.
Tap, tap, tap.
Tap, tap, tap.
-0-
Megan could tell already, that they didn't trust her at all. Not even one bit. They, of course being the Team. It was rather easy, seeing as none of them made an effort to try to hide their discomfort. Or maybe they did. She wasn't exactly thinking too clearly. There was a very noticeable lack of missions, even when Joker sightings right there in Happy Harbour were reported, they did not get to go out.
Even though she was completely free of the staffs control, she found herself staring off into space blankly waiting for orders that would never come. It was a lot easier when someone was moving your body for you. As soon as she was free from control, she had tried her best to tell them all she knew. Though, with all the fuzz and blur in her mind she was left without much to work with.
Megan wanted to talk to them, demand to know why they weren't talking to her, but she didn't. Couldn't, wouldn't, for whatever reason she just couldn't bring herself to do that. It wasn't really their faults. She'd probably have acted the same way if it was one of them.
But it wasn't them. It was her.
Superboy had tried his best to comfort her but, he wasn't exactly ever very good at that sort of thing and just ended up simply not leaving the room or turning away from her when she entered the area. It was atleast somewhat nice.
Part of her wanted to read their minds, figure out what was making them act this way. Why exactly they thought that this of all things would help. Everything felt so artificial. When she had to help the new kid around, she felt so odd. Like she had seen him before.
All her interactions were rather forced, the whole team ignoring her left her to just speak like she was rehearsing lines for some badly written movie. The new boy, Daxon Red was from what she could tell, very strange. On the first day he just passed out, and Megan couldn't help but be concerned. He seemed to act like it happened all the time though, so she wasn't sure. Then there was his eyes. They were red. A deep, dark, almost hazy red. Most of all though, they were hypnotizing. Ghostly.
-0-
Danny woke up to pain in his head. Both on the inside—a spiking violent headache—and the outside—his hair grinding against something hard—he realized after a moment of lying there hazedly, that he was being dragged, by his foot. By someone. He blinked his eyes distractedly letting them roll to roam the surrounding area. There were two large, tall, brick buildings on either side of him he realized. His head dragged past a dumpster and a few trash cans along with an emergency fire exit.
Wait.
He recognized this alleyway. He knew this alleyway.
Phantom stood up from the body, letting his duplicate re-emerge with himself. An odd feeling raised in his throat as he briefly gagged. Behind him Freakshow rolled his eyes, moving forward and heaving the body of the rather short college age boy, over his shoulder. "Come on now." Master called, climbing one of the emergency ladders with the body to get onto the roof.
Phantoms eyes snapped up to the person dragging him. It's Alexander Demay. It's the boy he killed, and Alexander Demay—Retribution—is dragging him by his right foot down the alleyway he was killed in. Phantoms breath quickens, and he can only watch as Alexander's head pivots to face him, giving the halfa a haunting stare. "Master doesn't know your here, doesn't know I'm here." Alexander explained after a moment. They're almost at the end of the alleyway.
Phantom smelled blood.
"And" he continued. "Master won't be finding out about it either." Alexander dropped the foot he was using to drag Phantom with onto the ground with a dull thud. Alexander—Retribution—Alexander circled around the teens limp form like a cat waiting to pounce. "You killed me here." The boy whispered stopping in front of Phantoms head.
Retribution crouched down, leering over the slightly dazed boy. "Wouldn't it be, ironic, if per say, someone was to, oh I don't know, do the same to you?"
At that moment, Phantom seemed to finally realize what was happening. Rolling away from the crazed ghost Phantom made quick to stand up, the smell of blood a distant memory haunting his thoughts. "Re—Retribution!" He tried to reason. "Please I—I didn't mean t—"
"Didn't mean to?" Retribution shrieked, stalking towards the cornered younger boy. "Didn't mean to?" Blue fire lit up his hands as he moved to raise them at his sides, arms forming a W shape. "When you put your hands around my neck? And killed me?"
"It was—I—I wasn't in control! It was Master! Freakshow!"
"Bullshit!"
Before Phantom could even think to yell he was being blasted back, blue exploded into his vision before pain in his back as he hit a wall. "Bullshit!" Retribution yelled again. "You killed me you asshole! And I'll kill you!" Phantom stared at the approaching form of Retribution, double visioned and wavering. He takes a moment to be dazed, and suddenly there was hands around his neck. Phantom let out a panicked squawk, flailing his arms and legs wildly. Retribution—Alexander—Retribution's eyes harden, then narrow. He will be the only one walking out of this alley tonight.
The sound of mental crunching under something's weight makes him turn around.
"Retribution? Phantom?"
-0-
Question; what do you wanna see in this story?