IX.
I flew fast and determined back to Amity Park. How was I supposed to get through the barrier?
I didn't know.
How would I beat the GiW?
No fucking clue.
I was so unprepared, Jazz would probably kill me. Well get in the line, first the GiW will give it a shot, literally. I could always see a picture in my head of the person I was doing this for. She risked already too much for me. When she'll return home she will not only have problems with the law, no, also with her parents. And I know of what punishments they are capable of. They made us feel it after the freak show incident.
A sigh escaped my mouth when I spotted Amity Park.
Home sweet home.
But the barrier was gone. So they were already expecting me.
I flew into my city looking around. No people in sight.
Something was beeping. I found the origin at the mayor's place, which was the centre of Amity Park. I looked at the machine attached to the well. I scrutinized it with a worried expression. It showed a radar detecting a red dot.
Ectoplasm?
Just in time I stumbled back, seeing a net thrown at the place where I was standing one second ago. It was with electrocution features, which is why the radar machine got electrocuted to destruction.
"Finally dared to come back." I heard a voice. Out of all lanes and alleys Hazmat agents stormed out and circled around me.
"Give up, ghost kid." All operatives shouted at me. I was obviously outnumbered. I floated to the ground and raised my hands in the air.
"I'm not here to fight." I admitted.
"Eat ectoplasm!" Operative K yelled and started the shooting, although I had nearly no troubles dodging the bullets.
"But I am practically ectoplasm!" I dodged another bullet.
"Does this make me a cannibal?" I heard roaring above me. Right over me was floating a Jet pointing the guns at me.
"Now let's see how much humor you have left..." I fell on my knees and opened a ghost shield. With every shot it shrinked an inch smaller until I had barely some room in it. Before the bubble bursted I phased into the ground. It was all dark, loud and wobbly. Then it finally became silent. My head phased up to see if it was safe. My body followed.
"Guys, I'm not your enemy." I tried again to assure them.
"I see you can't fight us all. Care for a duell?" I saw agent K standing in front of me, ready to fight.
"If I win, we will stop the brainless fighting and talk about the problem." I demanded with a serious voice.
"Too bad you'll never live long enough to-" "Stop being a macho and rather try being mature!" I scolded him. "Do we have a deal?" I hissed annoyed. Agent K nodded. I positioned myself into a fighting pose.
"Then game's on."
Agent K was unbelievable fast. And handy with the gun. Now, since he wasn't bound to the orders of the team he could move freely. I had to admit, he made a good fight. But I didn't wanna hurt him too much. Although my lame catchphrase said Don't cry in the hospital, I warned you. I needed to destroy his two guns, then he has no tools to fight with.
"Come down, coward! Fight on the ground you flying devil!" With a crash I landed on the ground.
"You impressed me so long. Up to level 2?" I asked, standing with my hands crossed over my chest.
"Finally..." I heard him whisper. That made me realize, my enhanced hearing would come so in handy to an enemy who'd talk to himself. He would reveal all his attacks, thinking I couldn't hear him. The fact made me grin. Too bad agent K kept his plans in his head.
He ran towards me so I ran, too. I wanted to know if he would retreat or keep running. I realized agent K was more of the stubborn type. In last second I turned intangible and he ran through me, while I slowed down and turned around to shoot him in the back. A few meters he landed. Back to my plan not hurting him but destroy his tools...
Operative K pushed his team mates away, who wanted to help him.
"I'm not getting beaten by a child." He grumbled angrily.
"Well but you already were." I pointed out grinning. Again he ran, shooting ectoplasm. I also shot, but only to destroy his shots. It must've looked epic, all these green fireworks between us. K fought through the green fog and tried to attack me. I spinned around and easily backed away. I stomped on the ground to freeze it and make agent K slip on it. Then I phased through the ground and appeared behind operative K. As he stood up I kicked in his back. Agent K stumbled but didn't let himself fall and skipped back to his feet. I slipped under his feet and my elbow hit him again in his back. For a moment operative K was like paralyzed. I sprang over his head and grabbed his guns. I loaded the ectoplasm in my hands and overfilled the gun. With that I sent us both flying in the opposite directions.
"It's over, operative K." I declared. He stood up and looked at me.
"I know..." He gave up and walked towards me. At least a good looser. He offered me his hand and we shook our hands. When I wanted to let go, he held my hand tight. With a shocked expression I looked into a sinister one. Something loaded. And smashed my jaw. Hidden weapons... of course. The GiW were founded by the government. Obviously they were a step ahead with technical support in comparison to Mom, Dad and Vlad. I tried to bring myself up.
"Ugh..."
"You didn't think I would give up so easily?" Agent K exclaimed preparing for the fight.
"You're a bad looser, without doubt." I complained standing up. New plan. How can I win? How can I beat him? We stormed again into fight. Shooting, kicking, punching. I took some damage, but so did he. While I worked with agility, agent K put his chances into pure force. So I hit him more often, but when he did, no kidding, that hurt badly. I kicked his leg from the side to make him fall. With the open hand I hit his chest releasing my ice powers. I know it was dangerous and I froze Squidward badly, but this was my only chance. Agent K took hundred hits and could still stand. I for myself wasn't so sure. About five hits in the upcoming fight could bring me down. Agent K froze in motion, but only on the outside, which meant his interns should be ok. The only thing left untouched from the ice was his head. Agent K was still not excepting his defeat. He kept winding and winding, but to no avail. "It's over." I declared finally. Then I heard applaud.
"Excellent boy, excellent job out there." I turned myself to agent Alpha around. To be honest, I had no idea what would happen now.
"So?" He asked me. It gave me the creeps, like I hadn't paid attention in school.
"What?" I asked dumbfounded and slightly embarrassed.
"You have beaten my best agent. A deal is a deal. What do you want to clarify? We will listen." Ok, that was actually a big surprise. The chief of the governmental organization showing respect towards me and letting me talk with them. This was a trap, I was 100% sure. But what should I do?
"Uhm, alright, yeah. I wanted to beg you to stop this mess. I am not your enemy. I always helped you and had nothing different in mind." Alpha nodded.
"You say that so easily, but you once attacked the mayor. What can you say to your defence?" Great, unofficial court of law. They still did get me into justice.
"The mayor was controlled by an evil ghost who wanted to make me look bad."
"Why would he wanna do that and how?"
"Phew, honestly, long story. To sum it up, while helping you humans I made myself a lot of enemies in the ghost zone. And how you ask? He overshadowed the mayor and held me in position to make it look like I was holding the mayor. Get it?" This wasn't going as smooth as I expected, but for once they were listening attentive. Was about time someone did.
"Alright, another question. Why did we never met any of those good ghosts?" Agent Alpha asked with crossed arms.
"Hello? One of them is standing in front of you? And the others are in the ghost zone. They live there in peace, they don't need to mix in the human world."
"So why are you?" I gulped.
"Why is the human world so important to you? You are already dead, you don't live here anymore. Why would it bother you if we are safe or not?" Everything was silent. Should I give it a shot or hide the truth behind an obsession excuse.
"I have a good soul?" I answered more in a question. Something beeped and all weapons were on me.
"That's not the truth." Alpha said in a serious tone.
"A lie detector?" I noticed.
"Last chance Phantom. Tell us the truth." I sighed.
"I'm not full dead."
It took some time until the group reached the car.
"Kwan and Star, you get the carriage back." The teenagers were ordered to do so. Of course they protested at first, but they were not enough seats in the car. Dash sat at the back in the luggage storage. In front of him Paulina, Valerie and Tucker in the middle. Without exaggerating, man was he happy. Sam sat next to the driver, Danny's sister. She turned on the radio while Jazz started the engine.
"I can't believe he went alone. He'll get himself killed." Sam complained about Danny's actions. Of course she was still mad.
"Hey guys, I have news about Phantom." We heard Dash from the store room.
"What is it?" Everyone shouted out. "Calm down." He insisted.
"Phantom faced the GiW." He read out loud the news.
"Wait a second..." Sam murmured. The radio got louder.
"- agreed to a duell with their best Agent. In exchange... what did the ghost say? Ah right, in exchange Phantom demands to talk with them." They heard the news lady talk. "What?!" They all shouted, not wanting to believe this.
"Don't forget. This is live, the video you'll find on our website-"
"Why is he so dumb." Sam facepalmed. "Like they will ever listen to him, why can't he face that?" The group finally could see Amity Park from up the hills.
"Finally..." Jazz mumbled. She was worried to death about her little brother, but she couldn't show it. She was the oldest one, she had to show strength and confidence. But she sweared, she would kill Danny as soon as this was over.
"Hey Tucker, you think you can hack into the digital devices of the GiW?" Jazz asked the geek.
"I don't think I can!" He claimed proudly. "I already know I can. So nothing easier but that." A few minutes later it was done.
"The fight is done! Phantom destroyed Agent K's weapons. He did it! They are going to shake their hands! Are they finally having a truce moment?" Tucker cleaned his ears, much to the disgrace of the girls.
"Wait, did I actually hear that right?" "Gross!" Paulina cried with her typical accent. Sam hated this so much. But maybe she only hated it because of the girl herself.
"Oh no! He tricked the ghost boy! The kid is down! He is down!" Sam held on to the radio and hammered against it.
"No he's not he's not! You lying bitch!"
"Phew, he stands up and is ready for fight number two!" The news lady updated and the car calmed down. "Hey guys, I've got some contact!" Tucker yelled and everyone grew silent. They had to hear very carefully to understand what the PDA detected. But it was still unclear. Only tactics how agent K could defeat Danny.
"Oh. My. Gosh. The ghost just froze the GiW agent. He can't move and is defeated. The ghost child won. To no surprise honestly, 'cause Phantom is the best!" Everyone in the car cheered happily. Tucker shhhed everyone quiet. *ok... can you hear us... Chief is going to distra ... boy. Commands to Agent ... invisi... suit on. Commands ... nt K, get ...ut of there...*
Everyone went silent.
"What does that mean?" Paulina broke the silence.
"Danny is in danger..."
No beeping. The guns lowered down and whispering started. Everyone was confused and nervous.
"What does that mean?" Operative Alpha continued.
"I am a halfa. Half ghost, half human. In an accident only half of me died. So I still live here. I have family and friends I need to protect." I confessed the truth. Everyone was quiet. Did I do the right thing? I had no choice anyway? I was so scared right now in this moment.
"So you want to tell us you are a hybrid?" I nodded. I saw him whispering something.
"What did you just say?" I asked.
"I said it's amazing." He lied. I nodded. "Ah well ok. You know, if you're asking me, it sounded pretty like change the plan." I wanted to fly up and load my ectoplasm. But then I saw something behind me. I turned around too late. Agent O was wearing an invisibility suit and shot out a ghost net. My ectoplasm shot out somewhere I don't know. I tried to destroy the net or phase through, but this was ghost proof.
"We've got him."
They drove quickly to Amity Park. The questioning had already started. Sam just hoped Danny wouldn't blabber out too much.
"Guys... serious news..." We heard Dash from behind. The radio news blended in.
"Yeah Shanon, right, I'm on. Serious news to all listeners. The ghost kid is still alive. We just found out that the boy is half human and half ghost." "What!" Everyone screamed out loud. Some did because they were surprised, others because they were shocked Danny actually told them. *Change of plan* it got out of Tucker's PDA, finally a little bit clearer. Then they heard shots and explosions. *We've got him!* Sam hit the dashboard.
"Fuck..." They were so happy a minute ago.
"I can't believe it..." Tucker covered his eyes.
"Let me out of here!" I screamed angrily.
"Why are you doing this?" They knew I am human, they knew they would be locking up an innocent child. And still... This fact made me so angry. I took all the breath I could and roared out my anger. I roared it out till my ghostly wail was activated. Stronger than ever. The net fell into dust, the agents and their cars flew away. Houses started to break, people screamed. Exhausted I crawled up. Every gun was pointed at me and I didn't know where to go. Great, now I didn't only loose a big secret of mine, it was also to no avail! Actually the situation got even worse.
"Shoot!" I heard the command and already closed my eyes, ready to phase into the ground and disappear forever. Suddenly something unexpected happened.
"No stop! Don't shoot! Don't. Shoot." I opened my eyes in confusion.
"Mo- Ai mean Maddie?" But the ghost huntress ignored me.
"Haven't you listened to the child? He is part human. Yes, maybe only half of it, but still!"
"Please stop shielding the ghost." Alpha demanded politely but definitely annoyed. From distance I could notice Dad calling Mom.
"No! How dare you to attack an innocent child. At least now we know that he is one of us we can finally leave him alone." Maddie argued. Maybe that would work. A respectable ghost hunter protecting a ghost.
"One of us?" Operative K laughed.
"We don't even know how clever that ghost is! Ghosts can manipulate electronics, so he must have done it with our lie detector. No way we're believing such a crazy story!" I can control electronical devices? Wow, I didn't even know that, but I definitely need to try that out!
"Sorry to blend in, but I didn't even know about the lie detector. So if I was able to control that, wouldn't it be already too late?" Maddie turned around to me.
"You don't have influence on electronics?" She asked surprised. I shrugged my shoulders.
"I don't know, I'm still in learning."
"Don't chit chat with that ghost! Go away or we'll shoot you all together!" They yelled.
"You should probably go. I still have a backup plan to disappear now and never to return again." I whispered only to Mom.
"No way, you can't always run away. You're parents will miss you certainly, won't they?" A smile appeared on my face. It felt good to have Mom on my side, finally, after all this time being enemies.
"So what could ever convince you the boy to be harmless?" Mom shouted out the question at the GiW. For a moment it was so silent, it was like they were thinking of an answer. And they did thought good about it. What they demanded made my blood freeze right in my veins.
"Show us your true identity."
