A glowing mosquito sat in an ecto-proof jar on a pristine white counter. It bounced off the sides of the glass, desperately trying to escape. A black, gloved hand reached out and grabbed the jar and shook it.
"So humans can have ghost powers."
An agent in an all white suit studied the mosquito.
"How was this any different than possession? Why did this kind of possession grant the students ghost powers instead of overshadowing them?"
He put the jar down and pushed himself away from the counter, facing another man in a white suit who had been standing behind him.
"Agent K. If we can figure out how these mosquitoes gave the teenagers ghost powers, we can use it in our fight against the ectoplasmic scum."
"How would you suggest we go about that, Agent O?"
"We'll have to reopen the old research compound. We can't have the people of Amity Park finding out we're doing this kind of research. The old compound is further away from the city so they won't be able to trace it back to us so easily."
"What about the test subjects?"
Agent O smiled darkly.
"We'll have to go find some, now won't we?"
QQQQQ
Star was walking down the street, on her way to meet Paulina at the mall. They were supposed to go pick up some dresses for a fancy dinner at Paulina's house. Star had told Paulina that she already had something she could wear at home, but her friend insisted Star let her buy her something.
She turned around a corner heading down another street. The sidewalk here was pretty empty. The only person she saw was an old woman walking into her house and when her door shut, Star was all by herself.
That's when she felt it. There were eyes gazing into the back of her head and she quickly picked up her pace.
She could hear heavy footsteps approaching from behind along with the crunch of gravel underneath tires. Looking over her shoulder, Star saw a man in a white suit behind her and a white car trailing behind him. For a moment, she felt a small relief. It was the GIW. They couldn't possibly be after her. They must be tracking a ghost.
But the man had nothing in his hand and the way he stared at Star said otherwise.
She turned back around and was about to start running when a hand grabbed her long blonde hair. She cried out as she was pulled backwards towards the man. The car stopped beside them and another man left the car, pulling a bag over her head and tying her wrists together. They both lifted her up and she heard one open the trunk and then she was being thrown in.
"Help!" She screamed before the trunk slammed shut above her.
She heard two doors open and close before the car revved up and started driving away. Panic wormed its way into her chest and she started trying to pull her hands free.
Luckily, the rope around her wrists loosened. She didn't know why these agents couldn't tie a knot, but she had to be grateful for it. She pulled the bag off of her head but she still couldn't see anything from inside the trunk.
Feeling around, Star tried to find a corner of the trunk where the tail light would be. When she found it, she turned around and started trying to kick into the spot. It took a couple tries, but she finally felt it start to give. With one final kick, a hole was made and she could see light coming into the trunk.
She turned back around and started pulling material away from the hole, trying to make it bigger. When it was big enough she stuck her hand through and started trying to wave it around in the daylight.
Suddenly, Star could feel the car turning. She hadn't noticed they were slowing down until the turn and her heart rate began to pick up. Did they hear her kicking?
After another couple of turns, the car came to a stop and she could hear a door open.
The pop of the trunk sounded and she was blinded by the sunlight that shone behind the man who was staring down at her. She held his gaze in fear for a few moments and the next thing she knew he was swinging at her and she was gone.
QQQQQ
Star slowly woke up. The world came to her slowly and through her blurry eyes she could see white tiles, white walls, and a glass with a different man standing outside it.
She yelped and suddenly she was falling into the hard cot beneath her. She looked back up towards the ceiling. She had been floating? But how?
"What did you do to me?"
The man finished taking notes on his clipboard before his head tilted up to look at her. His dark sunglasses glinted in the light of the bright room. From somewhere to his left, he held up a jar with a bug in it. Was that…?
"The ghost mosquitos?"
"We are currently studying the causes and effects of ghost powers in humans. Our first study involves introducing one of the ectoplasmic specimens to a host and observing."
Star took in a sharp breath. "You put one of those inside me? On purpose?"
The agent continued without acknowledging her. "You have the honor of being our first test subject. We would have never thought of the possibility of humans having ghost powers until half the high school was quarantined. We can guarantee this information to be invaluable in the battle against ghosts."
A mounting horror was beginning to gnaw its way into Star's chest. "What are you going to do to me?"
"We will be performing a series of tests, starting with measuring the effects of long term possession and then moving onto introducing ectoplasm to the host."
"Ectoplasm?! Isn't that toxic to humans?!"
"Yes, but we'll introduce it in small amounts that increase over time."
Star stared at the ground below her, horrified. "You guys are crazy."
"Not crazy, innovative."
Her head snapped up to look at the agent. He had a sly look on his face, like this was the best possible thing he could be doing at this time.
"You're crazy!" Star shouted.
She shot forward faster than what should be possible and slammed her fist into the glass in front of the agent's face. He didn't so much as flinch. He just lifted his clipboard back up and began to write another note.
"Promising progress."
Then he began to walk away.
"Come back!" She pounded on the glass again. "Come back, you son of a bitch!"
He continued walking away down the hallway until she couldn't see him anymore. Alone in her quiet room, Star's anger faded back to fear. She looked down at her shaking hand.
How much worse could this get? What kind of changes were they expecting to happen to her? It was just possession! Overshadowing! Albeit, a different kind. Normally people don't remember what happened while they were overshadowed, she didn't know the difference between this and that. She wasn't even in the batch of kids that had been quarantined.
But she had been flying. Moving faster than she should be able to. She'd been so much stronger than what she actually is, and she still couldn't get out. Couldn't break free.
Star took another look down the long hallway and dread filled her stomach.
She didn't think she'd be getting out of here.
QQQQQ
With no changes in her powers via mosquito three days later, the agents went onto the next part of their plan.
One minute Star was floating above her bed counting the ceiling tiles, the next she was on the floor clutching at her head as something pulsed in her room. By the time the pulsing stopped, she was already strapped into a chair. She could feel the full weight of gravity and she knew the mosquito was gone. They were moving onto the injections now.
She looked up and sitting in front of her was another different agent. This one looked younger than the three she had seen already.
"Hi! I'm Agent Z!"
She hasn't met any rookie GIW agents before, but that must be what this guy is. The newest addition.
"Today we'll be starting the introduction of ectoplasm trial! Today we'll start with a small amount of ectoplasm, which will increase in amount each day! As the days go by, we'll start doing two doses of ectoplasm per day."
Maybe she can work with this.
"Uh. You seem real chipper. Are you new to the GIW or something?"
"Yep!" Agent Z said brightly. "This is my first special assignment!"
"Doesn't it bother you that you're experimenting on a human though? Isn't that a terrible thing that they're making you do?"
"They're not making me do anything!"
Star paused. "What?"
"I was the only agent who volunteered for the position! I think this is all very exciting!"
"What the hell." Star whispered. "You're all insane."
"It's not insane if you're benefiting the rest of humankind!"
"That-"
Star let out a cry of pain as she was interrupted. The needle plunged into her arm and Agent Z pushed the ectoplasm out of the needle and into her veins. It burned as it flowed into her arm and was kind of cold, but it was nothing compared to the pins and needles sensation that began to cover her entire body.
"There we go!" Agent Z said chipperly. "I'll see you again tomorrow for your next dose!"
He got up and walked to the door, scanned his keycard, and left.
What happened to the observation part of their research?
Suddenly the straps holding her wrists and ankles in place opened and she shot up away from the chair. She hobbled her way to her bed, the pins and needles sensation crawling faster through her legs and feet with each step she took.
She flopped onto the bed and cringed as the sensation crawled over every inch of her body. She looked up at the ceiling, intending to continue counting the tiles again, when she saw something new.
A small camera was fastened to the glass on the outside of her room, staring at her.
She stared at it for a few moments before she lifted her hand up and flipped off whoever was watching her.
QQQQQ
Four days later and she was starting to feel sick from the ectoplasm injections. Today was the first day they'd be giving her two doses and the pins and needles sensation still settled in her limbs, never having gone away from when they woke her up with the prick of a needle at seven am that morning.
She was starting to face constant nausea and her hands had been clipping through the things in her room for two days now. She could barely stomach the meager amount of food they were giving her anymore and she knew she wouldn't last much longer if this kept up.
Star heard the door slide open from where she laid on her bed. She knew they could tell she wasn't doing well. They no longer used that horrible pulsing thing on her before they came in. She didn't have enough energy to fight back anymore.
Agent Z quickly approached her and sat her down in the chair, positioning her wrists so that the straps locked firmly around them. He roughly grabbed her arm and stabbed her with the needle. She screamed as the ectoplasm flowed into her arm, hot and burning all the way in.
"There we go, all done!" Agent Z said as he pulled away. "That wasn't so hard was it?"
She glared at the man through her greasy hair. He was talking to her like she was a child getting a shot at the doctor's office.
"Fuck you." She spat.
"I'll see you tomorrow for your next dose!"
With that, he swiped his keycard and walked through the door and out of the room.
The straps released her wrists and she collapsed to the floor. Shivers wracked through her body even though she could still feel the hot ectoplasm flowing in her veins.
Star didn't want to die, but she hoped to whatever deity might be out there that this would all be over soon. She didn't know how much more she could take.
Suddenly, her stomach rolled and she was gagging and throwing up the little bit she had managed to eat earlier. Spots lined her vision and she slowly crawled her way to her bed, just wanting to fall asleep. Almost as soon as she got on it and curled up, she was gone.
QQQQQ
When Star awoke the next morning, she realized she was already strapped into the chair with Agent Z standing before her. The two agents that had first picked her up were standing on the other side of the window.
"Due to your worsening condition, today will be the last day of the ectoplasm injection trial, you'll only receive one dose today. Starting tomorrow we'll begin testing the effects of ectoplasmic charged electricity. We will take a few days break in order for you to gain some semblance of stability."
"Why not just stop the trials altogether then?" Star rasped.
"The information we have gathered this far is invaluable. We've learned that some ways to attain ghost powers are safer than others, while others are more dangerous but much more potent. If We can find that balance between these then we'd have the ultimate weapon in our hands."
"You guys are monsters."
"Your participation will do much to protect your friends and family in Amity Park." He nodded at Agent Z. "Go ahead."
Agent Z plunged the needle into Star's arm.
With that last injection, Star screamed. The sound reverberated around her room over and over again, Agent Z covered his ears to protect himself from it. And then suddenly, Star's ghost was ripping itself from her body, which fell limp against the chair it was strapped to.
Her ghost form flickered brightly, like a star in the sky. She turned her brightly glowing eyes on Agent Z who was looking up at her with wide eyes, his hands still covering his ears. Star dove for him.
Lifting him by the throat, Star picked him up and started throwing him into every wall as she flew around her small room. The ghostly trail she left behind her looked like the tail of a sparkling comet and soon blood was spattering onto the glass.
Agent O pressed a button on the outside wall and the room lit up in a bright green flash and Star was falling to the floor, a beaten agent falling from her grasp into a heap.
"Call in the sanitization and disposal team and have them come clean up this mess." Agent O said to Agent K, who was staring at Agent Z inside the room.
"Our Agent Z's never last long." K said sharply. "What should we do with the girl's ghost?"
Agent O had a thoughtful look on his face. "We'll keep it here for study. Her ghost must be a powerful one, that act it displayed immediately upon death is one I've never seen before."
He turned around to face Agent K. "We'll need to go gather another test subject. We'll plan to go in two days once this mess is cleaned up."
"Sir, I respectively ask how will we get any conclusive data if all of our subjects keep dying?"
Agent O barked out a laugh. "Who cares if they die. All that matters is that we get our answers in the end. What better way to get ghosts for research and dissection than by harvesting them ourselves?"
"Like a ghost farm, sir?"
"Yes." Agent O Smiled wickedly.
"Like a ghost farm."