Phantom

"So let me get this straight," Kirk said a short time later and leaned forward in his chair. He pointed at the hooded figure in the corner of the briefing room. "This is a ghost. A dangerous being with unimaginable power that you hunt so it can no longer cause so much damage in your town."

One of the white-dressed men, who called himself Agent O, nodded. "Correct. It and others of its kind wreak havoc on Amity Park almost daily. Phantom displays territorial behavior. It shows up, fights the other ghost, catches it in a piece of stolen ghost hunting equipment and disappears again." He held up a silver cylindrical device that for whatever reason looked like a thermos, complete with a cup as a lid.

Spock took the device. It had a logo on it, a stylized green ghost shape with an F in it. "Who constructed this?"

"Maddie and Jack Fenton, the leading experts on ghosts. They even built a portal to the Ghost Zone," the other man, Agent K, explained.

"The Ghost Zone?" Kirk replied, baffled.

"Those nuisances' home dimension. We once tried to get rid of it and the ghosts in it, but failed."

Phantom struggled harder against its restraints, clearly agitated. Spock crossed his arms over his chest. "You attempted to destroy a whole dimension along with its entire population for no other reason than some of its inhabitants causing property damage?" Phantom's head snapped around to face him and Spock found himself looking into a pair of glowing radioactive green eyes.

Agent K shook his head. "They are a threat to humanity, Commander. Phantom is particularly powerful. We wanted to take it back to our lab to study it."

"And by 'study' you mean…," Kirk trailed off.

"Dissecting it. See how its body functions. Maybe we could do it together. You surely have a place where you can conduct such experiments."

Phantom seemed to shrink into itself and flinched violently when McCoy decided to make his point clear. "Nothing's being dissected here, especially not in my sickbay. I'm a doctor, not a butcher."

Agent O waved it off. "Surely you have experience in this area. Phantom is a ghost and therefore not alive anymore. There is no need for your hesitation. We've wanted to do this for a long time, but the kid is so elusive, he really fits his name."

That made the three officers stop short. "Kid? It… he is a child?" McCoy growled.

Agent O sighed. "We wished to avoid this when we decided to dress him in the cloak. We didn't want you to be fooled by his appearance. He is just oddly humanoid-shaped ectoplasm."

Spock rose from his chair and approached the ghost, who looked like he wanted nothing more than to sink through the floor. The Vulcan kneeled down. "I will not harm you," he quietly reassured him before taking hold of the hood and pushing it back to reveal the face of a teenage boy with messy white hair looking at him with large, wide, terrified eyes.

The captain and the doctor blinked. Spock removed the cloak entirely, then stood and pulled the boy to his feet.

The kid was skinny. He wore a black, skintight suit with white boots, gloves, belt and collar. A symbol that looked like a wispy D was on his chest. And Kirk had not been seeing things. The child was faintly glowing. His hands were cuffed behind his back with restraints similar to those binding his ankles.

McCoy came closer and ran his tricorder over Phantom, who flinched away, nearly falling on his rear if Spock hadn't caught him.

The doctor frowned. "This doesn't make any sense. Can you help me out? Do you know what your normal vitals are?"

The boy opened his mouth, closed it again and shrugged in defeat. "He can't speak. The restraints keep him from using his powers. For some reason, this includes his voice," Agent K explained.

"Jim, I'd like to examine him. Without the cuffs."

Kirk looked over the boy's head at his first officer. Spock considered. Through the contact, he could only get vague impressions. It was mostly fear, with a hint of hope, but no hostility. The Vulcan nodded.

"Release him," Kirk ordered sternly.

"What? You can't do that! He is going to bolt as soon as he's free. And then you'll have a dangerous ghost running free on your ship!"

Kirk's gaze hardened. "You said it. My ship. So this is my responsibility and I give the orders around here. Release him. Now."

The agent reluctantly pulled out a remote and with one last hateful glare at Phantom, pressed the button. The cuffs stopped glowing and dropped to the floor. Phantom gingerly massaged his wrists. His glow brightened and his feet slowly left the ground. He gazed around hectically before he turned glowing blue and transparent and flew through the ceiling.

"I told you he would do that!"

"Can't say I blame him," Spock heard McCoy mutter under his breath.

Kirk stepped over to the intercom. "Kirk to Security. I need four officers in Briefing Room III."

"Phantom's God knows where and you are not equipped to catch ghosts," Agent K complained.

"Oh, I wasn't thinking about the ghost," Kirk said before turning to the newly arrived redshirts. "Take those two to assigned quarters and make sure they stay there."

After all their weapons had been removed, the two outraged agents where led away.

Spock studied the arrangement of weapons on the table. "What shall we do about Phantom, Captain?"

"We wait and leave him alone. He'll hopefully reappear once he sees that we are not a threat to him."

Spock nodded. His thoughts exactly.