"Sorry.. about your jacket.." Danny apologized as he leaned against the wall, spitting leftover vomit from his mouth to the ground. Well, there went his lunch... breakfast?
"Don't worry about it." Jason was using his jacket to wipe off the vomit from his suit. It wasn't the worse thing he had on his jacket. Though, the glow of it raised some concerns.
"He has ten more just like it-" Dick dodged the jacket as smacked against the wall.
Danny panted, he felt like he was suffocating. Which he found astounding because he randomly forgets to breath on the daily. His stomach was in knots, as he could barely keep his head up. He could have sworn he got hit by a car instead, if it wasn't for how slimy his skin felt.
"We need to get this shit off. I can't imagine how Danny feels, but my skin feels like its melting." Jason had a migraine settling in, he couldn't smell anymore, but that didn't mean his nostrils and airways weren't burning. He hated not being able to breath.
"There's a kitchen on the 9th floor." Tim stated on the comms.
"I don't think we could make it that far up the stairs." Dick frowned, glancing at Danny and Jason. They needed to hurry whatever they did. Danny's skin was starting to ooze and Jason's skin was flaking and extremely red.
"Why not grapple up? That's what we-" An ecto-beam was heard being fired.
===== owo ====
"Oh and here I was thinking you took the elevator." Plasmius shot another blast at the two vigilantes making them dive out the way.
Elevator? Oh right, he would need one to carry equipment up the floors if ghosts weren't phasing it. Maybe Danny and Jay could get some use out of it.
"Hey, Plasmius feels like static when he's near by. He'll do anything to get an advantage." Dick warned over the comm.
Static. Cass and Tim both strike at the first tingle in the air, causing an invisible duplicate to dissolve into goo. This was going to be-
Tim felt a yank on his cape, pulling him through layers of floors until he was smacked into the ground. Before he could retaliate, his cape was dragged back up into the ceiling, choking him as Plasmius laughed.
Tim didn't look at where he was shooting, using the angle his cape was being pulled to aim his shot at Plasmius. He could hear a snarl and his cape didn't lift any higher. Unfortunately, he wasn't dropped back down either. He was stuck.
Tim kept one hand on his collar and the other was pointing the gun at his cape. He shot at it, causing the cape to rip off and allowing him to land on the ground with a roll. He rubbed his neck, now staring up at the ceiling with a piece of his cape hanging.
He was starting to understand why Jason and Dick might have stopped using capes. He also forgot phasing was a thing. He'll have to keep that in mind.
Either way, he better keep moving. He hated the idea of fighting Plasmius and his duplicates alone.
"He's going to try to fight us all one by one," Tim pointed out over the com, "He just sent me down a few floors-Uh oh..."
Plasmius filled the hallway in front of him with duplicates. "Uh oh indeed."
Tim hated being right sometimes.
=== w u w ====
Cass tried to reach for Tim, but her hand went right through him. Barely dodging a beam, she flipped forward as it scorched the place where Tim was dragged through the floor.
"I wondered if he had a nice trip?" Plasmius chuckled looking smug as he floated in place.
Cassandra glaring up at Plasmius, readying her staff for an attack.
"Too bad you won't get to know."
Cass felt the hair on her neck stand up, without turning, she stabbed the staff backwards into duplicate stomach, causing it to dissolve. She flipped the staff, slamming it into the ground to propel herself towards the smug looking Plasmius that floated in front of her.
She smacked down the staff at the duplicate, however Plasmius countered with a shield shoving her back as it shattered. Cass flipped back, but was caught in the air by her arm. Quickly she pulled out the ecto-gun, blasting at the invisible figure before she could be pulled into the ceiling.
Cassandra landed on the ground, and immediately returned to her fighting stance with a spin of her ectoplasmic staff. Plasmius started to fill the hall on both sides of her.
"Oh, bravo. Almost impressive. Now, let's see how you deal with an army? Hm?" Plasmius's laughter echoed as all the duplicates laughed, preparing their ecto-beams.
Cass lifted her hand up, twitching her fingers towards her, as a way of saying 'Bring it.'
=== O o O ====
Damian hated this guy. So much. All he was doing was cackling to himself, sipping from a wine glass. Where did he even get that?!
"I could almost call this entertaining if it had happened any other night." Plasmius hummed as he watched the screens of the monitors. "Ah, I should have dragged Little Badger up here to watch. He'll just have to settle with seeing their corpse along side his parents."
Jazz clenched her fist, shaking a bit in anger. She turned her head to glance at Damian, who matched her gaze with an annoyed look of his own. They had to do something, they couldn't just wait there the entire time.
They glanced around the room, taking in what they could. Whatever they did, they couldn't draw too much attention. Jazz didn't have anything to fight with, making herself a prime hostage target. Damian didn't want to save her butt again.
"Oh Butterscotch pie! Just die already!" Plasmius growled as he glared at the screens.
Jazz nudged Damian spotting a vent in the corner, its cover was already blown off. They could use it as an escape route. Now how to distract Plasmius. She could unplug the monitors, but that might just alert Plasmius of their presence.
Damian already devised his own plan, taking out the lipstick again, so he could aim without the gun being seen through the spaces between the monitors. He aimed for the eyes, planning to temporarily blind Plasmius.
He fired. One.
"ARGH! What in red velvet!?" Plasmius covered his eye, dropping the wine glass with a growl.
Jazz was a bit taken aback, but matched Damian's side gaze again. Getting an understanding. She yanked out the power cord on her way out from behind the monitors, running.
Plasmius turned to attack her, only to be shot in the other eye. He howled, hands pressing against his eyes in pain.
Damian ran out from behind the monitors, shooting a few more times at Plasmius before climbing into the vent.
=== u3u ===
Dick gritted his teeth as he heard the commotion over the comms.
Jason was shifting Danny to help, half-carry him. Since Danny was being stubborn about being able to walk. "Go on, I got Danny."
"But-"
"The quicker we defeat that bastard, the better off we be."
Dick reluctantly nodded, glancing over Danny one more time.
Danny gave a thumbs up, "As long as I'm not dead, I'm fine."
"That's not a good measurement of health."
"Subjective." Danny coughed.
Dick shook his head, "Call if you need help."
"Fly away will ya?" Jason just shooing him with his hand.
Dick nodded one more time than ran off in the direction of the stairs, hoping to make it up to one of them in time.
"I really am.. fine you know." Danny wheezed, leaning on Jason for support as he stood.
"Yeah, Yeah. Come on, let's fine the elevator." Jason walking Danny on his side that was free of vomit. Though now slime from Danny's skin was soaking in.
"Serious, I've been worse."
"That doesn't make any of this better." Jason gruff, as he pulled Danny along.
Silence fell between theme, making Jason's stomach twist in knots. Maybe he said something wrong. Or maybe it came out wrong. Jason couldn't really tell his tone, he was barely keeping his thoughts straight. Or maybe it was the repellent.
"I wonder if this is how my clones felt."
Definitely was the repellent. "Don't know, can't ask them."
"Yea.. it be kind of rude..." Danny mumbled.
Jason raised a brow, as he tried to think about that. He hissed as it made his migraine worse, yeah, he'll just drop it. Danny's head probably isn't doing as good either.
=== uwu ===
Cass was taking down every duplicate that got close to her. Using her staff like a fan blade to knock several out at once, following it up by shooting with the ecto-gun. If she kept the staff moving, Plasmius couldn't get close enough to touch her. It deflected a few beams too.
She needed to make it to the others. Even though she was confident she could defeat all of duplicates on her own, she was afraid of leaving the others alone too long. Danny and Jason needed to find a source of water too.
Only known one with easy access was on this floor. Kitchen wasn't the only thing they found either. There was a few freezers and a couple of greenhouse rooms. One with strange plants.
Cass smack down on a duplicate's hand that rose up through the floor, propelling herself with the staff to fly over a few of the duplicates' heads. She quickly spun around her staff after landing to clear the way.
No matter how many she cleared, more seemed to appear. How long can he keep this up? She wasn't going to test it, as she bolted down the hall.
She smacked duplicates out of the way while she dodged the beams. She kicked off the walls and used her staff to help her stay mobile. Sliding under floating figures then rolling back in a sprint.
Cass made one mistake, and one was all it took. While attacking a duplicate in front of her after kicking off the wall, she left herself open as more appeared around her, firing.
=== ouo ===
"Danny, what does that say?" Jason peered at a sign, he felt like he could somewhat read it. It was next to a cut out in the wall.
"Gimmie.. moment." Danny rubbed his eyes, then had to wipe them again with his shirt.
He squinted his eyes at the words. His eyes kept blurring the words, he wonder if he could. Pain. But he could read it for a short moment. Then groaned as he hung his head. His eyes burned. Using even his ghostly sight was starting to cause problems.
Jason kept a tight hold on Danny, furrowing his brows. He saw Danny's eyes flash green for a moment. He waited before opening his mouth to speak- only for Danny to cut him off first.
"Fine.. fine.. it said elevator. So.. this should be.. it." Danny sooooo wanted to dunk Vlad in a vat of the repellent.
Jason kicked at the wall to see if it did anything, nothing. He huffed, dragging Danny to the opposite wall, sitting him down. "Gotta sit your ghoulish ass down for a moment."
Danny snorted, as he slid down the wall, to sit on the ground.
Jason turned to peek around the wall, there was a hallway between the sign and the cutout. So maybe the entrance was to the other side. Tapping on the walls to try and find a door. Bingo.
It wasn't an easy find as the door seem to shut upward, instead of to the side. He didn't see a button, but he did find a keyhole. Pulling out his own lock pick he got to work. Despite all the advance science having electronic keys was not in Vlad's budget.
Perhaps they malfunctioned with ghost tech? Eh, didn't matter. Jason was just glad he didn't have to lug a half-dead... er? Teen up the stairs.
He grinned as the door opened, revealing a large elevator.
=== ewe ====
Tim wasn't having an easier time, but he still was taking down the duplicates in succession. He was really starting to get annoyed though, wishing he took the bazooka instead. It would have cleared out the hall a lot faster.
Tim ducked a blast aimed for his head and shot one back. Quickly shooting at his feet, to avoid being yanked again. He was trying to think, while wrapping his cape around his arm to keep it from being used against him. Shooting with the other as he kept moving.
Plasmius could fly, phase through walls, duplicate in massive proportions, shoot ecto-beams, turn invisible, and be a pompous creep. How could he use that to his advantage.
What did Danny do? So far all he got from watching Danny was that he was good at rodeo- Bat-a-rangs.. He wondered. They didn't hurt the moose-wolf or the catfish too badly. So he couldn't use it as a weapon, but maybe.
Tim took out the bat-a-rangs covered in ghost ice, holding them like brass knuckles. He ran towards the duplicates, weaving side to side. He was waiting to get close to one-perfect. One popped up near his feet. He smashed his knuckles down into Plasmius, being phased through the floor with the duplicate.
Letting go of the bat-a-rangs, he took out his ecto-gun and shot the duplicate, making it howl and dissolve. He quickly took the bat-a-rangs and ran while they other duplicates phase through the ceiling trying to catch him, firing pink ecto-beams.
Tim weaved and dodge out of the blasts, he only shot behind him blindly. He was focused on running. Which after today, if he did not have thighs like Dick's, he doesn't think he ever will.
He skidded as Plasmius flew in front of him, Tim took aim and fired. Only for the ecto-gun to be blasted out of his hands by one from the ceiling. Damn that burned. He had to move.
Tim dodge rolled out of range of another blast, taking out another blaster. He fired wildly at all the duplicates.
"You really an annoying rat, aren't you?"
Tim turned to blast behind him, only to be punched in the face by a pink glowing fist. It sent him flying across the floor. Owowowoowow.. Tim pushed himself back up, applying a little pressure to his jaw with his arm. His mouth was bleeding a bit.
He glared up at Plasmius who surrounded him with duplicates. The half-ghost's fist glowed as he charged up a beam.
Tim felt his limbs be held in place, making it impossible to move as duplicates revealed themselves. This wasn't good.
"Sit tight and relax, this will only hurt.. a lot." Plasmius cackled aiming his fist at Tim.
A green beam shot through, piercing the duplicate's cheek causing the Plasmius to dissolve. Several beams of green followed suit, freeing Tim to take out the last two duplicates that held him.
Dick ran up, helping Tim to his feet, panting. "Not too late am I?"
"Maybe to save my molars." Tim rubbed his face, returning to an alert stance. He was so glad Dick was there.
Especially as more duplicates surrounded them. Dick whipped out his escrima sticks, spinning them.
"Ready for round 2?" Dick grinned.
"Ah tatatata.. Not so fast. After all, you wouldn't shoot an ally?" Plasmius flew down from the ceiling, restraining Cass in his arms. She gritted her teeth, kicking and struggling, trying to free herself. Only for Plasmius to send a small shock to her, causing her to writhe in pain.
"Orphan!" Dick and Tim glared with clenched teeth.
"You see brats, I don't have time to waste on exterminating pests tonight. I'm so close to FINALLY having what I want, and I won't let ANYONE stand in my way."
"What is that? Killing Danny's parents, kidnapping him and his sister? Causing mayhem across the country?"
"A family.. and power. You see, once ghosts are known then ghost tech will be in high demand and my business partner you see.. have so much to gain. I don't even think Lex Luther could compete." Plasmius tossed Cass's body towards them.
Her body pulsed and shook, from the shocks, as she struggled to get up. Tim crouching beside her as Dick kept ready to defend them.
Plasmius filled both sides of the hall with duplicates, all powering up their ectobeams. They were going to vaporize them on the spot.
"Farewell, heroes." Plasmius laughed manically as they all prepared to fire.
