Chapter 292: Ugly Vases
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"He said that this particular ugly vase," -that his wife loved, unfortunately- "contains what controlled the ghosts?" asked the president, looking at the picture.
"Yes, sir. I took the liberty of removing it from storage."
"Weren't there, like, fifty of these? How did you pick this one out as being the one?"
"Mr. Showenhower left a mark on the one he used." The woman flipped it over.
"And this, what, controls all those ghosts he had bewitched?"
"That's what he claims, and we did find traces of 'ectoplasm' on the jar," said the woman. "But with a person like him, it's just as likely that it's some kind of booby trap. There's no way to tell for sure. For now, it's in a secure location."
"Good," said the president. He put the picture on his desk and stared at it. They could keep it. They could try to figure out how to use it. Their own army of ghosts would be a substantial boon if it came down to war. "Do we know if the ghosts know about this?"
"Showenhower hasn't said either way."
"Keep working on that," said the president. On the other hand, he knew the ghosts were working on breaking Showenhower's spell, and he had no idea what their progress or timeline was with regards to that. Turning over the thing might generate significant goodwill and being caught with it would generate significant bad will.
He also didn't know how large a portion of the ghost army had been sent to the GIW headquarters, and they knew only a fraction of that portion had been captured by the GIW. The 'army' the US could get by keeping the vase would likely be minimal.
The president very much did not want to go to war with the afterlife.
Then, there were the ethical considerations…
Why did ghosts have to make things so complicated?
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"Okay," said Jazz. "We can deal with this. We just have to figure out where the vase went."
"How?" asked Damien.
"Yeah, how?" repeated Wes. "It isn't like we have access to their security cameras or anything. Do they even have security cameras down there?"
"No," said Jazz, "but we can get access."
"I don't know if you've noticed, but none of us are hackers."
"Yeah, but we know hackers."
"Foley?"
"Or Technus, if we can find him."
"You Fentons just love making things more complicated, don't you?" mumbled Wes under his breath.
"Yeah, I get it, I get it, we should have just had Sojourn take them all the minute he found them."
"Actually, if it was removed after the Americans found out what it was," said Sojourn, "it would have been suspicious if it had already been gone. Not enough to start a fight over, but it may have soured our negotiations. This way, if we can determine that they know about it, we could ask for it back. Keep things above the table, so to speak."
Wulf chose that moment to tear through the air. He stepped through the new portal with a vase. There was a note taped to the vase.
"Well," said Jazz, pulling the 'not evil' note off the vase. "I guess that answers that. Wulf, are you available for another message?"
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"You want me to hack into the National Archives security footage?" asked Tucker. "I'll try, but… You know the cameras there might not be internet connected. I can only do so much." He paused. "Is it weird that being back on Earth feels weird? Because it feels weird." He hadn't realized how much he'd been feeling and manipulating the ectoplasm of his surroundings until there was almost no ectoplasm in surroundings. "I didn't realize it was possible to get used to inconsistent gravity."
"People can get used to anything," said Jazz. "If it's not internet connected, what can you do?"
"Not much," admitted Tucker, tapping his fingers on the desk as his PDA and the computer talked to each other. "At least, not much with on the surveillance end of things. I could try to hack into emails, texts, and other electronic records, though. If something was removed from Archives legally, there's going to be paperwork for it. It isn't like someone's office supply cabinet. I think."
Sam frowned down at him. "Why do you know so much about this? I didn't think museums were really your thing."
"Considering that my past life's corpse is currently being displayed in one…"
Sam winced. "Sorry."
"Haha, yeah, but no. It's actually because it was one of the agencies I practiced on. You don't jump to hacking three-letter-agencies overnight, you know."
"Are you really saying you hacked the FBI and CIA, young man?" asked Ernesto Montez.
"Not them so much," said Tucker. "Not to any depth. I just wanted to be able to get into the GIW's stuff. You know. In case." He opened a program on the computer and leaned forward, typing. "Speaking of which, I should take a look at whatever is left of their internet presence while I'm here. That could help us see if anything really nasty is still out there."
"Will you send what you find to Mom and Dad?"
"Do you want me to?"
"If we can't take care of it right now, it would be good for them to do it. Regardless of who does it, their weapons shouldn't be in just anyone's hands."
"Yeah, sorry," said Tucker, hunching his shoulders. It would be better for him, for his people – and wasn't that a weird thing to think – and a decade without being able to even talk to Danny was too much, but… But the trial had brought up a lot of things. A lot of memories.
He remembered that moment, in Danny's lair, when Echo was first summoned. How he had collapsed and seized and gasped for breath. He remembered Danny yelling, voice cracking, "Why is it that everything you do winds up with me getting hurt?"
He couldn't really think the separation was a bad thing. Ten years was too much, but it wasn't as if Libra didn't have a point.
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Danny, Damien, and Fright Knight Floated at the outer edge of Method. Glistening, futuristic floating spires and platonic shapes floated deeper in, a few parklike areas and greenhouses peeking through here and there.
"Did Technus really move his lair here?" asked Danny.
"That's what they said," replied Damien. They'd had this exchange several times, now. "I don't get why you're so…"
"Incredulous?" suggested Fright Knight as Damien fumbled for a word.
"Yes, that."
"It just isn't a very Technus place."
"He is technology themed, isn't he?" asked Damien. "I'm not confusing him with someone else, right?"
"No, that's Technus. He's just more of a Wastes kind of guy than a Method kind of guy. More of an engineer, too, a lot of the time."
"Don't they do engineering here as well?"
"Yes, but Technus uses more of a whatever comes to hand method than, well, Method."
"He's not as high class," concluded Damien.
Danny winced. "That's… not entirely what I was going for. It's also… Just. Him and a community in general. But especially a community like this one."
"So, he's a loner?"
Danny remembered Skultech. "Not exactly. It's hard to explain. I just… don't feel like he'd really be happy here." He scratched the back of his head. "Not unless he was in charge, or something. Or just…"
"Respected?" suggested Fright Knight.
"Yeah. He'd have to feel like he was respected, and I don't know what the people here are like, but Technus's…"
"Aesthetic?"
"How are you doing that?"
"I possess many useful talents, my liege."
"Okay, well, Technus's aesthetic doesn't exactly match all this. I don't know how he'll be—"
There was a mid-sized explosion that sent smoke billowing from a window in one of the larger buildings. Because of the lack of gravity in the area, it did not go 'up' but instead simply spread out, like ink in water. Small flashes of lightning formed in the cloud.
"I don't know Technus," said Damien, "but…"
"Yep, I'm going to put my money on that being Technus."
"… Does it have to be Technus? We're staring at a whole community full of scientists. We could take anyone."
"Sure," said Danny, "but I know Technus can deliver, and he owes me."
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Technus glared through the smoke. Cursed, small-minded young people!
(Maybe some of them were, technically speaking, older than he was, but still-)
Call him mad, did they (they hadn't)? Call him undisciplined (not really)? Insult his record keeping and diagrams (this one, they had)? Call his research poorly formatted and cited (he could hardly be expected to keep things straight while being attacked constantly by obstreperous half ghosts)? He'd show them! He'd show them all!
First, he'd take over this little community, and then-
"Hey, Technus."
Oh, no. Oh, no.
"Are you okay? You're sort of… on fire."
"I am fine, ghost child!"
"Why are you specifying ghost?" demanded one of the review board members. "We could conclude that from context!" The man threw a heavy, bright purple fire extinguisher at Technus's head.
"It's appropriate to specify!" said one of the other review board members, pointing a slightly clawed finger. "We don't know the context the readers will have!"
"What readers? It isn't like any of this is being written down?"
"Excuse you, but I'm taking notes, like any good scientist."
"There's no good science taking place here!"
"I don't know," said a third review board member, happily. "I'm quite enjoying this discussion on the merits of an investigation into the engineering challenges of world domination and the use of narratives in establishing rivalries with young ghosts! It isn't the kind of thing we deal with, of course, so we're going to have to reject your proposal, Mr. Technus, but new subjects are so invigorating, especially when they come with a practical demonstration!"
"Are you sure you're fine? I didn't want to interrupt anything, but…"
"I am fine!" shrilled Technus again. "I am Technus, master of all things electronic and beeping, and I am fine! And the threat of world domination was entirely genuine!"
Alright, that wasn't entirely true, but these people didn't know that.
Except that he had told them. Curses.
"We could, of course, give you a letter of introduction to—"
"No we won't! Stop sending recruits to our enemies!"
"They're our neighbors—"
"Hey, so, I hate to interrupt, but we need to talk to you about matters of state."
Oh, Technus did not want to talk to Phantom. Who knew what he would do to him?
Alright, so the ghost child wasn't precisely the vindictive type, but power changed everyone! Okay, with the way he was looking at Technus, Phantom most likely hadn't changed all that much.
Still.
Still.
He might as well be honest with himself. He was embarrassed. And, perhaps, ashamed. He'd a hand in Phantom's pain, and despite his good intentions when he reported the incident to Libra, he'd gone and compounded his mistake by putting himself forward as a possible guardian for Phantom. He'd seen Phantom's incredulity, heard his advocate's arguments and… he agreed with them.
So much so that he decided to move out of the Barrens to avoid Phantom. The fact that the boy had tracked him down, with Fright Knight in tow, of all people, was, perhaps, rather concerning. Or, it would be if Technus was not the fearsome Master of Technology!
"You don't have to be embarrassed," said Phantom.
"I don't know," said the… thinner, slightly taller version of Phantom. "That was pretty embarrassing. Does he do that all the ti—" Phantom elbowed him, and he fell silent.
"Of course, I would have liked to not be attacked all those times. That kind of sucked. But you weren't doing anything worse than you usually did, even though all that was bad enough. You could have given me a break now and then, and this isn't really what we're here to talk to you about. So. Yeah. You want to work on that 'shouting your thoughts out loud' thing, though."
"What are you here to talk about, ghost child?"
"I'm glad you brought that up! How do you feel about espionage?"
"Well!" said one of the board members. "It sounds like we're getting into state secrets now!" They floated up, over the wreckage of their desks. "We'll be on our way, then!"
"Actually," said Danny, "I want to talk to you all about a project I have in mind once we get this wrapped up, so don't go too far."
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"Just to be clear," said Danny, "if you try to take over the world, I will hunt you down."
"And I'll hunt you down if you reveal your presence to the human government!" said Damien.
"I don't know if it's a good idea for you to be out in the human world yet," said Danny.
"By yourself, that is! I will be your chaperon in such an eventuality!" declared Fright Knight. He leaned forward to look Technus in the eye. "Of course, that eventuality will not come to pass, will it?"
"Hahahaha," said Technus. "Not at all! Goodbye!" he flung himself through the portal.