OMG I am so sorry for not updating, Ughhh this story is actually 4 chapters behind. I have seven of them out on AO3 which will probably be updated more...
Hopefully I'll start doing better with updating
Four Years Later- Present Day
Specimen G1 -previously known as Jacob Weston
Status- neutralized
G1 is the first of many specimens H1P12 has obtained.
After it was retrieved the specimen took on growing at a rapid speed, reaching the height of 8 feet within a month before a second variable was added. Mixing the ectoplasm with wolf genes resulted in a demonic sort of ghost, currently frozen within the ectoplasm and will remain that way until a new way of control has presented itself.
Phantom tilted the EctoTracker slightly, hoping that would help him get a better understanding of where he was supposed to go. He wasn't entirely sure where he was either, just following the tracker. It seemed to always get a hit right away and drag Phantom across the world looking for it.
He sighed floating down from the building, watching as two women hurried down the street, keeping an eye out for trouble. He ignored them, as the tracker pointed him in the opposite direction of the women.
He walked along the rooftops, not bothering with floating, sometimes he just needed to stretch his legs. Living life as a ghost assassin could be exhausting, even for a creature that didn't need sleep, not that Phantom didn't sleep. Sometimes he felt like it was all he needed to do to get better, exhaustion crashing over his body making it almost impossible for him to continue onwards. The GIW hated that, beating him as a way to wake him up, screaming at him, how ghosts don't need to sleep, eat, or to even breathe. Yet Phantom still managed to do that, unable to figure out if he actually needed to breathe or if it was just a habit.
He'd have to experiment with it sometime. So why not know? As Phantom walked he willed his lungs to stop taking in oxygen and continued onward. Silently counting as he continued onward, his eyes caught on a young woman walking down the street, she was laughing as she gripped onto the young man's elbow.
Phantom's nose wrinkled at it, the laughter was obviously forced and then man was buying, a cocky grin spouting on his face. A beep pulled Phantom's attention down as he began to smirk. Seemed like the faker was his target.
Phantom laughed as he disappeared into the air, the couple stopping as they looked around, the night had become chiller, and fear slowly became evident on the woman's face, before she screamed. Neon green eyes stared at her from the shadows. Before disappearing.
She whirled around, the man attempting to shield her with his body. As the green eyes appeared closer than before.
"You know." The man froze as Phantom gripped his shirt, lifting him into the air effortlessly. "That joke wasn't even that funny." Phantom tossed the man aside like a useless doll. Not bothering to watch the man slam into the dumpster as he moved closer to the woman.
She shrieked turning around to run, only to trip and fall over her own heels. Phantom clicked his tongue. "It's going to be tragic that you died because of faulty shoes." He moved forward, his nose touching hers as his eyes flashed. "Boo."
The woman's eyes rolled up into her head, and just like that, she was out. Phantom chuckled as he pulled out a small dagger, watching the blood bubble up from the now slit through. He listened to his surroundings as the device whirled to life, shooting a transparent beam into the woman's chest and ripping out the small teardrop of ectoplasam. "Congrats." He said as he closed the container. "You are now officially G102" He tucked the container into his belt turning to fly off.
Phantom felt his nose crack as he hit what felt like a brick wall. "What the." His widened as he stared at a giant bat. He slowly backed up, letting the figure come into focus, all why nursing his nose. "Batman?"
Batman didn't respond, glaring at the boy, while ghost-like footprints sounded from behind Phantom. Phantom didn't move as the blade swiped through his body, or at least where his body was. A surprised gasp came from behind him as the blade only made contact with air.
Phantom's eyes widened. "Batman? Huh… i'd thought you'd be taller…" before a smirk grew across his face. "What brings you down here Batsy?" He asked, gesturing around the area before side-stepping the punch batman threw"The doom and gloom? That dumpster? The body? How about that stray cat over there, his name is Mr. Whiskers, don't judge." Phantom pointed accusatory at the Bats as the katana blade once again hit the air. A frustrated growl followed as Phantom turned back in annoyance at the angry Robin.
"Do you mind?" Phantom asked folding his arms. "I am trying to have a civil conversation about a cat named Mr. Whiskers." A fist went through Phantom's skull, causing him to go crosseyed to look at Batman's fist. Phantom moved to the side. stepping out of the fist.
"Tt that's a stupid name," Robin growled lunging at Phantom. Phantom moved forward, intercepting Robin's wrist and slamming him to the ground.
"Who are you to judge, you run around with a grown man dressed as a bat all while dressed like a traffic light."
Robin didn't respond, coming head-on with Phantom with a series of blows, Batman attempting to attack from behind. Each hit missing as Phantom dodged, his foot sliding underneath Batman's causing the grown man to fall. Phantom sighed floating a little higher and settling himself onto a nearby fire escape. "This conversation is feeling really one-sided, I mean is the name Mr. Whiskers really that bad? I spent a good part of my day coming up with that." Phantom muttered the last part to himself, Mr. Whiskers seemed like a good name, the cat seemed to have more whiskers than the other cats he left…
"Wait!" Phantom declared, causing Robin and Batman to both stop and stare. "This isn't about Mr. Whiskers, is it? It's about that late library book." Phantom chuckled. "I didn't think Batman would stoop that low to deal with overdue books. Well, I guess when a crime is running low you do what you gotta do."
Phantom involuntary flinched as a batarang soared right through him embedding itself onto the wall behind him. He turned around picking it up. "This is cool!" He said with a grin, even though the Bats couldn't see it. "Do you mind?" He asked pointing at the batarang."I've always wanted one."
Batman shifted ever so slightly, Phantom flicked his wrist sending the Battarang back. "Then again, I bet you have tracking devices on all your little gadgets." His hood fell back slightly at the movement, Green eyes piercing Batman. Phantom raised an eyebrow at the almost inaudible gasp that came from the man.
He sighed stretching out as Robin landed next to him. "This has been fun, but you have a body to examine and I have a library book to return. So see ya." Phantom winked and vanished as Robin's katana came down, slamming into the metal of the fire escape, where Phantom was moments before.
Robin glared at the empty air, slowly sheathing his Katana. "Father."
Batman landed next to Robin, his eyes calculating. Robin moved forward before continuing. "His eyes…"
"I know Robin." Batman sighed, "We'll keep this on the down low until further notice."
Phantom landed softly outside the lab, the door slid open as he neared, allowing him entry. He continued inward, down the familiar blinding halls.
Echoes of screams came from around him, his screams. Whispers floated in and out of his thoughts as he continued further. Stopping as he neared an open room, filled with tubes. He took a deep breath and continued onward.
A half-formed ghost slammed against the tub, showing its fangs as he passed. Phantom could feel the hatred from the ghosts. Stuck there because of him, to be poked and prodded. Phantom flinched as he heard a wail, a flicker from the tank to his right, as the ghostly form screeched, scratching at itself and the second ghostly head protruding from its side. Merging to different ectoplasm had terrible and deadly results. Causing the ghost to flicker in and out of existence in constant pain. Ectoplasm dripped down from its eyes as it wailed.
Phantom pulled his attention away from the wailing creature and its deformed body. Mentally chiding himself for pitying the creatures. Like him, they were emotionless, monsters, who would destroy the world if they weren't being controlled.
He stopped by an empty desk, setting the glass container on it. Something squeezed at his chest as he watched the speck of ectoplasm spasm as if searching for a way out. Phantom shook his head. Instantly stiffening as the door behind him slid open.
"H1P12" Phantom turned stiffly at the call, his entire body rigid as he stood at attention. Agent O moved closer glaring at the halfa.
Phantom tried not to react the cold metal came in contact with his face, he could taste blood in his mouth as he straightened from the impact. Agent O's hand shot forward gripping Phantom's chin. "You know what you did wrong?" Agent O asked, seemingly calm, yet Phantom could tell he was furious.
"Spotted by Batman, sir."
"Correct… and you know what happens when you do something wrong." Phantom this time couldn't hide his shudder. Agent O took punishments a different way, wanting to see how ghosts would react to physical touch…
Agent O stepped back, scanning Phantom over. Phantom wanted to shrink away at his glance, which had changed from lethal to craving. "Your quarters, now." Agent O turned around sharply.
Phantom mechanically followed, forcing himself to go numb before the man's pleasure experiment would start
Bruce rewound the tape, glaring at it as if it would make the focus better. The distorted recording was only a blur of colors as the battle went on. The only color standing out was the bright green eyes of the boy.
On the other screen, his attention flickered to the picture of 102 bodies all with the same burn as the woman he encountered today.
102
Bruce sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose. It should have stopped at the first one. Where Dick found the boy sobbing over his victim. The boy's reaction at that time had been enough to make Bruce's heart clench.
Back then it was obvious the boy had no choice. But today, being there, Bruce realized that the boy showed no remorse for the life he had taken today. Only pointing out the man he had injured.
The child's talking also helped prove he was younger, bringing up random topics and getting a little upset at the lack of answers. Yet the talking did nothing to throw the child off, seeming like it energized him.
Bruce scanned the burn marks on the chests. He didn't have a clear view of what happened to the woman. He knew the child slit her throat and then some sort of distortion happened above her chest and a green speck appeared.
That's when Bruce decided to head on down, he arrived too late to save the woman, but he could still enlist justice.
Or so he thought.
Before the child proved to be more trained than he thought, avoiding every hit by either dodging or phasing through the attack.
Yet when he hit the hair it felt nothing like Barry's phasing or Martian Man Hunter's density shifting. It was as if the boy was made of air.
"Hey B!" A voice cut Bruce out of his thoughts as glanced upwards, seeing Dick making his way down the stairs. A plain white t-shirt and sweats on him, reminding Bruce that he was still in the Batman costume. "Whatch-" Dick cut off seeing the victims. "Oh."
"We ran into the kid today, it turns out that little boy you found crying over that body… was the one who did that," Bruce explained, watching Dick's face ever so slightly pale.
"But he couldn't have been older than 12" Dick gaped, due to the voice modifier it made it harder for him to fully guess the boy's age "Bruce a kid shouldn't be killing anyone."
"No one should Kill." Bruce chided, turning his attention back to the bodies. "He's been at this for 4 years, stacking 102 victims that we know of, all with this same mark. I would guess he was 18 due to his skills and talent. But the voice modifier makes it harder to set an actual age and the fact we weren't able to get a good look at him."
Bruce glanced to his side, watching Dick plop down in a chair he just pulled up. "I didn't think… that a kid would be able to do all this." He gestured at the screen, the bodies.
Bruce's frown deepened. "None of the victims have any connections. All are different ages, sizes, and genders. Nothing. Not a single connection between all of them."
"What about recordings?"
"Nothing, they're all distorted, either by something the boy is carrying or the boy himself."
Dick sighed, pressing his hand against his head. "And I just came down here to tell you dinner was ready…"