The Ghost Investigators

-By Mosobot64

Episode 3-The Secret Sanctum

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Dib's POV

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The Ghost Investigators. This team has been formed to investigatate the existance of ghosts and other paranormal things, and to shed light on the shadows of the strange. The Ghost Investigators intends to spread knowledge to mankind.

Of the Ghost Investigators, I'm Dib, the guy who came up with the name. The other members are Nasira, a beautiful white-haired psychic, Brick, a super-strong, super-durable guy who is nice but not all that smart, and I guess Gir if you count crazy robots. Zim is gone. I'm not saying where, I'm just saying he's gone. There, I've made my point.

Anyway, I think you get the gist of what I'm trying to say.

--..--

At school, in Membrane High. A place funded mostly by my dad, but it's a public school anyway. Learning is definately promoted here, as opposed to the rotting of brains back in my old school (Foolishly spelled Skool, I might add).

There, I meet Nasira. Her long white hair whirls around as I call her name, and she looks at me with her crystal blue eyes.

"Hello, Dib." Nasira says kindly to me.

"Hey, Nasira." I say. "Uh, do you think you could get Brick and meet me at lunch? I've got a cool idea..."

"No problem, Dib." Nasira says nicely. "Oh, and by the way, I didn't read your mind, because I think its a surprise. Am I right?"

"Yes, yes you are." I reply.

--..--

I arrive in my Social Studies class. We're going over latitude and longitude. Boring. I went over this back in grade 4.

"And which way to the lines of latitude run?" the teacher asks me.

"Horizontally." I say, without having to give it that much thought.

"Good," The teacher says, and continues teaching the class.

Just as I feel as if I'm about to die from the boredom and mediocrity of the majority of the students, Nasira waves to me, smiling. I grin, and wave back.

Then the teacher catches me on the shoulder. "Keeping up foreign relations, Dib?" She asks me.

"Yeah, in waving morse code." I say to her, with a hint of sarcasm.

Rather than bothering to do anything, the teacher just shrugs her shoulders and continues on teaching.

--..--

Brick and Nasira meet me at lunch in the cafeteria, as promised. Most of the students are too busy talking to thier fellow classmates to bother with me (Not to mention this place has a lot of tables), so we have quite a bit of table space to work with. I unfold a sheet of paper from my pocket, which depicts an underground base with a small tunnel leading to a meeting room, and research room complete with a lab and a computer, and a large hanger bay that opens at the top.

Nasira oohs at the design. "An interesting concept, Dib!" She says. "Are you getting into illustration?"

"No, Nasira, not at all." I reply. "Think about it. All super-teams have a cool base."

"Dib, sure, we're cool as paranormal investigators go, but do we really count as a super-team?" Nasira asks me.

"Well, sure." I reply. "I mean, look at you, Nasira. You're a psychic. And Brick is a super-powerful...well...brick." I say pointing to Brick. "I'd say between that, and my own intellect and experience, we're pretty freakin' close."

"Okay, Dib, you bring up good points. But how are we going to get this built?" Nasira asks me.

"Easy. I'll ask my dad." I answer. "He's super-smart, and he does have the money to make something like this."

"Okay, Dib." Brick says. "What should we call it?" Brick says. "The ghost house? The meeting place? The fort?"

"I was thinking...the Secret Sanctum."

"Sounds cool." Nasira says.

"Nice." Says Brick.

"Secret Sanctum it is, then." I say in response.

--..--

After school, I go to my dad. He works in the kitchen, building a solar powered car. (In the kitchen? Yup. He always cleans up in time for dinner, too.) He hasn't changed at all. He still has the big spike of hair that sweeps back, shaped like a lightning bolt (Natural or the end result of too many electrical experiments I'll never know), he still has the lab coat with a colar covering his mouth, he still wears the wierd cross between goggle and sunglasses he wears all the time (I don't know the color of his eyes), and he still wears the clunky boots. My dad hosts his own show called "Probing the Membrane of Science", which is a show I like to show when Mysterious Mysteries isn't on.

"Dad?" I say.

My dad stops welding, turns around, and speaks to me with his voice slightly muffled but still very clear. "Hello, son. How was school today?"

"Great, dad, great." I reply. I unfold the Secret Sanctum design from my pocket again, and show it to him. "Dad, could you help me build this?"

My dad looks at it. "Well, of course, son." He says to me. His voice sounds very glad, almost eager to help. "Although I doubt we can do it alone. Supplies and money are no problem, but we'll need some help with the actual construction."

"My friends will be happy to help." I say to him. "I'm doing this for them."

"Good, good." He says to me. "We can get started tomorrow then. I think it'll be a good bonding thing for us." My dad then turns around and continues welding together a couple of panels for his solar car.

--..--

The next day at school, I tell my friends.

"Well, we have the help we need. My dad will help us build the Secret Sanctum!" I say excitedly.

"Yeah!" Says Brick.

"We're going to have to help, though. My dad is good, but even he isn't a super-man." I continue. "However, I doubt that'll be much of a problem."

"What about Gir?" Nasira asks me. "No, wait, nevermind. You're going to lock that robot up in a room filled with burritos and hope he doesn't interfere, right?"

"Yup, pretty much." I reply to Nasira.

"Well, then, we're pretty much set." Nasira says to me, smiling.

Over the next few days, in my backyard, we begin setting up the foundations of the secret sanctum. My dad comes in on the first day with a big robot with scoops for hands and digs out the foundations for the place. Brick holds up a large sheet of metal while my dad welds together the two sheets. Nasira telekinetically floats a box of screws and tools to my dad. And my dad and I talk together about neuclear fusion and how much it can save our electrical bill if we use it to power our Secret Sanctum.

--..--

One day, during a break, Brick asks something.

"Why aren't we done yet?"

"A project this massive can't be done in days. It'll be a couple more weeks before the Secret Sanctum is completed." My dad tells him. "Although I'm glad you're willing to put in the work. It is truly inspiring what some kids strive to do these days."

--..--

Sure enough, within a couple more weeks, the Secret Sanctum is finally completed. We look at the ground, which conceals the security system which opens a trap door. Still, though, there is a hole in the ground not far from where we know the door is.

"I can't believe it. We're done!" I say. "Dad, thankyou so much-"

"We're not done yet. There's still one more thing." My dad says.

"What is it?" Brick says.

"Wait for it..." My dad says very cryptically, when suddenly, I hear a helicopter's blades whirling above.

"Did you get the tree I asked for?" My dad shouts calmly to the men piloting the helicopter, which is carrying a tree.

"Yup, true weeping willow, Professor Membrane." The man says. Another man rolls a ladder from the helicopter, and climbs down it, carrying a clipboard.

"Just sign here." The clipboard carying man says to my dad, and sure enough, he signs the clipboard. The man climbs back up the ladder as the helicopter drops the tree, its roots landing directly in the hole.

"Have a nice day." The man flying the helicopter says, and the helicopter flies away.

My dad then jumps back into the cockpit of the scoop-handed robot, which scoops all of the dirt around the tree, keeping it firmly in place. My dad then walks the robot to our garage, and then comes walking back on his own two feet.

"There, now it's done." My dad says, putting his hands on his hips and looking at the tree triumphantly.

"Dad, thankyou very much." I say to dad. "In appreciation of your efforts, consider yourself an honorary member of the Ghost Investigators." I hand my dad a cellphone, which is blue and has the Ghost Investigators logo on it.

"Thankyou son, this is very...uh...honorary." My dad says, putting the cellphone in his pocket. "Now, if you excuse me, I have some humanity saving to do. Enjoy your Secret Sanctum." My dad says, walking away.

--..--

Later, I go to the meeting of another paranormal investigator team. The Swollen Eyeball Network. These guys try to investigate, classify, and analyze all of the spooky. In the Swollen Eye, my name is Agent Mothman.

"Agent Mothman, you are called to report your investigations." Says Agent One-Eye, the leader of the network.

"Yes, I have some important things to say." I tell them. "I think this network is bogus." The entire room gasps at my comment. "Yeah, that's right, bogus. You guys say you're trying to enlighten mankind, but what you're really doing is gathering up some info that noone else is bothering to collect, so that someday you might use that information to rule the world, or maybe do something else horrible to mankind. You know how I know? Because this group has been overly secretive from the start. I joined this group because I was invited. I didn't see this network posted on any messege board or any forum. And I'm getting sick and bloody tired of it." I continue. "This group CLAIMS to be helping mankind understand things it doesn't understand, it CLAIMS to be helping to save humanity. But no. You guys probably have plenty of information, but the rest of the world gets none of it, because you want it all for yourself. And I'm not gonna be a part of it anymore."

Agents look at me. There is a spotlight on me. I can see nothing on them but their silhouettes and the eyeglasses that most of the members wear. Everything else but the blue glowing Swollen Eye symbol below One-Eye is in shadow.

"That's right, Agents. I'm leaving the Swollen Eye. I'll not be part of a petty little team that does nothing but gather power for itself." I say, turning my back on them. "Goodbye." So marks the end of Agent Mothman.

I walk out the room, out the building, away from the injustice I willingly embraced as a kid. Once, I saw them as the only people that understood me. Now, I think they're a bunch of losers.

--..--

Agent One-Eye's POV

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So, Mothman has left us. An interesting twist of fate. Once, that boy was so enthralled by our network. Now, he hates us. And not surprisingly. He has started his own team I know, one that does much of what we do, but in a much less subtle fashion.

"Well, Agents?" I say to them. "Do we let Mothman wander free?"

"I don't think we should, sir." My fellow Agent Tuna-Ghost says. "He's one of the most important members. He's been with us too long, and he knows too much."

"I agree with Tuna-Ghost," Says Agent Disembodied Head. "He cannot be allowed to wander free. He may well reveal our team. This would obviously be bad for our plan."

"Then, we do what we must, to make sure that Mothman does not speak." I say. "If Mothman isn't with us--"

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"--Then he is against us."

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Pretty crazy huh? Tell me what you think.

-Mosobot64