Looks like I did.
To new readers, welcome; to old readers, welcome back.
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Danny in Star City
Chapter
Twelve: Interesting Developments
Word
count: 3,388 words
Phantom hovered uncertainly, looking from Conley to the laser to its target. The redhead on the bench was only a few feet away, and couldn't possibly be missed.
Something vaguely familiar about the girl tugged at Phantom's mind, and he floated closer to get a better look. It was right on the tip of his tongue... Her sleeping form, her headband, her face- yes, he knew her face, he was certain of that.
"You look confused," Conley said. "Don't you even remember your own sister?"
Sister?
The word caused a surge of memory to go through the ghost's mind. Jazz, yes, that was her name, and she was his older sister- no,
Danny's older sister- but he was Danny, wasn't he? Phantom shook his head, trying to clear it of the sudden swirl of thoughts and images. He could deal with the identity crisis later.
"You wouldn't dare," he said to the other boy.
Conley snorted. "Please. Try me."
"But she didn't do anything!"
"You think that matters? Listen, I-" he gestured to himself, "-am a bad guy. You-" he gestured to the ghost, "-are not cooperating. She-" he pointed at Jazz, "-is how I will make you cooperate. Can't get any simpler than that."
"You wouldn't," Phantom repeated desperately. "It'd be cold-blooded murder."
"Do you really want to make that bet? Now, come back down to earth, would you?"
Slowly, Phantom dropped to the ground. He landed directly in front of Jazz, staring calmly at Conley.
"And I don't even have to move my arm," Conley said, smirking as he moved his finger to the trigger.
"You'll miss."
"Excuse me?" Conley said, frowning.
"That's what you're afraid of. You're worried that your aim will be off and you'll hit Jazz instead."
There was definite uncertainty in Conley's stance now. Had the ghost read his mind? Quickly, he shoved that thought to the side, deciding that his adversary had just gotten lucky, or maybe he, himself, had been broadcasting his feelings too loudly.
"I'll have you know that I'm a very good marksman. I'm not going to miss."
"But what if you do?" the ghost persisted.
Conley hesitated, and his arm gave the briefest of trembles.
Smoothly, Eidolon sidled up to the teen. It hissed in his ear, and though Phantom couldn't catch the words, he still saw the hatred flicker over the other boy's face. There was almost hope he wouldn't shoot.
That hope died when he reached forward with one finger, pressed down on a switch, and fired.
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There was one interesting thing to be said of the auto-lock of the Fenton Ghost Laser: it did not necessarily target the paranormal being directly in front of the shooter. Instead, it went for the one closest to the weapon at the time it was fired. Phantom was very close- only about two yards away, and right in the path of the blast. However- and there's always, always a "however"- Eidolon was standing right beside Conley. The spirit noticed this a little too late.
"What do you think you're-"
It didn't get to finish. The golden pendent on its chest took the brunt of the bright green blast and shattered; as for the rest of the spirit, it dissolved almost instantly, tendrils of mist the only thing marking its departure.
Phantom gave a relieved sigh, letting out all the building tension. He had successfully caught Conley's bluff, but... what if he hadn't been bluffing?
"I knew it," he said, giving a small smile. "You wouldn't do anything to hurt her."
"Well, congratulations, little ghostie," Conley said, with no trace amount of bitterness. "You guessed right." He turned and started to walk off.
"Hey! Wait, where are you going?" Phantom asked, floating after him.
The blond shrugged, not turning around. "Does it matter? I just killed off- destroyed my boss's favorite henchman, and have a very slim chance at completing my mission. Do you have any idea how messy this is going to get?"
It was Phantom's turn to frown. "Messy? I don't understand."
Conley gave a low chuckle as he finally turned around to face the ghost, lifting the laser up. Phantom saw too late that, in following the other boy, he had lost Jazz as cover. He opened his mouth to talk-
-and a flash of green-
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"Now, explain to me what we're doing exactly, again."
Gale glanced sideways at the girl in the passenger's seat. "You said it yourself: you saw the minotaur steal something of Todd's. We're going to get it back."
"By finding the ghost that took it."
"Exactly."
"Well, that shouldn't be too hard. I mean, there are only so many places that a giant minotaur can hide."
"Ghosts can turn invisible."
"Oh." Eliza's face fell, and the look was so priceless that Gale had to laugh.
"There's a tracker in the van. See?" He tapped part of the dashboard that doubled as a glass screen. There were bright dots of moving light sprinkled seemingly at random. "Yellow dots are the humans. Blue dots are the ghosts."
"But..." Eliza's eyes bugged out as she did a mental calculation of the blue dots onscreen. "There are dozens! How far does this thing track?"
"Let's see... one edge to the other is eight blocks, so I'd say about a square mile."
Letting out a low whistle, Eliza looked out the window. "How are we supposed to find the ghost we're looking for? I mean, lets say that even if we do manage to track that particular one, all it'd have to do is go invisible and hide with the others."
"You know, I've been thinking about that." Sighing, he tapped his finger impatiently on the steering wheel as he waited for the car in front of them to turn. "The tracker can distinguish between ghosts and humans, so it should be able to distinguish between souls and humans, too."
"'Should'. Well, if that isn't the most reassuring thing I've ever- wait, did you say soul?"
Gale shifted a bit in his seat. "I thought Hal or someone had told you."
Eliza shook her head. "I just thought that, well, if we could get that stuff the ghost took, then it might help my brother..." She shook her head again, this time with disbelief. "His soul. My God. So I'm right, then? About having to get it back. We bring back his- his soul, then he'll be better, right?"
"Theoretically."
"Theoretically?" Eliza repeated, then petitioned the Lord again. "So, why did we just split? I mean, I get that Hal needs to look after Todd, but why didn't you tell Jereni?"
"Is this where the ghost showed up?"
Turning her head, she looked down a very familiar alleyway. She could make out the beast's spear, still lodged in the wall.
"Yes. Now, don't change the subject. Can't Jereni help us?"
"Do you remember which way it went?"
Eliza sighed impatiently and tried to think. "It went that way." She pointed down the road across from the alley. "Then it turned right. But that would take it down Luck Avenue, towards the park..."
Steering the van down the road, it was Gale's turn to sigh. "I don't think that she would approve of this. She'd call it rash, among other things, and argue that it would be better until we know if this would actually help."
"But Todd might not have enough time! I mean, if we think we can help, we should."
"My sentiments exactly. And if she wasn't successful in stopping us, she'd want to come along. We don't need any more people on this little mission than absolutely necessary. You know what the ghost looks like and where it went; I know how to get Todd's soul back. No one else needs to be risked."
The allusion to possible danger didn't escape Eliza's notice, and neither did the fact that the man seemed to be holding something back.
"If we're going to be successful, we have to have at least some amount of trust between us."
"I do trust you," Eliza grumbled, sliding as far down as her seatbelt would allow. "Lord knows why, because you're a complete stranger and Todd is my brother."
Gale pulled into the back parking lot of the library, letting the car coast neatly to a stop at the edge of the building. The lights in the window were dim, suggesting that all but the cleaning crew had left for the night. It couldn't have been that long after eight, because Eliza had just heard the bell in the old Methodist church tower toll.
Eliza blinked, thoroughly confused. What was today? Friday sounded right, because Thanksgivings was the day before. And just that evening, she had been sitting down to eat a dinner she wasn't particularly thrilled with. Not that long ago, but it felt like it had been stretched out and stuffed to the brim with every kind of surprise imaginable. At the moment, all she wanted to do was go to sleep for a few days and wake up to find that the world had returned to its rightful order.
And the chances of that happening are, what, one in a billion? She hopped out of the van and hurried to catch up with Gale.
Elmwood Park, bordering the downtown library on three sides, was really just a large field with trees obstructing the view of traffic. A path wandered through the field before diverging; one side doubled back on itself while the other continued into a copse of trees.
"This is where you saw the ghost go?" Gale asked, his voice low.
Eliza nodded. "It headed in this direction." Her arms prickled with goosebumps, though that may have just been from the sudden breath of wind. A faint rustling played with her ears, and she jerked her head around. When all she saw were abandoned party tents, she berated herself for being so jumpy. It must have been the fact that her system had been one big adrenalin rush for the past hour.
"Is anything here?" she asked, pulling her jacket closer. Now that the sun had been set, the temperature had plummeted low, even for late November.
Gale was checking his watch, noticed Eliza trying to surreptitiously catch a glance at it; he held out his wrist. "Yellow ones are humans. Blue ones are ghosts."
"Green ones are Danny?" she asked.
"Were Danny," he corrected gently.
"We might find his ghost around here too," she said stubbornly.
"Who knows? But let's focus on this first."
Gale cut across the grass and headed towards an outcropping of trees. Eliza lingered for a moment, looking at the relative safety of the library walls before following him.
"Right there, it shows a concentration of spectral energy," Gale pointed. "The dots are blurring together, but there's at least one ghost. Might even be the one we're looking for."
The closer they got to the grove, the more certain Eliza was that she heard voices. She could almost make out the words when something else filled her eardrums.
It sounded like the blast from a laser.
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Conley heard the intruders long before they burst onto the scene. He'd always wondered why no one ever tried subtlety, like not walking in plain view, or not stepping on every stick and twig on the ground. Oh, well, he thought, as he met them in the copse. All the better for him.
"Hello, Gale."
The older man jumped, startled, but regained his composure. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask the same of you, though I could probably guess. Chasing rogue specters again, huh?"
"As a matter of fact, our tracker led us here. Where is it?"
"Gone," Conley said simply.
It was then Eliza noticed the weapon cradled in the boy's hand. Her blood ran cold.
"You- you shot him?" She fought to keep her voice steady.
He laid her a cool gaze. "It tried to attack me."
"We don't know that it was Danny," Gale whispered, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll go back to the car, and keep looking."
"I think," Conley interrupted, clearly enunciating each syllable, "you have more important things to worry about right now."
Eliza followed his gaze towards the mountains, and the giant star that was the namesake of Star City. It was nestled at the top of the nearest mountain, and about it-
-above it-
-an unnatural flash of green mixed with sickly yellow-
The grip on Eliza's shoulder tightened. Gale seemed rooted to the spot, transfixed. He glared at Conley, looking as though he would hit the boy.
"What's going on?" Eliza demanded, eyes darting nervously between the two.
Gale opened his mouth, but seemed to think better of it. His hand dropped, and he sprinted back through the trees to the van. Leaving her alone with Conley.
"If you hurt Danny, I swear..."
"Oh, but I didn't hurt Danny," he said almost cheerfully. He paused, as though considering his words. "You're getting involved with something you shouldn't get involved with." He grinned at her in an entirely unpleasant manner. "I'd run while I still could."
She bit back a viscous retort as she turned, following Gale. "Gale? Gale, wait up," she called, breaking into a jog.
She missed the smirk the other boy threw at her back.
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"Tace? Put me through to the boss... What do you mean she's not there? Where is she? And don't give me that crap about need-to-know information... fine. Just tell her I'm done here. I'll be back in a few days."
Closing the cell phone, Conley gripped the object tightly in his fist. His hand was shaking as he lowered his arm.
He was already formulating what to tell his boss about Eidolon. She wouldn't be pleased to hear about her favorite underling. Well, he would tell her that it had been an accident. That was true: in order to keep from accidentally hitting Jazz, he'd switched the laser to auto-target. The first blast was meant for Phantom, but Eidolon had been closer. It was unfortunate to lose it, yes, and the fact that Conley had hated the spirit with every fiber of his being could be overlooked, but Phantom was out of action.
But not gone. When the blast hit the ghost, his eyes had rolled back and he had dropped to the ground. If Conley hadn't met Gale and that girl in the trees, they would have spotted Phantom. It had been far too close for his liking. Briefly, Conley wondered why the ghost's body remained while the spirit had been completely destroyed, but soon disregarded the difference; Eidolon had not been in the Ghost Zone for weeks and thus had an insubstantial body, whereas Phantom had very recently been with Danny.
He looked towards Jazz, still asleep after all this mess. It must have been some pretty strong liquor for her to have slept through all that, or maybe she just hadn't had a chance to build up any tolerance to alcohol. She was going to have one hell of a hangover when she finally woke up.
Pity that wouldn't be for another few hours... he would have liked to talk to her before he left, or at least seen her eyes one last time. They were the exact same hue that Kathleen's had been, one that he hadn't expected to see again.
So... really, he was done here. It was just a short walk to his car, and then he'd be out of this city. Never looking back.
But...
Don't start this up again, he told himself firmly. No buts. She's safe, she didn't get hurt, and if you don't go now, you never will.
But she didn't ask for any of this.
Neither did you.
Gingerly, he stepped over the fallen phantom and kneeled beside the bench.
This is stupid, the logical Conley said. She's not going to know you did this.
"Jazz?"
But I will.
"I'm sorry you got dragged into all this."
He could feel her slow, steady breath against his cheek as he leaned over and slipped his phone into one of the jacket pockets. Letting his eyes fall shut, he leaned closer to her face and gently kissed her lips.
"Get away from her!"
A sharp kick was aimed between Conley's ribs, and the boy fell over with a thud. Wincing, he struggled to sit up when something pressed against his throat.
"Don't even think about moving."
He stared incredulously at the person before him. It was Phantom, alive and kicking- well, he would have been kicking, but it was his foot keeping the other boy pinned. In the ghost's hands sparked a glow of ectoplasm, swelled to the size of a soccer ball. In a flash, Conley had the laser raised.
Their eyes met, and the two were locked in what seemed to be an impossible stalemate. Suddenly, Conley began to chuckle.
"You win," he said, flicking the ON/OFF switch.
The weapon was tossed to the ground and bounced once before coming to a neat stop beyond Phantom. Keeping his eyes on the other boy, the ghost let the ectoplasm die and floated back to pick up the laser.
"That's it? Just like that?" he asked dubiously.
Conley picked himself up and felt his side. It smarted, and would probably be bruised in the morning. Oh well. His own fault for being unaware.
"If you're lucky," he said over his shoulder, "you'll never hear from me again." And he walked away, just like that.
Phantom watched him the whole time. His eyes narrowed. "We'd better not."
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It was getting colder- there was no doubt about that. Conley wished he had a spare coat somewhere, because right now he was freezing. He felt strangely out of place; without a weapon, he couldn't rightly defend himself, and without his phone, he was cut off from all communication.
He continued to muse all the way to his car- a brand new Nissan Xterra, thoughtfully provided by his employer- and couldn't believe he was getting away with something like this. Granted, something was bound to happen, like it always did, but at the moment, he couldn't care less. As far as he was concerned, he'd done what he needed to do. Phantom wouldn't become a bother to his boss, and no one would have to know that the ghost still existed.
A sudden thought struck him: how had Phantom survived the blast? Well, the Ghost Laser had a "stun" setting on it, and it had probably been switched to that when he shot the ghost. Funny, though, Conley didn't remember turning the weapon to stun...
A chill raced up the teen's back as he realized that he hadn't. That would mean that the force of the blast that hit Phantom was the same as the one that hit-
"Traitor," a voice iced in his ear.
Ice flooded his limbs. He didn't even get a chance to run before all his limbs locked down. He tried to move his arm, but it wouldn't respond; he tried to blink his eyes, but the lids wouldn't budge. His hand tightened into a fist, and he realized that he wasn't the one doing it.
"Well. These are certainly interesting developments."
The boy let off a high laugh, sounding far from human.
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Yeah. I know. I got reviews since last chapter. But I don't want to dig through everything, so. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed.
And I'm not going to commit myself to an exact date for the next chapter. It is summer, and I have nothing to do this week. But we all know that I'm prone to procrastination. So. We'll just see.
Thank you to Kuroi Kiri for being my beta. This chapter only went through one extra pair of eyes, so I apologize for whatever mistakes I'm sure abound.