The two travelers fended off a legion of the mindless living as they ran down the street. The displaced life energy that dusted the ground had gone from a brilliant emerald to a plain light green. What that meant, Valerie didn't know, but it couldn't be good. It was during a lull in their escape that she was startled to realize something. The energy had started out the same color as the ghost kid's eyes. It was now the pale, almost sickly shade of other ghosts' eyes.
She pushed that aside to think about later as Sandruu crushed the head of a rotting corpse in his mechanical hand. "Okay, that was sick!" she informed him.
"Live and let die, I always say," he punned…poorly.
"You sure your sister's the one that likes the Beatles?"
"Paul McCartney," he corrected. "What can I say? We're both suckers for classic rock." He hit another zombie while Valerie fended off a human. "Don't you have a jet sled?"
"Stupid ghost kid broke it," she growled. "Maybe we can lose them if we get inside somewhere."
Suddenly, she was sailing through the air at a controlled pace before her stomach hit a hard shoulder. Looking at the world from a sack of potatoes' point of view was a decidedly unnerving experience. "What're you doing, now?" she demanded.
"Just don't struggle," was his only response. Then they were running through the mass of undead, leaving broken bodies in their wake. Before long, she saw a pair of glass doors swing shut and was dumped unceremoniously on a marble floor. Sandruu dashed back across to wedge something in the doors to keep them shut. After a moment's wait, Valerie realized it was his arm. "Can you go find something that'll work better?" he pleaded.
She couldn't help but smirk at his expression, but nodded and dashed off. She had just found a broom closet and settled on some kind of metal pole when she heard a pronounced crash. "Never mind!" Sandruu yelled.
"How'd they get through?" Valerie demanded, leading the way to the fire exit.
"They broke the glass."
"That's not what I meant," the girl protested uselessly. She hit the door and charged through, the cyborg hot on her heels. "Man," she huffed. "I never knew zombies could run that fast."
Sandruu wedged the door closed with part of a broken fire escape. "Yeah, a lot of people think they're slow because their muscles are rotting away. What they don't realize is that zombies don't rely on muscle power to move."
Valerie scoffed as they threaded their way around scattered trash. "What is it then? Magic?"
He lifted his eyebrow. "It's the same thing ghosts run on," he answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Ectoplasm."
They fell silent. The young ghost hunter was on the verge of asking her companion how he knew so much. She hoped that if she could make him nervous enough, he might let something important slip. He didn't seem to be very good at keeping his mouth shut. However, a sudden noise drove the thought from her mind as it dragged her attention to the pathetic-looking form that sat against the wall.
"Danny!" she exclaimed, rushing forward. He made a weak attempt to grab for her throat and fell forward slightly. "What's wrong?" she demanded. "What's wrong with him?"
"He's been out here too long," Sandruu muttered, carefully lifting the boy over one shoulder. "I'm not sure what drives them, but it isn't exactly hunger. He's starving to death."
"We've got to get him to the hospital!" Assuming it's still there, she amended quietly. The man nodded and motioned her to lead the way. Before she made it two steps, however, green energy blasted her to the ground.
"No one's going anywhere!" Phantom exclaimed, dropping into the alley with them.
Valerie jumped to her feet and summoned her energy cubes. "I'll hold him off!" she yelled. "Get Danny out of here!" She fired at the ghost, distracting him enough that Sandruu was able to get away. He returned fire and tried to give chase, but the hunter tackled him to the ground.
She did not expect the fight she got from him. He had never seemed that strong before, except for that one time when her suit had malfunctioned and tried to kill Danny. Was it even the slightest bit possible that he had been serious all those times he said he didn't want to hurt her? She fought her way out from under him, saw a flash of copper metal sail overhead, and stumbled to her feet to see Electra, the ghost of the Hot Pink Lizard, wrestling with Phantom for control of her sparking cane.
"Go!" she called, nodding over her shoulder. "And tell your friend to tell Clockwork I'm going to kill him!"
Valerie hesitated a moment more before she started running. They had fought a few times, although Electra had only won once. She always gave the same knowing smirk whenever she lost, too. But if she was fighting Phantom, she couldn't have been under Necrowind's control. At least, it gave Valerie a chance to get back to Sandruu and, more importantly, Danny.
She found them a block away camped out on a shop awning. "I thought I said get him to a hospital!"
He lowered the two of them down and turned to face her. "It's not where I remember it. It burned down, and I-" He broke off and looked away, gesturing impatiently for her to precede him.
Valerie shook her head as she complied. "When this is all over, I'm going to be expecting some explanations."
"When this is over, I'm going home," Sandruu shot back.
"Then I better get my answers now, huh?" She fell back slightly to walk next to him. Danny's eyes were closed; he almost seemed peaceful. "Is he going to be okay?"
"I bloody well hope so..." He sighed heavily and rubbed the area above his heart. "I mean, I'm sure he will be, but...I don't know if this is going right or not. Nobody ever told me anything..."
The ghost hunter pursed her lips and glared. She had a thought; she'd been disregarding it because it wasn't possible, but she suddenly felt compelled to voice it. "You're from the future." After a moment, Sandruu nodded slowly. "But how? Time travel's not possible!"
He pointedly regarded his mechanical arm for a moment. "Do you believe that I'm from the future?"
"I...I don't know." She stared up at his faintly glowing eyepiece and huffed. "I guess I have to, don't I?"
"I guess you do. Look, yes. I'm from the future. I rather like existing, so please don't ask me questions about it."
"Kaleidoscope Phantom..." Valerie muttered. "You're that ghost boy's kid!"
He sucked in his breath angrily and waited a few seconds until he could calmly respond. "Do I look like a ghost to you?"
She relaxed slightly, although she was no less suspicious. "No, I guess not. But then, who are you?"
"Again. My existence is at risk here. Anyway, does it really matter? I'm here; I'm trying to help."
It was not lost on her that the man had never actually denied being Phantom's son, but she hoped that was simply because he was trying to be clever. He didn't look like a ghost; in fact, if not for the machinery grafted onto his body, he would have been completely unremarkable. He didn't set off her ghost alarm, either, although he wouldn't have been the first. She had spent several months under the mistaken impression that Danny's friend Kat was perfectly human.
She was grateful for the distraction finally provided by Amity Park Medical. Her thoughts had grown increasingly uncomfortable. "Looks like it's still standing," she remarked, just to break the silence.
Sandruu nodded. "I thought it might be. It didn't burn until-" He broke off with an annoyed sigh. "I'm…not talking again until I leave. That's just all there is to it."
Valerie snickered. She didn't honestly think he'd be able to keep that vow, but it would be fun to watch him try. Then she saw the people milling around inside the doors and grew serious again. "It's already been here," she whispered.
"That's not right…" the cyborg muttered. "He avoided the hospital…something about the energy being wrong there. He must not know yet."
"He attacked your time, too?"
Sandruu closed his eye and sighed. "It's why I was sent back. I don't know what Clockwork's up to, why he didn't just take the sphere before Necrowind could be summoned again. But he says he couldn't, and I had to come back here for something. I don't know what; I don't know why."
"So what do you know?"
"That we'll have to bring D…Danny with us." He started walking, trusting the girl to follow. "If there's anything you need to know, I'll tell you. But I hope you'll excuse me for not wanting to commit suicide by information."
Valerie glanced back at the hospital one last time before catching up. "I'll hold you to that. So is he supposed to be at the cemetery, still, or what?"
"Only one way to find out, I'm afraid."
The ghost hunter glanced down at her ghost alarm, which had started beeping again. At least, he'd said one thing that made her relax a bit, although he didn't realize it. If he'd been sent back in time to stop Necrowind from being summoned again later, clearly they would succeed in beating him. She just hoped the cost wasn't too high.