Chapter Nine: The Portal is Opened
Looking over the preparations, Nicolai Technus smiled. Ever since he had been commisioned by Dalv Dorp to create a process to unite a person with a ghost, Technus had spent every waking moment he could spare working on the hyperbolic gas chamber that now stood before him. A marvel of engineering, if he said so himself.
"Sir," he called to the darkness of the room, "we are ready to begin!"
Out of the shadows stepped Vlad Masters, dressed in a pair of green trunks. The years had been incredibly kind on him, though not without taking their toll. Wrinkles creased most of his face, and he now sported an incredibly shaggy moustache in addition to a scraggly beard.
"Good, good..." Vlad murmured. He walked–leaning heavily on his cane for support–towards the gas chamber. The lighting spheres fixed inside made it unnaturally bright. "You're sure this will work, Nic?"
"You will have the honor of being its first subject, sir!" Technus replied.
This didn't offer much in the way of consolation. Still, it was the best chance Vlad had to regain his former strength. Ever since that nasty incident at Reichenbach Falls all those years ago, he'd lost the only thing on Earth that could ensure the fruition of his efforts. The only thing that would allow Maddie to be his...
He stepped into the chamber, lying down on a cold, steel slab. Two pairs of straps, lined on either side of the table, entwined themselves around his legs and chest. He was now hooked in.
Beyond the glass barrier, Technus was typing in calculations, readying the process. From a secure steel case, the technomancer withdrew a small steel canister marked "V" in bold red, plugging it into a hatch near the barrier.
As Technus monitored Vlad's vital signs, the billionaire himself had his eyes set on a petri dish below the gurney to which he was attached. From this, a purple, noxious gas arose, creeping lightly up towards his body. As the haze rose upward, Vlad could see it forming a face; a familiar specter, its mouth twisted into a demented grin. He wasn't afraid. He was actually joyful. Taking a deep breath, he allowed three words to escape his lips:
"What kept you?"
Vlad breathed in and out, and the gas flowed through his nostrils. For Vlad, it seemed as though it were leaping into his mouth like something alive. Already he could feel that familiar feeling coming back to him; that familiar sense of invincibility, the mindset of his forty-year-old self. Outside the glass, he could hear the steady rhythm of the vital signs start to increase. He didn't need this as proof, as he could feel his pulse racing in his throat.
Slowly, the gas started to dissolve as Vlad breathed it in. He could see Technus at his station, grinning with such dementia that Vlad wondered if he wasn't overdue for his distemper shot. He could see the vital signs, glowing green in the darkness outside. He could see himself in the glass, already more virile than he had been before.
As the gas drifted into nothingness, the gurney upon which Vlad lay tilted upwards so that his body was vertical. A part of the glass opened, and Technus strode through, holding a handheld computer. Looking up at Vlad, he asked, "How do you feel?"
Vlad said nothing in response, concentrating upon the familiar concept he needed to escape his bondage. Like liquid, his body passed through the straps encircling his body, and then through the glass barrier into the darkness. Another bout of concentration; in an explosion of shadow, Vlad Masters was gone. In his place was a vampiric figure with blue skin, white clothing, black hair, and blood-red eyes.
Vlad Plasmius was reborn.
This was his setting: the darkness was inviting. Seductive. It allowed him to maintain his utmost focus in these situations. However, the darkness was never complete. In the gloom, the violet light issuing from his form cast an eerie miasma upon the laboratory.
"I feel wonderful, Nic," Vlad murmured silkily. "It's amazing how an old suit can make you feel like a whole new man."
He took a moment in silence.
"Is the new portal ready?" he asked after what seemed like an eternity.
"Of course, sir," Technus replied. From across the room, a light-switch flipped on, bringing with it dim illumination. This meager light revealed a pentagonal device, complex wiring enclosed within. Vlad flew over to it, manning the activation console. Technus took command of the generator, clasping his gloves around the superconductors.
"Ready?" Technus asked.
"When you are," Vlad replied.
Power coursed through the generator, culminating inside the pentagon. Vlad looked at the readings: everything was going fine. The energy started to take a cyclonic form, gaining in consistency and size inside the device. A flash of green cast light through the lab, emerging from the maelstrom of energy that was now swirling inside the pentagonal rim.
Technus gaped. "Magnificent..." he gasped.
"Yes," Vlad said. "It is magnificent. It's also what we need in order to draw out our young friends..."
The bell sounded through the halls of Casper High, signaling the start of B-Lunch. Getting up from their seats, Jake and Ellie Fenton walked out of the much-hated math class, down the hall that led towards the quad. Only making a short stop at their lockers to gather their lunches, the twins were quickly outside, Dave and Chrissy sitting at the group's regular table under the dome that protected them from the outside snow.
"Hey, guys!" Chrissy hailed, waving her hand.
"Hi there," Ellie replied, sitting down adjacent from her brother.
"So," Dave said, "I presume you two didn't do well on that test today?"
"Miserable," Jake replied. "You'd think we'd get at least passing grades! What does Wilkinson have against us?"
"Dunno," Dave said. "The 'evil, soul-sucking monster from another dimension' theory is still open."
The four let out collective laughter. In this joyous moment, Jake had failed to realize that he'd made the table intangible. As his sandwich started to fall, he reflexively swatted it away from his lap, and it flew over his shoulder. Regaining his composure from the laughter, he saw that Chrissy and Ellie's eyes were staring, horrified at what was behind the male Fenton twin.
Turning around, Jake saw the object of their fears: Thor Stapleton, quarterback of the Casper High Ravens, was wearing Jake's sandwich. Lettuce was on his shirt, mustard in his hair, bread on his shoulder, and murder in his eyes. Towering down over everyone at the table, his piglike gaze was fixed upon the boy who was responsible for his current condition.
"Fenton!" Thor roared, picking the boy up by the collar of his vest.
Nearly knocking the table over, Ellie shot up from her seat. "Put him down, meathead!" she said, indignantly.
"Make me!" he said defiantly.
Growling with anger, Ellie stomped around the table to face the hulk who now held Jake in a death-grip. Her fist flew at the boy's chin, but was caught by a strong, feminine hand. A hand that belonged to Alicia, Gina Gray's crony.
"Let us handle this," Alicia rasped. From Thor's table, Gina Gray herself had been positioned near the quarterback, and was trying to talk some sense into him.
"Stapleton," she said, "put him down. Do you remember what happened last time?"
"Who cares?" Thor replied. "This kid threw–"
A faint vibration shook the ground beneath them. Alicia looked at Gina and said, "Does this city run on a fault line?"
"How should I know?" Gina answered. "I'm not a geologist."
"That's seismologist," Jake corrected, slipping out of his vest and landing on the ground.
The vibration increased in intensity, accompanied by a growing rumbling sound. It sounded like a freight train was barreling down upon them.
Almost unnoticed, a wisp of blue vapor escaped the twins' lips. They felt the cold travel up their throats, wondering what was wrong with them now. They didn't know exactly what this misty breath meant, only that it put their bodies into shivers. However, as they looked towards the area where the rumbling was concentrated, they saw clearly why this phenomenon occurred.
Two animals, looking nothing so much as giant green octopuses, were lumbering around outside the dome on their tentacles. As they eyed the dome and its inhabitants with animalistic cunning, they passed through the sheet of rounded glass as though it were water.
These things... Jake thought. They're...ghosts...
As the ghostly octopuses roared, sending Thor running for his life, Jake, Ellie, Gina, and their respective friends stood rooted to the spot in fear. They had lost all ability to move.
From out of the snowy sky, a smaller, humanoid form dove towards the dome, passing through it in a similar fashion to the octopuses. As it hovered above the quad, its form became more apparent. It appeared to be an attractive teenage girl, sporting blue skin, black pigtails, a pink hairnet, and blue suspenders. Her red eyes glowed with ghostly energy as she stared down at the children below.
"I AM BOX LUNCH!" she cried obnoxiously. "Mistress of all things edible and square! You shall all fear my power, puny mortals!" She cackled with glee, her arms outstretched, her gloved hands glowing green. Food all across the quad circled the girl in a cyclone of meat, bread, vegetable, and drink.
"And now," Box Lunch proclaimed, raising the malestrom of food above her head, "BEWARE!"