I this is the longest chapter yet, and I'm pretty proud of it. Enjoy!


Chapter 32: Dealbreaker

"Bad news guys, Ray and Heather showed up," Tucker said through the communicator once Ray left the basement.

"That's just wonderful," Sam replied sarcastically. Realizing the true weight of the situation through the frustration of working with multiple stubborn ghost industries, she spoke up again. "Are they okay? Where's Alex?"

"Well, they looked into Karma's Eye. I was able to trap Heather in my thermos-ray. She's in a canister on her own luckily. I convinced Ray to stay in his room. Alex, though... He's who-knows-where in the Ghost Zone with the freaking Reality Gauntlet!"

"Dude, you trapped my daughter?" Danny asked sternly.

"To be fair, she's really good at running away," Tucker said.

"Well, I'll give you that. I suppose it's nothing compared to the fact that a seventh grader is in control of the most powerful object in all of reality."

Danny sighed. "Not long after I met Karma last week I had a lucid dream where he offered me protection. I didn't take it, but didn't think it was anything more than a dream until he mentioned it in the Zone. Karma has his eye on me, and I've heard the stories of the things he did that didn't break the timeline enough for Clockwork to interfere." There was a pause, and the sound of ectoblasts came through the communicator. "If I try anything, he could sabotage my efforts. Or who knows, I might be mind-controlled for suggesting this. I need to stay here. You need to be the one to take care of things, cause Karma probably isn't paying attention to you."

"What do you want me to do about this?"

"I hate that this needs to happen, but it's necessary. Take Heather to my lab. With all the time she spent in the Ghost Zone, she was probably drawn to get her own lair. Get an ectoplasm sample, log it in the Fenton Ultratracker and if it leads you to a lair I'll bet you Alex will be there. The curse is only second priority for now."

"What do I do with her after that?"

"Leave her in the house, but activate a ghost shield around it, and set up the Ghost Freezer so she can't turn human again and escape." There was a clear tone of remorse in Danny's words.

Tucker thought it was a little extreme, but he had no choice. She would be much safer under the ghost shield. "Copy that. I'll make sure she's safe. While I'm in the GZ, should I get Clockwork to undo the curse?"

"Clockwork would never let Karma get away with that. He told me about Karma and his power when he was telling us about the Eternal Spirits, remember?" There was a pause on Danny's end, either to blast away some ants or to think about the situation. "He said Karma was definitely not allowed to use his curse on humans. Something's wrong."

"You met Karma at Clockwork's castle, right? I'm with you on something being wrong."

"And if something is wrong, that means somehow Clockwork somehow didn't see it coming! Go, and wear the Omega Armor too in case Karma tries to interfere. Hurry!"

Without another word, Tucker suited up in the Omega Armor. It took tons of energy to power: a whole gallon of ecto-adrenaline, that only lasted four hours. With how hard it is to refine ectoplasm into ecto-adrenaline, it was only used in absolute emergencies, which was actually just once before. In a pinch, a gallon of ectoplasm might get half an hour of power.

Many years ago, when Danny was exploring the Ghost Zone, he angered the Observants and caused them to attack Amity Park in retaliation. Danny never revealed what he did to anger them, but it was the armor's first and only test run. It was powerful enough to stop the Observants, so hopefully it was in good enough condition to work after over a decade of disuse.

Tucker headed to his best friends lab, fighting off a dozen swarming ants along the way. He took a second to fly up high enough to see the outskirts of the city. It was pretty reassuring to watch silver tanks beginning to roll through the streets. He sped to the lab and activated a containment chamber. He placed the thermos-ray pod into the releaser, which sent Heather into the small chamber. For a good thirty seconds Heather freaked out and tried to escape, but it was no use. No intangibility could get through the ghost-proof glass. After she calmed down, Tucker used the robot arm to attempt to take an ectoplasm sample.

"What was that? What is that? Where am I?"

"You were captured in the thermos-ray. It's uncomfortable, I know, but you're too good at running away. And now you are in a containment chamber cause I need an ectoplasm sample."

Heather kept dodging the robotic arm. It held a spoon-like thing with a sharp tip. "If I do that, will you let me go?"

"That's something we'll need to discuss, but not until I get a sample from you. If you stay still it won't hurt."

"Fine." She held still and rolled up a sleeve to show her arm. Above the little spoon-thing, there was a tiny sprayer. It sprayed a mist on her arm that made the spot completely numb, and the spoon peeled back a flap of ghostly skin. A glob of ectoplasm seeped out. The handle of the spoon was hollow like a straw, and it sucked up a bit of that glob. It only took a few seconds for the wound to heal itself back up.

"See? Didn't hurt at all," Tucker said sincerely. He loaded up the sample up to the Ultratracker. That, combined with the tracker's real world item detector, would lead him to Alex.

"Can I go now?"

"Heather, you're being mind controlled. I can't let you go, but I can at least keep you in your room."

"But I can't stay locked up in here! I have a job to do!"

"That's the mind control talking. Can you tell me where Alex is?"

Heather's eyes glowed green and even quickly flashed purple in anger. "I'll never tell you! Let me go!"

Tucker looked at her in disappointment. He activated the house's Ghost Freezer then opened the chamber.

The Ghost Freezer was a device that created energy that stabilized a ghost's molecules in their current state. It prevented ghosts from going invisible, intangible, making clones, shapeshifting, and many other things. Flight, ghost rays and any other energy-based attacks were still possible, but for simply keeping Heather from leaving the house, just keeping her from going human to walk through the ghost shield was enough. And Heather learned that quite quickly.

She tried flying through the roof. She couldn't go intangible so she smacked right into the ceiling. She tried going out the front door. Surprise surprise, halted by the ghost shield. Last but not least, she tried the ghost portal. Of course, it had it's own mini shield around it.

"Let me free!" She yelled.

Tucker shook his head. "It really hurts me to do this, believe me. But you're under mind control. You're endangering yourself by simply trying to escape. I need to find Alex and stop Karma's curse. What you need to do is be conscious of your thoughts. Question everything you think, and do nothing more than just sitting and watching TV. His mind control only works in the subconscious where you're not aware of it."

Heather floated down to the ground, calming down and listening. "He helped us though. He protected us through our quest, made it easy for us."

"You paid for his service. The cost being your service. I'm assuming you found out about the Reality Gauntlet through the Crystal Library, the most extensive library between both our worlds. Well, I was the one who found it. Ended up spending a week there, starting my research in technology but finding so many interesting things beyond it. I found firsthand accounts of people who became slaves of Karma. Detailed writings of everything he can do. You don't want that happening to you."

"But I don't feel mind controlled. I'm not getting forced to do anything, I'm not a slave."

"There's different kinds of mind controlling. You can be completely unconscious, conscious and aware and unable to control your actions, or completely unaware your thoughts aren't yours. Of course there's plenty of in-between, but you're the unaware type. Listen, Karma has to be stopped. I'm forced to stop him alone, and find Alex, while our city is actively under attack and this suit has a small battery. I have to go. If anything happens, take this portable ghost shield and cloaking puck so our city defenses don't shoot at you." He gave Heather the two items. "Stay safe. Stay here. Wear those, the green button activates that ghost shield." He donned his helmet once again and ran into the Ghost Zone without another word, leaving Heather behind.


Alex, done having fun with a ghost form of his own, was trying not to fall asleep on the couch. How much time has passed? he wondered. He guessed it was around an hour. He was getting nervous. He didn't want to turn back to the news, cause he worried about fueling his anxieties more. He worried about the power going to his head of course. But his city was actively under attack. He needed to protect it, to stop the attack.

No, he needed to let things happen naturally. He could risk making a mistake, losing the Gauntlet. But how many people could die while he stood by doing nothing?

Luckily he didn't need to ask any further; his phone rang, distracting him from his thoughts.

"Alex, we're mind controlled by Karma. You might be too, use the Gauntlet to see." It was Heather calling him in a panic.

"Okay, chill. Give me a second." He thought about how to go through with something this abstract. So, he simply put his Gauntlet-covered hand on his head and thought, Gauntlet, if I'm being mind controlled glow green. The Gauntlet didn't glow.

"Well, I think I'm not mind controlled," Alex stated. "I think this thing is kinda sentient, so if I did it right I'm really fine."

"Ok, good," Heather replied. "Apparently unless we can get rid of it, Ray and I are Karma's unwilling slaves. And what's worse, Ray's dad is coming for you. I need you to get me out of here, and then run and hide."

Alex looked at the Gauntlet on his arm. "I can stop this. I can change it all. This might be the mind control talking. I can't just let you out there if you're mind controlled in Karma's favor."

"I'll call you if I need you again. Just do this for me, please. I want to stop this naturally."

"No, Heather. You're mind controlled. If you want to stop it naturally, go ahead. But I am going to stay out of this, cause the chaos back home isn't anything we haven't seen before. Not for twenty years, but still. I'm going to find Karma, stop his mind control, and fix the Rift issue. The city knows well enough how to take care of ghost invasions."

There was silence on the other end.

"Heather? Are you there?"

"Fine! Don't help! I'll find my own way to stop this myself!" The line went dead.

Alex sighed. He felt an incredible feeling of guilt, not only for his friend but for his city. He wanted to save them, but he knew, with that, Karma was the real enemy. Well, the real enemy was power according to Typhon, and he was afraid of using too much of it. Wiping a bunch of ghosts out of the city was a whole lot of power. He was afraid of it all going to his head. He wanted to save the city. He really did. But he had to save the planet, and his friends, first.

So he teleported to Karma's cave first. He invisibly floated quietly through the cave, hoping his spell to conceal himself from Karma's gaze was working. In the control room, Karma was gone.

Next he thought of that weird room he was brought to. He tried to remember the less-than-a-minute he was there. He remembered gears, ticking clocks, a high roof... he focused on as much as he could remember and hoped the gauntlet would know where he wanted to go. And alas, it did.

Alex took a good long look at the strange ghostly lair. He took in the surroundings, and went exploring. It wasn't long until he heard voices echoing through a hallway. He couldn't quite make the words out, but one of them sounded like Karma.

Alex found out which chamber the voices were coming from.

"You know, maybe I can suck up some karmic energy from Danny, too. I can't convince him to be bound to a contract now, but I can still get a bit out of him." It was Karma all right. And hidden behind the charming confidence in his voice, was a frantic waver. He was worried about something.

The other voice spoke. "I don't care." The second voice was angry, but defeated.

"Didn't think so. I still can't get past the defenses the Gauntlet gives to the boy. It's sad you won't lend me your energy. If only our brothers and sisters would come around and help me."

Alex, still completely cloaked, peered around the corner. Karma was looking at two screens, one showing Heather and one showing Ray. Next to him, was a large cage containing a blue ghost in a purple cloak.

"If they came here, it would only be to stop you. They would not share their energy for your cause."

"Come on, Graveyard likes what I do, at least a little. Have a little faith, Clockwork."

"He's the Spirit of Death, of course he likes when your power kills things," the blue ghost, Clockwork, scoffed.

"Unless the Rift is eating souls bound for the Ghost Zone, he doesn't mind me. He would help me." On one screen, Heather was starting to make escape attempts out of the house, and Karma got distracted watching her.

Alex figured Clockwork was a good guy, so he used his power to unlock the door of the cage. The lock made a tiny squeak, purposely quiet enough for only Clockwork to hear. The ghost's eyes widened, and he swiftly looked around the room. Of course, he couldn't see Alex, but he gave a little nod in understanding. This ghost was clearly clever. Karma was to focused on the screens to see what was going on.

Slowly, Alex raised the gate on the cage for Clockwork to escape. He projected tiny blue wisps of energy to guide Clockwork out. He dashed around the corner quickly, and Alex became visible again.

"Don't ask questions, just get out of here," Alex whispered. He opened a portal back to Heather's lair. "Go through here and stay here no matter what. I'll explain later." Without another word, Clockwork nodded and dashed through. The portal closed.

That was taken care of, so Alex could now confront Karma. So he shut off Karma's screen and walked into the room.

Karma growled and whacked the screens with an energy hand. He turned around and looked down at Alex and smiled a toothy smile. In his eyes, a flash of that frantic anger. "Ah, Alex. It's nice to see you again." He looked at his now-empty cage and his smile faltered, but he was able to bring it back up, angrier than before, to keep up his image. "Would you mind bringing back my little rat? I don't want to hurt your friends, I'm sure we can make an equal trade. I'd like to say we've done it before, but you guarded yourself from my eye and you still owe me. Hey, that's a wonderful idea! You bring me back Clockwork, I'll forget your debt!"

Alex smiled confidently. "You can't do anything to me. I have the Gauntlet. I can shield myself from your power for as long as I want. I don't owe you anything."

"You won't have that Gauntlet forever, child. I gave up my karmic energy, and I need it back. You will always owe me, and returning Clockwork would be the easy way to make up that energy."

"Making my friends your slaves is not an equal trade, is it? There is no way that you helping us a little takes that much energy, enough that a lifetime of slavery is needed to make it up."

Karma growled. The condescending smile disappeared. "You have no idea how it works."

"Or do I?" Alex said. He used the gauntlet's power for a little demonstration.

The gems glowed. Karma screamed in pain. Out of him came glowing purple mist. They were shapes of Alex, Ray, and Heather. The shapes were outlined as mist glowing brighter than what was filled in.

As for the filled in part, Heather and Ray were completely "filled in" with darker purple mist. Their shapes had even more mist floating around them. Alex's shape was almost completely filled, with only the head being "empty". Karma took a good long look at that. Then Alex shoved the mist back into Karma, who growled at the pain he expected this time.

"That's no show. The Gauntlet did exactly what I wanted," Alex said. "You just made excuses to manipulate your powers to work exactly how you wanted; getting as much energy as possible from us. What I did was reveal the energy we gave and took from you."

Karma grew once again. He was so tall he almost broke through the roof. "That energy gives me power!" He grabbed Alex, who didn't even struggle, in one giant energy hand. "You can't defeat me, not with the Gauntlet! I am one of the most powerful ghosts in existence!" He tried to grab the Gauntlet off of Alex's arm, but when he tried pulling it off, an electric shock struck through his body and he yelped. "Rrrrraaaaagh! Those stupid safeguards!"

"Safeguards?" Alex mumbled to himself. That shock wasn't him. The Gauntlet did that on it's own. Using the split second of distraction Alex tried to shove Karma away with the Gauntlet, but nothing happened.

"Hah, I felt that! Nice try though. You can't do anything to harm me with that thing!"

Alex still had an ace up his sleeve: The ghost form he gave himself. He could strengthen himself, make himself unstoppable.

But no, that was power. Too much power. He had to stop thinking about those what-ifs. He needed to do this naturally. So he turned into his ghost form and let off a blast of energy. Karma dropped him in surprise. He pulled a wall down on top of the purple ghost. Seems like you can hurt him with this, just not directly.

Karma roared. He burst from the rubble and started throwing massive chunks of debris at Alex, but he just caught them and threw them back at him. He tried to grab Alex with dozens of energy hands, but the kid was too fast. So he employed more energy hands. But Karma noticed the Gauntlet glow, and then Alex started to crackle with green electricity. He then became electricity, and as a flash of chain lightning destroyed each and every one of the Energy hands.

"You vile little rat!" Karma yelled. A cloud of purple mist filled the room and the air became thicker. The mist clung to Alex and thickened around his body tighter and tighter until he was bound. There wasn't a struggle. Alex accepted it. "You think you can stop me, child? I have power beyond your imagination. I will not be defeated! I have the chance of a lifetime to have the fun I've always wanted!"

"I can imagine this power. I'm holding more power than you in the Gauntlet. You can't stop me." There was a massive blast of green lighting. The purple mist became charged. Lightning crackled through the room, finally centering on Karma. Alex sent lightning from his hand directly into Karma, who couldn't move from the shock. He couldn't even scream, the voltage was so much. Alex let up on the lightning and Karma collapsed, unconscious, and shrunken back to his normal size.

Alex dragged the ghost into the same cage Clockwork was trapped in and locked it tight. For extra measures, he added an ectoranium chain around it. Victory... for now. He could use the Gauntlet to remove the curse on his friends, but he had to get back to Clockwork first.

He went back to his human form and teleported back to Heather's lair. But he was too late: Ray's dad made it there first. He could escape, easy, but running from his problems would not last forever. In a way... he was trapped.