Author's Notes: Man that last chapter made me cry. This one probably won't make you cry as much, if not at all. We'll be introducing two minor characters that were made by me. They'll only exist for two to three chapters though. I was also able to add some humor to this tragic story. ENJOY!
Characters Introduced: Dr. Clark Igneous (Scientist), Robert Specterton (Founder and owner of the GRC)
Chapter VI
Welcome to the GRC
"Open the gates! We've got another ghost on our hands!"
My eyes snapped open as they darted back and forth in the curled position that I was lying in. I gingerly lifted my head and stretched. Somehow, I had managed an undisturbed sleep in this van made of cold steel.
I peered out the barred window to my left. The rain was falling from the dark grey sky as two brawny officers pulled the gate open. The vehicle charged forward, making loud splashes on the ground. The sudden jerk caused me to fall backwards.
"Deactivate the outer ghost shields!" Another officer shouted.
I didn't attempt to stand back up this time. I sat there frozen solid, petrified with fright. We had arrived in the place that haunted my worst nightmares, the final place a ghost would ever go to, the GRC.
The transport hastily stopped, slamming my head into the grey wall. My gloved hand flew straight to the back of my head, giving me yet another throbbing pain.
"Oho, the boss is gonna be happy with this'n," A man outside the doors said evilly. I bit my lip.
The doors slowly slid open, giving two masculine men the opportunity to grab me by my forearm. My arms were beginning to grow numb as they furiously placed
midnight black bracelets on my wrists. I noticed a flashing red light on both of them, apparently indicating that they were activated. They slightly tightened around my wrists so that I could feel the cold metal press against my skin through my gloves.
"What are these things for?" I asked the men hoarsely.
The officer to my right chuckled loudly. "Ghosts," He muttered. "They're on yeh to make sure that yeh can't use intangibility or become invisible."
I glared at the devices that were on my wrist, but said nothing. The rain heavily pounded onto my head and shoulders, disguising the tears that trickled down my ice cold cheeks. I felt hands press firmly against my back and lead me further into the Ghost Research Center. I tried to keep my eyes to the floor, away from finding out what was held here, but I could not resist the urge.
"Outside ghost shield activate." The officer to my left shouted.
As I took my first step into the GRC, I looked back outside from the open doors, not knowing when I would see sunlight again. My eyes drifted to the ground, where a squared paper was lying alone in a patch of grass.
"WAIT!" I shouted. The officers still held onto my wrists, but did not move any farther.
"What?" The man to my right asked me.
I gazed at the picture, its left corner slightly moving in the soft breeze of the wind. I tried to escape their grasps, but my struggle showed no sign of defeat.
"I want..." I panted. "...I need..." My voice was scratched and low.
"No yeh don't," The man to my left said, pushing me farther into the GRC.
"NO!" I hollered. "I need...I have to go back!" My voice was now in hysterics.
"For what?" The officer to my right asked me, looking back as well. He squinted his eyes, now releasing his grip on my wrist.
"C'mon!" The other officer grunted, trying to pull me into the GRC, but I prevented him by putting my heels to the ground so that it would be hard for him to pull me.
"Picture," I murmured. "I need...I need the picture. Please... it's the last thing I have to remember them, remember my friends."
The officer to my right glanced from me to the picture and then to the other man.
"I'll get it," He said quietly, and let go of my wrist and darted out into the rain. I breathed a sigh of relief as he picked up the now damp picture. The man gazed at it curiously as he brought it back to the door.
"Why you have a picture of your friends," He said handing me the picture, "Is way beyond me."
"Wait," The other officer ordered, snatching the picture from me selfishly. "Lemme see tha'."
I stared at him, deep depression filling my emerald eyes. After taking a good look at the very last thing that I had to hold dear, he laughed maliciously.
"Must've been himself before he died," He said, pointing to the eighth grader in the picture with raven black hair. "Looks exactly like the lad here."
The other officer grabbed the picture and handed it to me.
"No matter," He said and held my forearm once more. "Let's get him to his new home."
I felt the man to my left push me up to a desk in the middle of the bare room that we were standing in. My stomach had now touched the edge of the desk, and his grip on my back increased.
"Hey, Sandy," He said rather loudly. "We got ourselves another ghost on our hands." I looked up at him and saw a satisfied smirk sitting upon his face.
The lady behind the desk had dashing blonde hair, large blue eyes, and what seemed like a Cosmo magazine in her hands. She ignored the man for a short moment before looking up. I could smell her strawberry flavored bubble gum as she smacked it in her mouth.
"Uh huh," She said slowly and then returned to reading her magazine.
"Can yeh give us the keys?" The officer to my left asked. "Please?"
Sandy blew a large bubble and raised her eyebrows. It gave out a large POP as she nodded.
"Yeah, sure Jerry." She replied, throwing the man a ring of keys that were lying beside her purse. "His cell number is 4120."
"Thanks," The officer to my left said as he started to push me away, but the other officer did not move.
"Thanks, sweetie," He said with a wink.
"You've still got no chance with me." Sandy's voice was monotone as she read her Cosmo.
I stifled a laugh at the man's distraught expression to Sandy's reaction. He stomped angrily to catch up with us. When he got close enough he slapped me in the back. "Get moving."
The man to my right opened a door a few yards away from the secretary desk, giving me a plain view of a white, narrow, hallway, with many doors on each side of the wall. We continued to walk down the hallway, but I, having no clue as to which door we were going to go through, had my head slumped down, staring at the picture in my hands.
It seemed as if we had been walking for years when we finally reached the end of the hallway: a large steel door.
"Entrance code please." A robotic voice requested.
"Ar...what were them numbers again?" The man to my left said, fishing out a piece of paper out of his pocket. "Righ'." He raised his finger to the touchpad. "27...98...no...93...64...18...52..."
"Code accepted. Please enter." The monitor flashed.
My eyes widened and my muscles tensed as the chrome doors slowly slid open.
"Go in," The man to my left gave me a hard shove and stumbled into a massive room, illuminated by a large and bright light at the high ceiling.
"Well little boy..." The man with the country accent announced. "Welcome to the core of the GRC."
Amazed, I slowly walked forward. The room was plated with metals of all sorts and populated with scientists and guards galore, all of them either experimenting on a ghost, or working on a device. The officers grew impatient of my lingering and grabbed me again.
"We ain't got all day kid." The taller one shouted.
"You can get a proper tour when the boss comes to see ya." The other guard said grinning menacingly.
My heart raced when he put emphasis on the word proper. We stopped in front of multiple doors. The officers looked at them puzzling.
"Which one goes to the containment chambers?"
"Don't ask me!"
I looked up to see each of the doors had a sign above them, indicating which door led where. I held back uncontrollable laughter as they began to argue about which door went where. We gained the attention of many of the others in the room.
"Man, I would bet these guys didn't need to go to college for this job."
"Well I think it's this one!" The man with the accent said turning his back to the other. He walked strait into the door without opening it first and slid to the floor.
"I stand corrected, they didn't even need to go to school for this job!"
Our audience began to laugh at the idiotic guards. Another guard came up to us, opening the door next to the guard on the ground.
"Ha...here's the...haha...containment...ha...cha-chambers!" He said breaking out into more laughter. Embarrassed, the two escorts lead me into the opened door.
To me, this hallway looked like a normal jail from all those movies I wasted my time watching, but I knew very well, there had to be ghost shields around each cell.
I recognized a few of the hundreds of ghosts as I passed each individual cell. The creatures that Vlad Plasmius had threatened my family and I with occupied many of the cells, such as the vultures that had tried to destroy my father, who were huddled together in a corner, and the two headed bear the Vlad threatened me with. I nearly stopped in my tracks at the site of Cujo, the annoying and yet entertaining puppy. Cujo barked at me desperately; he must have recognized me from our last encounter. All these ghosts had the same devices attached on them preventing their escape, whether being on their arms or necks.
"Here we are. Cell 4120." One of the men said excitedly. He put the key in lock opening the door. They shoved me in and slammed the door shut, leaving an echo in the large hallway.
"Get comfortable. You'll be here for a while," The shorter one said, a maniacal grin spreading across his face. With that, they exited the hall.
Sitting on the stone floor, I put my hands up to my eyes and sobbed. The bracelets that the thugs had placed on me were already gripping my wrist, and they seemed to be getting tighter. With them on, my hopes for escaping were slim.
I lowered my hands slowly.
"But all that they said was that I can't go intangible and invisible." A grin crept upon my face. "Maybe that's all that's blocked."
I stood up, turned around, and raised both of my hands in front of me, preparing for an ectoplasmic ray. I clenched my eyes shut until I heard a soft whimper, and opened my eyes. I noticed a chubby ghost in dark blue overalls sitting on his bed and staring at the grime covered wall.
"Box ghost?" I asked as I lowered my arms.
The figure turned, revealing my intuition to be correct.
"Ghost boy?" A familiar but irritating voice rang through my ears. "They got you here too?" I couldn't help but notice a tone of utter shock in his voice.
"So that's why I haven't seen him in a while…go figure."
"Dude, what did they DO to you?" I asked. His hair was now ragged in places that it hadn't been before, now that his hat was off. "Take away your boxes?"
His bottom lip quivered. "YES!" He hollered dramatically. "Every, single, last one!"
Even though I hated him so, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the little guy as he cried over his lost boxes.
"You-you gotta get out of here! Get out! BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!" His voice echoed loudly. Box Ghost was now gripping the bars of his cell.
"What are you--?"
"GET OUT!"
"Box ghost, calm down!" I shouted back.
"If you don't get out soon, they'll run horrible tests on you!" He said calmer but still loud nonetheless. "I've only been here for a month and look what they did to me!"
"BOX GHOST!" I screamed, cutting him off.
"Sorry," He muttered.
"I'm gonna get out of here. I'll find a way…" I said turning my head. "And I when I do, I'll get you and all the other ghosts here out too."
He looked at me baffled, but when I nodded his head a hint of hope returned.
"Y-you're serious? Even after all the stuff I did?"
I shrugged. "Hey, no one deserves this. It's not like you did that much anyway." Box Ghost scowled for a moment.
Suddenly we heard a door open in the distance. Footsteps echoed through the cell chambers. Frightened, the Box Ghost quickly ran to the back of his cell. I peered out between the bars of my cell to find a suited man with sleek black hair walking toward the direction of my cell. I furrowed my brow; he must have been the man in charge due to Box Ghost's reactions.
As soon as he reached my cell, he turned to me with a very annoyed look on his face. Placing a key in the lock, he opened the barred door. I backed away as far as I could until the chill of the cold wall touched my spine.
"Now, now," The man muttered with an incredibly deep voice. "No need to be afraid." He walked in closer to me, and I had no choice but to allow him, seeing as there was no place to go.
"I just want to have a little...chat...with you."
He motioned me out the door as if I were his dog. I stared blankly back at him, my gloved hands becoming sweaty against the cold metal wall.
"C'mon," He grunted. "I don't bite."
I bit my lip and allowed my arms to fall to my sides. What more did I have to lose? I nodded and reluctantly followed him. As I stepped out of my cell, the man slammed it shut behind me. I slightly jumped at the sudden noise, but followed him as he made the same doggish gesture once more. With my hands limp beside me, we silently walked through the hallway passing through the lab. He greeted several men.
"How's it going, Smith?" He asked, waving a hand.
"Hey, Mr. Specterton!" The man who he had called Smith said, waving back. I acted as if I had ignored this and continued to follow "Mr. Specterton" to the elevator leading out of the lab.
In the narrow elevator, I squirmed uncomfortably as we sped up, his left arm touching my right. As we reached our destination, the doors slid open, allowing us to exit the cramped enclosure. I blinked as I stepped into a rather large office.
"Ahh..." The man said as he sat down in his seat and beckoned me to sit in the metal seat across from him. I obeyed and sucked the side of my cheek as he spoke. "Our organization has heard so much about you. Your strength, uniqueness, and your-"
I had heard enough.
"You call this place an organization? I call it a torture house! For God's sake, you made Box Ghost go insane!"
"--and your tendency to throw out lame insults and puns."
I glared at him angrily, gritting my teeth. I stood up briskly to attack, but somehow I was stopped.
He laughed darkly at my futile attempt. "You ghosts are so predictable. Anger you one bit and they'll attack you with no remorse."
He picked up a remote and pressed a button on it. A miniature green dome appeared around the chair. "But with this ghost shield around you, you don't have much of a chance to attack me anyway."
"Whatever," I said, clenching my fists. The man moved his fingers up and down lightly, indicating that I was to sit in the chair. I sat down like an obedient dog. "Okay, you said you wanna chat, so let's get on with it!" I spat.
"Fine with me..." He said calmly, "Now... introductions first of all. And your name is...um...invis-o-bill?"
I growled at him feeling by blood pressure rise. "It's Danny! DANNY PHANTOM!" I shouted.
The man chuckled after my explosion. "Yes, well, I guess Danny Phantom is less embarrassing than invis-o-bill, but still idiotic."
"Now to continue..." He said standing up from his chair. "My name is Robert, Robert Specterton."
"And I should care why?" I snapped back.
He began to walk towards me slowly. "I see you have a very bad attitude. I guess that what happens when one becomes a ghost." A big smile appeared on his face. "Or should I say half-ghost?"
My stomach dropped. My body became icy cold. Sweat began to run down my face.
"What?" I asked timidly. "How--how d'you know about that?"
"Oh, it's easily recognizable for me, of course," Robert boasted. He held up his index finger. "One, not very many ghosts have the look of a human." He now held up two fingers. "Two, if a ghost were to look human, he would be much paler. And three," He held up three fingers. "Ghosts don't have human blood in them."
"And how do you know if I have human blood in me?" I asked backing up a bit in my chair.
He turned away for a minute. "Why don't we find out now?" Robert said pulling a small; silver item from his pocket. A blade shot up from the item, causing me to yelp.
"Y-you can't be serious!" I protested, unable to get out of my chair. "Can't...can't I just--just show you my human form?"
Another maniacal laugh rang through the office.
"That wouldn't be any fun...would it?"
Robert came closer, stepping into the green ghost dome that shrouded the chair I sat in. My instincts told me to flee, but another said otherwise. I placed my arms in front of me and shot an ectoplasmic ray at Robert, flinging him onto his desk.
"So…" He said angrily, "You seem to have attained some abnormal abilities…"—he stood up and walked back towards me—"Making you even more valuable to study."
"Do you want another dose of it!" I threatened. "That was the weakest form of the attack!"
"No thanks." Robert said mockingly. "But that was all I needed from you."
The sound of doors sliding open rang through my ears. Robert smiled maliciously. "Am I interrupting anything?" the mysterious man asked.
"No, no… I was just about to call you in, Dr. Igneous."
Well, I think I'll leave you off there… It makes an awesome cliffie anyways. Tell me what you thought about Danny's first day in the GRC in a review! Not much else to say but… googlefloogledingdangpuff!
Oh, you thought I might forget the thank you's. Well as always thanks to the co-writer Faded to Black. Yes, I finally figured out her pen name.
Next Chapter: Just another Day Categorized as: Drama
Keep Reading……..Please?
-Serenity the Fallen-
