Another failed attempt at a chapter. For some reason, this episode is harder to write than the others.
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Later, Jake, as Shadow, was ushered back into the cell. He instantly collapsed into the corner and changed back, unable to help it.
"So, how did that go?" Sparky questioned with a wry smirk.
Jake gave him a half-hearted glare, too tired to really do much else.
"You know," Nightmare mused, "I never asked why you wear those bandanas."
"Because," the teen grumbled, his head tilted back and his eyes closed, "I didn't want anyone to match up my human face and my ghost face." She seemed satisfied with this answer. Jake then looked up, his eyes fully opened once more. "Can I ask a question?"
"I guess that's only fair," she agreed.
He thought for a moment before continuing. "Why did they go out and capture any of us anyway?"
Nightmare seemed to not completely expect that and Sparky's face darkened visibly.
"We weren't captured," Sparky informed morbidly. "We were created."
"Created?" Jake mimed in slight shock with his eyes a bit wider than usual.
Nightmare gave him a solid look as a confirmation. "This place… GUARD…they want to make a sort of specialized army, I think. They want to make something stronger and controllable. So they test on others and create things like us. All of our genes were taken from other ghosts and they created us from them."
The half-ghost was still stunned and he looked like he wanted to ask something, but couldn't. Nightmare seemed to know what he wanted to ask.
"Remember those codes? N26, T84, and U32? The first letter stands for the ghost that we got our dominant gene from. Most of my DNA is from Nocturn, Sparky has Technus, but Becky's is kind of unknown. The numbers are how many tries it took them to get it right. Notice who took the longest," she teased, earning a glare from the little electrical ghost. She paused and looked troubled again. "But now they have you; a halfa. Just image what they can do.
"Wow," Jake breathed, attempting to take it all in. Then his eyes widened with realization. "In that case, I really hope they don't find out who I am for my family's sake."
Suddenly, there were loud footsteps and their conversation ended.
"Well, well, well," the voice of Commander Balk intruded abruptly. Turning to the door, the four noticed his malicious grin. "Who would have guessed that the mysterious Shadow is none other than Jacob Fenton?" He let out a bark of laughter.
"Too late, " Nightmare muttered under her breath.
"How on Earth did you manage to sneak that by?" The boy growled. "No matter. It will still be so simple to fake your death. I only feel bad for your poor father. He may never know that he had two half-ghost children instead of one. All he'll know is that his poor son was brutally murdered by some ghost."
"He won't buy it," Jake snarled in defience. "No one will."
"Oh, won't they?" the infuriating man questioned airily, as if this was some simple matter. He leaned in close. "Your father has a lot of enemies, Jake. Who's to say one of them didn't decide to kill you for revenge?" The teen's eyes widened. The man smirked and stood back up. "If I were you, I'd behave. If you don't…well, I'm sure your sister would make a great replacement." He turned. "I'll let you think on that for a bit…J01."
The clacking footfalls the man made while walking back down the corridor didn't register at all with the stunned and horrified Jake.
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"How far away is this place?" Chris asked from the very back of the hover-board.
Tori frowned deeply, not pleased with the other girl's presence. "I don't know. Just be thankful that my tracker can pick him up at all." Then, to herself, she muttered, "Thank goodness for satellites."
Chris went silent, feeling the building tension. Matt, however, felt the need to speak up.
"So what are we going to tell our parents when we get back?"
The huntress cringed. "Not sure. If we want to tell at least some of the truth, we can say that we went to look for Jake."
"And when they ask us why we didn't tell them?"
"We'll make something up." Tori's voice was rough and intensely serious.
No one dared to ask Tori another question after that. Matt turned around to whisper to the other girl, though.
"You know, you're pretty calm about this for someone who was restricted from seeing the person she's looking for."
The blonde's expression was hard, betraying no emotion other than determination. "He's my friend, too, and even if he wasn't, I owe him."
Matt seemed bewildered by her this for a minute. He couldn't think of anything to say to that.
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Jake slammed his right fist into the wall, completely furious. If his expression weren't enough to prove it, his scorching red eyes certainly were. Another loud bang sounded as the other fist hit. He pulled the first one back again, ready to strike once more. It glowed red and he managed to leave a dent upon impact.
Nightmare, who was hugging Becky close to her with one arm, finally stood up and placed a hand gently on the heaving Jake's shoulder. "Shadow, maybe you should lay down for a bit," she said in a soothing voice while her hand glowed a soft, smoky blue. "Take a little nap…"
His eyes returned to their usual violet and began to close. He was almost out when they snapped back open and he roughly shook Nightmare's hand from his shoulder. "Don't even try putting me to sleep," he demanded. "I need to find a way out of here. Fast."
The older ghost looked at him sadly. "If there was a way out, we wouldn't be here."
"No!" the boy screamed. "I'm going to get out. I'm not gonna let that…that monster hurt my family!"
He was so angry that his eyes flashed that tell-tale full red and his hands became lit with red fire. He grabbed the bars forcefully, growling all the while. Nightmare's eyes widened and she ripped him away. As Jake cooled off, the three experimental ghosts stared gapingly at the burn marks on the bars.
"Wha-What did you do?" Sparky questioned, stepping up to view the damage closer.
Jake had turned back to normal and gave the bars a cruel smirk. "Looks like this prison isn't so impenetrable after all."
"Remind me never to get you angry," Nightmare said breathlessly.
Jake changed into his ghost form and placed his hands back on the bars. Nightmare instantly pulled him back again.
"You're not going to try to escape, are you?" she wondered.
"Of course I am!" Shadow responded in determination.
"Uh, hello, what about the chips?" she reminded him. "They'll track you down and stick you right back in here."
"Well I'm not just going to rot here!" he all but shouted.
"I never said you were. I'm just telling you that you need a plan."
"Like what?"
She didn't answer that for a moment. Instead, she listened. "The Commander's coming back."
Sure enough, the offensive man along with another strong guy walked in.
"Well, J01, I think it's time for those tests again," he announced.
The other man opened the door and grabbed Shadow. The half-ghost, however, had other plans. The agent was forced to let go as Shadow's arms flared bright red. He kicked the man away before he could be grabbed again.
"J01, what are you doing?!" Commander Balk ordered. "Stop this!"
"What happened to planning?" Nightmare inquired irritably.
"This is my plan!" he yelled, dodging an assault from the agent again.
The Commander quickly whipped out a little remote and pressed a button. Shadow was shocked and forced to stop his attack. The agent picked him up carefully.
"Poor manners, J01," the dark-skinned man chided. "But now you see what happens to experiments who don't follow the rules. He straightened himself back up when his communicator-watch went off. He brought it to his mouth before answering. "Yes?"
"Sir, we have intruders."
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Sorry this took so long. I know you don't want excuses, so I won't give you any. I will tell you that this may be one of my least favorite episodes to write. I can't express everyhing I want to, so it has become a major pain. Hopefully next episode will be better.