Robin shot a grappling hook up to the roof and grabbed Sam before he used the retracting grappling line to scale the building. Wally used his super-speed to run up the side of the building and Zatanna simply floated up using magic. Once on the roof, Robin led the way to the ventilation shaft and pulled off the grate easily. Then the four teens slipped inside and quietly crawled through the metal tunnels.
"Let me hack in the system," Robin whispered over his shoulder and they all stopped and waited for Robin to hack into the Light system.
"What is it?" Conner's voice echoed through the mind link.
"I know who those guys are! They're Agents O and K. I've heard them on recordings Danny found at those bases," Danielle explained.
"You're sure?" Sam inquired worriedly. If those two were here than that meant the Guys in White might be involved. They needed to find Danny and those ghosts as quickly as possible.
"It's the way they say Phantom. I'd recognise it anywhere. They hate Danny's guts since he got the Guys in White shut down," Danielle recalled.
"Why are they here then?" Wally questioned in confusion. Sam peered through the gloom at the speedster.
"They said something about being partners with the Light and building more collars and energy storage units," Jake informed them.
"That's not good," Zatanna whispered fearfully.
"No, that's a crisis waiting to happen. You have no idea how dangerous ghosts can be. You've seen Danny in action. But there's way more powers out there. Ember can hypnotise crowds of people with her music. There's a wishing ghost that can grant any wish, usually it's twisted into something terrible though. Technus can control any technology," Sam explained softly, her heart starting to beat faster at just the thought of what could happen with that much power in supervillain hands. Zatanna, directly behind Sam, reached forward and put a hand on the Goth's back.
"Don't worry Sam, we're not gonna let that happen," Zatanna assured the girl. Sam nodded mutely but she had a bad feeling in her stomach. Danny's words from a few nights ago on top of Fenton Works came to her mind. Danny had the power to defeat the entire Justice League. At least his alternate self must have done in that horrifying time line. Now the Light had control of the halfa, just as Danny feared.
"Team beta, we're in a warehouse with potential labs branching off them. Might be worth investigating," M'gann decided and informed the others of the situation over the mind link.
"Thanks M'gann. We'll keep it in mind. Might be a little hard finding it though without a map," Zatanna remarked.
"Rob, you finished hacking yet?" Wally called softly.
"No. This is some high tech security. Too high tech for my gauntlet to break through. If I were using the Cave's systems or the Batcave's then I'd already be in but I'm having trouble. I have to find a backdoor," Robin explained quietly, clearly frustrated.
"Can we keep moving though? I'm getting too big for sitting in vents all day," Wally complained. Robin glanced at the speedster before sighing.
"Fine, we'll get out of the vents and find somewhere to hide. Then I'll hack in," Robin compromised and began crawling again.
It didn't take long for Robin to reach a hatch out of the vents. He peered through the grate and confirmed that it was safe before pushing the grate off as quietly as possible and led the group out of the dusty cramped vents. They found themselves in an old office that looked disused. The large desk was covered in a thick film of dust and the door was locked. Robin turned to his gauntlet again and resumed hacking into the system. Sam, Zatanna and Wally surveyed the room quietly.
"I hope the others find Danny," Sam mumbled unexpectedly.
"I'm sure they will. And I bet Zee and Fu dog can break the spell," Wally comforted the Goth. Zatanna bit her lip and avoided Sam's gaze. She wasn't so sure of that. Blood magic was powerful and dangerous. Vessel magic also had its dangers. They couldn't know for certain that destroying the vessel wouldn't hurt Danny. It could make the situation worse. The spell might be released and send Danny into a craze without a master to control him. But the magician wasn't going to break Sam's hope.
"I finally hacked in. I'm in the security footage now and I found Danny. He's on the second floor. Let me find you guys and I'll give you better directions," Robin announced over the mind link. Sam gasped.
"How is he? Is he hurt?" Sam questioned worriedly.
"As far as I saw, no. He's fine. Probably more angry and annoyed about being a prisoner again than anything else," Robin answered calmly as he scanned through numerous security videos. Sam breathed a deep sigh of relief. Knowing her boyfriend was at least unharmed eased her worries. After a few minutes of searching Robin smirked.
"There you are. Alright, from thereā¦" Robin began and then quickly used the security footage to map out a route for team alpha.
"Turn right and follow the corridor. After the second corner, it's the door in front of you," Robin instructed and nodded as he spotted team alpha nod on the footage and head off purposefully following his directions.
"What should we do then Rob?" Wally asked softly, waiting for Robin's verdict as the boy wonder currently had access to the Light security footage and hopefully the mainframe. Robin held up a finger before typing on the gauntlet again. A few seconds later, the youngest teen on the team grinned.
"Gotcha. They've got the ghosts in cages down in the basement. It's pretty close to where team alpha were earlier actually. We can free the ghosts and then check out those labs," Robin suggested, glancing up.
"I say we check the labs first. And we should probably grab some extra ghost weapons in case the ghosts attack us," Sam recommended.
"Alrighty then. Lead the way Rob," Wally concluded and held a hand out to the locked door. Robin chuckled softly at the speedster's antics and pulled out his lock picking tools and knelt down to the keyhole. He peered through the keyhole to make sure the corridor beyond wasn't guarded before he began to pick the lock.
Before long, the group of four were hesitating outside the door into the warehouse team alpha went through. Robin gently pushed the door open and poked his head inside.
"Clear," he muttered before slipping inside. Sam, Zatanna and Wally followed the teen. The room was massive with crates lining the walls and creating narrow aisles throughout the room. Wally paused to look in a crate and saw ten strange rifle-like guns with glowing green detailing. Sam joined the speedster and took one, strapping it over her back. She then took another to examine.
"Full ammo. Pretty powerful too, could destroy a low power ghost," Sam commented knowingly.
"Can you adjust the setting?" Zatanna whispered. Sam nodded and put down the rifle to hold her own pilfered one. She expertly slipped off a cover and fiddled with the wires inside and the glow on the gun dimmed slightly. She closed the panel and nodded to the others watching her.
"We can split into two, that way we can look at the labs quicker. Wally go with Sam, Zatanna with me," Robin suggested. The three other teens nodded calmly. Zatanna and Robin headed towards a door on their right and Sam and Wally headed towards a door on their left. Sam edged the door open and bit her lip worriedly. There were three scientists inside. They seemed to be building devices similar to the collar Danny was forced to wear.
"Three scientists," Sam dared to hiss to the speedster behind her. Wally grinned, stretching his arms out and softly cracking his knuckles.
"Watch and learn," he boasted quietly and used his super speed to rush through the door and subdue the occupied scientists within seconds. He then came to a stop and struck a super-hero pose, his chest puffed out heroically. Sam snorted at the teen as she entered the lab.
"You look like a dork," she teased. Wally's cheesy grin fell before he shrugged.
Sam turned to the work stations and examined the devices. She was right. They were more collars. She spotted a box at the end of the table and peered inside. She gasped in alarm the box was full of collars.
"They're mass producing those energy harvesting collars," she exclaimed softly. Wally nodded, looking at a computer that had thankfully been open before he arrived.
"That's not all. They're building something called a power manipulator. They haven't been able to make a working prototype yet though. But they've built a ghost energy reservoir to hold all the energy they get from the ghosts," Wally called softly.
"We have to get those ghosts out of here," Sam decided. It was bad enough that they had Danny as a weapon but Sam was starting to think that any ghost these people had would be made into a weapon. For what, she had no idea. But it couldn't be good.
Wally nodded and the two teens left the lab and made their way over to where Robin and Zatanna had gone. This lab had a massive vat of green gas inside. Robin was trying to figure out what the gas did while Zatanna examined the rest of the room.
"Done already?" Zatanna asked softly, looking up. Sam spotted two scientists tied up and unconscious in a corner before she shook her head.
"We only looked in one lab but they're mass producing that collar they used on Danny. And I'd bet they're doing the same with those improved storage units Jimmy made them," Sam told them.
"Which means that we have to get the ghosts out of here asap," Wally added. Robin nodded before turning to the others.
"I can only run a simple analysis on this gas without the proper equipment but it looks like modified knock-out gas. I'd guess it's for ghosts in case they get out of their cages.
"Can you block those pipes or something?" Zatanna inquired hopefully. Robin nodded.
"Easily but this mightn't be the only vat in the complex. It would explain why there aren't that many guards around," Robin reasoned. Zatanna, Wally and Sam nodded in understanding and watched as Robin tampered with the release mechanism on the side which linked to the pipes leading away from the vat of gas.
Once they'd finished, they left the lab and crossed the warehouse to use the door. They left the room and easily found the room full of caged ghosts. Wally opened the door and team beta filed into the room. This room was as big as the warehouse and filled with Guys in White grade cages. Sam scanned the cages, looking for familiar faces and soon spotted Ember and Johnny 13. The door thudded shut loudly and drew the ghosts' attention.
"Hey! Let us out!" a number of ghost began shouting. Team beta cringed at the noise and tried to get the ghosts to be quiet.
"Where's the dipstick!?" Ember shouted over the clamour. Sam turned to the ghostly diva.
"The others are looking for him. Why?" Sam answered calmly.
"Oh, because you know that the guys here are controlling him right," Ember pointed out. Sam nodded, frowning in confusion. Of course they knew that, Ember was there when they learnt about the spell on the halfa.
"You can't trust him," Johnny added. Sam opened her mouth to argue that she knew her boyfriend when the door opened behind them.
Oh no! Who opened the door!?
Let me know what you think so far of the story.
And the poll is now closed! The winner will be announced in a few days. Keep an eye on my facebook page. There's a link in my bio.
Until the next chapter.
