I know it has been a while, and I sincerely apologize for the delay. There is no excuse I can make that will most likely please you, so I will not bother in making one. Please put your rage founded upon your waiting for this story aside and enjoy this chapter.
Author's Note: This is a flashback. Note the italics.
I ran as fast as I could.
Something was wrong.
Something was very, very wrong.
Yet despite my abilities, I did not seem able to be fast enough.
Ducking into an alley, I changed into my ghost form quicker than I thought possible and shot through the air. My heart was pounding in my ears, the stuttering yet steady rhythm of a drum being slammed into mercilessly.
The wind roared, snapping at my pale face, stinging my eyes and lungs whenever I decided to take a breath caused by my uncharacteristic panic. All the while, I doubted I would be able to get there.
Why was I slower than usual? Ugh, were my powers messing up again? Had to see...no, no, no. Stay focused.
It had all started with Sam's frightened call during my earlier fight with Skulker. She had said there was something going on at my house, something about the Guys in White breaking and entering with a false search warrant.
"What do you mean, a false search warrant?" I demanded, dodging a shot from the walking armory. "How do you even know what a false one looks like?"
"I meant what I said, Danny. They're looking for something." There was a pause. "You think I don't know what a false search warrant looks like? Do you know how many I've seen since you've been involved with sneaking in to government buildings? You don't remember the time where I actually had to make one?"
"Hey, it wasn't my idea for you to sneak in, hide in the air shafts, and then fall like the ungraceful ballerina you are, since you decided not to take ballet. It sure would have made you more graceful than you were that day." I barely avoided a missile as I twisted in the air, my hair flying behind me as the cold wind supported me while at the same time the world protested at my ability to not stay under the unrelenting strength of gravity. I shot through the air over the hunter's head, and landed on his shoulders. Skulker growled and tried to turn his newly mounted shoulder gun on me, but I easily destroyed it with a single ray. Planting my feet, I dug my hands into the refined metal. The body jerked with an electronic hiss, convulsing in on itself as I tore the head off with a sickening twist and snap of wires and hydraulics cracking. Inside, the miniscule green ghost, able to fit in my hand—the real form of the feared hunter—looked up and growled at me.
"I will destroy you, ghost boy!" Honestly, his squeaky voice was so amusing; the faint smirk could not help but appear on my face. "Your pelt will hang over my bed!"
"Yeah, I've heard that enough." With a careless toss, I threw the cursing ghost with the high-pitched voice up into the air and sucked him up in to the Thermos, A feeling of smug pride came over me as I floated through the air, a grin playing on my lips. But wait...there was something I was supposed to do…
"Crap." I immediately picked up my pace and shot into the air, shooting through it well over my limit. Yet I did not care; I could worry about aches and pains later.
If they had harmed my family in the slightest of ways...if I even detected the smallest scratch on their bodies...
Well. The threat went unsaid.
My house was eerily still when I arrived there.
Nothing was out of the ordinary.
All was...
Normal.
Not a good sign. My friends and family are far from normal.
I scowled and narrowed my eyes, floating in the air as I dedicated all of my senses to finding the cause of the threat that was presented to my family. Nothing. I could find nothing. No anomaly in the scent of the air. I could still smell the old ectoplasm in Mom and Dad's lab, and I couldn't detect the scents or auras of Sam and Tucker. Don't ask; I've used this ability to find them dozens of times...and to scare the mess out of them.
No, focus, Phantom, focus! Where are they? Where would they be -?
A sharp pain laced through my neck, enough to make me drop my invisibility and collide with the ground. I hissed as the harsh and icy concrete tore through my suit, slashing and peeling away the skin, enough to make it stick to the ground. Blood pooled from the wound, dripping to the ground. With a low growl reverberating deep in my chest, I forced my suddenly unresponsive body to move, and my hand rose and pulled out the dart embedded into my neck. Green-speckled red blood coated my fingers.
I forced myself to my feet, swaying ever so slightly. Two Guys in White stood there, one carrying a large tranquilizer-like gun. Both had leering grins plastered on their faces. It only made the anger within me grow..and it was not a good thing.
"Where...is...my family?" I managed to choke out. My throat felt constricted, and it was starting to hurt to breathe. What was in that tranquilizer, and why was I affected by it so much? Stupid human drugs...
The world began to blur and spin, making me groan and close my eyes.
No, no, no. Stay awake. Have to find...Sam...my...family...
"The tranquilizer is working, Agent K," the shorter of the two murmured, smoothing a wrinkle in his white suit. He stepped closer as my legs gave out and I ended up on my knees in front of them, the landscape so blurry and unfocused that it made me feel sick just to even glance at it.
"Indeed, Agent O." The voice of the taller was deep and rumbling, like a thunderstorm trapped in an insignificant human vessel. The gun that had been used on me was in his hands, his long fingers tracing the polished metal almost lovingly.
"Where...?" I gasped, trying to force air into my lungs. My throat...why could I not speak?
Oh, I was seriously going to kick their butts when I got out of this.
Just when I regained my..strength...
What was that again?
Ah, no...just a little...rest...
Only a little...
Just...
A...little...
When I awoke, darkness blinded me with an unforgiving cloak of perpetual black. A dull ache pounded in my head, growing stronger each time. I shook my head in an attempt to make the vertigo go away. My body, but mainly my stomach for some strange reason, protested at the movement and the faint taste of bile rose in the back of my throat.
Great. I am dizzy and exhausted, and now I feel like I've been on a tilt-a-whirl at a carnival too long.
Trust me, I know how it feels.
Don't ask.
The room was spinning, enough to make the presence of bile even stronger. I grit my teeth, focusing on calming my raging body. And it was unresponsive. What a surprise.
"Good." A low and drawling voice sounded across the room, directed at me. It was as soft and silky, yet as strangely inviting as the darkest and deadliest form of poisoned velvet. "You are awake."
An uncharacteristic growl tore from my throat as I glared at the area where the voice was coming from. "You clearly don't know who or what I am. I could destroy this place in seconds, and I would if I wasn't restrained."
I sure hoped I was speaking in the right direction; despite my abilities, I could see nothing, and I knew I would look and seem like a complete and utter fool if I was talking to an actual wall. The faintest outline of a figure sitting in a chair of some sorts, however, was the most I could see.
The figure laughed coldly, the sound sending chills down my spine. "What difference would knowing who or what you are make to my goal? All of you vermin are the same. You attempt to intimidate your obvious superiors." The black shape shifted, as if the person were crossing their legs. "Besides, once I have what I need, you will be of no more use to me."
"And what exactly do you need? I am not the only ghost out there." I was becoming annoyed. Once I got out of this miserable excuse for a prison...
"What do I need? My dear boy..." Suddenly I sensed a presence above me, startlingly close, as icy breath batted against my sweat-drenched skin. How had they moved so fast? My mind started racing for ways to counteract this being's obvious speed, but I forced those thoughts away. I needed to focus on the threat before me and figure out a way to break free from these bonds and get this wretched tranquilizer out of me.
The voice continued, still so soft and welcoming...like that bowl of...mints on the table at an office...
"I do not need anything; I only want. When my plan is set in motion, I will know all of your precious little secrets..."
Cold breath that smelled strongly of peppermint washed and waded over me, only increasing my painful nausea as the person leaned even closer.
"Daniel."
How in the world did they...? Oh, if they even harmed my family in the slightest of ways to get that information...
An excruciating pain erupted in my head, and the world quickly faded away.
When I woke for the second time, I was in a brightly lit room. Pain stabbed through my eyes when I attempted to open them, and a groan that caused only more pain than I was already experiencing escaped me.
"How is it possible that a dead person can sleep so much?" The voice I had heard earlier sounded, yet farther away than before. "I mean, honestly. You do not need it, so why even bother passing out?"
The amusement that was laced throughout the voice was sickening in its fervor.
Oh, I don't know. How about from pain? I could not form words, no matter how hard I tried. Whatever had been in that tranquilizer was slowly swelling my throat, making it near impossible to breathe. I was only half ghost, and I did need the occasional breath once in a while.
But seriously. If I "died" from oxygen deprivation, that voice would have more than once demon in its head.
A movement in the corner of my eye tore my attention from the determined struggling I had been doing.
A tall woman was making her way towards me. She was clad in formal black slacks and a form fitting white collared shirt, complete with an expensive black dress jacket. A long lab coat covered her clothes, but it was black, a different color than the normal white ones I was so used to. The woman was slim and gave off an air of authority and strength despite her petite body. Her face was long and lean, with high and sculpted cheekbones and slanted, almond-shaped golden eyes. The most disturbing thing about her, however, was not her eyes.
It was her grin.
Her full lips were pulled back in a grin that could only be described as vicious and sadistic. Pure white teeth were exposed, and I half expected to see fangs in place of them.
That grin was clearly not a good thing, and she was clearly not a good woman.
Great. Another psychopathic ghost hunter that wants to rid the world of us. Or just "help" us by ridding us of our powers. Or some trash like that. I don't really care.
"Like what you see?" My God, she took my silence the wrong way. My stomach churned and I bit back a groan. Her voice was unnaturally low for a woman but enough so once could still hear the feminine aspects. When I only responded with a blazing glare, she only laughed, a sound that was dark and evil in its intentions. Yet she continued to stare intently at me. She wanted a voiced answer.
Inwardly cursing myself for doing so, I answered aloud, just to see what would happen and what her reaction would be. "Hardly." My voice was hoarse and cracked, and my throat protested immensely at the movement, choking and constricting itself against the sudden move. The world swam as it had before and I groaned softly, closing my eyes in an attempt to block the nausea and pain rising within me. My God, what was in that tranquilizer?
"Oh, is my poor baby not feeling well?" The woman was suddenly looming over me, her lips still curled back in that merciless grin that exposed her pure white teeth. Her cruel eyes blazed, almost glowing in the dim light. She was immensely pleased with the reactions my body was producing as a result to whatever those agents had injected me with.
Unless she had done something to me while I was unconscious...
"Don't..." Fire tore its way through my throat, and I grimaced, trying to hold back the pain that made itself known with a large and unforgiving roar. Laughing and taunting me as I was helpless to do a thing...unable to retaliate...ugh. I really hated that feeling.
"I'm sorry; I cannot seem to understand you." She leaned close, her breath now scented like strong spices. It only made me feel sicker, and I resisted the urge to spit in her face like the insane maniac she was. Yet she continued on, either oblivious to my smoldering rage or uncaring. Probably both.
"Perhaps a little louder?"
Cold metal stroked gently over the exposed skin of my neck, and I shivered. The faintest hint of terror crept into my heart, chilling me to the core. If my assumptions on what she was about to do were correct, then I was sure as heck not going to give her a thing about any of my secrets.
Especially my friends and family.
It was silent. I could not even hear her breathing, and I had the fleeting sense that she was not as human as I first thought she was.
The low chuckle that escaped her mouth only made my heart scream in turmoil.
Then, the almost loving caress of the blade disappeared and then plunged deep. The cry that tore from my throat was that of one who was tortured, and I sure was being tortured at the moment. Oh, that poison...the blade was poisoned...blood blossoms...
My systems protested futilely at the acid that carved its treacherous way throughout my veins, and I screamed and screamed as the poison continued to roar and rear back and bare its dripping and venomous fangs. Hot blood poured from the wound, hissing and burning its way off of its host and onto the cold metal bed I was strapped to. Black darted in and out of my vision.
No, no, no. Do not pass out. Stay awake.
Oh, the pain. Why did it have to be blood blossoms?
How did the GIW even find out about it...?
The woman laughed, and that was the last sound I heard before drifting into the relentless hand of unconsciousness.
There! Again, I apologize for the wait and the crappy ending, and for how short this was!
WARNING: There will be more horror flashbacks explaining Phantom's current condition and his nightmares. Be prepared. I will not relent.
(Okay, fine. There will be a warning at the head of the chapter. My gift to you.)