::
"I'm not sure if this is our best idea," Andrew said quietly, Randy trying not to show his own unease as he listened to Sam and Tucker argue over the ear piece they both had in. "If things go wrong then it'll take more than just a fight with Walker to get us out of there."
"Our last fight with him didn't end all that well, either." Oh, they had beaten Walker in battle, but they hadn't won. The moment they had slipped into White Fang and the Priest had been the moment they had lost that fight. "We can't slip anymore, Andy."
"No…" Andrew gave a quiet laugh, shaking his head. "It's time for the Priest and White Fang to finally rest in peace."
"They did their duty. Now we do ours." Randy touched the ear piece and heard the spark of static that let him know he was connected. "How are we looking?"
"All good from control." Team Phantom were whip smart, Randy had found. If there were still people who believed they were nothing but kids in over their head then they were going to be in for a very rude awakening. "Alpha Ghost is keeping the company distracted and engaged from headquarters."
"Bobcat reporting in," Sam's voice chimed in. "Ready to break the circle of salt and proceed to the next step."
"Is all this code really necessary?" Andrew looked uncomfortable as he shifted from foot-to-foot. Randy couldn't blame him as he had never quite been the one to plan their missions. "It's unlikely Section 13 will be expecting us and break past our equipment."
"A chance we can't take, though. This is our only opportunity to get into their warehouse while they're distracted with the Fentons." Almost the second the hunters had shown up on Fenton Works had Danny been calling them and throwing the plan into action, Randy proud beyond words for his quick thinking. "Besides, you're just upset you're not Alpha Ghost."
Andrew's noise of outrage was cut off by Sam's voice ringing over their headphones, "The circle is broken, go on in Thing 1 and Thing 2." The look on Andrew's face was beautiful, truly.
"C'mon, Thing 2." Randy grabbed Andrew's hand, pulling him along past the now broken ring of blood blossoms. Randy had no doubt there were more surprises waiting for them ahead.
"I am Thing 1, thank you," Andrew hissed, quill in his hand as he started writing words in the air, mumbling under his breath. It only took a moment for their ghostly nature to be completely hidden, white lab coats flaring out behind them as they walked to the front door, security badges in hand.
"Very impressive," Randy grinned, Andrew only smirking as they flashed their badges at the bored looking guard before scurrying in. "We don't have much time before they figure out something's wrong and not even you can suppress all traces of energy. Up or down?"
"Down. That's where the labs and databases will be. Up will probably be offices and archives, but if we want the most we need to go down."
Nodding, Randy lead the way towards an elevator, looking around with more and more dread before tapping his ear piece, "It's the old Guys-in-White base, yeah, but the inside has a major overhaul. Whoever is giving them funding it's more than the government ever gave them." There was a camera every five feet and thick enough walls that they wouldn't be broken or burnt down anytime soon. Randy was willing to be they were ghost proof, too.
"Fuck." That seemed to be Tucker's only response on the matter, Randy sighing as he scanned his ID card to just get the elevator opening, scanning it again when requesting to go down to the first basement.
"Paranoid little bastards, aren't they?" Randy tried to make it look like he was busy with the clipboard Andrew's disguise had given him, Andrew flipping through some papers himself. "How long do you think we have?"
"Twenty minutes tops before someone figures out we're ghosts and twenty one minutes before an alarm is sounded. You feel that, don't you?"
"Like the building is made of blood blossoms? Yeah, I feel it." It was like the walls had been near soaked in the damn stuff. There was nothing to stop them from moving around the building, but Randy rubbed at his throat anyways, snapping back to attention at Andrew's confused coughing. "Blood blossoms have another side effect of making a ghost relive the way they died."
"Fucking delightful," Andrew coughed before gritting his teeth, looking to be fighting off more coughs with sheer will. "You want tech or bio-weapons?"
"Bio. I'll be able to tell what they're mixing up to kill us now. Think you can find some logs of the tech they're using? Maybe some blueprints?"
"Just another mission," Andrew joked weakly, Randy smiling sadly at the feelings of nervousness and excitement. As much as Andrew hated what he had been, he couldn't help being excited at this anymore than Randy could. "We'll be fine."
The elevator doors dinged open and Randy gave a smirk, "Eighteen minutes." Walking through the labs with purpose, it only took a few short exchanges and eavesdropping sessions to point him to where he needed to go, frowning as he got closer to the area. "Ghost Zone flora… Now how did they get this.
"Hey, control," Randy muttered softly, tapping at the earpiece. "Eyes on Ghost Zone flora beyond blood blossoms. I see at least four other plants, two of them for ghost sedation, one for entrapment, and one- One that's not pleasant to feel the effects of." It was a plant Randy had come across only once and had scarily similar effects to Vlad's 'Plasmius Maximus.' Any touch or contact could lock away a ghost's powers. Probably where Vlad got the damn idea.
"Copy that, Thing 1, any chance you can figure out what they're mixing up or using them for?" Mm, good question.
Making as if he was checking the dosage on one of the beakers, Randy gave it a quick sniff. Earth chemicals, definitely, but it was hard to tell what when it was already mixed together.
"I'll work on it," Randy finally responded. Maybe he could find a list?
"This is so stupid… Thing 2 reporting in. Visual on weapon schematics and databases. Using the memory drive to retrieve them now. Can I please choose another name?"
"Control copies, Shakespeare." It took everything Randy had to not choke on laughter, almost failing when he heard Andrew's growl. God, as great as that was he couldn't even enjoy it.
"Fourteen minutes." They were on a time limit, after all. "I'll get as many samples as I can." Maybe he could do something with them in his own workspace, but right now all he could do was dig through the few glass vials he had brought and carefully measure some into each one.
He got through a dozen of the mixtures before he felt a ripple of shock coming from Andrew, Randy near dropping the vial he was holding as he looked around. "Sh- Shakespeare reporting in." Fuck, it was bad if he was using the name. "Eyes on Walker and Valerie. Second basement."
The line went dead silent, Randy grabbing what he could before heading to the elevator as fast as he could. Hopefully he didn't look too suspicious, but Walker and Valerie. "Valerie? As in Red Huntress I'm going to shoot you in the face Valerie?"
"That would be the one, Sa- Bobcat, yes." Getting off the elevator once the doors opened, Randy carefully picked his way over to where he felt Andrew's energy coming from, a mousy haired little scientist looking at him with wide eyes before nodding over towards where the two were. "They're working together."
"Fuck." Walker was speaking quietly with his hands behind his back and his shoulders relaxed, Valerie nodding along to whatever he said with a silent, deadly seriousness. "We need to get out of here. Now."
"Right behind you," Andrew muttered, pushing at Randy's back. "If they don't know we're here then they will soon. Fuck, they weren't- Control, we're leaving. Walker and Valerie are both here and I'm not foolish enough to risk it."
"Roger that, Shakespeare. Meet up with Bobcat, fix the circle of salt, and get the hell back here before Alpha Ghost vibrates out of his skin with worry."
It was a quick rush back to the outside, Randy on high alert the entire time, vials in his pockets feeling heavier than anything as they rushed through the complex. He hadn't expected to see Walker after feeling the blood blossoms that soaked the place, but to see Valerie, too? That was… That wasn't good.
"Randy, there's something else." Andrew's breathing was quick and uneven, eyes blown wide as his hands flexed for the knife Randy knew he wished he had. "You said you saw plants where you were, but there was one over in developing weapons."
"Blood blossoms, I take it?" Randy frowned as Andrew bit sharply on his bottom lip, not speaking until they had flashed their badges and were leaving the complex. Even then he didn't speak, only pulling a petri dish out of his pocket. "What's this?"
Andrew handed it off, emotions out of control and expression grim. Randy flipped it over to study it, frowning as it looked like a cut off section of a stem. "A flower stem? Why would this-"
"It's a sample of some vines." Looking down again, Randy saw the stem, or, well vine, was pitch black and this section had what seemed to be a red thorn sticking out of it. Moving to take the lid off, Andrew stopped him with a hand to his wrist. "Blood blossom vines."
"What." That wasn't a thing. Vines like those didn't exist. How could they get a hold of something that didn't exist? "Andy, that can't…"
"It looks like they synthesized some. I didn't know what it was at first, and…" Andrew flipped over his right hand - the hand Randy hadn't even realized he was hiding - to show a dark burn seared into his palm. "Not even half a second of contact."
Randy stared, finally tucking the dish away and tapping his ear piece as Sam came into view, "Control, we've run into a problem." This… This changed things.
::
"You say it's more powerful?" Nodding at Maddie's question, Andrew hissed as Randy tightened the bandage on his hand. Even after healing salve it still burned like hell.
"Typically we don't seen burns like this with blood blossoms. It leaves a mark, but nothing this violent." Instead of red skin with maybe a blister or callus, the skin had been burned black. It was a miracle Andrew hadn't managed to draw attention to himself and even more of one that he had managed to get a sample.
"The lingering burns also continue the effects of blood blossoms," Andrew mumbled, wincing as he tried to move his fingers. "Meaning my hand currently feels like it's on fire."
"That, typically, is something you tell us sooner," Randy sighed, moving Danny's hand to rest over the bandages. Andrew gave him an odd look before a burst of cold settled over him. Andrew wasn't sure if it was ice in general or ghostly ice that did it, but it felt delightful.
"It's worse than just making them hurt more." Danny was pressed up on Andrew's other side from where Andrew was sitting on the counter, clinging to his arm as Randy held Danny's hand over Andrew's lightly. "Certain vines grow like crazy, don't they?"
"They could throw up a barrier to keep ghosts out anytime they wanted," Randy muttered, shaking his head. "And these don't glow to let ghosts know the danger."
"The insides sure are something, though," Jack whistled, Andrew blinking at him. "Well, look." Tilting a microscope slide towards them, Andrew was surprised to see the entire inside was glowing a bloody red, just like the petals of the actual plant. "They did a good job on them."
"Loathe as I am to admit it, you're right," Vlad sighed, fiddling with his own slide and wearing thick gloves coated in one of Randy's solutions to keep the burns from affecting him. "This is unlike anything we've ever seen when it comes to hunter technology. If you could weaponize it and even stab a ghost with it, well. It'd be like a bullet wound to a human. Bleeding, shock, internal damage, torn skin…"
"They're really trying to kill us." Gaze snapping to Danny, Andrew's eyes widened at just how scared the other looked. He could stop himself from pulling Danny closer to him, hugging him tightly even as his hand pulsed with pain. "I mean, I knew they were, but…"
"We haven't faced hunters who actually wanted to kill us. Capture us and figure out how we work, sure, but killing…" Randy shook his head, words bitter and sour. "They see themselves as pest control."
"Pest control that we're going to be shutting down." God, Andrew was so glad Danny had told his parents. He would need their support now more than ever with what mess they were getting themselves into.
"Tucker and Sam are going through the flash drive Andy got, now," Danny nodded, managing a smile. "They'll find something and email it to you. Any idea on what to do about the vines?"
"There might be a way to neutralize them," Vlad mused, studying under the microscope. Andrew could really see how these three had flourished in science specializations. Vlad had always been too curious to be that good of a businessman. "Maybe kill them?"
"Fenton weed whacker," Jack shot out, Andrew trying to hide a smile as Vlad and Maddie both slapped one of his arms.
"I'm glad they're friends again," Danny said softly, leaning into Andrew and tangling a hand in Randy's shirt. "They work well together."
"They do," Andrew agreed, watching the three bounce ideas off of one another. It was the kind of easy banter that came from years of knowing each other. Even decades of anger hadn't ruined it. He hoped their relationship got like that one day… Ah, but for now they had more important things to focus on. "Is there any sort of chemical that can be used, maybe?"
"Maybe," Maddie sighed, crossing her arms. "We'll need time to figure something out. For now, though, I want you boys to stay away from Section 13. All of you." Laughing as Randy was the first to nod seriously, Andrew nodded and smiled himself.
"We'll be careful, Mrs. Fenton, I promise. We're just as concerned about all of this as you."
"Andrew, for the last time, just call me Maddie."
"Of course, Mrs. Fenton."
"We'll be fine, Mom. There are a lot of ghosts in Amity Park and we're pretty good at staying in a group when we need to." That was most likely a part of the problem. The more ghosts were in Amity Park the greater the threat Section 13 saw - and the more Walker could exploit their fear into something dangerous.
Hm. They assumed it was the ghosts that had something to do with the students learning to speak Ghostspeak, but what if it was more from what the Fentons had done? If that was true then they would be seeing greater effects, even the non ghostly ones. So maybe…
"Mrs. Fenton, could you pass me that cup of coffee?" Ignoring the odd looks from the ghosts in the room, Andrew felt a mix of worry and satisfaction as Maddie sighed and handed him the cup. He saw the others go from confused to shocked. "Madeline, I was speaking Ghostspeak."
"Oh, so you do know my name- You were?" Maddie frowned, looking over to Jack and Vlad. While Jack just gave an uneasy shrug, Vlad was snapping out a rapid fire question in Ghostspeak, Maddie and Jack responding at once. In Ghostspeak.
"Oh, dear," Vlad murmured, Danny looking between his parents with wide eyes. "That… That shouldn't be possible."
"The students are speaking it, too," Andrew said, nodding at Vlad's look. "They're understanding the language, not merely parroting."
"That shouldn't be possible- No, it really shouldn't. Ghostspeak relies on core energy." That- What? Andrew looked to his mates, a little reassured at seeing they looked just as surprised. "It relies on either core energy or very, very high amounts of ectoplasmic energy in the body." As Vlad spoke he fiddled with an empty slide, holding his hand out towards Jack. Andrew could see where this was going and winced in sympathy at the yelp as Vlad drew some blood, sticking it under the scope.
"So, what, the portal is causing radiation sickness- Or, er, ectoplasm sickness?" Oh, that very much did not sound good. Maddie seemed to think the same by her paling face.
"Oh, no, nothing that dangerous." Vlad was quick to reassure them, Andrew not able to tell if he was lying or not. "I am going to need some blood samples from you three- Yes, little badger, you too."
"Could ours be caused from the portal we made in college?" Jack asked quietly, Maddie heading to the basement to no doubt get something to draw blood with.
"I- I don't think so." Vlad tried for a smile. "I fear I was the only one to be affected by that little venture. No, this is something else. So many years on the rift here in Amity Park?"
"C'mon, let's leave them to it and get you home," Danny mumbled, nudging at Andrew and matching his palm up to Andrew's hurt one carefully. "Randy?"
"As you wish," Randy hummed, Andrew sighing as the familiar energy wrapped around them and they tumbled onto the bed. Andrew laughed at noticing that even with the tangled heap they ended up in, the two had been careful to make sure Andrew's hand wasn't hurt anymore.
"I… I don't like this, guys." Amusement quickly dying at Danny's look, Andrew didn't even get to open his mouth before the teen continued. "Section 13 has some dangerous new plant, my parents seem to be poisoned with ectoplasm, and now Valerie is working with Walker? It's… It isn't right."
"No, it isn't," Randy admitted, moving to cup Danny's cheeks and pull him into a soft kiss. "We'll make it right, though. Whatever it takes."
"Don't be so quick to give in, mon cher. You have your own army behind you, after all." Returning Danny's smile, Andrew felt it drop as Randy distracted the other with more kisses. For as much as he was right, Danny was, too.
Summer was almost there and it felt like they were getting into something far more than just another ghost fight.