Chapter 11
Ten O'Clock Boos
There had been a few quiet days after the teams last mission to the dormitory, and during that time, their newest undead member, Wendy had had time to get used to her new existence, both as a ghost and as a member of Josette's team. Though fellow Spook Jabu kept following her from time to time, he seemed to really like her, and she wasn't quite used to that yet, which surprised her.
Josette and Nereid was small-talking, something they had started doing more often, at the time being in the maproom when the rise of a new structure interrupted them. Looking at the paper construct, they saw that it was of a tall building, similar to the office building a few weeks earlier, but with several metal dishes on top.
"It would seem that we got another mission." Josette said.
"So it does." said Nereid. "I will gather the others."
A few minutes later the entire team had gathered around the map, eagerly waiting for the briefing as Josette tapped the paper building.
"An interesting opportunity have presented itself, Ghost Master. A group of mortals, referring to themselves as the Sceptic Society, are adamant in their lack of belief in the supernatural, openly denouncing the very presence of ghosts. Normally we would deal with them in a timely fashion, teach them some respect and such, but right now we have an even better opportunity.
Set to appear on their television later this evening, to speak out and preach about their disbelief to countless other mortals. Teach them that we are real, make them believe, before this show is broadcast, but beware that you and your team does not leave too much proof for the rest, be mindful of their cameras. A squad of seven may be needed for this mission."
"Sounds like a tactical mission." said Clarence, rubbing his chin. "So which spirits will you take with you, Ghost Master?"
"Good question." Josette said, thinking for a while. "I believe that I will bring Soar, Twitch, Jack and Swarm to begin with, then I would like Netty, Nereid and… Wendy."
"Me? Are you sure about that?"
"I am. I have got a feeling that you will be a good asset to our team, if you would like to remain that is."
"Well, I guess I can give it a try. It was rather fun when I did it the last time."
"We are ready when you are, Josette." said Nereid.
"Then let us be on our way." Josette said, tapping the paper construct again, opening the portal to the TV-studio.
Emerging through the portal, the team saw the studio beneath them, and Josette remembered seeing it when they had first arrived in Sunshine Valley and were searching for a suitable Ghoul Room. It was easy to identify with all the satellite dishes, and as they got closer, they spotted a spirit chained to the ventilation intake.
Sitting on top of a small cloud was a small green frog with big blue eyes and a happy smile, and when it saw Josette close in, it waved with its front foot.
"Hi there! I'm Puddles!" it said in a voice similar to a happy little girl. "Do you think you can help me? I was flying around, looking at all the pretty lights, but then I got too close to this and got sucked in. And now I can't go anywhere, but at least I can still see all the pretty lights."
Josette looked at the intake, and thought on how they would free the little frog. She had started studying modern technology a little, and understood roughly how ventilation systems worked and what they might do.
"Do not worry, my little friend. We will free you from this."
"You will? Yay! Thank you!" Puddles cheered, hopping up and down on her little cloud.
Continuing her search through the studio building, Josette found many different rooms, ranging from recording studios and offices, to staff rooms and display rooms. And in one of the few display rooms, she found her next spirit in need.
A male ghost wearing a light grey hockey outfit, with orange shorts, gloves, helmet and skates, the number eleven written on chest and back in orange. He held a hockey stick and his head was turned sideways, the neck clearly snapped, and his eyes were obscured by the visor of the helmet. The chain bound him to a trophy of glass inside a glass display cabinet.
"That trophy should have been mine." he snarled. "I made the last goal, I won that game for us, even if I broke my neck in the process. But could they even be bothered putting my name on it? Heck no, they couldn't! Just one little name, that's all it would have taken. Even postmortem would have been okay."
The ghost took a swipe at the trophy with his hockey stick, but just passed straight through it with no effect, making him sigh.
"Can't even break the stupid thing."
"Do you want us to destroy it?" Josette asked.
"If you can, I'd appreciate it."
"Then so it shall be. We will return shortly."
After having searched the entire building, Josette found one last trapped spirit, chained to a guitar in a room with many instruments, ranging from piano and drums to trumpets and saxophones. The room also had loudspeakers and microphones connected to a control table with a computer.
The ghost was male, and he wore a grey pinstripe suit, with a black fedora, black tie, fine black shoes, white gloves and held an acoustic guitar. His head was a skull with black shades covering his eyes completely.
"This place, it got no groove, you know." he said with a dark and smokey, but still suave voice. "It needs some groove, some soul, otherwise… I can't jam, you know. Shooby do bop. Let the tunes fly, and the souls feel the vibes, and I'll break down the walls with m guitar, shooby do bop."
Josette was stumped for a while, trying to piece together what exactly the spirit had said.
"You… want to hear some music?"
"Right on, lassie. But not any music, something with soul and groove, something strange even."
"I… will see what we can do."
After having briefed her team on the situation, she sent them ahead to start building up the plasm levels, while she pondered on how to help the restless spirits.
Wendy started things off by slowly and steadily softening up various mortals with her Brief Scare, Moan and Leak powers. She was very nervous at first, but as she continued, she started to grow more confident in her abilities. The janitor in the basement was the hardest target of her early scares, but she did enjoy how he frantically tried to mop up all the water from her Leak power. His will didn't last long after Wendy showed herself though, and he were the first of many mortals to flee the studio that night.
Twitch absolutely loved the area, there were so many electrical devices all throughout the building, giving the Gremlin a large number of fetters to choose from. His Wild and Crazy caused massive amounts of terror as entire rooms filled with equipment went berserk. Likewise, that power as well as Spark could easily disable any surveillance cameras that he found, even if it was only temporary. And Jack was just as home with all the electronics, having a blast as he popped up in front of mortals, scaring them good before setting some other poor mortal on fire.
The long hallways were perfect for Swarm, who could continuously pursue its victims all over the place, no matter where they tried to hide from the ghostly insects. And the Banshee Netty could just as easily use the hallways, being Thoroughfare fetters, and the horrifying sounds of her Wail and Shriek accompanied her, echoing throughout the hallways.
The remaining spirits were sent out to locate the members of the Sceptic Society, and there were only two of them, their president Melissa Frost and vice-president John Hyde. Melissa was preparing for the interview, talking with the host of the show, while John was busy flirting wildly with some of the reporters a few floors down.
Once the plasm levels had reached a high enough amount, Josette ordered her team to go easy on the mortals, just scaring them enough to keep the plasm steady, in case they might need the mortals later on. There were also several studios where there were live broadcasts, and thus they avoided them, which had spared some of the mortals from the ghosts so far, and might continue to do so for quite a while.
But that wasn't their current concern, first and foremost they aimed to free the trapped spirits, while still having enough time to deal with their objective. The first one they focused on was the spirit of the hockey player, know only as number Eleven, his request being the most simple.
Arriving in the display room, Josette found what she was looking for, in the form of a ventilation outlet.
"Soar, if you would be so kind?" she said, directing the Air Elemental to the outlet.
The strong air current was concentrated enough to act as a fetter for the small spirit, and once she gathered the plasm she needed, she unleashed an ear-piercing scream, which shattered not only the glass of the display cabinet, but the trophy as well, and the lenses of the security camera. With the trophy destroyed, the chain binding Eleven to it dissolved.
"And she scores!" Eleven cheered. "Great teamwork! Now there's no need for me to hang around here any more, so give me the tactic and I'll get right on it, coach!"
"Coach? Well, I suppose that works. And we still have a lot to do, so just follow us for now."
With Eleven on their team, the group grew quite a lot stronger, and he quickly lent his powers to their cause, helping them in keeping the mortals on edge while Josette focused on the remaining spirits.
With the aid of Twitch, they were able to follow the ventilation shaft back to its source, a large machine that Josette couldn't make heads or tails of, nor could she really interact with it, but luckily she didn't have to. A well-placed Wild and Crazy from the Gremlin made the machine go nuts, and the flow of the air was eventually altered for a short moment.
That moment was however enough, with the air now blowing out of the intake, Puddles was freed from her prison. In fact, the wind was so forceful that the little spirit was launched a long way, but she didn't mind, she just thought that it was fun, and she then flew several laps around the building in pure happiness, before joining Josette.
"That was fun! Thank you sooo much for helping me!" the little frog cheered.
"You are most welcome. We could not simply leave you up here."
"Then let me help you! This will be so fun!"
With the small but energetic spirit in tow, Josette could now focus on helping the ghost with the most difficult request, the musical spirit called Hellwood, and he wanted to 'feel the groove' as he put it.
Reaching the music room, Josette studied it thoroughly trying to figure out how to play music for the ghost. There were a lot of instruments present, but they just couldn't interact with them in the right way, and she had no idea of what kind of music that would have the soul and groove that Hellwood wanted to hear.
A thought crossed her mind as her eyes stopped on the computer. While modern technology wasn't her strong suite, she was fairly certain that the computer was used for musical purposes, so if they could just cause it to play some, maybe they would be lucky enough to get the right kind of music.
"Twitch, I might need your help again." she said telepathically to the Gremlin, which quickly came to her side.
As per Josette's instructions, Twitch bound himself to the computer and once again unleashed his Wild and Crazy in the room. The computer flashed and buzzed and bleeped as the power coursed through it, and after a few moments it finally calmed down, and music started pouring out of the loudspeakers, filling the room with an upbeat piano melody.
"Hmmm… not bad… but it don't really have the soul…" Hellwood said, slowly shaking his head.
"I think we have to do it again, Twitch." Josette said, and the hyper rodent struck a second time. Once the computer calmed down after the shock again, a new song was played. Soft violin music, fitting for a little romantic rendezvous at a restaurant.
"Now this… this got soul… but it lacks the groove…"
"Twitch, again please." Josette sighed.
The computer buzzed again, and started playing some modern hip-hop music, but Hellwood just shook his head to it.
"No no… this is all wrong…"
By that time, the rest of the team had showed up, hopping that they could possibly help. Having tired himself out quite a lot already, Twitch used his power for the forth time, and this time a special song was played.
People are Strange, by The Doors. And that resonated with Hellwood.
People are strange when you're a stranger
People are strange when you're a stranger
Faces look ugly when you're alone
Women seem wicked when you're unwanted
Streets are uneven when you're down
After hearing the first lines of the song, Hellwood picked up his guitar, playing and singing along.
When you're strange
Faces come out of the rain
When you're strange
No one remembers your name
When you're strange
When you're strange
When you're strange
People are strange when you're a stranger
Faces look ugly when you're alone
Women seem wicked when you're unwanted
Streets are uneven when you're down
(Instrumental music)
When you're strange
Faces come out of the rain
When you're strange
No one remembers your name
When you're strange
When you're strange
When you're strange
A'right yeah
Suddenly, all of the instruments in the room started playing along to the music, empowered by the strong emotions of Hellwood himself. Most of the team was also enjoying the performance, and Jack even bobbed his head, or body, to the beat of the music.
When you're stra-a-ange
Faces come out of the rain
When you're strange
No one remembers your name
When you're strange
When you're strange
When you're stra-ange
As the music faded, so did the chain binding Hellwood. Giving his guitar a quick spin, the spirit hovered over to the others.
"Now that… that was some real groove and soul… Mind if I tag along? I've been a solo artist for far too long…"
"Not at all, my friend. You are a welcomed addition to our group."
With all the restless spirits save, Josette could focus on their mission. But they were running out of time, so they had to work fast to scare away Melissa Frost and John Hyde, all while avoiding leaving too much evidence of their existence. John would be the easiest of the two, as he were far away from any of the TV cameras, but they still needed a way to get Melissa to a less exposed area.
The group continued working on maintaining the plasm level by scaring pretty much anyone they came across, resulting in several mortals fleeing in terror.
Swarm, Wendy, Puddles and Netty were dispatched to deal with John, seeking him out on the lower floors, in a staff room, where he was busy flirting with another female worker of the studio.
A Wail and a Shriek from Netty put a stop to the flirtation, as she stalked the hallway right outside. Wendy then followed up with a combined Brief Scare and Swarm Strike from Swarm, the ghostly apparition and swarm of insects easily ruining the mood for John. But it was Puddles that put the final nail in the coffin, using the TV-set as a fetter and unleashing the power of Surge, electrocuting both mortals.
They did however do the job a bit too good, as John and his female prospect were knocked unconscious, much to the delight of the spirits. And as soon as they would wake up, they would be on their way out of the building as fast as they could possibly run. For someone claiming to be sceptical of ghosts, he was surprisingly easy to 'convince', and thus leaving only one target left.
But with the interview just a few minutes away, they had to act fast. Ordered to use a water dispenser in a nearby hallway, Nereid used her Siren Song, trying to focus on Melissa to draw her in. The fair and seductive song reached many people in the near vicinity, including Melissa, luring them to their fate.
But much to the surprise of the Haunters, Melissa was able to fight the urge to follow the song all the way, and only got halfway to Nereid's location. Luckily, after switching fetters, that was close enough for them to begin their assault.
Hellwood started, using the emotional energies of the painting of the station's founder as a fetter, and used the power of Obsession to force Melissa to come closer, close enough for Eleven to follow up with his own powers. Bound to a stuffed bird mounted on the wall, Elven decided that she wasn't going anywhere for a while and used Frozen Stiff to trap her in a shell of ice, at least long enough for the rest of the squad to join up.
When the ice finally cracked, almost all of the team was in the area. Swarm, Jack, Wendy and Hellwood all appeared in front of Melissa, making her almost jump out of her skin. But despite that, she tried to remain calm, straightening out her clothes and hair.
"There are no ghosts." she said to herself. "There are no ghosts."
"What a stubborn broad." Jack complained. "She keeps denying that we're real."
"Just keep pressing her, she will believe in us before the night is over." said Josette.
Working together, Soar with her Tempest and Puddles with her Rain, the two spirits conjured up a strong rain storm inside the room, and Nereid quickly followed suit with her Haunted Hail, making it rain fish as well, all while Netty's Wail echoed in the hallway next to the room.
"G-ghosts a-ain't real… th-they don't e-exist…"
"She still persists. She must be one of the most stubborn mortals ever, even more so than some of my old suitors." Josette frowned. "Very well, then we shall hold nothing back!"
"Music to my ears." said Hellwood.
Striking a tone on his guitar, Hellwood let loose his Twister power on Melissa, pulling her off her feet and left her dangling upside down in the middle of the room. Wendy used Leak to make water spring forth from the walls, and it and the water from the rain then turned into blood, thanks to Nereid's Gore.
Flames erupted from Melissa's body as Jack hit her with Human Torch, and even if she still didn't believe in ghosts, she still couldn't run in panic from being set on fire, as she was still hanging upside down.
As she was dropped onto the floor, the flames went out and the blood vanished, leaving her with only the memories of the events.
"N-no… ghosts… aren't… real…" she forced herself to repeat.
A Shriek and a Shattering Song tore through her ears, and a powerful electrical Surge pulsed through the room, giving her a nasty shock. Once the shock had ended, she couldn't handle any more. She had been a firm believer that ghosts didn't exist, but that had changed, and she fled the building screaming.
"She will not doubt our existence any more." said Josette, as she and her team watched Melissa run away while they left through the portal.
As soon as the team got back to the Ghoul Room, the new recruits set out to find a place where they felt at home.
Puddles found a friend with Wolfgang by the air intake on the top of the building, enjoying the view of the city around them, while Eleven settled in the kitchen on the third floor. There had been a murder there many years earlier, and while the blood stains were long gone, the energies of the event was still there.
Speaking of residual energies, down in the café there was a lot of them, from many a karaoke events that had been held over the years, and the 'stage' in the far corner had a large enough concentration for Hellwood to pick up on. He would remain there, playing some soft tunes on his guitar.
Only a few minutes later, Josette was met by Firecracker, who seemed in quite the hurry.
"Hey, boss!" he said excitedly. "You need to see this! Quick, follow me!"
Not sure what was going on, Josette followed the Fire Elemental down to the second floor, where the criminals they had scared away to claim the café had stored their loot. Bobby and Jabu were already there, and shortly after, the rest of the ghost had also gathered there.
They had somehow managed to connect a stolen TV to the antennae on the roof, and had tuned in to the channel on which the interview with the Sceptic Society was to be on, and it had just started.
"Tonight, we were meant to interview Melissa Frost, president of the Sceptic Society." the narrator began. "However, just a few minutes ago, she was seen leaving the studio in quite the hurry. Witnesses also report that she was yelling something about ghosts being real. I guess she wasn't so sceptic after all."
Hearing that, the ghosts and spirits began laughing. Their night just got a whole lot better.
There we go! One final chapter out before the end of 2017. Hope you all enjoyed it, this was one of my favorites so far.
I'll try to get the new ghosts up on Deviantart shortly, but don't hold your breath. You may have to wait until the next year even. :P