MOUNT JUSTICE
AUGUST 27, 07:58 EDT
"Well…" Ghost muttered, trudging in through the training room whilst rubbing his hip, "That was undeniably shit."
"Roger that." Kid flash groaned before collapsing onto the floor. Robin snorted before dragging his red headed friend to his feet.
"Yes, well, all of you hit the showers." Batman said the team turned and began to clomp off towards the showers. As they left they vaguely heard batman call Aqualad back, but they were too tired to even try and eavesdrop. All except Ghost. The white, or rather brown, suited assassin limped slightly over to Aqualad and Batman.
"Hey Kal?" He said in a slightly guilty tone. "Can I borrow some of your clothes? The suit's gonna need to be washed and I don't actually have any spare clothes." Kaldur's eyes widened as he received the sudden, rather blunt look into Ghost's life.
"Of course, my friend, you, one of the girls and I shall go shopping this weekend to get you some clothes of your own." Ghost nodded and walked towards the showers.
"That was…" Batman began.
"An interesting insight into his life." Batman nodded in agreement before taking on a more serious approach.
Ghost was the last to enter the lounge as he had insisted on showering in complete seclusion. When he trudged in wearing one of Kaldur's hoodies and a pair of jeans, with his mask, or at least a second mask, covering his head and a pair of trainers.
"Dude," Wally said, "Are those Kaldur's clothes?" Ghost nodded.
"I don't have any of my own clothes beyond the suit, so he let me borrow some of his."
"Wait, you only have the one suit right? So when do you wash it?"
"Not very often, but it has a perfect microclimate, so I never sweat, not even after considerable work."
"Yeah, yeah, not that I don't mind talking about the minutia of washing the Ghost suit, my little friend is getting really hungry." Wally said, this statement was followed by a short silence as everyone looked at Wally, with raised eyebrows.
"Why are you- oh! No I meant my stomach, I'm hungry not that I'm- you dirty people."
"hey," Ghost said in an amused tone, raising his hands defensively, "We didn't say anything."
Wally stuck out his tongue and dashed to the fridge almost ripping it off its hinges. He scanned the fridge rapidly before groaning and spinning around.
"There's no food!" He yelled. Ghost frowned at him with a sigh.
"The fridge is literally full to bursting."
"allow me to correct, there's no unhealthy, high sugar, 'I need an energy boost' food."
"Oh," Ghost said, "That makes total sense."
"See, even to you, my cravings make sense!" Wally yelled victoriously, "So, who's going to go out and buy some take out for us?"
"Hmm," Robin began playfully, "Who out of the three normal people, the two Cadmus born clones and the Martian should go?"
"Ok, Ghost, Supes, Miss M, you guys can go!" Wally said gleefully, Artemis' and Robin's only response was to groan and bury their faces in their hands.
"No, wally." Artemis said, "Me and Robin will go."
"Robin and I." Ghost said, and Artemis could hear the smirk in his voice, she flipped him the bird and Ghost gasped.
"Artemis! How rude!" Ghost said in a falsely shocked tone. There was a chorus of laughter from all present.
"Come on, Artemis, or wally might start eating through the furniture." Robin said and the two teens left.
Superboy, M'gann, Wally and Ghost fell silent.
"Okay," Ghost spoke seemingly sudden, "Am I the only one who sees the elephant in the room?"
M'gann, who was still slightly back on the complexities of metaphors, looked around for a moment, attempting to see said elephant before apparently grasping that I was a metaphor and turning back to ghost.
"What?" Wally asked.
"Our last mission was a shambles, I mean we succeeded but it was hardly a curb stomp victory. Robin still doesn't trust me, I can tell that much, Wally, you don't trust Artemis, we aren't taking full advantage of M'gann's telepathy, Superboy, you still want to work independently." The assassin shook his head. "We've got to get better at working together."
"Like you and your last team worked well together straight off." Wally scoffed. Ghost fell silent before turning to wally.
"Exactly!" He sprang to his feet and rushed over to the TV.
"And, you're doing what exactly?" Wally asked.
"I am going to put some of our mission footage on TV for you guys." He turned to face the trio of teammates "This is our first mission together, one of the guys shot me, the other had no idea what we needed him to do! Just as soon as the other two get back I'll show it to you."
Once Artemis and Robin returned everyone sat around the TV, boxes of Chinese food all around them.
"So," Ghost began, "First thing, the background, we got told to go to this location, neither of us knew anything about the mission until the briefing you will see." He reached up and pressed the play button.
The screen was split into four parts, although each was easily big enough to be its own TV. The top left quarter showed the view from a figure, sitting in a wheeled chair in the back of a van, spinning slowly in circles. The bottom left showed another figure in the van, standing towards the back and watching the first spinning. The top right screen showed the view of another figure who sat at the front of the van, black combat gloved hands resting on the wheel, looking around the street in which the van was parked. There was silence for a few seconds before a voice spoke over the intercom.
"Good evening gentlemen. All three of you have been directed here by your handlers. Today you have an important mission. Vito Beretta is, according to our sources, planning a huge operation to assassinate Enrico Inzerillo." We have been tasked with assassinating him. You will not ask about the reason for this, just know that you will be payed once the job is done. There has been no specified course of action, but that if you're are tracked down, all connections with us will be cut. The driver in the front of the truck is Deadshot, he is one of the best snipers in all of the US, the one sitting down is Logic, he is one of the best hackers available to us and will be able to influence anything computer based. The other one is known only as Ghost, he is able to phase through solid objects and can cloak, becoming near invisible. Use these abilities to decide what your plan is. I wish you good luck."
There was a moment of silence before a small speaker symbol appeared in the top right screen.
"Logic, can you find a blue print of the area?" Another symbol appeared in the top left as Logic stopped spinning and dragged himself up to the desk.
"Of course." A surprisingly young voice said. Logic's fingers flew over the keyboard, pressing keys rapidly. It took just a few seconds before a map appeared on his computer screen. Deadshot turned around and slid into the back of the van. Both he and Ghost converged on the screen and looked at it.
"Four men, two security cameras and three locked doors. The front is a tad OTT isn't it?" Logic said.
"The back only has two men though." Ghost said.
"Yeah, but the door's four inches of steel." Deadshot added.
"I can step through that; the men are the problem. I can't phase and cloak at the same time."
"If they notice you," Logic said, "Vito's gonna run away."
"I can cover any escape."
"Or," Ghost cut in, "Logic, set off some alarms, either Vito runs away and Deadshot gets him, or he goes into lockdown and trap themselves in a little box."
"That," Deadshot snapped, "has to be the worst idea I've ever heard." Ghost turned to him and spoke in an incredulous tone.
"What? Fuck you!"
Deadshot turned to face ghost and growled. "I've had the most experience, I guarantee, listen to me and we pull this off!"
"Guys!" Logic yelled, "Stop it! Deadshot, go and cover the escape, we don't want anyone getting away, but stay near the van. Ghost, head round back and attack. I'm going to keep track and make sure the two of you know what's going on. Quit arguing and get the job done." Ghost and Deadshot turned to each other for a moment before nodding.
This was the first time the screens had been clear enough for the team to see what Ghost's companions looked like. Deadshot was of average height, wearing black snow boots, grey cargo pants, red winter jacket and black ski mask. A metallic eyepiece covered one of his eyes and a dark metal armbrace was mounted on his wrist. Logic was still out of sight, sitting in a large chair, completely hidden from the cameras.
From Deadshot's camera they could see that Ghost wore not just his normal white suit but also a beige trench coat and fedora, all serving to obscure his weapons and tech.
Ghost nodded before walking away to the back doors and slipping out. The fourth quarter of the screen flickered to life and showed security camera footage which tracked Ghost. The team watched as he snuck around to the back of a large shop building. He turned into an alley and began to march purposefully towards two men who sat around a large barrel. One of the men looked up at Ghost and frowned.
"Hey, you, leave, now!" He snapped, rising up and grabbing a large gun from next to him. When Ghost didn't stop the man sighed, took aim and opened fire. The security camera footage showed the bullets shredding the back of Ghost's coat. Once the brute had emptied his gun he grinned. The grin faded as Ghost looked up and casually slid his coat off his shoulders.
"What the fuck?" The man asked, panic flooding his voice. Ghost flickered out of the camera's sight but Ghost's feed showed him dashing forwards towards the man. He became visible only a few feet away and, before the man could react, slashed the grunt across the gut, spilling entrails over the floor. The second man screamed and ran to a large metal door, which he began pounding on. Ghost flickered out of visibility and marched up behind the man.
"What is it Dunc?" A voice asked as a small peephole opened.
"Some crazy motherfucker killed Benny, he turned invisible, Let me in!" There was a derisive snort of disbelief from the door.
"now now, Dunc, we don't want to ruin our fun, do we?" Ghost whispered before ramming his sword through Dunc's stomach, impaling him to the door. The Doorman's eyes widened and he stepped back. Ghost stepped calmly through the door, phasing as he did so. The Security camera switched, now showing the interior, and the dozen or so men, all levelling rifles at Ghost.
"Come now, Gents, can't we be civil about this?" Ghost asked, sneering this time. Almost immediately the panicked mobsters began to fire. Ghost sighed, and cloaked.
His feed became unwatchable as it was filled with a mess of blurry motion, blood, limbs, gore and the silver sliver of his sword. The security camera however showed Ghost, ignoring the bullets, moving swiftly around the room. He became solid only momentarily, to swing his sword in a killing blow.
It took less than a minute for the dozen men to all lie dead on the ground.
"Ghost!" Deadshot called.
"What?" Ghost replied, walking, albeit rather briskly, through the building, killing any who got in his way.
"Vito is leaving."
"Deal with him then."
"I'd love to, but I kind of need everyone to focus on something else, at least three of the bastards have heavy duty RPGs."
"How'd they get RPGs?" Logic asked.
"They're the mob buddy." Ghost and Deadshot said in perfect unison.
"Ghost, get moving!"
"Alright, Alright." Ghost sped up slightly, focused in the front door and stepped outside into a large, floodlit courtyard. Vito was sitting in a car as men scrambled around him. Ghost let out an annoyed sigh as, after a few seconds no one noticed him. He raised one of his pistols and shot one of the men dead.
"Excuse me! I'm trying to kill you and you aren't even paying attention to me!" Chaos broke loose.
The fight was over quickly, Ghost cut down all of the men with ease, moving swiftly from man to man and delivering a single, lethal blow to each one.
"Vito's moving." Logic said. Deadshot spun to face the courtyard entrance and gazed down his rifle scope. The car emerged but made it only a few metres down the street before a bullet from Deadshot struck the car and sent it flying as the engine exploded. Ghost stepped out into the street and dashed towards the car. At the same time as he sprang towards the wreckage, Deadshot let loose another bullet.
"Motherfucker!" Ghost screamed as Deadshot's bullet tore through his shoulder. The white suited assassin landed in a crouch, braced against the frame of the car. Vito was a moderately handsome man, with a chiselled jaw and grey hair, but his face was marred by scars and blood from the crash.
"Why do you want to kill me?" He hissed, glaring at Ghost despite his head being stuck by a shard of shrapnel.
"I don't," Ghost said as he clambered through the door frame before drawing his sword. "But someone else, probably an old enemy, does. We're here on a hit. Have a good death." He slid his sword into Vito's chest, in between the ribs. Vito gurgled and blood spilled from his lips as Ghost watched. He then withdrew his sword and rammed it firmly through Vito's forehead.
The feed cut off in silence.
"And so," Ghost said after a few moments of tense silence, "I got shot and killed a lot of people."
"A lot of those were completely unnecessary kills." Robin said, a firm, disapproving tone in his voice.
"I'm sorry, Robin, but that was a different me, I used to kill because that's all I knew. I don't want to kill any more." Ghost said.
"A leopard can't change its spots." Robin snapped.
"You did." Ghost replied quickly.
"What do you mean?" Robin asked quickly.
"You know exactly what I mean." Ghost replied in a voice that screamed of satisfaction.
"You can't know about that." Robin hissed, squaring up to Ghost.
"That shows what you know." Ghost said, in a manner which suggested that he had won the fight already, stepping up to scratch opposite Robin. Robin quite clearly didn't like this because he swung for Ghost's head. The two boys began to brawl, throwing punches and slaps at each other. Artemis rocketed off the couch and shoved herself in-between them, pushing both away.
"Stop it, morons!" She yelled, holding the two apart long enough for them to stop blindly swinging and instead settle for glaring daggers at each other.
"Walk away Ghost!" Artemis snapped, forcing the assassin out of the room and towards the garage. "come on, you need to calm down, so we're going for a walk." The two walked out of the large Garage door and onto the beach. The orange light from the setting sun shone on the water and A quick glance to her left showed Artemis that Ghost already seemed calmer, his eyes fixed on the sun.
"I always used to go out in the dark." He said conversationally, "I spent about sixteen hours a day inside my pod, asleep. Eight hours at most outside, only after nightfall and returning to the pod before dawn."
"I used to spend six hours training with my dad." Artemis replied, "He never let me leave the house, maybe that's why mom was so glad he got locked away."
"Hmm, maybe that's why you seem to trust me more than any of the others, maybe you get me a little more than they do."
"No, I don't trust you because I get you, I trust you because I don't get you and I don't think I do. The others all think they know how you think, they don't, I don't think anyone except you does know you." Artemis sat down under a tree while Ghost drew one of his swords and began to run through drills, his sword moving serenely through the air as he moved from position to position. Artemis watched and the two fell into a comfortable silence. As Ghost continued to drill, a frown slowly grew on Artemis' face.
"Who taught you those?" She asked suddenly Ghost glanced at her.
"I don't know, I think they got implanted, why?" He asked. Artemis rose to her feet and took Ghost's second sword.
"Run through that set again." She said. Ghost moved into the first position and Artemis followed him.
"Go." Said Ghost and the two began to move through the set position by position. To the surprise of both Artemis perfectly copied Ghost. Once the set was done, they stepped apart and Artemis stared at him.
"Those are Shadows routines." Artemis said, frowning.
"Which means that-" Ghost began.
"- the Shadows were working with Cadmus." Artemis finished.
"Well, shit," Ghost muttered, "listen, we can't tell anyone else about this, it raises all sorts of crazy questions, like why you know Shadows training routines." Artemis nodded her agreement and then suddenly grinned.
"Well, you seem a hell of a lot calmer. Let's head back." Ghost nodded and the two turned to walk back into the mountain.
A/N- So, today we finished the Ghost equivalent of episode 8, Downtime. Next we get Bereft, although I warn you, it will be from Ghost's perspective, which isn't actually set in bialya.
I kind of like the idea of Ghost and Artemis figuring this out early while the others struggle.