A/N:
Ok! We are slightly later than my usual upload time, because of HTML formatting(sorry FFN!), but it's only a few hours lol. Oh! FFN's stats are working again. IDK if they ever made an announcement, but wow was it a surprise seeing it pop back to life.
I don't know if I've ever said, but I'm one of those old school fandom authors that loves all interactions. Speculation, screaming about how you hate the villain, gushing about your feelings/reactions, talking about if a section seems too long, saying you don't like something, saying I got something wrong, ect. Unless you literally tell me, or another commenter!, to kys, my comments are a free for all. You have no obligation to say anything, but don't feel the need to hold back if you have neutral or negative things to say.
My comments are always a safe space for interactions and community building. :)
Summary:
Valerie searches for an absent Phantom, and gets a different reaction than expected in seeking him out...
Chapter Specific Warnings:
Coarse Language, Misogyny(on the forums), Homophobic slur use(on the forums), Ableist slur use(on the forums), fatphobia(on the fourms), the forums being a general time period accurate cesspool of the internet, drug use(implied).
Chapter Title:
Rebuffed: To refuse; to offer sudden or harsh resistance; to turn down or shut out. ... Repercussion, or beating back.
Spurned: To reject disdainfully; contemn; scorn. ... To waste; fail to make the most of (an opportunity) ... rebuffed (by a lover) without warning.
5:45pm; November 2nd, 2005; Elmerton
She clicked over to the other tab again, taking in the last message one more time. The sent receipt on the bottom remained the same: 8:36pm yesterday. She clicked away, trying to work on her history homework, doing preliminary research for a paper that was due in another two weeks, just before the Thanksgiving break. She tapped into the keys, checking the dates for the founding of the Holy Roman Empire against the fall of the Karling Dynasty, trying to get a sense for how the house of Charlemagne ended up broken before the title was renounced centuries later. Her phone buzzed. She ignored it. She'd go on patrol later that night, and she'd already set up a separate alert tone for hostile reports. She blindly groped for the drink next to her, taking in a few slurps of Wild Monster, before staring back at the Drikipedia page with the primary sources at the bottom. She might not be able to cite this directly, but it was great for tracking down other links.
A click and a few seconds later, and she found herself on a museum website with several articles about the history of the Frankish kings. That would be useful later. She opened a new tab, looking up the history of the founding of France and how Brittany became Frankish instead of Breton. This, admittedly, was off the beaten path for her research paper's subject, but the cultural change intrigued her. A few distracted clicks later, and she was back to staring at her DMs, the same sent receipt flashing back at her. Still. She clicked away and did more research, pulling up a few more tabs, this time about the other major nation states and their relationships with the Holy Roman Empire through the 800's AD. She scowled when she caught herself drifting back to the forum tab, and went to close it, stopping before she could press the mouse key. What if he messaged back? She clicked over, coming face to face with the same sent receipt, and pushed away from her desk to pace the room.
She glanced back at the computer, then to her alarm clock, then finally to her bedroom door, eyes going in a circle multiple times as she thought everything she knew through. Phantom had never ignored her messages before. He'd disappeared, truly disappeared, after the Ops Center fight. She couldn't find his ecto-signature anywhere with any scanner. That flash of white blue light, the way he stared all dull-eyed at the still-standing walking calamity like his afterlife depended on defeating it, the dull, barely-there aura as he'd plunged through the air after using his Wail, his transparent form practically smeared against the roof of the building, the whole quick scene played over and over again in her mind. The details jumbled together as it repeated, stuttering and stopping, bleeding into each other until the mass melted into a mess of colors and sound and feelings. She'd watched him attack. She watched a flash of white light start and cut out around him, hot and searing against the concrete. She'd flown away. She was standing right next to him, begging him to respond, to look at her. She'd caught him. His form was so insubstantial he'd slipped through her hands. He was floating right next to her, joking, laughing. He'd disappeared. He'ddisappeared, and now the chatty specter wasn't answering his messages. She bit at her thumbnail, chewing and worrying at it as the last moment she'd seen him looped in her mind.
They'd been joking. The news copter had flown too close. She'd gotten distracted. She turned back, and he was gone. No matter how many times she replayed it, searching for more details, the result remained the same. In the immediate aftermath, she'd dismissed it to help with the cleanup. But her scans showed his energy just cut out after drifting a few blocks away. There hadn't been a portal to the Zone. She'd triple checked. No random spontaneous passage had snatched him back to the other dimension's confines. He was just gone. She looked back at the page, taking in the blinking sent receipt, and covered her eyes with her hands.
He'd always been fine before.He hasn't been seen patrolling in over a day. She shouldn't be worried about this. He always messages me back... Phantom was the most powerful ghost she knew. He promised me he wouldn't melt. She growled and threw herself back into her chair, determined to put this out of her mind. He was back in the Zone, recovering, and things were fine. He'd never been gone that long, but she'd never seen him that weak before either. He just needed more time to soak up the vibes in the Zone, and then he'd be back. He'd better be back; she couldn't patrol the whole city herself. She'd set up different chimes between the hostile and calm reports just for that reason.
She looked at her previously ignored phone while biting the inside of her cheek. He was in the Zone. Ellie was in the Zone. She could ask her if she'd seen or heard anything about Phantom. She snatched up her cell and started typing before she could talk herself out of it.
"Have you heard anything about Phantom lately?" Not the best message to re-open their conversation after the warning not to come to Amity, but maybe, now that she'd done something, she could put this out of her mind. She tossed the phone back onto her bed and sat back down in front of her computer. He'll be back. There's no way he can give up his obsession to protect Amity Park like that. She concluded, typing a few new things into the document she was using to store her first round of research. She focused on her paper, tracking down another couple great links to .edu websites, before her eyes inevitably drifted back to the tab containing their DMs. She checked the time: 6:15pm. A little early, but maybe the distraction of patrol would keep her from constantly checking the dead—She grabbed her European history notebook, and shoved it into her backpack, zipping it closed in a single motion. "Daddy, I'm going out on patrol."
"A little early, isn't it, honey?" His voice called back from the other side of her closed door, where she'd heard wrestling to accompany it.
"I wanna get a head start. With Phantom still AWOL, I have to cover the whole city. There are a couple reports of more tame tech in his territory I need to check before a hostile cluster comes in and takes up my whole evening." She tossed her bag next to her closet, searching around for the older pair of tennis she'd broken to save for a jog later if she still needed to settle her nerves.
"Still nothing?" Her father's concerned face poked into her room, guard uniform donned and badge fixed firmly on his left breast pocket.
"Nothing yet, but I'm not worried."
"Then why's my little sweet pea's face got the worry wrinkle between her eyebrows?" He walked into her room, careful to navigate around the textbooks stacked next to her desk, and placed her face between his hands. His thumb went up to rub between her eyebrows, soothing away the scrunch he found there. "You look anxious, baby girl."
"He hasn't messaged back." The confused blinks reminded her of the absurd nature of the ghost having a way to DM her at all. "We talk through the back channels of the reporting website, since we're both admins. He hasn't messaged since before the fight."
"That not like him?"
"He's surprisingly text-y and tech-savvy for a ghost."
"Phantom only appeared a little over a year ago, Val. You said you thought his death was recent when we talked Saturday?"
"Well, yeah, but the thing about ghosts is they don't...contain all the memories and knowledge of the person who they're the imprint of. Even if a modern day teen turned into a ghost, they wouldn't necessarily know how to work a cell phone or go on the internet. They'd have faint memories of who or where they used to go, and strong ones about what they cared about when they died, but…" She trailed off, thinking back through the ectology research she'd done on the subject. "Anyway, Phantom's weird like that. It's not just the texting and instant messaging, he claims he can possess tech."
"Like that Technus ghost from a bit ago?" Her dad released her face, standing back with a thoughtful expression.
"He didn't say exactly like that, but he did claim he could maybe possess the Ops Center at full power."
"And that's weird?"
"It's a weird ability for a ghost without a technology obsession, yeah. Technus controls things because it's related to his sense of self and purpose as a ghost. But Phantom's not a technology ghost, heck, it doesn't even fit the rest of his suite of powers. Not that those make much sense, either." She reached down to pick up a wayward book, this one the reading assignment for Mr. Lancer's class, and placed it on top of her nightstand. "Ithink his obsession is protecting Amity, and considering how he acted during that fight, now I'm almost sure of it. That doesn't connect to using technology at all. And that's not the only weird thing!" She could feel herself getting swept up again, thinking about how incongruous the famous ghost's behavior could be.
"He makes references to modern media. He jokes about eating food or going to school. I know that sounds like normal teen stuff, but most ghosts are focused, almost overwhelmingly so, on their obsession. The Box Ghost talks about and chases after boxes. Desiree and her w-i-s-h-e-s. Skulker's always going on about hunting things." She stopped, worrying the inside of her cheek as the thought of a weakened Phantom and a murderous Skulker out for his pelt connected in her mind. She pushed the thought away, putting a pin in it for later this evening, returning to her previous point. "If Phantom's thing is protecting Amity, he should be focused on that. He does talk about it a lot, but no more than I do, and it feels like it's only this much because every piece of electronics in town has come to life and half of it wants to enact revenge on humankind."
"We do tend to mistreat the machines around us."
"That's not really the point, Daddy." She sighed, looking back at the computer with its traitorous tab. "He's too broad, too varied, too—"
"Human?" She looked over at him at the question, eyebrows hopefully communicating the skepticism her mouth did not. "Everything you've said so far makes it sound like that's your point."
"Well, it is...kind of."
"Valerie, how many of those famous ecto-scientists have actually talked to a ghost?"
"None other than the Fentons, and they mostly get screamed at by ghosts announcing their evil plots."
"That's not what I mean. I meant, how many of them have sat down and had a conversation with them like you do with Phantom?" She looked away then, eyes traveling to the clock by her bed.
"I think only a few working for the GIW, but they're sworn to secrecy by the government. None of the published research involves actually exchanging words with a ghost, in fact, a number of scientists don't think ghosts are sentient enough to manage it."
"They've never been to Amity." His salt and pepper mustache lifted with the intensity of his grin.
"They should." She concluded, looking over her shoulder at the clock herself. 6:35pm, I'm keeping him from work. "Don't you gotta head out soon, Daddy?" She watched the bright twinkle in his eyes, dim a little at the mention of his job.
"Unfortunately. I've got leftovers in the fridge for you to heat up when you get back from patrol. Make sure to eat something." He crossed the room and enveloped her in a big hug. "Be careful out there pumpkin, and keep an eye out. Phantom's pretty tough. He'll be back before you know it." He stepped back a bit, peering down at her with warmth in his eyes, "I'm so proud of you Valerie. You've been working so hard in school, and now you're braving this tech...thing that's happening. You're a marvel." He leaned down and planted a bunch of kisses on the top of her head.
"Aw, Daddy stop! That tickles."
"You know mustache tickles are the best kind." She giggled again as another set of kisses graced her forehead and then the tip of her nose, before he finally let her go. "Go kick butt out there, sweet pea, I'll be back before you leave for school." He stepped all the way back then, hands going over his pockets to check for everything he'd need to leave. Satisfied with his once-over, he smiled at her once more. "Let me see you off, then I'll lock the door behind me when I leave."
She double-checked everything she'd need herself, before reaching over and lifting the window with a smooth glide. She stepped out onto the fire escape and stood on the rail, giving a quick glance around to be sure no one else was paying attention. Then, she stepped off, calling up the suit in an instant to wrap her in warm armor and dangerous weaponry. "I'll text you when I get back from patrol, so you don't worry. Things are looking quiet, so it might be a quick one today."
"I'll see ya' in the morning." He whispered, staying at the window until she waved goodbye, before he closed it and headed towards the front of the apartment.
She took to the sky, pushing the jets on her board towards the farthest edge of Amity's outskirts. With Phantom missing the last day and a half, she'd decided to start in his territory, since it was farther away, and then work her way back towards home. She pulled up the reports map in her visor, checking for high priority incidents with big or dangerous tech that might have popped up in the last few minutes. Finding nothing, she continued on her way towards Parkland Point, content to work her way back to Elmerton over the course of the next few hours.
She'd done a few lazy circles around the docks, and worked her way back past the train tracks and into the city proper, when she got the first ping. A glance to the upper left corner showed her the scan she'd set to search for Phantom's energy had gotten a hit. She slammed on the breaks in the middle of a sweeping arc, pulling up the results of the scan. The reading was small, much lower level than his typical one, but real and, most importantly, recent. The energy couldn't be older than an hour according to her system, and she leapt on the trail while it was hot. Turning away from her previous direction, she sped towards the hot spot on her radar. It wasn't moving. With how weak it was, it was probably residual energy. Still, it was the first lead in two days. She'd take it.
She came to a stop over the energy reading, looking around the area for clues to Phantom's whereabouts. Below, the snow showed signs of recent passage, and one of the trees bore scorch marks that lit up bright to her ecto-sensitive scope. The clues ended there. There weren't any chunks of metal from potentially misbehaving tech or trails to or from the spot. Another quick check of her read-outs proved a portal hadn't opened either. How was Phantom pulling this disappearing act? A concern for another time, because a new hot spot had appeared on her visor, and it popped up back into the city, in one of Phantom's patrol zones.
She zoomed off, after one quick look around the area for potential trouble, and hurried towards the new signature. She arrived in record time, but still was only greeted by a residual signature and no Phantom. This time, though, there were signs of a struggle. There were large chunks of metal sitting on the steps of the library, with a couple people milling around, still peering up at the sky. She floated down to speak with them. "Hey," she started, getting a group of college age looking young adults to look in her direction, "have you seen Phantom?"
"Oh yeah, you just missed him. He came in and grabbed this computer from the building and dropped it on the steps." The twenty-something smiled, eyes looking a little unfocused. "It made the best crash, shit flying everywhere, like it got exploded from the inside. Real shame you're late." He shoved a hand-rolled cigarette into his mouth, taking a long drag. "He said he couldn't stay though, had uh, other places to patrol. The computer wasn't so bad. I mean, sure, it kept trying to eat Carl's hand, but Carl's a huge dick."
"Am not!"
"Are too, dick cheese! You erased my whole thesis paper. Now, I gotta redo it from scratch."
"It's not due for two years, you dweeb!"
"I'm doing a double major, you fucking idiot. If I don't start working on it now, I won't have time with everything else." The college student looked back up at her, pupils dilated and eyes red, squinting into the evening gloom. "Oh yeah, still here, Red Huntress? Hey, why do you still call yourself that when you mostly wear black now?"
"I bet it's a trademark."
"Shut the fuck up, Martin, no one asked you."
"This is why Carl deleted your research paper. You're the biggest dick of us all... Dick."
"I hate to interrupt," the three young men looked back up at her, looking startled that she was still there, "do you know which way he flew off?"
"Uh, yeah, that way." One of them, Martin, she thought, pointed over the top of the downtown library, back towards more of Phantom's territory. "I mean, you've got probes, and guns, and radar in that suit, don't you? Why don't you just use your tech?"
"If she could do that, why she'd ask a moron like you for help?"
"My devilish good looks?"
"You look demonic alright, the kind that scares the hoes."
"Shut up, Richard, holy shit!" She moved away from the bickering friends, setting off in the direction they pointed. The sun had set a while back, and now the last of its heat had radiated away from the brick and stone of the buildings. The printout on her visor read a frigid 20 degrees this far up in the air, and it was getting colder. Chilly temperatures made it easier for ghosts to manifest. She figured that out the first winter she had her suit. Maybe the extra chill was helping bolster Phantom, because the signature was stronger this time. She increased her speed, gaining ground on the moving target, before it winked out of existence, vanishing in a poof once more. This time she carefully slowed her flight, taking in the new information. Phantom could hide his energy signature at will, even from scanners as powerful as hers. He could hide, and was hiding, if not from her, then from more powerful foes while he recovered.
She pulled up his last three known locations, tracing the arc of his flight path and comparing that to the reports on the forum. A small cluster of wigglers came up, and she flew towards them, hoping to catch the little Houdini before he slipped away again. She poured on the speed, arriving above a group of kids in the park, munching Halloween candy and watching a group of wigglers move around. She turned on the stealth mode on her suit and pressed into the branches of a nearby group of trees, waiting for the ghost teen to appear.
She waited a good fifteen minutes, before she got a new ping on her scanners, blocks away from this group of kids. She frowned, wondering how he'd picked his new target, considering both were reports of tame tech. Deciding to ignore it for the moment, she hovered down in front of the kids, reappearing in a flash of magenta. "Shouldn't you all be home by now? It's getting late."
"Huntress! HI!" The closest boy screamed and ran up to her, eyes big above his scarf. "We found some wigglers for you. They don't seem to be doing anything, though."
"Sometimes, the tech comes alive and it's nice." She floated into the middle of the group, taking a closer look at the group of handheld gaming systems. "Where did you get these?"
"From our house!" One of the other kids, another boy, announced cheerfully, eyes brimming with excitement. "They just started bugging out this evening."
"All at the same time?"
"No, Jimmy's started yesterday, and then it was Frankie's, but then these other two from me and Sammy's houses started today." The boy left out his name, but he was the only one wearing red.
"Did you hang out with each other? Maybe show each other your new wiggly toys when the non-moving ones were around?"
"Yeah! We were hoping it would catch, cause none of the tech in me and Sammy's house was wigglers yet, and it worked. His and mine's Gameplayers+ are both wiggling, and so is the vacuum at Sammy's house." The red hat wearing boy spoke up again, loud and charismatic.
"That all true, Sammy?" She watched as the quietest boy in the group nodded.
"It took a little bit, too. We've been trying for three whole days." Red hat, once more, the potential leader of the bunch. She gave the toy a quick scan, and then checked them off the report list.
"Why did you bring them out here?"
"We were hoping to summon Phantom." The group of small boys looked up at her, eyes expectant. "Have you seen him, Ms. Huntress?"
"Not yet, but I've scanned him. He's around here somewhere. I'm actually looking for him."
"Is that why you were invisible?" the first boy spoke up, Frankie maybe.
"Yup. I was trying to surprise him. He uses his invisibility to do it to me all the time."
"I'm glad you and him are friends now. It sucked when you used to fight." The other children agreed, picking up their wiggling toys and holding them up to her. "Don't you gotta take them in to get cured?"
"Well, not yet. Your toys are good and nice, so they can stay with you. Do you live around here?" At the boys' collective nods, she shooed them away, ordering them home. "Just because your friends are nice, doesn't mean every other machine who wakes up will be. It's after dark, go back home." She waved at them as she prepared to fly off, then thought better of it, staying to escort the wayward elementary students the two blocks back to their street. "Now, get to bed, I know you've got school in the morning."
"Bye Huntress!" The group screamed in unison.
"I hope you find your friend soon!" Sammy said, being pulled inside by his flustered and haggard looking mother.
Her friend. Is Phantom my friend? She thought, flying back towards the last spot she'd gotten a fresh reading. This time, it took off in a rush, so she raced after it. He flew her through the city, over the still recovering Main street, past Casper, and back closer to Elmerton, before he stopped. She flew up next to him, across from a roof, taking in his scowling face. "About time you slowed down for a minute."
"I don't have the energy to play cat and mouse with you all night, Huntress."
"Why do it at all? You had to know I was looking for you."
"And me running away wasn't a clear enough sign I wanted to avoid you?" This was...new. Usually Phantom sought her out, but now, just like his messages, he was avoiding her.
"Did I do something wrong?" The question felt absurd the moment after she'd spoken it. She hadn't done anything but save this ghost's bacon in the last forty-eight hours. He had no reason to hate her.
"No." See! She thought triumphant, and then felt the emotion mute as confusion surged up to tangle with it. Then why did he take me on a wild goose chase across town?
"Then you don't have a reason for the sudden shyness. Are you feeling nervous because I carried you in my strong arms?" Her attempts at a joke fell flat, the usual lift to his lips, no matter how small, remaining absent. "Really, why have you been running like this?"
"I didn't want to talk to you."
"Clearly," she rolled her eyes, placing her hands on her hips. "I mean, 'oh no, who ever could have guessed!'"
"That's not funny, Huntress." Still, his normally light mood and playful tone hadn't returned. Maybe she had done something wrong.
"Whatever, you gonna answer my question?"
"I already said I didn't want to talk."
"Why?"
"I…" He glanced away for a moment, eyes unfocused, before returning to stare her down hard. "I don't want to work with you. Don't get me wrong, the 'no blasting each other' part of the truce is great but—"
"Holy shit, Phantom, are you that much of a glory hog?" Even her needling didn't work, his face stuck in the same stony, yet bored, looking expression since the conversation started.
"I don't think we work well together, our styles are too different."
"This coming from the ghost who begged me to team up."
"I didn't have enough experience to know it was a bad idea. I do now." He floated, a meter away, feeling more and more like he stood on the other end of the continent.
"So, you just want to what?"
"Ignore each other. We don't fight, we stay in our lanes, and we take care of the incidents in our territory. Neutral and simple."
"The next time Fenton tech—"
"Won't be one."
"How are you so—"
"Do you ever stop fucking prying, Huntress?" Wow. He sounded genuinely mad. She should be happy she got an emotional response out of him, but right now all she could feel was ice wrapping around every limb and burning in her cheeks.
"You want me to ignore you? Fine! You stay over near that Fenton death trap, and I'll patrol my neighborhoods. I catch you slacking on the job, you will hear from me."
"You think you can do this job better than I can, you're welcome to try." With that, he turned invisible again, and flew away. This time, she could see him in her scanners, and that just burned her up. He'd let her know he could avoid her any time he wanted, and now didn't even bother with his magic trick.
She checked the time, groaning when she realized she'd wasted her entire patrol chasing after the ghost asshole, before turning to head for home. She had a research paper to continue working on and a new chapter for the assigned reading to do. She flew off into Elmerton, a dark cloud haunting her thoughts. He hadn't called her "Red" once. She put her board away after landing on the fire escape. Her phone buzzed, and the message popped into her visor.
"I haven't heard anything. What's up? He's missing?"
"Never mind, girl, I found him. He's not dead, and he told me to fuck off." She shot back, a little bit of glee growing in her heart at the thought of getting the other girl on her side. Well, fuck you back. She concluded, lifting her room window and slamming it shut behind her.
6:10pm; November 5th, 2005; Elmerton
She sat on her desk chair, staring down the forum tab with disdain. Another few days of being ignored, he'd even skipped their Friday strategy meeting, and she felt angrier than when she'd flown off. He wanted all the benefits of a truce on his end, with none of the work. He wanted to enjoy not being shot at, and stiff her on the effort of working together to put down this accused plague before it destroyed every machine in town. The message receipt blinked back innocently at her, unaware of her brewing thoughts. If he wanted to play hard ball, she would oblige. She clicked over to his profile, taking in the goofy shot of him with a towel cap and his wide grin with annoyance, before tapping the mouse a few times to block him. Summarily blocked, she leaned back in her chair, feeling a sprig of happiness spring up at the thought of his annoyed frown.
It withered on the vine, her own mind deciding to remind her how silly it was to be this mad three days later. He hadn't turned down the truce, not really, he just didn't want to work incidents together. That shouldn't bug her! She liked working alone, preferred it. She always had. She ignored the constant buzzing that signaled some admin report from the forums. The fight against the Ops Center on Halloween had triggered an all out Forum War, with fans on both sides claiming their favorite hunter had been instrumental in taking down the giant machine.
The few people with enough brain cells to rub together agreed it was a team effort, but they'd been drowned out and then run off days ago. Now, everyone still persisting on the topic were the die hard fans. She'd been shocked to have so many, at least enough loud ones to rival Phantom, when the storm first started. Now? She just wanted the lot of them to stop blowing up her phone with their pointless debate. A quick glance at the clock showed she had forty-five minutes to kill before patrol started. She could peek in on the nonsense a bit before then. Maybe she'd clear a few reports of the worst trolls and then she'd laugh at whatever tortured logic pretzels people had resorted to at this point.
She clicked to pull up the web page, browsing to the back channels to look at a few reports. Her inbox overflowed with the bilious bile stirred up from the bottom of the internet's cesspool now infesting their website's forums. She clicked the first link, an unsurprising report of another tussle between GhostTeenReignsSupreme, and whoever else they thought had insulted Phantom's honor that day. Very few Phantom fans on the forums got close to as dedicated as them, and no one else matched their rancor.
GhostTeenReignsSupreme:
Listen here you little shits, if you think that flying slut is responsible for taking down the Ops Center, then you've got marbles for brains. We all watched it live! Phantom is the one who frozefrozen it stuck, and Phantom is the one whose attack maimed it.
HuntingQueen10:
If Phantom's so great, how come Red Huntress had to come and clean up his mess?
GhostTeenReignsSupreme:
You mean steal all the credit and the glory in the eyes of you mouth breathing retards! All she did is fly into the hole Phantom already made, and fuck around in there. Anyone could have done that.
Ishtar4President:
Could you?
GhostTeenReignsSupreme:
You give me that suit, and I'll do ten times as good as her!
Ishtar4President:
You're some fat basement dwelling fuck who can't even touch his toes, let alone see them. You ain't doing shit!
GhostTeenReignsSupreme:
I'm so athletic, they're gonna name a trophy after me.
Ishtar4President:
Is the sport's event sucking Phantom's cock?
GhostTeenReignsSupreme:
No. But the only contest you'd win is most likely to get caught [redacted: references to bestiality.]
She sighed. This one had already been taken care of by Technomage, banning the problem user for a few hours. They'd returned, this time promoting Phantom merchandise. There was no way it was officially affiliated, and this time they'd gotten into it with the other Phantom fans for pushing knock-off plushies with the ghost's likeness without his permission.
GhostTeenReignsSupreme:
I'm not gonna sell it yet you assholes. I'm making a prototype to show him. It's not worth dick if he doesn't approve.
PhantomBabe4lyfe:
Don't you think it's kinda weird to make a doll of him without asking? Like, what if it's, like, supernatural and you could control him with it.
GhostTeenReignsSupreme:
I don't have magic; it's just cotton and polyester.
PhantomTruther:
I don't care what it's made of, it's disturbing. How would you feel if someone made a plush doll of you?
GhostTeenReignsSupreme:
Honored. : ) Don't worry guys; I'm gonna make this the best prototype you've ever seen.
Iceboy1500:
No one was worried freak, except for if you planned to stalk Phantom to use his shed hair on the doll to give it proper 'likeness.'
GhostTeenReignsSupreme:
I'm not the one who sells pictures of Phantom's ass you homo dick sucking [redacted: extremely graphic description of gay sex.]
Yeah. Whoever this was had problems. She flipped through a few more reports, those not containing GhostTeen, and dished out some punishment to the worst offenders in her inbox. Some of them had already had punishment meted out by Technomage, but it hadn't been long enough, in her opinion. She felt spiteful, and the trolls posting links to graphic fetish porn would feel her wrath.
She clicked away ten minutes later, feeling satisfied and in the mood for patrol. She told her dad she was leaving, and then checked her patrol area, already routing a path to the nearest incident before leaping off the fire escape. Tempbanning some malicious actors had improved her mood a little, but she knew nothing beat blasting a few things. Luckily, there was some hostile tech in the area, just begging to be reduced to nuts and bolts.
The flight to the first stop involved popping a few aggressive, but small, wigglers from the air, waving down to the happy citizens as she passed. She was on her way to a street near Nasty Burger; an Italian food place had reported its oven getting an attitude. The entire strip of restaurants spent more time closed than open, as machinery throughout the food creation process came to life and either attacked workers or customers, or chirped, bounced, and whizzed, disturbing people too much to stay in the kitchens. She landed in the alley behind the store, the owner already waiting for her. "Hello Ms. Rossi, how's the oven?"
"It doesn't want to cook a damn thing. I put food into it, but it never turns on. It beeps at me, using the digital read out and letters to send messages."
"What does it say?"
"It says: burn it." She jumped, looking at the placid, but annoyed middle-aged woman who owned the best Italian place in Amity.
"It...wants to burn things?"
"Itself mostly."
"Are you sure?"
"That's what the darn thing says. Doesn't want to cook, it craves death." She opened the second door, leading her into the kitchen with the oven. "I've tried talking it down, but it doesn't seem to listen to me. I was hoping you had something to…I don't know, cheer it up? I know you and Phantom usually blast things that get an attitude problem, but it was just sitting here being 'depressed' before this morning."
"What happened then?" She stood in front of the oven, taking in its slowly moving body, and flashing digital display.
"Oh, it's a gas range, so it tried to set the whole kitchen on fire."
"Ms. Rossi!" She turned to face her, preparing to find something to douse a flame if it got frisky again.
"Don't worry, I gave it a scolding, and put out the little blaze, but now it's back to whining about wanting to die again. Do you have a program that'll give it therapy or something?"
"I... No? I have guns ma'am, and bombs, lots of those, but no therapy." She got a little closer to the range, and watched its display settle into a blank screen. "Hello?" The screen flashed back to life, 'hello' appearing on the surface. "So, Ms. Rossi says you're not...feeling great?" A frowny face this time, somehow. "Can you, uh, tell me why?" Nothing, or well, a series of something, but nothing she could make out. It settled on the words 'pain' and 'end'. "Ms. Rossi, have you had this thing deep cleaned?" The screen flashed red. Ok, maybe not that, then. "Has it been serviced recently?"
"Just last week."
"This is so weird." She thought about what she'd learned about the living tech, looking around the room for inspiration, when her eyes caught a glimpse of something sparkly on the counter. "What's that?"
"Oh, it's my daughter's notebook from school."
"Does she help in the restaurant."
"All the time! My little Lily is a superstar, always so helpful around the house, volunteering at school, working hard at her little clubs, and, well everything." The woman smiled, walking over to the counter to pick up the pink glittery notebook. "Her cooking has become a real favorite around here too. Some customers ask for her versions specifically. She'll be a fine chef one day."
Something came to her then, about the potential nature of the animated machines. "Ms. Rossi, when did the stove try to burn down the kitchen?"
"Like I said, this morning."
She felt something bitter stirring in his stomach. "Was Lily here?"
"Thank God no. It was right after she left for school. She made herself breakfast, and went off to tutoring to help other kids catch up in class. She's such a thoughtful young lady nowadays."
She turned to the stove, taking in its digital display, and leaned closer. "Mr. Stove, do you want to die?" It blinked back 'no'. That got their attention, and confirmed something for her. "But you do want the restaurant to burn." That got an emphatic series of green flashes.
"What could have possessed it to go all against its nature like that?"
"Lily," she stood away, looking around the well-loved kitchen with the murderous stove. "Ms. Rossi, I think your stove will be fine, but maybe ask your daughter if she wants to be a chef." That earned a loud couple of beeps from the stove alarm and some more green flashes.
The older woman looked at her, back at the stove, and then sighed dramatically, leaning against one of the counters. "Why can't teen girls just tell you these things instead of bringing the stove to life and trying to burn down the kitchen?" She shook her head, and patted the stove on the top. "Thank you for getting my attention. You are a good stove, aren't you?" It beeped again, much quieter this time, and bounced back and forth happily. "Well, thank you, Huntress. If you hadn't come, I'd have spent the rest of time misinterpreting what it was trying to tell me." She smiled, opening the fridge to reach inside. "I've got a dozen cannolis with your name on it." Out came a container, stacked to the brim, with filled crispy delights.
"I'd love to, Ms. Rossi, but I don't have anywhere to store them."
"It's in tupplewear dear, just fly them home and continue working." She made it sound simple. Her mouth watered remembering the flavor of Rossi's Place cannolis. It was rather simple to solve when she thought about it.
"I'll be back on patrol in a bit." She said, taking the container and heading towards the door. "Thank you for these!"
"You solved a parenting issue for me Huntress, a few pieces of dessert is the least I can do. You bring that back when you're finished, and we'll catch up later." She waved her off, insisting she go set them somewhere safe.
She wasn't far from home. If she flew fast, she could have this in the fridge and be back on her way in under fifteen. She turned the board, pivoting back towards Elmerton, when something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. Phantom. Flying back towards the center of town and his patrol zone. The sight of him instantly soured her mood. She wished the ghost teen would—One of her rockets fired off in his direction, and after a moment of panic, she redirected it to crash harmlessly into a roof after being disarmed.
Where had that come from? She hadn't tried to summon up a weapon, had she? She flew back towards her house, thinking over the interaction. Had she been that upset at Phantom? She wanted their truce to hold too. Even if he didn't want to put in the work, she did. She frowned as she landed on her fire escape, pulling open the window with one hand and balancing the container of pastries in the other. A quick thought brought up the internal diagnostics, and she decided to run it. She did not want to take this back to Vlad, and potentially let the halfa mess with her suit again so soon, so a quick scan would have to do.
It came back with all systems clear. She set the food away, lingering in her living room, thinking about the rocket. Her system was fine. Apparently, Phantom pissed her off that badly. She resigned herself to ignoring him a few more days, until she'd calmed down, and headed back out. There were a few more incidents to take care of before the end of the night.
A/N:
Welcome to the bottom, dear reader! It seems Valerie and Phantom's relationship is having a bit of a rough patch. I wonder what Danny is thinking? :)
Everything is on time for the Wednesday upload, and we are rapidly approaching the middle of the story and the middle of the second act. Still quite a bit to go though! Oh, Green With Envy is beginning its sign-ups! If you're an artist and want to contribute line art or a colorist and want to color neat lines, now is the time to sign-up!
Can't wait for more? Follow me on my tumblr blog where you can get Lore posts, snippets, ask me questions and more.
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See you next week!
