A/N:
Hello and welcome to Saturday's update! We are quickly approaching the middle chapter of the story, and the midpoint to go with it! But first, we have to get though this little fun romp around town as our favorite teens fight wigglers together. No other announcements to be made before the end of the fic, so I'll see you all at the bottom!
Chapter Summary:
Valerie and Danny meet up to handle cases together before a sudden incident changes the trajectory of the evening...
Chapter Specific Warnings:
Canon-Typical Violence, misgendering(of a wiggler), symptoms of physical illness
Chapter Title:
Reprise: A recurrence or resumption of an action ... A repetition of a phrase, a return to an earlier theme, or a second rendition or version of a song in a program or musical.
Skulduggery: A devious device or trick. ... Dishonest, underhanded, or unscrupulous activities or behavior.
6:45pm; November 10th, 2005; Elmerton, Michigan
She leaned under her bed, reaching around in the dark for the textbook she'd kicked under there a few seconds ago. She quickly glanced left and right, taking in the dusty, yet empty, floor under her bed frame with consternation. She'd felt her foot catch on the book, where had it gotten to? She crawled out slowly, careful not to hit her head, and looked around from her new lower vantage point on the ground. She peered behind her nightstand, pulling it out slightly to let more light shine back there. Nothing. She stooped all the way down to squint into the darkness underneath the dresser, hoping the slim book had landed under it. Nothing still. She backed away, standing up in a single motion from her shins, and crossing her arms. Where had that book gone? She needed to do her Chemistry homework, she had a few problems she hadn't finished in class, and now the thing was hiding from her. She entertained the irrational idea it had become a wiggler for a moment, before shaking her head and twirling to face her closet. She looked down, taking in her carpeted floor from the bedroom door to the open closet with suspicion. It's not like the damn thing could turn invisible.
She nearly gave up, heading back to her desk, when something caught the light off her desk lamp and glinted back at her from the floor. She bent to look on the other side of the nightstand, where it almost kissed the wall, and found the textbook somehow wedged between the two, standing up at an odd angle. She had no idea how she'd kicked it into that position. She reached and snatched it up, heading back to her desk in victory as she brushed the lint off the cover. "Now, to finish that chem work, and move on to the history paper." It was due next week, and even though she'd done all the research for, the hard part was writing it. She wanted enough time for a few drafts and for her dad to review it. The single assignment was worth a quarter of her grade this nine weeks. She thought about Danny, sitting ahead of her in class, eyes glazed over and dark circles under them, all of last week. Maybe she should text him to make sure he didn't need help on the paper?
She'd gotten busy with patrol, work, homework, and even chores, and their text conversation had petered out. The guilt dug into her, making her hands twitch towards her cell when she remembered his sullen complexion and the way he'd put his head down in class. He was sick with something, had been since just before Halloween, and if keeping up as the semester wound down was swamping her, he'd be drowning. She picked up her phone, clicked over to their text thread, and fired off an opening salvo.
"Hey, how's the Euro paper coming?" She'd set the phone down for a moment before it vibrated on her desk.
"Oh god, that's due next week, isn't it... I'm dead. I mean, it's fine! How's yours going?"
She giggled, setting down her pencil to let her thumbs fly over the numbers to text back. "If you want, I can help get you caught up. What's your topic?" She set the phone back down, and waited for the reply. The phone buzzed again, but this time it was an alert from the back end of the forums. She clicked over to it on her desktop, looking through her inbox, since she was already procrastinating. She looked at Phantom's dulled out icon, goofy grin and makeshift cape staring back at her, and went back to reading her inbox. Her phone buzzed once more, and she flipped it open, bringing up their text thread.
"It's about the Scandinavian Invasion of England. You're a goddess. What would I do without you?" He sent two praying hands emojis at the end, and she felt her mood lifting already.
"You'd fail, like you did all last year." Maybe that was a little mean…
"Technically, I passed American Government with a C- ^^;"
"Just enough to count as a US citizen."
"Hey! The average voter knows less about how their government functions than the worst passing student. Mr. Bronson said so!"
"And what does that tell you about this country?" She set down the phone, closing out a few more admin tickets, and rolling her eyes at the arguments held within.
"I'd suggest we'd make a voting test, but we both know how that went the last time." She chuckled, placing her palm against her mouth to stifle the sound. She didn't want to alert her dad; she was supposed to be studying.
"I think, historically speaking, you'd be fine. Just like you were last year." She glanced back at Phantom's pale icon, feeling worse by the second. They bantered like this all the time. She felt her shoulders tense and her heart rate pick up thinking about the ghost teen. She sent a few more posters into probation purgatory, and listened for the sound of Danny's return text. She didn't wait long, snatching up the phone to read it.
"I'm not getting grandfathered in this time Val, you gotta save me." She sent back a promise to help him research during study hall in the morning, smiling at his antics. She set the phone aside, eyes drifting once more to the blocked profile of Phantom. She groaned.
He'd seemed so apologetic a few days ago, and so concerned when her board had frizzed out. Maybe she was being too harsh? Sure, he'd been the one who pushed her away in the first place, but he'd sought her out to apologize and tried to make it up to her. Well, no, he'd offered and she'd shot down the opportunity to even try. She squirmed in her seat, feeling worse the longer she looked at his inactive profile. She hovered over the icon, hesitating on pulling the trigger, when another batch of reports flooded her inbox. This time, they were about some of her fans firing back in the Forum Wars, and she decided to ignore it for the evening.
She looked back at the icon, moved her mouse to the image, and clicked to unblock him before she changed her mind. If the ghost wanted a second chance, she'd let him grovel for it. She went back to her homework, finishing up the chemistry and moving on to math, procrastinating on the paper once again. Math was just a worksheet tonight though, so it was less a good distraction and more a transition from science to history. She filled out the last problem as her phone vibrated again, the pattern she'd set for admin messages. A quick glance at the screen showed a new message bubble over the recently unblocked Phantom's image. She navigated to the page, and read off his message.
She read it twice, trying to find a reason to stay aggravated at the ghostly pest. He'd taken full responsibility for being cross with her, apologized for pushing her away, promised to do better, and even offered to avoid her permanently if that'd make her more comfortable. All in all, the apology letter, it was too long to be called a message, hit everything she'd wanted from the specter and then some. Maybe he does have friends, because this feels workshopped by committee, but in the best way. It read like he'd gotten advice and really put some thought into it. Ugh. She felt her chest unfurling, the coal of cold fury she'd been nursing the last few days going dim and then dark. She couldn't stay mad at him; he'd tried so hard. He really was sorry. She stared at it a while longer, thinking over how to respond. The fact she hadn't wanted to stay away from him struck her in the moment, and she leaned away from her desk in her chair, closing her eyes. She liked her truce with Phantom. It wasn't just having less ground to cover and fewer incidents to respond to, she'd missed the goofy, playful ghost. She'd missed his weird pictures of Amity from the air. She'd missed his hilarious commentary on the wackos slowly infesting their website's forums. She'd missed seeing him flying around, and not feeling like she wanted to strangle him, for all the good depriving ghosts of air would do. It was nice to not feel animosity towards the other teen.
She leaned forward again, fingers poised over the keys, and started writing back her response. She decided to accept his apology. If he blew it again, that was it, but she could accept a desperately waving olive branch when she saw it. Her eyes flicked down to take in the time in the bottom right corner of her desktop monitor. It was time for patrol. She'd finished her math and science, so she was in good shape to start the essay after she got back. She waited a few seconds longer in front of the computer, hoping to catch his reply, before she practically slapped her forehead. "The suit can connect to the back-end wirelessly. What am I doing?" She still wasn't used to all the new things it did for her. Connecting to the internet meant streaming her playlists of music from her Utub account, Dumpty-Humpty and B'Synchronized mixed in with Motown classics she loved, thanks to her parents, and a few new electronica style remixes she'd recently discovered. Its life support functions made patrol a comfortable experience. Even the way it read her mind, to connect to her digital planner or predict what events she'd hate to miss or love to see, made her life simpler. She pushed in her chair, walked towards the window, before stopping and remembering to tell her dad she was leaving.
He shouted back his customary warnings to be careful as she stepped out onto the fire escape. She stood on the edge of the railing, taking in the sights of the alley and the buildings around her. She'd felt more worried about being seen transforming lately. Her suit could enhance her senses, even without fully enveloping her, and a quick peek with her night vision showed no one around. She grinned, jumping off the escape and taking to the sky. She'd never get tired of the way her suit wrapped around her with a thought and caught her in the air without a hint of change in motion. It'd been disorienting at first, but now it was exhilarating.
A notification flashed in the upper right corner of her visor where she'd placed it for the forums. Phantom had written back. He was asking to meet near the Nasty Burger. She thought back a reply, now more used to doing it this way than with voice, and turned towards her new destination. Her flight path would take her past a single incident with a 'tame' piece of tech she could record and double check on its docility before she made it into Amity proper. She enjoyed the tame wigglers; there was something cute about them. Many of them were children's toys or gaming consoles, but not all. What all of them had in common were kind owners and uses that brought others joy. Even Ms. Rossi's oven had calmed down after she'd promised her daughter she needn't become the next head chef. Now, it bubbled away, keeping things the perfect temperature and warning her if something tried to overcook. Food at Rossi's tasted better than ever.
She stopped over the report's address, heading down towards the front stoop, where a small family sat struggling with a wiggling something or other. "Hello Elmertons, what can I help you with?"
"Well, my daughter's Barbie play house has come to life." She heard something tap against the metal railing of the stoop. "I didn't think it could, it's not normal tech, but the stupid doll company put a bunch of electronic stuff inside. It flashes and plays music, and it needs batteries, so I guess it's alive now."
"Let me take a look." Sure enough, the two-story dream house had become a wiggler, bouncing around in the flustered looking parent's lap. "It's alive alright."
"It's not dangerous, is it? I hope not. If I have to get rid of Sarah's favorite dollhouse, she's going to be inconsolable for the rest of the month."
"This one looks safe; you can take it back inside and keep an eye on it."
"Christmas is coming up."
"It is." She blinked, confused by the sudden change in topics.
"You know, kid's toys, all a bunch of battery operated and electronic stuff these days."
"Oh."
"Right! So do you think you'll have it solved before Santa delivers a chimney full of living toys to every kid in Amity?" The father handed the moving house back to his partner, and they took it and the girl inside.
"I wish I knew. I don't want to spend all of New Years chasing down RC cars and fighting Transformers." She waved goodbye to the girl from the window, taking in her much brighter expression now that she knew her toy was safe. "No one can figure out what's causing it."
"It's not ghost shit?"
"If it was my scanners would know about it." She tapped her helmet, and then shook her head. "Nothing's ghostly, not a bit of ecto-energy in it, at least, no more than usual. It's contagious though."
"Really?" The man looked worried for a moment.
"Not to living beings sir, just to other pieces of technology. I've seen it get passed around in clusters inside friend groups. Not everything will come to life, but once one thing in the house does, everything that's going to does soon after."
"So, it's like a virus, like a computer one?"
"I thought so at one point too, but while everything's electronic, not all of it has the components to catch a digital virus."
"Sheeeet." The man stood up, wiping his hands on the front of his pants. "You've got your work cut out for you, young lady. I don't envy you." He held out his hand, and she took it, shaking it quickly. "My daughter loves you, by the way. She looks up to you." He smiled down at her from a few steps up, eyes crinkling on the sides from the force of his grin. "It's nice to have a girl superhero for her to admire."
"I do my best." She was glad the helmet's face was darkened right now. Getting genuine compliments like this always made her blush. "You update the report if it starts being aggressive. Otherwise, just keep an eye on it as she plays."
"Sure thing, Huntress. Have a good one!" He waved her off, leaning on the rails to keep her in sight as she flew over the roof away from his apartment.
She went back on her flight path, crossing the river into Amity, and making a beeline for her meeting spot with Phantom before she got any more incidents to check out. She stopped across the street, hovering over the roof of the local Chinese place, checking her scanners for Phantom. When he didn't readily appear, she went back to the patrol map, looking through his zones. Busy night for him, quiet night in Elmerton and on the food strip. He'd probably take a few minutes. She pulled up the digital copy of her essay, having uploaded it to Oodles digital documents, and started revising her opening paragraph. It felt flat when the computer read it back to her.
"Evening, Huntress." She dismissed the essay from her visor, and lightened the glass, taking in Phantom's relaxed demeanor.
"What kept you?"
"A whole bunch of toys in the mall's department store came to life. The kids were playing army with them, but then the toys started taking it too seriously, and they had to be put in timeout."
"Timeout?"
"Well, more like I made them chill out."
"Ugh." Ok, she had not missed his puns that much, "Did you unthaw them before you left?"
"I didn't freeze them solid, I put them in an ice pen and then, uh, told them the game was over? After that, they calmed down on their own and went back to wiggling around doing nothing." He looked thoughtful, brows drawing together and hand coming up to scratch the back of his neck, "Have you had the tech listen to you before?"
"I've had a conversation with an oven, and watched a family talk to their TV." She held in her laughter at the bewildered look on his face.
"You're messing with me."
"I'm not." She kept up her poker face, knowing the longer she did, the less likely he was to believe her. "They named it Robert. I'm not sure what the oven's name was, but it works at Rossi's."
"Red," his lips were starting to twitch from holding his own smile back, "who names their TV Robert?"
"What would you name it?"
"Living Color."
"Goddamn it, how did I walk into that one?" She watched him lean over, bent in half from how hard he was laughing. Finally, her composure cracked, joining him as she imagined the fifty inch in Jessie's living room playing the theme song to the comedy show to announce its name. "I'm not sure that name is gender appropriate." He gave her a confused look, and she continued, "it said it's a boy TV."
"How does a TV—"
"I know right? But it was very insistent, sent a frowny face about it and everything when we called it 'it'."
"Hm, that's weird. I know some of the tech doesn't have much of a personality, but the ones lately…"
"Yeah," she agreed, thinking back to the oven in Rossi's, flashing colors and symbols, trying to tell its owner her daughter was unhappy. "They even seem to be able to...the oven in Rossi's, it had its own personality and could sense its user's feelings."
"What?"
"It was fine when Ms. Rossi was using it, but whenever Lily, her daughter, did it got 'sad'. Only, it wasn't sad at all. It was trying to tell Ms. Rossi that Lily was sad. It reflected or maybe felt the last cook's emotions, which is why it tried to burn the kitchen down."
"Um?"
"Lily thought she'd be stuck cooking in her mom's restaurant for the rest of her life, and wanted to destroy it so that couldn't happen. Maybe not...exactly like that, but you know when you're upset and you think 'boy I hate this!', but you don't really. You're just mad in the moment? I think it was like that. I don't think the animated tech is sophisticated enough to filter it out or have mixed feelings."
"So, it just reflects a pure version of whatever emotion the person who owned it or used it last felt? Maybe that's why some of them are so relaxed and others try to run every red light in town and mow down pedestrians."
"You really did not have a good time with those SUVs."
"I have had to visit that car dealership four times in three weeks, Red! The people who drive those things are murderous." He floated close, and she felt his energy press against her armor, the metal brushing it away like an unwanted bug. It hadn't done that before. A quick check of the read-out showed his energy levels much closer to normal.
"You're feeling better."
"Your fancy scanners tell you that?" He leaned in, and from this close she could see the flecks in his irises, sparkles of darker green swirling through the main electric green color, and a ring of light baby blue around the pupil. He had freckles, like little constellations on his cheeks, and dimples. If the imprint, the person, Phantom was based on looked anything like this, he must have been a heartbreaker. She realized his breath wasn't fogging her helmet, and snapped back to reality. Of course it wasn't, he didn't breathe. No. She'd seen him have the reflex, his breath was just as cold as a grave.
She knew he was a ghost. She could live with that. "Your aura's brighter, and you're no longer grumpy."
He clicked his tongue, moving to float a little farther away. "Yeah, uh, sorry about that again."
"I read your missive, Phantom. I know you're sorry." He hid his bright green eyes under his bangs in a move that struck her as familiar. "I wouldn't be here if I hadn't accepted. Just try to keep your temper in check the next time you catch a cold."
"I promise, won't happen again." He was still looking down, his voice far too solemn for the moment. She stopped herself from reaching out to comfort him, knowing he deserved to feel a little bad about his behavior. Then, in a flash, his mischievous grin was back, and the sparkle in his eyes she most connected to the ghost teen returned with it. "I'll be a good boy, Huntress. I think you promised to steal all my territory if I wasn't. I don't want to be run out of town. I like it here."
"Why, when all your friends are in the Zone?"
"Not all of them." He drifted closer, flying around her with the same impish look on his face, like he knew the punchline to a joke he hadn't shared. He got back to her front and floated away again, leaning back to tip his head up towards the sky, expression changing to pensiveness. "Besides, the Zone doesn't have stars. I'd miss them if I were stuck there." He turned, flying away at a slow pace, and she followed after him.
"Are we gonna talk all evening, or do you want to take care of those flashing lights in your patrol zone?"
"Mmmm," he hummed, a mirthful look joining a wide grin, "why don't we do both? You talk, and I do all the work. How about I show you all the partnership you'd be missing out on if you ran me off?"
"Sounds good, but don't expect me to sit here if I see your scrawny butt struggling to wrestle a freezer." They took off for the first spot on the map, in good spirits.
"Should you be working? Last I saw, your board tried to give out."
"You worry about yourself, hotshot. You're the one aiming to impress tonight." Her suit was fine. She'd had new update jitters before, and those didn't literally read her mind.
7:45pm; Amity Park, Michigan
The first incident was a nothingburger, a cell phone that hopped around the table, but otherwise behaved. They told the owner to tell it firmly to cut it out so she could make a call, and lo and behold, it had. They'd both quirked their lips at that, now more worried about the uptick in tech that could understand human speech or respond to the emotional intent behind the words.
The second report of the night was close to the first, this time behind a 7/15 with a wiggling freezer. The report had undersold the issue, though, because the damn thing was chasing people around the parking lot, pelting them with frozen ice cream bars. "Why did the report say this one was 'tame'?"
"Maybe its attitude changed? That happened to Ms. Rossi's oven."
"Do you really think that 7/15 freezer has ever been in a better mood?" He pointed down at the hopping rectangle, taking in the way its top opened and closed as if laughing as it hit a scrambling teen in the ass.
"Ok, maybe it's just malicious." She blasted a spot in front of the freezer, making it jump back. "Hey you, cut that out right now. You can't throw freezer pops at people!" she shouted from ten meters up, taking in more of the scene. Highschoolers running around the block, away from the 7/15, the owner, looking pissed from the sidewalk in front of the store, cars at the station's pumps, honking and yelling at the freezer sitting in the middle of prime turning area. Amity's residents were getting too used to the tech nonsense, she feared, because one car tried to run the freezer over and yelled when their windshield got a frozen Debbie's bar tossed on it.
"I think it's ignoring you."
"It's your rodeo, Phantom, go down there and wrangle that cow."
He flew down, dodging around another honking, speeding car, and stopped in front of the owner. Her suit let her hear him from all the way above the roof. "When did it start throwing things?"
"Oh, the whole time. I think it thinks it's funny."
"You're supposed to report if tech is hostile."
"No one's gonna get hurt getting slapped in the ass with a Debbie bar." The owner snorted, watching the freezer toss a bar through the open window of a driver yelling in the parking lot. "The worst they get is free ice cream."
"I'm going to have to remove it from the premises, since it can't stop hurling weapons at people."
"They're ice cream bars, kid! Teens your age scream for me to toss them free ones all summer."
"That's different…" Phantom's shoulders were hitching up and down, and she could see him holding back laughter as another bar slugged an angry driver's side mirror. "I'm going to grab it and go now. Uh, I don't have any way to compensate—"
"The hell would some ghost teen have money for? I've been planning on replacing that ancient thing for the last six months. No time like the present." With that, he turned around and headed for the store, ducking another bar aimed at his head. "Nice try Bertha, you temperamental bitch, but you'll have to do better than that!"
"You named it?"
"Before it was alive, yeah." He closed the front door of the store, apparently content with the interaction. She giggled as Phantom flew over to the freezer, hefting it up while avoiding its angry ice cream grenades.
"What should we do with this?" He grunted, hoisting it a little higher in his arms.
"Hey there Bertha, do you think you could calm down?" Its lid flapped a few times before settling. "We can take you someplace nice. My dad's an engineer. He can fix that leaky hose you've got." She'd spied it dripping coolant into the parking lot the whole time. Probably why it was cranky. "Then, you could stay with us in the kitchen."
"Will this fit in your apartment?"
"Sure, as long as we don't tell the Super, so he doesn't try to steal it. There'll be lots of room to store stuff for bulk shopping trips." She looked back at the freezer, hovering closer to lid level. "What do you say, Bertha? You wanna get adopted?" The freezer held still for a few moments, and then opened and closed its lid once. "Yes, new freezer! You'll love my apartment. Daddy cooks all the time, and it's just us, so no more sticky kid hands getting you dirty, or that cranky 7/15 manager kicking you." It wiggled so intensely, Phantom almost dropped it.
"Hey, quit it; you're still in the air you know?" It stopped, and some of the stress melted off his face. "Uh, where should we put it until then?"
"How about on top of the Nasty Burger. Then I can pick it up on the way home."
"You can carry…" He eyed her arms and then his eyes traveled down from the red stripes on her shoulders over the rest of her, before they snapped back to her face. Neat, so ghosts can blush. She'd wanted the red stripes on her suit to do exactly that, so she was glad it worked.
"Don't worry about me, ghost boy. I'm still in better shape than you are. Let's head to the roof and continue with patrol." She moved her board away from the 7/15, and back the way they'd come. She smirked as Phantom struggled to control the excited—or maybe it was cantankerous—freezer, scolding it to stay still unless it wanted to smash on the ground. The roof of the fast food place came into view, and the ghost quickly dropped the freezer off with a sigh.
"That thing is heavier than it looks. Ow!" Bertha had whopped him on the ass, and now the freezer's lid was flapping open and closed again in hinge squeaking laughter.
"I think you shouldn't call a lady fat like that."
"Ok, enough fooling around with this freezer. What's the next stop?" He rubbed the sting out of his butt and took two steps farther away, eyeing the deep freezer cautiously.
She pulled it up, heading off without a word to him, but a quick goodbye and a promise to return to her new freezer. Maybe adopting a wiggler wasn't the best decision, but they'd wanted a chest freezer for ages. She'd take a free one, even if it was sort of possessed.
They stopped over address number three, this time a residence, and watched as a riding lawnmower tore its way through someone's garden. "That's definitely the issue."
"At least mowers are easy. Who put in the report?" She pointed to the house, and he flew down, knocking on the door.
"Sir, is that your mower?"
"Hell naw! That's Maggie's little nightmare. I'm just the only one who knows how to work a computer well enough to put in a report."
"Where's Ms. Maggie's house?"
"Don't bother kid, she's not home. She went to the movies right after we put in the report."
"And left the mower?"
"The fuck is some 63-year-old woman supposed to do about an unalive lawnmower?" She had to agree to the retirees' logic, even if it meant no one was supervising the thing.
"Um, usually I ask the owner if they care what happens to—"
"She told me to tell you to blast the shit out of that thing. Her sons were coming up next week to replace it with a push mower more her speed, it belonged to her late husband, but now they don't even have to dispose of it."
"Uh?"
"She don't care what you do with the parts, just make sure it stops eating Patrica's begonias." The man closed the door, leaving Phantom hovering on the front porch. He flew up next to her again, trying to spot the mower.
"It sounds like it's over there." He pointed off to his left, northward, into a row of bushes and thicker trees.
"That's where I saw it ride off, making a break for the Canadian border." He sighed, and flew into the trees, branches rustling to mark his passage. A few seconds passed and then a small explosion boomed across the neighborhood, swiftly followed by the dying whine of the lawnmower's motor.
"I'm not sure what to do about the blown up parts." He joined her again in the sky, brushing his hands together like he'd accomplished something interesting.
"I'll send off a report so it can be salvaged. We've got a company."
"Since when?"
"Since two days ago when I worked it out with the 'Mortica'sDaughter' admin on our site."
"Oh, well, at least the parts will go somewhere good... Sooo, next?" She pointed out the next report, the spot not far from the still damaged Fentonworks. "Is it ok for you to be that close to a ghost hunter's house?"
"Second...or maybe third time you've asked me that."
"Haven't gotten a sufficient answer yet."
"They're busy tracing the tech menace, convinced it's ghosts. They aren't even thinking about me for once. They always think it's ghosts." That last comment sounded a little bitter.
"In this town, and with their profession, can you blame them?" They moved higher above the city, getting above some of the light pollution.
"Well—"
Phantom started to fall. Fast. His face lit up in surprise and then twisted in fear, aura dimming to nothing, hidden by the lights of the city below. She dove after him, feeling a sick sensation similar to the Ops Center fight, as the ground grew closer. Luckily, they were high up, and in no time she'd caught him, helping him stand on the other end of her board. "What the hell just happened?" He leaned closer, and the press of energy she'd sensed earlier was absent. Her heart started to race. He was going more see-through by the second. "Phantom—"
"Zone."
"You—back home already? Why so sudden?" They locked eyes, and she took in the nearly snow-white color of his skin. How did a ghost go pale?
"Don't know, but," his voice cut off into a moan, and he collapsed against her for a second before righting himself. "I thought I was better. What is going on?"
"Hold onto my waist, I'll get you…" The only stable portals were at Vlad's mansion, and he'd said the halfa was too dangerous, or the Fenton's. She didn't like the idea of leaving him in this condition at either house. "I know you told me you sneak through the Fenton's portal all the time—"
"I can get in, just fly us there." He wrapped his arms around her waist, leaning into her from behind, head on her shoulder. He felt warm. Ghosts didn't feel warm. He felt warm . She sped.
The ruined roof and neon sign of Fentonworks came into view, and she stopped above it, wondering how he would manage. "Now what?"
"Now? I phase inside." He hopped off her board, and started sinking slowly through the roof. "Don't worry about things from here; I've got it."
"Phantom, there's a thousand guns in there."
He smiled, looking frisky despite the paleness and apparent pain. "And I know the way around all of them. Thanks, Red, I'll see you later." He disappeared, sinking the rest of the way into the roof, and then did his little trick to disappear off her radar as well. She stared at the spot in the roof he'd vanished, silently willing him to survive inside the hunter's den to sneak back into the Zone. She stared a moment longer, before forcing herself off her knees and back onto her board.
She maneuvered it away, making a wide circle around Fentonworks looking for any sign of activity, before giving up and turning towards home. She wasn't connected to the Fenton's systems, she couldn't... But Danny could. She could text Danny. But then, asking him if alerts had activated, wouldn't that just tip him off that something was wrong? Would it make it harder for Phantom to come back? She shouldn't say anything. In fact, she shouldn't warn Danny about the breaches to the Fenton's portal at all. She'd been thinking of it, since Amity's ghost protector had pissed her off so badly, but she'd just changed her mind. Even if she could convince Danny to trust the ghost's intentions, the goober wore his heart on his sleeve. It'd only take one slip up for his parents to realize he liked Phantom, and who knew what would happen then. No, better not to meddle there.
She tried to push thoughts of the ghost boy out of her mind as she returned to Nasty Burger to pick up her new freezer. Bretha sat on the top of the roof, tossing ice cream down to a cheering crowd of kids. She did a little dance when Valerie approached. "You almost finished?" The lid popped open to reveal only five more bars. "Last couple bars folks, I've got to get this wiggler somewhere safe." She reached inside and distributed them herself, tossing the last one 'long' as the jock below requested. With a wave to the crowd of teens, she reached down and scooped up Bertha, settling her in her arms.
"Oh, Phantom was just being mean. You're light as a feather." The suit did enhance her senses and physical abilities, but it couldn't have been that heavy earlier, even with more ice cream inside. She got the freezer stable in the back section of her on her board, bands coming up to lock it down safely, and made her way towards home. Three text alerts popped up on her screen on the way there, and she wrote Jessie back, promising to catch her up on some gossip at work tomorrow afternoon.
Soon, her fire escape came into sight, and with it the unshakable sense she was being watched. She carefully placed Bertha on the escape, and then realized she wouldn't make it through the window. Damn . She opened her window and leaned indoors, taking in her bedroom with her plate of dessert on top. Her father had already left for work.
She frowned and looked at the freezer. She could take it up the stairs, through the main entrance, and into her apartment. But lifting it and navigating the dark, stanky hallway on her own this late would be a challenge. "Do you mind staying here until Daddy gets home in the morning? It's not safe for me to carry you up alone, and I forgot how big my bedroom window is." Bertha hopped once, and opened and closed her lid. "Is that an ok?" She hopped again, and then stayed still. "Alright then, I'll come get you in the morning. Then you can meet my dad." She fought down the urge to shiver, feeling eyes on her back, and slipped inside her bedroom. No one was there. She'd checked before she even landed this time.
Back safely inside, she collapsed into her desk chair. A glance at the computer's clock showed 8:40pm. Patrol had ended far earlier than she'd like. She blinked tiredly at the computer screen containing her essay and looked at her browser tabs. Most of them were research, but the other tab holding the admin channels was blinking. She clicked over, checking her thread with Phantom.
"Red, I made it to the Zone safely. I'm going to recover near some novas and be back soon. While I'm here, I'm gonna track down Technus. Technology is his thing, maybe he knows something about this, or he's even controlling it. I know where his lair is, and don't worry, I'm already feeling much better soaking up all the Zone's energy." He'd messaged only a few minutes after phasing through the Fenton's roof, and she couldn't help but feel impressed he'd circumvented all their fail-safes that quickly while that weak.
Phantom's immediate health accounted for, she put away her suit, and leaned back into the plushness of her desk chair, looking back at the research paper's open document. She grimaced, thinking about writing anything right now made her want to blow something up, and pulled out her phone instead to check her texts.
Jessie had sent back a few emojis to her last text. Her dad had messaged her was safe at work, and told her she had a surprise waiting on her desk after patrol with a winking face. Sam and Tucker had texted, asking for help with the last English assignment. Lancer had gone hard this last chapter, requiring a written response at least 500 words long about the symbolism in the text. She shot back a message promising to meet them before school, and closed her eyes, trying to slow her still fast beating heart.
Phantom was fine. He'd messaged. He was going to suck up some ecto-energy and relax in the Zone. No, that wasn't quite right. He was going to recharge a bit and then pick a fight with Technus. Maybe that wasn't the best plan, but he was too far away now for her to stop him. Why had she let him go alone? It was too dangerous. The Zone might be his home turf, but he was still sick. He needed her help. She should have…
She took a breath, refocusing on the open European History paper's page with its blinking cursor indicator. She'd write her paper. She'd go to school. And then Phantom would come back to Amity. Everything was fine...
A/N:
Welcome to the bottom, dear reader! I wonder what's up with Danny? He sure seems to be in bad straits, and after feeling better too! Luckily, he had Valerie there to help him home, not that she knows that. Now she's back to worrying again, poor Val!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next one is due on Wednesday as usual! Can't wait that long? You can see snippets, lore posts, and more at my art/writing blog.
Blog: balshumetsbaragouin . tumblr . com
I'll see you all Wednesday!