Things are about to get exciting soon, and Jason's definitely going to get frustrated this chapter. IRL, things are getting a bit hectic, so I might have to delay posting the next few chapters by a bit (not by much, just a few days until things calm down). I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

On their way out of town, Jason detoured through the local mall to steal a new burner phone, since his old one had been immersed in the Ghost Zone for six weeks. Using his invisibility to remain undetected, he swiped a phone from the nearest convenience store. No one noticed a phone going missing, but everyone did notice the heavily armed couple in garish jumpsuits and an absolute war machine of an RV.

"Mads, we haven't seen a ghost in town in six months! I thought we'd put the fear of the Fentons in them!" Jack bellowed.

"Jack, the Fenton Ghoul-Detector said that there was a ghost here! Maybe the ecto-scum haven't learned their lesson!" said the woman, who was short, with ginger hair and an eye-wateringly bright teal jumpsuit.

Several of the shoppers hurried towards their cars at the sight of the Fentons, even though everything else was relatively peaceful. Jason floated invisibly, frozen at the sight of the ghost hunters, until Kitty physically dragged him away.

No one in the group spoke until they'd all flown out of town. The 'Welcome to Amity Park' sign was an enormous billboard on the side of the road, a few miles away from the city center. Despite its size, the sign was riddled with holes and singe marks, and the few pristine areas suffered from peeling or faded paint. Behind the sign was a densely wooded patch of forest, where the group decided to huddle, out of sight from the road.

Kitty gently shoved at Jason's shoulder. "Hey kid, why did you freeze when you saw the Fentons?"

Jason looked away. "I don't know…I used to deal with more dangerous people every day, but there was something about their weapons, they didn't feel right."

"The weapons are filled with ecto, maybe that's why it felt off to you." Johnny said gruffly.

"How did they make ecto guns?" Jason asked.

Johnny shrugged. "I don't know the science behind it, but they did build a portal to the Zone in their basement, and their place is full of ecto. Their weapons are some of the few things on this side that can actually hurt us."

"Wait, did you say that those hunters were the Fentons?" Jason's face twisted in his confusion. "Are they Phantom's parents?"

"Unfortunately, yes. They're annoying on the best days." Kitty shrugged.

"What the fuck…" Jason muttered under his breath. Moving away from the rest of the group, he switched the SIM card and powered up the burner phone he'd risked getting zapped for, punching in Artemis' number.

RING

RING

RING. Jason picked at his fingernails as he waited in anticipation, the Red Huntress' words about the dropped building in the front of his mind. The ringing stopped, and the halfa perked up.

"Hiiiii! You've reached Dani Crenshaw! If you're hearing this, I'm probably busy, please leave a message or text me!"

A dark feeling of dread gathered in the pit of Jason's stomach at the staticky sound of a recording of a stranger's voice. He pulled the phone away from his face, triple-checking the number. Then the SIM card.

"Hiiiii! You've reached Dani Crenshaw! If you're hearing this, I'm probably busy, pleas-"

Jason ended the call.

Hiiiii! You've reached Dani Crenshaw—"

Jason slammed the flip phone shut with enough force that it creaked, kicking the side of a nearby tree trunk. Opening the phone again, he tried Roy's number. Was it 385 or 485? He thought, despite knowing that Roy was notorious for running through phone numbers as frequently as his arrows.

"I'm sorry. The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected."

After Jason tried a few more times, the stone of dread sunk even lower in his gut. It might not mean much, he thought. We break, lose, and ditch phones all the time.

There were about twenty or more missed calls from a handful of unsaved numbers going back months. The bold red text of the missed calls seemed to glare at him from his call log. Do I really want to call Bruce, Tim, or Dick? He thought, stomach curling at the thought of explaining his absence or his half ghost status to the Bats.

Jason shut the phone one last time, roughly shoving it into his bag. The halfa jumped to his feet, the glowing scars on his face made sharper by his fierce scowl. Stomping back over to the others, he burrowed against the trunk of the tree. Kitty's green eyes widened at the sight of him.

"Hey kid, are you okay? What's up with that look on your face?" She probed gently, toeing the line between careful and lighthearted.

Jason dodged the question. "Do you think that we'll be able to get to Gotham soon? If Phantom will be alright and all of that."

Johnny, who'd been sitting on a tree branch above the two, looked down at them. "I mean, I guess? From what the Huntress said, he's alright, other than being run outta town by his parents," Johnny paused, flipping around to hang upside down. "But for real, what's going on?"

Jason grit his teeth. "You heard what the Red Huntress said about my team. They went missing months ago. Nobody's answering my calls. I need to get back to Gotham to figure out what happened."

Kitty looked pensive. "I see what you can help you when we get there…and Phantom is such a goody goody, he'll be falling all over himself to be a hero." She finished, rolling her eyes.

"I don't think that my team disappeared because of ghosts." Jason pointed out.

Kitty rolled her eyes. "Again, aren't you supposed to be some major badass or whatever? Even if it's not a ghost thing, we have powers that most people can't do shit about." She said wryly.

"Fine." Jason grunted, before floating up to join Johnny on the tree branch.