#he can still read the GIW agents minds

[nerdpoe]

The Justice League has been working to dismantle the GIW for awhile, and finally found enough evidence to get them shut down.

Superman is picked to be involved with the dismantling of the base, and equipped with some sort of strange watch bought from a family-run ghost hunting business in Illinois. Apparently, the thing prevents him from being possessed.

He has, of course, ordered fifteen of the things.

Being possessed and used to hurt his friends and family has and always will be one of his worst fears.

As they circle the base, hidden and in groups, waiting for Cyborg to bypass security-Cyborg pauses.

They have someone.

A small-town hero, Phantom. They have him strapped to an operating table, and they're literally about to start carving into him.

Superman sees red.

Inside the base, Danny's waiting for the GIW thugs to start cutting into his duplicate so he can record it and get evidence to the Justice League, so that they know these guys are really fucked up.

He isn't expecting the ceiling to suddenly go missing.

He really isn't expecting to see a spectacularly pissed off Superman start towards the GIW agents while Martian Manhunter (calm down fenton don't be a nerd don't geek out omgomgomgomggggg) himself frees the duplicate.

Then Martian Manhunter pauses.

Looks at Danny.

Danny wills himself onto the visible spectrum and allows the duplicate to dissipate.

Unfortunately, in his effort to not sound starstruck, he just sounds pissed.

"Oh, so now you show up? In the middle of my sting operation?"

[torscrawls]

Out of the Loop ch.1

When his family moved to Amity, Wes promised to keep to himself and stay far away from conspiracies. But it doesn’t count if the strange happenings come to him, right? What’s with everyone’s insistence that ghosts are real? What’s with all the white security cameras? And what does it all have to do with the quiet and nerdy boy in the back of the class? For once, Wes feels like he’s the one out of the loop.

Wordcount: 2,293

Can be read on AO3!

I jumped at an excuse to finally write a fic about Wes! And I'm having a blast!

This is written for the prompts:

"Everyone knows the connection between Danny Fenton and Phantom. To keep their town's hero safe, everyone pretends to be oblivious. Only this one kid doesn't seem to have gotten the memo." by @vigilant-insomniac

And

"Somehow it's revealed that Phantom is posing as a student at Casper High. The GIW begins taking measures to find him, the Fentons not that far behind." by @wastefulreverie

---

Wes looked out the back window of the car as they drove through the town that was to be their new home. The move to Amity Park was going to be a new start, an opportunity to put their past behind them and start anew in a place with surprisingly affordable houses. Suspiciously affordable.

The streets they drove through were lined with picturesque houses and small shops, parks and strolling people of all ages. It would have been idyllic if not for the big holes littering the street, the occasional toppled streetlamp and a couple of broken, smoking, cars lining the road.

Wes frowned as he took it all in. The town’s news-station hadn’t mentioned anything special happening lately and he had made sure to keep himself up-to-date on what was going on in their new home. “What happened here?”

“Maybe they have some trouble with gangs or something?” Kyle said from the passenger seat, feet on the dashboard and the DS in his hands blaring the same mind-numbing music as it had for the last 15 years.

“Gangs?” Wes questioned as they passed an overturned bus that was partially covered in some sort of green substance. “This looks more like a war zone.”

“It’s not that bad,” their dad tried from the front seat.

As if to prove him wrong they passed a small gathering of people and Wes sat up straighter and stared. “Is that… Is that woman carrying a bazooka?”

“Don’t stare,” his dad admonished him weakly, but Wes noticed him speeding up. “It’s rude.”

“Isn’t it more rude to carry weapons in public?”

“Well,” their dad said as he strummed his fingers on the wheel, ignoring Kyle, “I’m sure the real estate agent would have said something if it was truly bad. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.” The last part he added while glancing at Wes through the rear-view mirror

“Right,” Wes agreed as he leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. He would not get them in trouble again by diving head-first into supposed “unfounded” conspiracy theories.

He was still sure that his last homeroom teacher had been a werewolf and if they hadn’t confiscated the silver bullet he could have proved it! If only they had known all the trouble he had gone through to get it in the first place…

Kyle looked up from his game. “Oh, cool. Is there a LARP event in town?”

For the first time in his life, Wes desperately hoped Kyle was right.

——

His new school was… strange.

It had nothing to do with his new their homeroom teacher spouting book-titles instead of swears, or the fact that he had seen devices that looked a lot like guns poking out of several of his classmates’ bags, or even the white surveillance cameras he had spotted in almost every room and corridor— Okay. Those things were strange too, but what made Wes keep his head down, hands to himself and observe was the fact that even though this class had the typical cliques that you’d expect, there was none of the animosity.

Sure, there were harsh words exchanged, laughter and teasing and even a thrown paper-ball before class started, but there was no real anger and their homeroom teacher Mr. Lancer called people out on it with the same conviction as if he was ticking off boxes on a list.

Almost as if they were acting out a script.

Wes’ shoulders drew closer and closer to his ears as the day wore on, desperately trying not to look too closely. He was just stressed out because he was new in town, he was sure. He was just unused to this school. He had promised not to do this again.

He kept telling himself this until suddenly the math-class was interrupted by a loud alarm; the sudden sound blaring from speakers and swallowing him up in a rush of fear.

Wes ducked under his table with an aborted scream, his chair scraping loudly against the linoleum floors as he hunkered down before looking around wildly. But no one else even got up.

A couple of snickers floated through the air.

“Seriously? The ghost hasn’t even attacked yet!”

“Be nice to him, he’s new!”

Wes slowly peaked out from under the table and saw his new classmates laughing at him. Well, at least that was familiar. Wes decided to stay beneath his table. “What’s going on?!”

“It’s a ghost attack,” a girl to his right said—what was her name? Star?—as she stayed right in her seat and inspected her nails.

“A ghost attack?! What does that mean?!”

She looked at him with surprise clear on her face. “Don’t you know what ghosts are?”

Then a boy at the back of the class, who Wes was fairly certain had slept through the whole class up until this moment, sat up straight, raised his hand, and without waiting for Mr. Lancer to call on him he said, “Mr. Lancer? Can I go to the bathroom?”

“Really, Daniel?”

The whole class got really quiet.

For some reason, this kid asking to use the bathroom seemed to instill more fear in his new classmates than the blaring alarm did. Wes didn’t want to know. He didn’t.

The kid nodded. “Yes Mr. Lancer. We have a test in ten minutes, don’t we?”

As if that made any sense.

Mr. Lancer waved him off with a nod and Wes looked on in mounting horror as this scrawny boy got up and ran out of the room. Nobody stopped him.

The school was under some sort of attack and he just ran out of the classroom! Wes had a sinking feeling that he would never see him again.

He was momentarily brought out of his stupor by Mr. Lancer clearing his throat and announcing loudly, speaking over the still blaring sound of the alarm, “Now, now, students! You know the drill!”

Several sighs and groans erupted from the students, but they all got out of their seats and sat down on the floor; huddling under their desks with practiced motions as if they had done this innumerable times before.

“Looks like we’ll be joining you down here!” Star said as she ducked under her own table with a big smile, a gun suddenly in her hand.

Wes simply stared at her dumbly until another cardboard box hurled in their direction made him blink back to reality. Or what passed for reality here.  

“What is going—?” Wes started, but stopped dead as a carbon box suddenly hurtled through the air from nowhere; hitting the wall opposite the whiteboard. Wes screamed and ducked down, deciding that whatever horrible thing was going on, he was better off out of harm’s way on the floor.

“Tremble before me!”

Wes felt his mouth open in shock as he stared at the glowing, floating, man suddenly passing right through the classroom wall and screaming with his hands raised high.

Wes expected panic. He expected chaos. What he did not expect was for the nerdy red-head two seats in front of him to shuck his notebook right at the floating man with an annoyed shout of, “Get out of here!”

A couple of the other students started taunting the floating man in mocking tones.

“Oh, look at me, I have a cardboard box, aren’t I great?

“My cat thinks the same thing!”

“Get your boxes from Amazon like the rest of us, you freeloader!”

“Just because you’re a ghost doesn’t mean you can start littering everywhere!”

Wait. Did someone just call that thing a ghost?

Wes looked back at the glowing, floating man and squinted his eyes. He didn’t look like any ghost he had ever heard about.

“I command all things square!” The flying and glowing man in the front of the classroom bellowed as several more boxes of cardboard floated through the room’s walls and stopped; suspended in mid-air and glowing.

And just like that, several students whipped out the gun-like devices from their bags and then proceeded to aim them at the apparent ghost. Like actual guns. Oh god, they were guns.

He had heard that small towns had a lot of guns, but children having them? In school?!

The first thought that struck him was an offended; he hadn’t even been allowed a bullet! The second; he wanted to go home.

This was quickly followed by the sickening realization that this was his home now.

The students all around him didn’t seem to have the same existential crisis as him as they screamed at the floating man.

“Get out of here Boxy.”

“Yeah, we have an exam coming up.”

“You all fear me more than you puny tests!”

“We really don't.”

And then several of the students opened fire.

The Box ghost, or whatever his name was, yelped and ducked behind several rickety cardboard boxes that disintegrated from the actual lasers shooting out of the guns.

Wes ducked further under his table and tried to get his breathing under control as the Box ghost screamed, “I command all the boxes in this school! And soon I will command you!”

Wes waved to get the attention of his neighbor, Star, who was the only one who had tried to explain anything about what was going on, and screamed, “Has someone called the police?!”

Star laughed, gun still smoking in her hand. “And what would they do? It’s cool, I’m sure that Phantom will arrive any—”

She was cut off by the sudden arrival of another flying and glowing figure. But this one wasn't met with sighs and mockery. No. This one was met with cheers. Wes felt his understanding of the situation slid that much further out of his grasp.

“Ghost boy!”

“Hey Phantom!”

“There’s a tough opponent for you today!”

Everyone laughed.

The newly arrived boy, apparently called Phantom of all things, squared up against the other glowing individual in the room and said, “Well, Boxy, let’s do this.”

“You can’t stop me and my boxe—”

He was tackled before he could finish his sentence, through the teacher’s desk. Mr. Lancer got up with a too calm expression on his face for someone who just had two glowing and fist-fighting individuals dumped into his lap.

Then the boy pulled a thermos from his belt and then sucked the man into it. And just like that there was only the boy left, clipping the thermos back on his belt and dusting off his hands. The alarm turned off and everyone cheered. Wes felt faintly sick.

Mr. Lancer cleared his throat and gave the white surveillance camera at the back of the room a pointed look. “Remember class, what do we say?”

“Stay away from us you horrible ghost!” The whole class echoed dutifully, without any real feeling behind it.

Phantom saluted and promptly left the room, leaving them in a silence that only lasted a moment before people started shuffling out from under their desks and an excited chatter started up. Wes caught snippets about the fight, the boy ghost, Phantom, and about homework of all things. No one seemed especially bothered by the interruption.

A goth girl and a nerd in the back picked up the cardboard boxes and—after a stern look from the girl—showed them into the cardboard recycling.

Wes turned back to Star, intent to get at least some explanation on what had just happened. “What was that?”

She looked at him as if he was the crazy one. “What was what?”

“What just happened?! Who was that floating man?! And the boy? What happened with that… that thermos?!” Wes gestured around them as if encompassing the whole room, but of course; there was nothing left in the room to indicate that anything strange had happened at all.

Star pursed her lips in though as she threw a short look towards the back of the room. “We don’t have time for this now. Tone it done, alright? You sound insane.”

“I sound insane?!”

“Yeah. We’ll talk after class.” She sent another look towards the back of the room. “They are watching.”

“Who?!” Wes exclaimed and went to turn around to see what she kept looking at but her hand whipped out and grabbed his shoulder, hard enough to almost hurt and definitely hard enough to keep him from turning.

She shook her head minutely and hissed out, “The guys in white.”

As if that wasn’t a completely insane thing to say. Was this what Wes had sounded like to his classmates? He hoped not.

Wes felt his shoulders slump in defeat as he sank down in his chair. “…Is this hazing? Are you all messing with me?”

Star smiled. “Oh, no. We don’t really have time for things like that here.” She let go of his shoulder and then patted it gently before putting her gun back in her backpack and sitting down in her own chair, back to studying her nails.

And that was that. Mr. Lancer straightened up and managed to get everyone to quiet down before starting the lecture again as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

The boy who had left for the bathroom came back a few minutes later, miraculously still alive, silently taking his seat in the back again, only interrupted by one of the jocks sticking out his foot and tripping him halfway. Wes didn’t know if he imagined the jock whispering an apology right afterwards or not.

Wes sat up straight with his eyes fixed on the bathroom-boy. Screw not caring. Screw his dad and his warnings to stay out of trouble. Screw the psychologists and their speeches about not getting too invested in things straight out of fantasies. Wes wanted to know everything.

[ecto-american]

Humanity

Upon their arrest by the GIW together, Valerie learns something interesting about Phantom and herself that make her question just how human both herself and Phantom are.

note that this isn’t a phic phight thing, just something i wrote literally months ago for Lexx but forgot that i wrote

on FFN and AO3

----------------

They didn't even have the decency to arrest her before Mr. Lancer's class. Being arrested for...well, the Guys in White were never really clear as to why they showed up to Casper High to arrest her. But whatever the reason, that would have been one hell of an excuse as to why she was not just missing, but why she couldn't turn in that book report that she not only didn't do, but hadn't even read a single page of yet. Valerie had an inkling she knew why, but she remained completely silent the entire march out the front doors of the school. She wasn't an idiot after all.

The agent to her left opened the door, and the agent to her right put his hand on her head to duck her into the white SUV. The door closed, and Valerie glanced to see just how tinted the windows were, as well as the police-style framing of the windows and the separation between the driver and passenger as well as the backseat dwellers.

"Oh, I was wondering why we stopped here."

That familiar voice made her jump, and she turned to see Phantom. He was in the exact same predicament. Hands behind his back, leaning against the seat, though she could immediately tell that his handcuffs were much clunkier and glowed. Obviously anti-ghost.

"You!" Valerie hissed. She immediately leaned into the window, lifting her leg up, and she began to kick him repeatedly. "What the hell are you doing here!?"

"Ow!" Phantom hissed as she got him in the shoulder, and then his rib. She didn't stop, and she didn't miss. "AH! Fuck, stop it! OW!"

"Knock it off!" one of the agents boomed. The sudden, strict tone made Valerie pause. She kicked him one more time, square in the face, before finally stopping.

Phantom made a weird wheezing noise, and she saw him shift to rub his nose on his upper arm and shoulder. He frowned.

"My nose is bleeding," he complained.

"I hope your nose is broken!" Valerie snapped back at him.

Phantom glared at her. He made a weird noise in his throat, and it took Valerie a moment to realize what he was doing. Preparing spit. And indeed, the ghost teen stuck his tongue out, drool instantly dripping, and he leaned in. Valerie instantly leaned away from him.

"Ew! Gross! Get away from me!" she complained.

"Nu-uh!" Phantom replied, his tongue still out as he continued to scoot. He got close enough to open his mouth, and some of his saliva dripped onto her knee.

"Gross, gross, gross!" she shrieked. Valerie kicked him in the side, and Phantom let out a pained wheeze.

"Knock. It. Off," the other agent snapped at them. They had gotten into the driver and passenger's seat, and both were glaring at them.

"She started it!" Phantom accused. The driver frowned at him, obviously not amused. Phantom scooted back to his side of the backseat. Valerie stayed pressed against the window and door. She could hear the drive mutter something about hating kids before turning the vehicle on, and they drove off.

--------------------------

They made the duo sit in the interrogation room for three hours, according to the clock. They had, thankfully, just connected the teenagers to the table via a long chain and handcuffs, so that they could at least be a bit more comfortable, even though Phantom, and for some reason her, were both given anti-ghost bracelets to wear. A box of tissues were also tossed onto the table, and Phantom had spent the first half hour tending to his bloodied nose. He stuffed all the used tissues, grossly, into his pocket, though she suspected why he did that. It had his DNA on it.

Phantom nor her attempted conversation. Neither were stupid. They essentially stared at each other and the walls, their only words were occasional out-loud wondering of when somebody was going to show up to question them already.

Obviously her more pressing question was why the hell they were still together. For some reason, Phantom was with her every step of the way of their weird little field trip. They got escorted in together, processed together, and now were sat at the exact same interrogation table. Why? She had absolutely no idea. Didn't they normally separate people they arrested?

At exactly 6:38 PM, somebody finally opened the door, and she and Phantom sat straight up.

The agent that sat before them was a large man, muscular and tall with big hands and sunglasses that fully blocked any chance of the teens from seeing what he was looking at.

"We know you're both half-ghost."

Valerie's mind instantly went to Vlad. That must have been what he was...she had been debating with herself for weeks now as to what he was. A ghost disguised as a human? A human who had ghost powers?

She pushed those aside to look at Phantom. To her surprise, he was pale. Nearly as white as his hair, with anxiety sweat drops beginning to form. Her interest peaked instantly. Silence hung in the air. The man said nothing, simply keeping his attention intensely on them. Valerie

"That's ridiculous," Valerie finally said something. She nearly added that the entire idea itself was ridiculous too. Well, it kind of was. It was so weird to grasp, but it wasn't really something that she wanted to think too hard about these days, and especially now. There was nothing more that she'd love to do than to throw that manipulative old bastard under the weird half-ghost freak bus. However, not only was it probably not a good idea to start beef with a literal superpowered-villain billionaire...but Dani was still out there.

"Don't lie to me." The man sounded agitated. "Both of your ectoplasmic readings are abnormal."

Ectoplasmic reading? Her? Valerie stared at him as if he had grown a second head.

"I shouldn't have any ectoplasmic reading," she pointed out. "I'm alive. Alive people don't have ectoplasmic readings."

The man opened up his folder, pulling out a few choice pieces of papers to slide her way. Phantom silently watched them, his eyes wide and his face looking utterly blank yet...so fearful. Valerie opted to ignore him for a while, accepting the papers to hold as she read through them.

She was familiar with how to read ectoplasmic readings, charts and monitors by now. Green eyes scanned the data, frowning in confusion as she checked the details, and she could see out of the corner of her eye Phantom leaning in to read too. She adjusted her position so that he couldn't.

This description was definitely her, and...she was giving off ectoplasmic readings. Not really in the same way as a normal ghost; there was something distinctively different about hers that any set of trained eyes could pick up on. But how?

"I don't understand," Valerie spoke slowly. "I'm alive." She put the documents back down on the table. "You can take a swap or slap some ghost goop stuff on me. Hell, prick my finger." Valerie held her palm out to the man. Her anti-ghost bracelet sparkled a bit in the light of the room. At least she now knew why they made her wear the bracelets too. "I'm not dead."

The interviewer stared intently at her hand. He gave a neutral hum of acknowledgement, swooping the papers back up.

"Testing and experiments will be reserved for a later time," he replied. Valerie got instant goosebumps. Testing and experiments? "Maybe a few hours in holding will help you realize why you should just come clean to us."

"Can I get some water first?" Valerie asked. The agent snorted in amusement as he stood up.

"Ghosts don't eat or drink."

She felt numb, and she had no idea how to respond to that. Two more agents came into the room, and they silently took the teenagers further into the building until they reached a door. The third agent opened it, and Phantom and Valerie were ushered inside.

The room almost immediately led into bars, and the first thing Valerie could think of was just how much it looked like jail. Two uncomfortable looking bunk beds on either side, a toilet in the middle, a small sink, and no windows. The light was dim, and the room was cold.

Phantom was pushed in first, and then Valerie, and the bars clunked as they closed. She turned to see the bars begin to glow as the bars were locked.

And there was no goodbyes. The agents were eerily silent as they filed out, and the door was shut behind them. She could hear the faint click as it also locked.

Valerie turned to see Phantom's reaction, and he still looked shaken and pale. She already suspected the answer, but she needed to hear it.

"So...are you?" Valerie asked.

"No!" Phantom's answer was way too quick. "What about you? Don't you hate ghosts?"

"I'm not half ghost!" she snapped back. "I have no clue why they'd think that."

Phantom studied her for a moment. His eyes lit up.

"Your suit!" he declared. "The one Technus gave you. It must make your reading wonky."

The second he reminded her, she felt a cold shiver. Suddenly her heartbeat felt off, and she assumed she was colder than usual because of...ya know. That couldn't be true. It had to be wonky readings. The suit was so nice...so much nicer than the suit that she had made herself. It was so much more powerful, so much nicer, just flat out cooler.

She put her heart over her chest. She still had a heartbeat, right?

"What's your excuse?" she asked. Phantom didn't say anything. He turned his attention to the wall, staring blankly at it.

"...Why would they let us stay trapped in here together?" Phantom changed the subject. Valerie narrowed her eyes at him, but she had to admit. It was a good point. "Especially knowing that we'd just plot our escape together."

"Pump the breaks, Phantom. I'm not escaping," Valerie scoffed. "They'll realize their mistake and just let me go."

"Well, they're not gonna let me go," Phantom frowned. "The Guys in White don't exactly play nice with ghosts. And I'm not leaving without you."

"Not my problem," Valerie replied. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Unless...of course there's a reason for it to be my problem."

"You can't just do it out of the kindness of your heart?" Phantom sounded sarcastic, despite staring at her desperately. Valerie crossed her arms. "Please?"

"Give me one good reason to escape with you."

And thus began a staring contest. Phantom shifted from foot to foot, and he glanced at the floor. A lightbulb made the realization click. The GIW knew her identity. They arrested her at school. But they didn't know Phantom's. Nobody probably did. This was likely a ploy to get them to reveal themselves to each other. How or why, Valerie wasn't sure. But now it was glaringly obvious to her.

Phantom was half-ghost. Just like Dani. Just like Vlad. The Guys in White don't play nice with ghosts, and she had a strong feeling that they didn't care much about playing nice with humans either. Especially if they suspected that there was ghost within them.

"Nevermind," Valerie sighed. Phantom stared at her, and he...looked scared. "I can destroy ghosts…" But I really can't take part in destroying a human.

Phantom grew a bit pale again, as they both knew the unspoken words. He took a deep, shaky breath. His reaction was all she needed to know, that this wasn't some weird lie or ploy.

"So. What's our game plan?" he asked.

Valerie studied their surroundings. She reached out to touch the bars of their shared cell, taking immediate note that she wasn't shocked.

"Well, obviously there's that big shield outside," Valerie lightly mused.

"I can get past that shield," Phantom spoke up. "Under the...right circumstances."

Valerie nodded. If Phantom was able to turn human away from the prying eyes of cameras and more, they could both obviously escape right out the front door. Hell, they could likely utilize both Phantom and his? Human? Side? Whatever he was called.

"This facility was designed for ghosts, not humans," Phantom continued. "If we worked together, we can probably make a quick exit." Valerie hummed in agreement.

"That's not just enough," Valerie replied. "I'll just get arrested again. They know who I am. Like, they know Valerie Gray is the huntress." Phantom frowned, and he thought for a moment.

"We could maybe delete their evidence files or something?" he suggested. Valerie paced their cell for a moment.

"There has to be some kind of computer security room somewhere," Valerie spoke aloud to herself. "If we can find it, we can probably wipe evidence and also fully take down the shield."

Phantom leaned against the back wall of the cell.

"I don't think that's enough," he replied. Valerie stopped pacing to stare at him. "We need to make sure the Guys in White don't do this again. Ever. Never even have the chance to get to this point again." Valerie scowled.

"They help hunt ghosts!" she protested.

"And they'd consider Danielle a ghost and rip her to shreds," Phantom countered. The reminder of that little girl hit her straight in the gut. She sighed.

"I don't know," she said slowly.

"They're a government organization, they'll rebuild," Phantom pushed. "We just need to stall them long enough to buy time for us to figure out how to keep you, Danielle and I safe."

She hated it, but...yeah. She wasn't really in the best position either. Valerie had no clue what was going on with her, but the Guys in White were incredibly persistent...and she knew her dad wouldn't be able to afford a lawyer for her anymore.

Valerie held her wrist up. Her suit's bracelet was basically hidden underneath the anti-ghost one, but she could still feel it there. Her suit wasn't gone. She could still access it, and that made her feel more confident in that she was still human. Which she had to be. Right?

Valerie activated her suit, and she held her wrist up to read the screen. She pressed a few buttons.

"I think I can figure out a map of this place," she said. "And from there we can see where's what."

Her forearm glowed brightly as it gathered data. It took a few moments of calculating, but soon, she had her results. Phantom was soon peering over her shoulder, both of them studying the map.

"How accurate is this?" Phantom questioned.

"It tends to be fairly decent. Sometimes it's hit or miss with collapsed buildings, but overall it's spot on," she replied. She adjusted the screen, zooming it out. "I can only get the floor we're on though."

"That looks like it could be some kind of utility room," Phantom pointed to a specific room. Valerie zoomed in on it, studying it.

"Yeah," she said slowly. "Yeah. Gotta be. It's got a lot of power coming to or from there. Has to be a source, or at the very least some kind of major technology area."

"Either way, we should destroy it," Phantom said. Valerie frowned.

"I don't know," she hesitated.

"I mean, you can't even summon your powers."

Phantom glanced down at his wrists, glancing curiously at them before setting his sights on Valerie's arms.

"Can you shoot them off?" he asked.

Valerie tried to summon one of her weapons. She waited. And she waited. Nothing came, and her gut became queasy. She couldn't get her ghost weapon. None of them would summon. This had to be a bad sign. Or was it just the GIW prepared against humans too? That was the most logical explanation. She couldn't be…But also she could be...after all the ectoplasmic readings...

"Um, actually, I think I can…" Phantom's voice caused her to truly look at him again. The ghost was fiddling with his wristbands, using his knees to lock it in place as he attempted to slip his wrist through the band with no success.

"Here, let me try," Valerie interrupted him. Phantom glanced up at her.

"Can you shoot them?" he asked. Valerie forced a weak smile, but she held up a screwdriver.

"Got something even better. My travel tool kit," she replied. After too many breakdowns in the field, she had replaced a small pouch that previously held smoke bombs, something she rarely used, with a few small tools. It was easily one of the best choices she made.

Phantom held his wrist out to her, and she turned the bracelet around. Eventually she managed to pry a piece of the metallic covering off, exposing screws and a few wires. Valerie didn't undo or cut anything right away, both her and Phantom silently trying to make sense of the connection and mechanics behind it. Would really suck to find out the hard way that disconnecting a certain wire would trigger an alarm, after all.

"I think you shouldn't touch the red wire," Phantom lightly mused. "Pretty sure that's a power, and if you turn it off it'll be bad news."

"Mmm, yeah," Valerie agreed. "I think I can just unscrew this though, and we should just be careful to not slip the wires off."

Phantom nodded, and he waited patiently as she did just so. After twenty minutes of careful disconnecting, Phantom had two hands free, and he flexed his hands with a happy sigh.

"God, that just feels so much better," he told her. He motioned for her to hand him the screwdriver. "Here, I'll do yours." Valerie shook her head.

"I can't leave. I won't say anything if you escape, but they know my identity."

Phantom frowned.

"I'm not leaving you here. Come on, you saw your map. We can destroy their power. We can destroy this entire building," he began, only for Valerie to cut him off.

"And do more destruction? Is that all you think about?" she snapped. "You're safe. They know my identity. You want me to get more charges or something? I can't risk it. I'll just stay here. They'll figure out soon enough that I'm fully human." A full human who apparently had mixed logic as to whether or not they could use their ghost hunting suit. If she was fully human, she could summon those weapons, right? Unless it was specifically preventing any ghost weapon, regardless of the user, use it.

"Red, I don't think you understand," Phantom told her. "They're not going to go easy on you. Even if you prove you're human, they're not going to believe you. You heard them. They already denied you contact to the outside world."

That reminder sent a chill down her spine.

"Then tell my dad," she told him. Phantom stared at her. He began to unzip his suit, and she instantly began to look away. "Dude, what the hell?"

"Valerie, look at me," he demanded.

"You're naked!" she protested.

"I'm not naked, just look."

She decided to humor him with the intention of taking a quick peek. But when she saw him, she felt a cold sweat hit her. Phantom had only zipped enough to expose his chest, and there was a distinctive Y-patterned scar on his chest that stood out against the other scars.

"This is what happened last time I was trapped here. I'm not going to leave you alone here," he stated. He suddenly looked away, and he quickly zipped his suit back up. "There's no way in hell I'm going to risk this happening to you. Red, you need to come with me."

That urgent gut feeling of needing to go finally crashed into her. The GIW would never believe her. Not just because of stubbornness, but...Valerie herself wasn't even sure anymore.

She swallowed dryly, and she nodded. Her right wrist was offered to him.

"Do you know what to do?" she asked. Phantom scowled.

"I just watched you do it," he reminded her. She rolled her eyes, but held her wrist up for him, and a half hour later, she too, was free.

She wasn't sure if she was more concerned or relieved to instantly feel that distinctive rush of power back. The second Phantom removed her bracelet, she knew that she could summon any of her ghost weapons now at her fingertips. But she could still summon her suit regardless, and activate her GPS abilities. Was this normal? Valerie had no clue what this meant anymore.

"So, next step, I think we can escape through here."

Valerie looked up to see Phantom was now floating by the vent at the top of their cell. He was already using her screwdriver to undo the vent cover. She pulled her map back up on her forearm, glancing at it and studying it.

"I'm pretty sure the vent will go straight to that electric room," she told him.

"Oh, now you're finally seeing the big picture?" Phantom lightly teased, glancing over his shoulder as he popped the vent cover off. She nodded at him, but didn't crack a smile.

"...You and Dani may look just alike, but I never want you two to have matching scars," she said. Phantom's smile dropped, and he nodded in agreement.

He placed the vent covering on the top bunk, handing Valerie back her screwdriver. She slipped it back in it's pouch.

"Here, I'll give you a boost up," Phantom offered, pressing his hands together. She nodded, stepping a foot onto his hand. With ease, Phantom pushed her up, and she grabbed onto the vent, pulling herself in. It was surprisingly fairly roomy yet not, and she managed to get comfortable on her stomach, pulling her map back up.

"Ready to commit several federal crimes?" Phantom's voice half joked. She looked behind her the best she could to see the ghost right behind her. She snorted in amusement.

"Ready as I'll ever be," she replied. "Just follow me. It's time to give these idiots hell."

And hell they did. Who knew that the Guys in Whites headquarters could cause such a colorful explosion.

[ecto-american]

Broken Ectoplasm C13

DannyMay themed story don’t bully me at it being DECEMBER i’m trying my best

Ectoplasm | Broken | Glass | Theory | Community | Eavesdropping | Worldbuilding | Accident | History | Shape shift | Puppet | Ink | Or Read on FFN or AO3. | 

The unspoken answer was very, very unlikely. But until it was spoken, the answer was always no, right? So fuck it.

"Hey, can I primarily question Phantom?" Agent G asked. His partner looked at him skeptically, and the officer with them said nothing.

"No," Agent K replied. "Can't afford for you to make rookie mistakes." Agent G frowned.

"How am I ever supposed to learn?" he asked. "You'll be right there with me. Come on, I'll even write up the whole report."

"Phantom is a serious and dangerous threat," the other replied. "We're not leaving the questions to a rookie."

The elevator doors opened, and the trio walked towards the room. A nurse was waiting at the door for them, only giving a polite hello before opening it for them. Agent K just gave a brief nod before slipping inside, and Officer Snowden offered a thanks.

Agent G walked into the room behind his fellow agent and the officer, and he immediately saw Phantom. He didn't look nearly as bad as he had expected, though he could see bruising that had begun to heal around his throat. He had plenty of bandaging covering what he assumed to be surgical scars, and Phantom was alert. He sat up in bed, watching them as the lawyer, Ohmer, from the day before, stood with him.

To his surprise, Phantom's eyes were locked onto him specifically the second he entered. Looking at him strangely, almost as if...he recognized him? Would Phantom really recognize him from years ago? When he kind of saved Agent G from the Guys in White shooting at him? Heh. Kinda ironic. But Agent G was skeptical that Phantom really had gotten that good of a look at him then. Or maybe Phantom was taken aback by seeing an unintentional doppelganger.

"His jaw's wired shut," Ohmer spoke up. She pointed to the whiteboard and markers in Phantom's lap. "So we've been using this to communicate." Agent K grumbled in disgust. Phantom not being able to talk would mean that the entire interview would take much, much longer, since Phantom had to write every word out. There would be less body language to dissect, less visual cues. It was more work than Agent K was willing to do. This was a good opportunity.

"Ugh, of course," he muttered, adjusting his suit a bit with a tired sigh. Agent G nudged him, giving a half smile. Agent K stared at him coldly before making an annoyed sigh. "Go for it, rookie. But if you fuck this up, it's on you. And you're writing the report."

"Noted," the younger agent agreed.

Agent G eagerly grabbed one of the chairs, pulling it up to sit next to Phantom. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Phantom continue to stare at him with a raised eyebrow and slight awe. Curious. Agent G shrugged it off best he could, taking his seat and pulling his notebook out to take notes. He couldn't help but notice that Agent K was not doing the same, instead scrolling through his phone. Probably on Facebook again.

"Hey," Agent G began, feeling suddenly…awkward. He didn't think he'd get this far. Phantom stared at him. "So, um, I'm Agent G. I'm from the Guys in White." Phantom blinked at him, head jerking a bit as if that surprised him. "What do you want me to call you?"

Phantom picked up the whiteboard, still staring at him. But he soon broke the staredown to scribble out on the whiteboard.

Phantom is fine.

"Cool, cool," Agent G nodded. He took a deep breath before flipping through his notebook. He had all of his questions written out on the first page, a number next to them. The rookie studied his questions before picking one to start with. Flipping to a new page, he wrote the number associated with the question before looking up to Phantom. "Do you remember when Amity Park was going through that overshadowing epidemic?"

Phantom cocked his head curiously. He seemed surprised by the question, but he nodded. Agent G took note of that before he continued.

"Do you know why they did that?" Agent G continued. "Why the ghosts were overshadowing people in such a mass wave?"

If he seemed surprised before, Phantom look drop dead shocked at this line of questioning. Agent G was sure that had his jaw not been wired shut, that Phantom would be staring open mouthed at him. His lips opened a bit, exposing the metal that was keeping him from being unable to properly say anything, and he made a noise, a clear "huh?" type of confused tone. Phantom stared at Agent G for a moment as he twirled the marker in his hand. He seemed hesitant and unsure.

"Please," Agent G spoke up. Phantom paused. "Just tell us what you know."

Phantom began to jot down on the whiteboard, and Agent G glanced at his companions. Officer Snowden had taken a free seat and was paying close mind. His coworker continued to stare at his phone, occasionally scrolling. He was sure that Agent K was still listening, but how much the man would pick up on the conversation was debatable.

Soon, Phantom turned the board around, and Agent G read it carefully.

It was Walker and his goons. He's basically ghost police. He claimed that me bringing a human world item into the Ghost Zone was illegal, and he arrested me. I escaped, and he began overshadowing people as a ploy to get the town to hate me in hopes that I'd turn myself in if people here hated me.

Agent G wrote down what Phantom said into his notebook, word for word. He was silent as he processed that information. So Phantom was admittedly a wanted criminal in the Ghost Zone? That law didn't sound very just. But yet again, Agent G truly had no idea why that law was even in effect, if it was harmful. And Phantom's statement brought on several questions.

"Why did you escape?" he asked. Phantom studied him for a moment as he turned the board back around. He erased it with his hand before writing. Agent G in turn, studied Phantom. His hands were writing very confidently, no constant erasing and with little pause. He was sure of what he had to say.

The entire sentencing is very unfair. No trial, no defense, nothing. It was just Walker telling me the law, which is bullshit btw, and him sentencing me to 1,000 years.

Holy fuck, that was a long time. Agent G nodded slowly as he, again, wrote down the statement word for word. Then again, ghosts were, sorta, immortal. Time meant nothing to them in that regard.

"What was the item?" Agent G asked. Phantom flipped the board around to write.

It was a wrapped anniversary present for my mom from my dad, a ghost themed checkers game.

That definitely didn't seem worth such a long sentence. Phantom mentioned his parents too, and his parents post his death. This was something Agent G had never read about Phantom doing, mentioning his family or interacting with people like that. Although admittedly, on some level, it was creepy to think about Phantom haunting his old family. But he'd get back to that.

Based on the speed of the responses, Phantom seemed to be telling the truth. But of course, Agent G had no clue how he'd even begin to try and verify this story. He'd figure it out. For now?

"Do you know who all was overshadowed?" he asked. Phantom paused to seemingly think, but only for a moment before his hands moved the marker over the whiteboard.

Some Casper High students, the mayor, several townspeople. Specific people: Mayor Montez, Paulina Sanchez, Dash Baxter, Lancer, Kwan Ishiyama, Star Thunder

Agent G knew almost every single one of those names. He went to high school with many of them briefly. Ugh, verifying these stories would be a trip down cringey memory lane, but he still wrote down the statement, like the others, word for word. He wrote the number two before asking his next question.

"Do you know why the overshadowing ended? Like the incident?"

The look Phantom gave him was so sorrowful. He looked tired and distressed, but he wrote his answer regardless.

He did what he set out to do. Everybody hates me. They want me dissected and gone.

"Oh honey," Ohmer spoke softly. The lawyer reached out to lovingly smooth the ghost's hair, and Phantom smiled at the touch. Agent G nearly forgot that he wasn't alone with Phantom in the room. Officer Snowden was watching on silent as a mouse, and Agent K was still looking at his phone.

Regardless, the answer was jotted down. He wrote the number three, and he glanced up at Phantom. The ghost was waiting for him expectantly.

"Do you know Frederich Isak Showenhower?"Agent G asked. Phantom looked a bit confused, staring at him with a bit of a frown. "He's more commonly known as Freakshow." Recognition lit up in his eyes, and he nodded. "Can you describe your relationship with him?"

He brainwashed me using his scepter.

This was starting to hit unintentional gold. Nobody outside of the GIW and police knew the details of Showenhower's wild story. The media, the public, none of them knew about this crazy brainwashing story. Nobody knew about the scepter being his self-reported means to commit all the crimes, that ghosts were involved. Publicly, the man kept a tight lip on his crime. Very unusual, the criminals normally were very vocal about their side of the story. But not Showenhower. He was silent. Agent G wrote it down.

"Can you elaborate?" he asked. Phantom stared at him blankly. Agent G rephrased, "What do you mean by brainwashed? Can you describe the scepter?"

Phantom's eyes lit up in understanding, and he began to write.

He had this red scepter with a crystal ball. He would hold it up to us, and give us orders. It was hard to fight. There was something to it that just made us obey him. I could break the spell sometimes, but he always knew where to find me. Bring me back. He said the scepter was this family heirloom, and that they used ghosts to entertain people in his circus. But that he found that using us to steal things was much more profitable, since he couldn't be connected to the crime.

Agent G nodded understandingly as he wrote down the answer. So far, this was very interesting. He was giving some confidential details.

"Can you tell me what happened to this scepter?" Agent G questioned. This was the one thing the ex-ringleader refused to tell them. It was information they had been trying to get from him for years now.

It broke.

Agent G hummed curiously. Broken? Wouldn't Showenhower admit that though?

"Do you know where it is?" Agent G asked. Phantom thought for a moment.

Map

Agent G stared at the message before it clicked. Phantom was asking for a map. The rookie jumped from his seat, pulling his phone out. He opened the map application, and he handed it to Phantom.

The ghost zoomed out, and Agent G watched his every move. He shifted to the train tracks, and he followed them. After traveling down the railroad for a bit, scrolling, Phantom stopped at a bridge. He studied it for a moment before making a circle with his finger.

"Around here?" Agent G asked. Phantom nodded, and he picked up his board.

Before the river, over the bridge. It fell somewhere in there.

Agent G nodded. He marked the spot made on his phone's map before tucking it back into his pocket. All of this was fitting into a new puzzle that he was theorizing.

"You mentioned your parents," Agent G began, but paused at the immediate shift in Phantom's entire demeanor. He stiffened and looked at him with that deer in the headlights stare. "What can you tell me about them?"

Unlike before, Phantom didn't make any movements to right anything. He stared at Agent G, his chest heaving a bit as if in a panic. Like a human suspect. This was interesting. Phantom really did mimic humans a lot, as his reports would often detail. Was this a defense mechanism? Possibly, given Phantom's self-reported age.

Agent G waited patiently, and the ghost finally bowed his head to stare at his whiteboard. His hand tapped the marker against his knee nervously.

"You don't have to answer anything you don't want to answer," Officer Snowden finally spoke up. Phantom glanced up at her, before turning to look to Ohmer. The hospital lawyer nodded in agreement.

"Yup. Don't have to answer anything," she confirmed.

Phantom looked a bit more relieved, and he jotted down on the whiteboard.

No comment.

Hm, this was the first question Phantom refused to answer. Was it too personal? Agent G's idea wracked for more theories. Likely to protect family, since he reportedly was interacting with them despite his death. Speaking of.

"Can you tell me when you passed away?" he asked.

Phantom's face scrunched up a bit, obviously hurt. He shook his head no. Agent G hummed lightly as he made that note. Fair enough. That was very personal. He made his final note and flipped through his notes. He had a lot of information to dissect now, and a lot more details to work with and compare and contrast.

"That's all I have for now, but I'll be returning soon," Agent G replied. Phantom stared at him curiously. The agent searched through his pocket to pull out a card. "If you have anything else to tell me, please feel free to call." He paused. "I'm sure a nurse can help you, or your lawyer."

Phantom nodded, turning the card over in his hand. The ghost quickly scribbled on his whiteboard.

No arrest?

"By law, you cannot be released into their custody until you're discharged from the hospital," Ohmer clarified. Agent G nodded to confirm.

"We'll be here to formally read you your charges and rights, the usual come your discharge day," Agent G explained. Phantom looked visibly deflated, but gave a short nod as he slumped over. Ohmer smoothed his hair out.

"Hey, Agent K. We're done here," Agent G announced. The other officer looked startled, standing. Agent G was already out the door, along with Officer Snowden. The officer said her goodbyes and was already walking away.

"Wait, already?" Agent K demanded to know as he followed the two out. Agent G was still re-reading his notes as he jotted down more extras before he forgot the details as he waited for his partner to catch up. The rookie shrugged.

"We'll be back," Agent G assured him. "But right now, I have some other folks that I want to talk to. Try to collaborate Phantom's claims." Agent K studied him curiously. "And question him based on that, see what kind of lies we can catch him in and what evidence we can truly confront him with."

"Sounds like a giant waste of time, doing all this back and forth," Agent K complained. Agent G shrugged.

"Then you can wait in the car," he offered, ignoring Agent K's frown. Agent G re-read the list of names Phantom gave him. "But right now, I have a few people I'd like to talk to." Agent K gave a begrudging sigh.

"Fine, let's go whatever you're going to go," Agent K finally agreed. "Long as you're writing the report."

Agent G grinned. Finally, a chance to get some real answers.