P.I.E. Operation: PARASITIC

LVI: Reopening an Old Wound

I hope this is okay. Towards the beginning, I knew exactly how things were going to run. Then, towards the end of the chapter, that 'creative' flow began to slip away. ;"D

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Billy and Sally Acachalla stood frozen in a running stance. The hidden room where they were held consisted of a mess of random flying objects hanging in midair and towards the floor.

Maxwell Acachalla gave those in the hallway a cold, dead look as he kept the grandfather clock in the room from striking past another minute. However, as he was taken by surprise, the clock's hands moved forward ever so slightly, and so did the siblings.

His expression seemed tired. There were darkened bags under his eyes, and although he could fly easily as a ghost, he barely hovered off the ground. There was a bloodstain completely caking over his right eye, indicating that he might've been shot in the head at the time of his death in the past.

In the hallway, Amie, Johnny, and Light were less affected by the slow of the clock, as they were farther away. Johnny Toast was now frozen in a gaping stare, being that he was almost completely in the room with the Acachallas. A certain someone had gone missing.

Maxwell's lips curved slowly into a smile. "You know, I died so long ago that I don't even remember why I hate this earth."

"Then what are you doing here?!" Johnny Ghost yelled from the outside, trying to drag his partner out of the doorway.

The corrupted Acachalla narrowed his eyebrows. "I should be asking you that. Why did you drag me into this hole of a cell? I wasn't even doing anything vengeful at the time; I was merely messing around in the merchant's shop by making their merchandise items float around."

"What are you--" He grunted, and Johnny Toast was somewhat free from the effects of Maxwell's twisted time. "--talking about? I don't recall capturing you recently. I thought you'd disappeared... given up on the ghosting thing for a while."

"Perhaps," Amie began in a saddened tone, "you forgot him down here as well as you had forgotten about I."

Johnny Ghost stopped cold. The only reason Amie showed up with Toast so suddenly was because she had already previously been trapped in the basement of P.I.E. Headquarters.

"Oh!" Maxwell halted to think for a second and nearly lost his grip on the hands of the grandfather clock. "I think that merchant incident occurred only half a decade of earth years ago." He fixed his tired gaze on Johnny Ghost. "It shouldn't be that hard to forget, you simple-minded human."

Ghost fell backwards. Toast was still stuck. "Please, let them go." He pleaded, out of breath.

"First, you must lead me out of this stinking trap hole... Just let me be free from the likes of you."

Johnny Ghost stood up, a sly smile plastered across his face. "Oh, but surely we will never be able leave this place until Johnny Toast is freed from your time bending, at the very least." He lied. "He's a very good... map, so to speak."

Light and Amie nodded in unison at Ghost's cue, confirming his lie as a truth.

Maxwell grinned back, but it seemed that he was looking through Johnny Ghost at another. "Okay, buddy boy. I will make time go a little faster, but it'll take a bit for my power to slow. How about a countdown?"

Johnny exchanged glances with Amie and Light, then shrugged his shoulders.

"Three... Two..." Max paused.

From the shadows, a figure rejoined the group.

"What comes after two?" Maxwell's grin grew wider. "Oh, that's right..."

The three remaining were taken aback as Jimmy Casket returned to his host, sewing together the hole that reformed in his abdomen. Blood spurted from Johnny Ghost's nose and mouth.

"...Pain." The evil spirit finished his false countdown.

The old bloodstain from Jimmy's previous scar on Johnny reformed and grew a little bigger before Casket completely closed the open wound.

"Not again!" Light exclaimed.

"You're really quite the devil, Jimmy Casket." Maxwell added, continuing to mess with the time flow in his area.

"I'm... I'm not Jimmy, or... not yet, at least." Johnny said, his eyes switching between the light of his own irises and Jimmy's darkened ones.

"I see." Maxwell Acachalla said. "You're stronger than I thought."

Ghost pulled a gun out of his hoodie (it's there in case his satchel goes missing) and loaded it. He automatically shot a single bullet towards Maxwell.

The spirit twitched, letting time flow faster for a split second--enough for Ghost to shoot another at the clock. At this point, Billy and Sally were on the verge of falling flat on their faces.

As soon as the bullet entered the room, it came to a near stopping point, but continued to head for the ghost very, very slowly.

Maxwell seemed angered, but he kept his tired, mellow tone."There was no point in that, besides barely sparing you some time." When he reached out a hand to catch the bullet from hitting the clock, he ultimately ended up loosening his grip on time, letting the first shot lodge itself in his semi-transparent, ghastly skin. He gasped, as everything went to chaos in the room.

The grandfather clock's face shattered to pieces. The siblings were at last thrown to the floor after running in place for so long (so were the random floating objects around them that were hurled around the room in separate directions).

Johnny Toast's head slammed back down to the floor. He sat up quickly, his eyes widened. "Maxwell Acachalla?" He met face to face with the other P.I.E. member, who nodded in response. "And... You've been haunted again, haven't you?"

"I was told that if I'm the bad guy, then I should never win in a situation with a hero. In this case, however--" The spirit shoved a hand into the pile of useless trash, and pulled out an airplane toy. "I don't think that's true."

"You don't even know the way out!" Johnny Ghost countered.

Maxwell smirked, then threw the airplane in the direction diagonal to the four in the hallway. He stared tensely at it; a spiritual connection grew between him and the flying object, and all of a sudden he momentarily disappeared from the material world and became the object.

Johnny tried to take a shot at the ghost again, but of course, his luck was bad and he hadn't any bullets left in the gun anyway.

Maxwell Acachalla reappeared when he was further away, tipping his hat.

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 They could really just run after him, now. "^^