Jason in the Ghost Zone

Probably nothing

He felt bad for leaving them all so suddenly, hardly even saying goodbye before he rushed off. They said they needed him, but he assured them that they’d be fine without him for a while, it would be fine.
If he could have made himself believe those words as easily as they had then he wouldn’t have been compelled to get away so urgently. Something terrible had happened, he was sure of it, something life changing. He almost didn’t want to know, didn’t want to have to think about it at all.
In his line of work ignoring things like this always lead to even more problems down the line, problems that were often impossible to fix. Better to get this out of the way.
Maybe it was nothing at all. Just culture shock and stress that made him homesick. It was still his home after all, no matter how tense the atmosphere was there. If it weren’t for that kid… He cut off the thought, it wasn’t fair, was it. Wasn’t the kids fault at all, maybe he was at odds with the old man too, maybe a break would do him good.
Pulling out his cell he considered calling in first, but decided against it, no need to get them all wound up after all.
It was probably nothing.
***
In his almost empty mansion, Vlad Masters viewed the grainy footage playing across the small handheld screen.
Initially he’d been uncharacteristically annoyed that the girl had gone and gotten herself trapped in the ghost-zone, scrapping her equipment and calling Jack Fenton of all people for help. Really, the extra work had not been at all welcome, but listening to the idiot ramble about his apparent adventure, I came this close to catching the ghost kid, you should have been there Vladdie , that had been nigh unbearable.
Vlad had even considered halting his support of her all together, it was hard to remember why he had started in the first place. Having the Red-Huntress under his control didn’t bring him any closer to any of his goals, he was sure there was someone else who could be of more use.
This was of course before, out of curiosity more than anything he checked the hidden camera installed in her helmet. What he found there was very interesting. Rewinding an replaying the recording once more he let a small smile play across his lips.
Daniel had a new friend it seemed. Even with the low quality of this video he could tell this boy was special. His doorbell ran, pulling his attention away fro the screen. He put away the screen and straitened out his desk, one didn’t come to be as well off as he by letting himself slack off on his business.
It was fortunate he had Skulker to look into these kinds of things for him. This was interesting enough that he decided to keep funding the Red-Huntress for a while at least.
***
The boy lay on his back watching the swirly green wisps of whatever it was that floated around hi move around. It was soothing, even if it wasn’t very interesting. Being as still as he’d been for as long as could remember didn’t sit well with him. He hadn’t noticed how much it bothered him in the beginning, but now it was an annoying prickling at the back of his mind.
There was something he was supposed to be doing, he knew there was, but every time he tried to really think about it all that filtered through his brain was laughter, and not any sort of good of the good cheerful king either. It was like the longer he pushed the thoughts aside, the harder they were to think about the next time he tried, but there wasn’t anything he could do about that.
How long had he been there even? He had no idea, even though he felt that he should, that a lack of proper day and night cycles shouldn’t have kept him from keeping track of how much time had passed. There was someone who would be very disappointed with hi, but whoever it was had something to do with the laughing, so it was getting harder to think about too.
Closing his eyes he tried to calm himself enough to get some sleep. Wasn’t like there was anything else he could do on the dumb cluster of rocks he’d grown tired of exploring.
“Hey Kid!” a voice called and he cracked open an eye, really hoping nothing weird was about to happen. He’d had enough of freaking weirdness, and it got weirder with that boy around.
***
Danny had honestly been expecting more that two weeks of being grounded after what Jazz had been calling there family excursion to the ghost-zone. His parents being convinced that it was him the ghost boy had carried off probably had something to do with that. He was still banned from entering the lab for at least another month though, after being found out for ‘taking the speeder out for a joyride’.
Sam and Tucker hadn’t gotten off so easily. They were both holed up at home, under close watch by their parents. Too close for even a ghost to pay them a visit, actually considering the circumstances, especially a ghost.
So Danny was stuck on his own, not that he minded for the time being, even if it made him feel terrible for his friends’ sake. There was still something that would be easier to do by himself for now. It was the perfect time to start. His parents had gone to meet with Vlad about some new invention, and Jazz was out for the day as well. He wouldn’t get a better chance for a while.
Before he left the house he filled an ordinary thermos with some instant soup. As far as his parents knew he was spending his day at the library without his friends to keep him company. They’d have a bit of a surprise when they checked there newly upgraded security system to find that the ghost-boy has broken into their lab to make use of their portal.
Not a half hour later he was nearing the place he’d last left the ghost kid, surprised he was able to find it at all. The Ghost-zone was a hard place to navigate when you had the speeders equipment, finding his way himself was suspiciously easy. Not that he was about to worry about that, he had to keep his mind on his mission.
“Hey Kid!” He called before he got to close, he didn’t want to startle the already irritable ghost-kid.
One red eye peered up at him.
“I brought you something.” He held out the thermos and shook it, making its contents slosh around.
That earned him a raised eyebrow. “Please don’t tell me you actually brought soup.” The kid groaned, sitting up. He took it and cautiously unscrewed the top. Danny almost laughed at the deadpan expression on his face. “Now I can really call you Soup-Boy.”
“It was all I could think of, you seemed pretty keen on getting some last time, I figured it’d be SOUP-er heroic of me to get you some.” The halfa grinned.
The kids expression didn’t change, and for a moment Danny was worried that he’d screwed up, who knew what this ghosts triggers were, but then he heard a soft chuckle.
“I dunno. I did tell you not to BROTH-er with me.”
“Was that a joke?” Danny asked?
In lieu of an answer the kid held inspected the thermos a little closer. “If this thing sucks me up Ima hurt you.” He took a tentative sip.
“Yeah,” Danny gave an uneasy chuckle. “I didn’t know when last you’d eaten.” He didn’t mention that he wasn’t even sure if real ghosts needed to eat.
“Thanks.” The leaned back on his arms, turning his intense red eyes to the hero. “What are you doing here though? Planning on opening a wandering soup kitchen or somethin’?”
“Who knows, not that I’d need to wonder much, you’re easy enough to find.” Danny sat down next to the kid,
The kid almost looked like he was going to shoo him away, but just looked up at the infinite expanse of the Ghost-zone swirling above them.
“Maybe that’s the point.” He tugged off his had and began tugging on the bells, like he was trying to pull them off.
“What are you hoping finds you?” Danny asked.
“Real subtle.” The kid droned. “ Your interrogation technique could use some work.”
“Hey I…” that un-heroic choking sound slipped out of Dannys throat. “That’s not what I was doing. Why would I want to, I don’t…”
“Cool it, jeez.” The kid drank the rest of the soup and screwed the lid back on.
Danny took a moment to wonder where food went when ghosts ate, then shook the thought from his mind. “Don’t you want to get out of here?” Danny asked.
“Don’t think I wanna know what outta is.” Something unidentifiable flickered across the kids face before his eyes slipped closed again. “This little rock’s plenty eventful enough.”
“Aren’t you worried about falling off, you can’t fly right.” Danny said. “Except for right after Skulker.”
“I’ll figure it out if I have to.” The kid said. “How did things go with your parents?”
“Grounded.” Danny wasn’t too happy with the change in subject, but didn’t want to be called out again, what did a ghost-kid know about interrogation anyway? Not like he could’ve been the ghost of some detective or something. “They thought we took the speeder out for a spin.”
“Sounds like fun.” The kid mumbled, sinking lower. The bells on his hat jingled when they came into contact with the ground again. The kid let out an annoyed groan and threw the hat over the edge of the island.
“About what I expected”, Danny muttered as he watched the hat disappear over the edge. The hero was beginning to suspect that in life the ghost kid had been forced to wear an embarrassing hat and that as a ghost it was his obsession. That was good, right? Knowing a ghosts obsession was a good way to start on figuring out how to help them. At least that’s how it was on T.V. The kid behind him spat out a few soft curse words, startling Danny out of his thoughts.
The kid shot him a look that not too long ago would have made the hero shut up, but now only made him laugh harder. Danny ad to duck when the hat was thrown at him and tumbled over the edge again.
“Mind if I finish up my homework here?” Danny asked.
“I don’t care what you do.” The kid half growled. He pulled off the hat and used it as a pillow as he lied back and closed his eyes.
“At least it’s useful for something.” Danny snickered, earning him a glare from one cracked open red eye.
The kid muttered something that Danny was sure he was better off not hearing before settling down again. Danny sighed, and began trying to word an essay on a topic he knew nothing about while the kid slept. He knew nothing about helping ghosts, absolutely nothing and he’d never thought he’d ever regret it.
***
The boy cracked open a red eye to watch when Danny finally decided to get up and leave him alone.
He didn’t know the other boy kept coming to visit him every day, and that bothered him. Everyone had an angle, even those you couldn’t tell at first, even the heroes. Not knowing what someone wanted from you could be dangerous when there was no way of getting away from them.
At least the food was nice, there was never anything else to eat in the Land of Green Swirliness.
I have to start calling this place something else. He pushed his hair out of his eyes.
Was there even a real name for a place as strange as this one? He was sure he’d heard it called something else at one point. Information was important, he knew, though it was beginning to seem less so everyday.
There was a soft beeping. The boy didn’t go still, didn’t give any indication that he’d heard it at all. It was soft, but nearby, he sat up and cracked his back, a quick glance around hidden by a loud yawn. No visual of what ever it was, but it this wide open place where could it have been hidden? He had to fight against the urge to start looking around for whatever was making the noise.
The only things he’d seen so far that could have made such a digital sound were The Speeder and the ugly robot guy that he’d fought in his earliest memories. He didn’t want to be near either of those things, but the idea of coming across something else new that could be even more dangerous wasn’t something he liked. Sitting with his legs crossed and his face propped up on one palm, he tried to look bored, and expression he’d perfected as of late.
Whatever was making that sound, he didn’t want to attract anymore of its attention.
After a few minutes the beeping got a little louder and he couldn’t help but tense up, ready for a confrontation, but then the beeping grew softer again, eventually disappearing in the direction Danny had flown. Only then a sick feeling started building in his gut.
That kid thought he was a hero, and something had caught sight of him. Something that the red-eyed boy couldn’t spot and could only hear, something that could be dangerous. He thought of the kid struggling with a simple essay and tried to imagine figuring out what that thing was, he couldn’t. How many young vigilantes had been taken out by someone with more experience. Did the kid have someone watching out for him, anyone other than his friends who probably didn’t even know where he was most of the time. Kids with no one watching out for them got hurt.
Thoughts of fire and shrapnel and loneliness and pain fought there way into his mind.
To heck with that. No little kid was going through something like that on his watch. He let his eyes drift to the path the kid had taken when he’d left, the same path that thing had followed. No way was he letting a little kid go through that.
***
Danny flopped down on his bed when he got home, wrapping his arms around his soft pillow. There was still homework he hadn’t finished. Still chores he ad to do, but he was too comfortable to care. He’d gotten enough done that his parents would see at as an improvement anyway. His eyes hurt from staring at his computer screen as long as he had. The screen was still on, still opened on a page about his research, not that there was much to show for it.
Unsurprisingly there was very little information on ghost psychology floating around, and absolutely nothing that was at all helpful. His parents were probably the only ones who knew anything factual about ghosts at all, and even there research was unreliable.
The kid in the Ghost-Zone wasn’t overly obsessive or violent, at least not after he’d calmed down. He’d been pretty relaxed every time Danny had seen him after the portal ghost incident, even if he’d looked a little bored.
His phone buzzed on his nightstand, like it had been doing since he’d gotten back from the Ghost-Zone. His friends had given up on calling when he’d told them both that e was tired and going to sleep. They’d chosen to send him texts so that he could experience their anger at a later time. Giving up on falling asleep with all the buzzing in his ears he scrolled through some of the texts before putting his phone on silent and stuffing it under his pillow.
Tomorrow he’d deal with it all. Now was sleep time.