Jason in the Ghost Zone

Wouldn't be alive

Danny peeked around the corner of the wall he and the kid had ducked behind, making sure the police car was out of sight. A quick look back and he saw the kid was still behind him. He didn’t notice the ghost-boy staring at the sleeve of his hoodie like it had bitten him.
“Come on.” The hero grabbed the kids arm and half dragged him around the corner with a sigh. This was taking much longer than he’d thought it would, and the kid dragging his feet along wasn’t helping. At the rate they were going lunch would be long over by the time they got to the school.
“Err… Danny.” The kid was poked the other boys shoulder.
It would be easier if they just flew, but he didn’t want the kid to freak out when he saw the city from the air, not when just walking on the ground was being such a problem. Danny pulled the kid with him as he dashed down the street, hopefully none of the people he dashed passed had the time to do anything about it.
Behind him, the kid was staring at his sleeve again. “Danny.” He tried to get the attention distracted boy, when he was distracted himself. The sleeve of his hoodie went limp, falling to his side – without his arm. “Wha!” He hurriedly picked it up and put it back around his arm where it belonged. “Danny!”
“What is it?” Danny asked, looking across the street. The school was only a block away.
“I think there’s something wrong with these clothes.” The boy said with what – if he’d known what to look for – Danny would have been able to tell was a hint of hysteria.
“You look fine, don’t worry, hardly anyone’s going to see you anyway.” He reached out to grab the ghosts arm again, but ended up with only a hand full of his hoodie.
The kid backed away, leaving the clothing in Dannys hand, his red eyes glued to the fabric like he was expecting it to attack.
“We don’t have time for this, Kid.” Danny held the hoodie to the kid, who backed away as though Danny was holding out a poisonous snake. “You can take it off when we get back home, just put it back on.”
The kid looked at the hoodie suspiciously, but threw it on anyway. Danny nodded approvingly and kept going. Just across the street from the school now, with enough time to talk things over with his friend before he had to hide the…
“Heck no!” The kid bumped into him from behind, then dragged Danny between himself and the pile of clothes on the floor.
“You cant just…”
“It wasn’t me.” The kid pointed at the pile. “It’s possessed, it’s…” A gust of wind made the clothes flutter a little an faster than Danny could see, the kid had thrown his hat at it. “It’s just like it. It’s the freaking clothes from hell, it belongs with that damned hat. Get me a match and I’ll…”
“Kid calm down! They’re just clothes, they cant do anything to you.” Danny picked up the whole pile, including the hat and brought it over to the kid. “It’s a little different than what you’re used to, but they’re not gonna hurt you. Here.”
The kid took the pile and, but Danny could tell he was getting ready to run. After a minute the kid still hadn’t moved. The hero rubbed his temples to preemptively calm the headache he knew was coming. The kid stood holding the clothes, Danny watched them slowly faze through the boys arms and pile was on the ground again, with the hat on the boys head.
“See!” The horrified kid backed away from the pile and towards Danny. “They’re all evil, we should burn it, what if it spreads! Oh god.”
“I told you to calm down. There really is nothing wrong with the clothes.” Trying not to laugh, Danny picked up the hoodie with one hand and slowly, so he didn’t frighten the kid more, he fazed his other hand through the fabric. “It’s you, you’re just fazing through it, it’s okay.”
“I don’t do weird crap like that. That’s never happened before.” He still looked panicked, but not as much as before.
“It took me a while to get used to it too, okay, just relax.” He gave the clothes back to the kid who put them on yet again. “It’s something you can’t do in the Gho… in the other place. You’ll be fine.”
The pout on the kids face made keeping a strait face impossible, Danny stated laughing and threw an arm around the kids shoulder when he tried to pull away. “I’m sorry, it’s just,” he had to pause to get some air into his lungs. “It’s so great to be on the other side of that.” The kid growled, his face tinted red, making Danny laugh harder. Even the glowing of the kids red eyes couldn’t persuade Danny to stop laughing right up until they reached they’d reached the school.
***
Sam and Tucker sat at one of the trees farthest form the school building, waiting for their friend to show up.
“I don’t think he understands how much trouble this could cause. Or he does and he thinks he can handle, just… Tucker you’re not even paying attention to me right now.” Sam groaned in frustration at Tucker, who was completely focused on some new game he’d gotten on his PDA.
“You’ve said it already, and like I said already. If Danny wants another pet ghost, then the best we can do is make sure he remembers to feed it.” Tucker laughed and tapped away, this was a tough level, but the armor the final boss dropped was supposed to be worth the difficulty. It would have been much easier with another player to help, but Sam wasn’t all that into gaming. The game over music played again, and he stuffed the device back into his pocket.
“I wish he weren’t always so busy though.” The techno geek picked up a leaf and began pulling it apart. “The super-hero thing is cool and all but…”
“Yeah,” Sam looked up at the sunlight shining through the trees.
Out the corner of his eye Tucker saw two figures approaching. “Here they come.” He stood up and dusted the grass off his pants. “What took so long?” He asked in greeting. “You said it you’d only be a few minutes.
“We had a little problem.” Danny snickered.
The kid standing a little behind him pulled the hoodie lower over his face, how did a ghost blush?
Tucker pushed the question aside and held out a hand. “We never really had a chance to meet, names Tucker.” The ghost-kid shook his hand slowly. “This here is a handshake it’s how we say hello.”
“Don’t make me punch you again.” The kid said, but he didn’t look as uncomfortable anymore.
“You won’t get me that easy this time.” Tucker got into a martial arts pose he’d seen on T.V, ignoring Dannys frantic gesturing for him to stop.
The ghost kid started laughing, “What, you see that in a video game? That wouldn’t take long to push over.”
“You’d think that, but that’s before I used my own super-power.” Tucker said with a grin.
“Really, and what’s that?” The kid asked, looking way more confident than he had before.
Tucker struck a dramatic pose, one hand on his hip, pointing with the other at the ghost-kid. “I don’t think you could handle it.”
“Tucker.” Sam said, “It’s not a good idea to be picking fight with this guy.”
“Try me.” The kid said, his grin a copy of Tuckers, like he knew exactly what the other boy was getting at.”
“We’ll you asked for it.” The geek adjusted his glasses, then his orange barrette he walked confidently to the other boy. He pulled his PDA out of his pocket as he walked. “I’ll beat you,” the screen flickered to life, “with,” he raised the device to the ghosts face, “science!” The game music started blaring from the little speakers. “I challenge you to try beating my high score! If you dare!”
Tucker held the pose, standing dangerously in the kids personal space.
“Uhh, sure kid.” The ghost backed away a little, pulling the sleeve of his hoodie back into place.
“Great!” The schools bell shrieked that lunch was over before Tucker could say anything about the intangibility of a supposedly powerless kid, it wasn’t important. “I’d love to see how Dannys gonna hide you during school hours,” he chuckled, “but I gotta go. Seeya Danny, and er… What was your name again?”
The kid shoved his hands in his pockets. “I don’t care what you call me.” He shrugged dismissively.
“Right, so you wouldn’t mind Pidiay, then wouldja?” Tucker grinned cheekily.
“Except that.” The kid frowned.
“How about Pointy?” He pulled down the hood and flicked one on the bells on the kids hat.
“Don’t you have to get to class?” The kid asked.
“It’ll be there in five minutes. Hey didn’t you have a J on your chest?” Tucker asked.
“What is it with you and my clothes?” The kid pulled the hood back up, hiding the hat.
“Tucker, if they find out you’re late your parents are gonna reground you.” Danny said calmly, but waving his hands in a way that wasn’t calm at all.
“Okay, okay, sheesh. Seeya around Red Hoodie guy.” Tucker waved and walked away. He didn’t get why Danny and Sam were so worried, that guy wasn’t dangerous.
“Hey Tucker.” The kid called. “Just Red’s fine.”
“Haha!” Tucker turned and gave a thumbs up before hurrying off.
***
Danny waited for Tucker to be gone before turning to the kid. “You’re really okay with you’re name being Rd Hoodie Guy?” He asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Hey, it’s an old family name.” The kid snorted like he was offended.
Danny wondered how societies those societies where kids named themselves functioned. “Sure, whatever Red.” He started walking around the school. He fazed himself and the kid, Red through the library wall. “Think you can stay here and keep out of sight until schools out?”
Red was looking around, taking in the empty room. “I think I can try.”
“People hardly ever come to this section, so it shouldn’t be too hard I’ll seeya in a few hours okay, behave.” Danny rushed through the halls to get to class as fast as he could without using his ghost powers. It’d be fine the kid had stayed in one place when he’d been alone in the Ghost-Zone, chances were he’d be able to do the same alone in the human world.
***
In the highest security room, in what was probably the highest security asylum in the world, the sound of a bone breaking bounced around the walls, punctuated by pained laughter.
“What a welcome.” A green haired man cuffed to a chair chuckled. “Wasn’t expecting to see you so soon. What, the old man needed you to fill in for the other one.” More terrible laughter erupted from his red lips.
“Shut up!” A young man dressed in red and black grabbed a fist full of the Jokers shirt and punched him in the face. “You talk when I tell you to, you say, what I want you to say. Now tell me what you did to him!”
“Aw, he didn’t give you the details, don’t worry, your Uncle Jay will fill you in. You want me to start with sounds, how many of his bones were still in place? It wasn’t a lot I’ll tell you that. Little brute spat me in my face if you can believe it! The nerve of…” Another punch shut him up for a few seconds, before his laughter began anew.
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it!” Nightwing hit him a few more times.
“Haha, the last part was so uninventive though, not nearly as interesting as the rest. I wasn’t there though so I cant be sure, I would have loved to see his little face when the…!”
Nightwing smashed the mad mans face into the table, hearing the satisfying sound of his long nose breaking.
“Aww, that not it either?” Joker pouted. “What is it then? Wanna hear about how he cried after he was too distracted to look tough anymore. Crying his little tears for the bog man to come save him, even called for his father. I’m wondering if they’re the same person now.” He laughed harder when Nightwing hit him again. “Wanna know what really takes the cake here though?” He said more softly. “Daddy was the only one he called for. Seeing as you’re here and not the dark night himself, I find it funny that the little brat didn’t once call for his big brother. Wonder why that is, don’t you.”
Nightwing stood silent for a moment, a stricken look on his face that soon morphed into fury. Even knowing the Joker had to be lying, there was no way his Little Wing would cry for any ones help, he’d been too strong for that, hadn’t he. Wouldn’t he have known that Nightwing would have saved him if he could? The ex-Robin pulled out his escrima sticks and turned up there voltage.
The oxygenated smell of electrocution accompanied the sound of laughter this time.
“Shut up!” Nightwing screamed over the sound.
“Talk,” the joker wheezed, “ shut up. Make up … your mind already.”
“Tell me where he is!” Nightwing shouted. He pushed both sticks against the clowns ears, activating the electricity like that would have killed anyone in the clowns position.
“Daddy didn’t tell you? Not like I tried very hard to hide it.” He looked somewhere behind the black and blue clad hero. “Did I Batsy?”
Nightwing felt a presence behind him and turned quickly to see the Dark Night of Gotham himself in the room.
“This won’t solve anything Nightwing, let’s go.” Batman said.
“This is the only way we’ll figure anything out.” Nightwing said. “You said yourself we didn’t have enough data!”
“Killing him won’t get us anymore.” His mentor turned to leave.
“What’s this?” The jokers words make the dark night pause. “Little birdies not even cold in his gave and you’re already putting the bad guys away, what dedication, who’d o thunk it, amiright?”
“He really doesn’t know?” Nightwing asked Batman, who just shook his head and left.
It was the Jokers turn to be answered with laughter, as the younger vigilante followed his mentor out the room he stopped next to the Joker. “Did you really think,” Nightwing said as he leaned in close to the clown, “that if he were dead, you’d still be alive?”
With that the original dynamic duo was gone, there was still work to be done far from the disgusting creature in that room.