Jason in the Ghost Zone

Dead

"Will you be my friend?"
"No!" Nightwing slammed the door to the frozen door with the clingy creep behind it. "Note to self, never go in one of those again unless you have to." He said, clutching his armored chest in the hope of calming his rapidly beating heart.
A compartment on his wrist beeped and with the flip of a switch the words Chemical Analysis Complete flashed across the tiny screen. Nightwing studied the numbers and letters detailing the chemical composition of the air around him: Similar enough to Earth that it was breathable, but with an unidentified element that looked to e somewhat radioactive.
Dick groaned. That mean he'd have to keep on the stuffy helmet, he'd had enough of helmets on his space mission to last a lifetime. His inner grumbling was quieted when he remembered that Jason hadn't had a helmet to begin with. Nightwing added the chemical report to the data pack he'd by sending or Batman at the end of the day, along with a note to develop some kind of treatment for any negative effects.
Something white and fluffy looking floated by his head. Dick sped up a little to snap a picture of the little poff, not because it may have been important, not because it looked like a marshmallow with eyes. Afterwards the poff started spinning in circles, probably disoriented by the flash. Dick laughed at the funny look it shot him as it entered another floating door.
Dick floated up to the door and gripped the handle, steeling himself before quickly yanking it open.
"I want to go to the ball!"
He definitely did not let out a manly scream before slamming the door on the weird glowing girl. Really hoped Jason wasn't in one of these doors.
"Wonder how your sanity's doing in here Littlewing." Nightwing unclipped from his belt the little monitor that was trying to trace Robin's signal, it wasn't as useful as he'd hoped it would be. He needed to find someone sane enough to answer questions. The floating school at least looked more promising than the doors.
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Red peered out from his hiding place under a bed when some other kid was placed on a bed next to it. The doctor paused for a moment near Red, but shrugged and left. When the man was gone, Red turned his attention to the kid on the other bed. Green skinned and dripping acid, weird, but not the weirdest thing he'd seen. The hat chimed in agreement, and Red pulled it off with a groan.
He'd lost his hoodie slipping away from the creepy doctor that definitely didn't have a license. His eyes moved between the hat and the growing puddle of acid in front of him. One of the machines in the hospital beeped, Red was surprised it had any working equipment at all.
Carefully, and first making sure the doctor really was gone, Red crept out of his hiding place. He crouched in front of the acid and slowly began lowering the hat into it. There was a beep and Red started, dropping the hat into the acid with a little splash.
Thump, thump, thump.
A quick look around the room told him that the sound wasn't coming from some kid turned monster. It got louder and Red went up to the overly large air vent to have a look, he backed away quickly and covered his mouth, fighting the urge to gag.
Whatever was in the vents smelled enough like a monster, a sweaty, chilli covered monster that was getting closer and closer. Red backed up further, looking around for anything that could be used as a weapon. There was a loud Thump, followed by a yelp, and a shadow tumbled out of the vent.
It was just Danny's friend Tucker.
"What the heck are you doing in this hosp..."
"Don't say it man." Tucker said, covering Red's mouth with one sweaty hand.
"Don't say what?" Red batted the hand away.
Tucker just shook his head an threw some bundled up fabric at the other boy. "Found you a present."
His hoodie, Red caught the fabric an greatfully pulled it over his other bizarre clothes. "That still doesn't tell me what..."
"I'm here to help Danny okay." Tucker said, moving back to the vents.
Red slipped into Tue tight space before Tucker, kid would get himself killed going through this place alone.
"What's wrong with Danny? Listen, you're smart and all, but I doubt you could do much about this." Red swept his hand in a way that indicated the whole hospital.
"Aha, well that's where you're wrong." Tucker twisted awkwardly to pull out a can of deodorant. "It's called Foley, by Tucker Foley." At Red's bemused look the other boy explained further. "It's like ghost-bug spray."
"Cool, so you spray it though the hospital vents and... What's wrong now?" Red asked the boy who was shaking like he had an evil clown staring him down.
"You just had to say it." Tucker moaned, huffing himself.
"Say what?" Red asked. "There something I don't know?" Red face palmed. "Your afraid of the hospital, aren't you?"
"I was trying to pretend it was a modeling agency." Tucker said.
"Here, give me the spray and I'll get it to your friend, you get out of here kid." Red said.
"But Danny." Tucker looked torn.
"I'll handle it. I'm sure he'd feel better knowing his friend is safe." Red said.
Tucker nodded and handed I've the spray, Red told him to keep the lipstick that doubled as a taser.
Red carried on alone, spraying the terrible smelling deodorant at all the rooms he passed until he looked into a room to find Danny. The kid was strapped to a table slowly moving into a machine that he evidently wanted to get away from. The locks were simple enough though.
"Not sure I wanna know what's going on here." Red said, feeing Danny.
"Remember what Sam said about the school psychologist?" Danny said.
"I'm sure I don't want to know." Red folded his arms.
"Yeah well, she's literally a monster that feeds on mental suffering. My sister kinda destroyed her body, and she wants a new one." Danny said.
"Please don't tell me she was trying to take your body." On it's own the creepy hospital was very uncomfortable, a body snatcher on top of that would have been just... no, just no.
Danny seemed to agree. "Whoa, no. She just wants pieces of DNA from the strongest, smartest, best looking kids in the school to build a new one." Danny pointed at woman behind some glass that was a bit put off at not noticing.
"The logic of looking for smart DNA at a highschool aside, she's basically a Frankenstein-psycologist-vampire?" Red took a step away from the case.
"Yeah, we still need to cure everyone else, Tucker has the..."
"Here." Red tossed Danny the can of Foley. "He was pretty shaky so I sent him back."
"Hold it right there ghost boy!" A black shadow rushed into the room, strait for Danny. Red moved instinctively to knock Danny out of the way and into the hall, getting himself tangled up by a glowing squid in the process.
"Let him go," Danny said. "Spectra, he doesn't..."
"Just go kid." Red sent a powerful kick at the quid things soft skin. It yelped and through the boy to the other side of the room. Red landed on his feet and cracked his knuckles. It'll take more than words and some half cooked calamari to keep Todd Reed down." That name still felt really weird.
Danny nodded and made a break for it.
"Todd Reed?" The shadow said, trying to wrap itself around the boy. "Are you sure you remember your name?" She cornered him and brought her face right up to his. "The look in your eyes says otherwise."
Red gave her the finger as he kicked off the wall twice, gaining the altitude to jump over her head. She was taken back by the rude gesture, got over it pretty fast and made a grab for the boy again. She caught hold of his hoodie and he had to slip out of it again.
"You break that, and I'll end you." He said. Ting , he really wished he'd stuck around the acid long enough to get rid of that hat.
"An interesting question." She held the hoodie at arms length, looking from it to red. "What would make any ghost in the human world help the halfa?"
Red could think of a few questions that were way more interesting and colourfully worded, but there were impressionable kids in the building.
"You know lady, if I ever find one, I'll ask em for ya." He made a grab for a dusty IV pole in a corner, but with a snap from Spectra's fingers he was caught in a bear hug from behind, by an actual bear.
"Oh, you don't know?" She chuckled.
Red leaned away from her, what was it with this woman and getting in his face. "Yeah, laughing crazies really aren't my thing." The whole situation was sending a chill down his spine, freaking creeps.
"And I thought the halfa was good." She laughed some more, flying around the room and sticking herself right up in his personal space again. "You really have no idea." She said in mock sympathy, she pulled up a mirror from the other side of the room and held it up to him and watching his expression from over his shoulder. "What do you see?"
"A crazy bi..." He was silenced by Spectra's hand smothering half his face.
"I suppose your little tough guy facade helps you cope, but there's really no need for language like that. " It's a pity really, so young, you probably had so much to live for. Or not."
"What the heck are you even talking about?" Red asked.
"I wonder how it happened. Don't worry you poor boy, it probably wasn't your fault." Her soft expression turned into something nasty. "Who am I kidding, look at you. Violent, brash, vulgar. You were asking for it, weren't you. All dressed up like a clown." Red tried to tell her what she could do with her psychoanalysis, but she smothered his face again. "So childish, probably had no actual childhood."
She was making zero sense, Red tried to bite be squishy stuff blocking his moth and nose, but just got a mouthful of horrible tasting sludge.
"How do you think it happened? I'll bet you it was painful, I'll bet that's why you don't remember. There was probably nothing left, not that anyone would have looked, not for something like you." She leaned against the bear and began stroking Red's hair." That just makes me wonder why the halfa keeps you around. He normally wouldn't think twice about sending a violent little ghost like you back where it came from. What do you say about that." She moved her hand away and flinched at the unexpected sound of Red's laughter.
"Me? A ghost? You're crazy lady." He said. "Now get your pet off me so I can kick your butt into a pit."
"Still in denial?" She held his jaw, painfully tilting it up to meet his eyes. "That passes. You'll have to accept it eventually."
Red struggled harder to get out of the glowing bear's arms. He broke away, but his eyes lingered on his own glowing arm. All the ghosts he'd seen had glowed, and so did he.
"Danny glows too." Grabbing onto the only shred of evidence he had to contradict her.
"In his ghost form, yes, but under that he's still human. You're not so special Mister Todd Reed, you're not special at all really. Not powerful enough to Bea threat. He probably just wants a pet for a while before he hands you over to his parents so for study."
"Shut up!" Red yelled. But his name wasn't Red... he wasn't... Someone was coming, Someone wouldn't have let him die, he needed... he just needed... "Someone's coming." He said.
"Aw, no they aren't sweety." Spectra said, and man he really hated peppy sadists. "No ones ever coming for you, because no one wants you."
He really needed her to shut up, he couldn't think. He would have done anything right then for her to shut up.
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The one good thing about her whole school being infected by a ghost virus - if it was possible for there to be anything good about the situation - was that she hadn't gotten into trouble for being late that morning. Valery tried to focus on that past the horrible smell that somehow made it past her mask.
Most of her classmates had already been cured, and all she had to do was suck up the nasty little bugs that had started it all.
"Shut up!" She heard a disturbingly familiar voice not far off. She rushed towards the sound, really hoping she was room.
In that direction she found a circling around a kid who sat on the floor, being held in place by a huge bear ghost. She didn't hesitate to suck both ghosts into the new thermos she'd been given by the Fentons. When she turned her attention back to the kid, she froze.
The clown ghost, the one who knew her face, knew she had family. He didn't acknowledge her presence, just sat staring at nothing with wide eyes and taking in deep, shaky breaths. Her first instinct was to find out how to calm him down from what looked like some kind of attack. Her logical side argued that he'd probably been working with those other two to cause the whole mess.
"How'd you get here ghost?" She asked, flinching a little at the way he folded in on himself. He didn't answer, and she aimed her thermos, before she could catch him the thermos was knocked clean out of her hand and rolled down the hall.
Phantom! She wanted to run for the thermos, be ready for an attack, but the ghost didn't take any notice of her.
"Hey Red, you're okay, come on." Phantom was kneeling on the ground next to the other ghost, one hand on his shoulder. "I shouldn't have left you alone with her, darnit. And you!" He turned and pointed an accusing finger at Valery. "What did you do to him?!"
"I just got here." She didn't know why she felt the need be defensive, and she hated it.
"Other ghosts are one thing, but you think it's okay to mess with a little kid?!" Phantom said, his hands glowing green.
"Maybe you shouldn't have brought your little kid friend to one of your heists, ghost!" She trained the blaster on Phantom and prepared to fire, but a hand closes around her wrist at the last second.
"I just found out I'm dead, so could you just..." The red eyed ghost waved his free hand in a vague gesture.
At the edge of her vision she saw Phantom stiffen, she kept her attention on the other ghost though.
"Then you should know you belong in the Ghost Zone." Valery said, aiming her gun at him. The ghost was gone before she could fire, and Phantom stood across the room screwing the lid on his own, stolen thermos.
Before she could get him he flew through the wall and out of her reach.
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Danny let Red out of the thermos at the park. Deserted at that time of the night, it was the only place he could think of that was quiet enough to explain things to the young ghost.
The first thing Red did was slowly pull off his gloves, then stood staring at his hands in silence. He might have been statue if not for the wind that gently tousled his hair
"Listen, Red." Danny stepped closer, not even sure where to begin.
Red started laughing hysterically. The sound tearing through the ghost's throat and shaking his body in a way that didn't look happy at all. It was terrifying.
It was the most broken sound Danny had ever heard.
The hero hurried over and grabbed the ghosts shoulder, wanting to do something that would help, even a little. Red threw Danny's hand away, almost knocking the green eyed boy off his feet. The ghost stumbled back a few steps, like he was dizzy.
"Kid." Red said, between bouts of laughter. "I was , haha, I was a horrible choice for a , ha, for a pet." The chuckle he let out sounded like something from a horror movie.
"Whatever happened to you Red," Danny said, "whatever it was, it couldn't have been your fault, you were just a..."
Red held up a hand, silencing the other boy. "I get it Kid, Danny." Any traces of laughter where gone from his voice. He just looked empty, and so lonely. "Could you just leave me alone for a while?" He asked softly. "I just need time to, to process all of this."
Danny nodded and stepped back. How did you comfort someone when they were dead? How did you tell them it would be okay when they were as far from okay as they could possibly be?
"Think you can find your way back to my house, or the school if you need to?" Danny asked, not knowing what else to do. He was beginning to see how short sighted he'd been when he'd thought he could help. Taking Red out of the ghost zone hadn't helped him at all, hadn't made him any safer. The ghost needed help that Danny just didn't know how to give.
"I'll stay out of trouble." The small smile on Red's face did nothing to make Danny feel better. "Don't worry about me, not like I can get much worse, huh?" He patted his chest.
Danny nodded again and lifted into the air, he knew there was nothing he could have done, but right then he really regretted not saying something earlier. He hated that Red had to have learned that from Spectra. As he flew he cast one last look at the solitary figure in the park, arms wrapped around himself like he was trying to keep all the tiny prices from bleeding out.
There was nothing Danny could think to do.
But there had to be someone who could.
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Red wondered into the city, watching the clear sky darken with clouds. The streets were almost empty, but most of the shops were still open.
Catching sight of his reflection in the window he tugged off the hat and held it in his hands. He tried to imagine what he must have looked like before. For a moment another reflection flashed across the glass. Bloody and red and gold and green with shorter dark hair. He turned away, pinching the bridge of his nose to fight off the headache building up.
Was it his fault? They said he was bratty and violent, and he couldn't do that stupid somersault.
He slipped quietly into an alleyway and sunk down behind a rusty dumpster. The first drops of rain fell from the sky. Had it rained at his funeral? Nah, that was too cliché. Did he even have a funeral?.
He was glad the rain kept people in doors, he didn't want anyone to see him like that.
The clown is laughing.
Someone says he should have stayed in the alley, should never leave again. Jason agrees with them, because Someone isn't coming. Someone was too late and now they're never coming again. No one is.
He didn't see or hear the hover board floating high above his head.