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Valerie has always had a feeling her temper would end her up in jail someday. She just didn’t expect it to be ghost jail. “Let me out of here, you spectral son of a bitch!” Said S.O.B was a pure white ghost, tailored in an even whiter suit, looking like a guys in white reject.
“Ooh, offensive language to an authority figure? That’s another thousand years to your sentence.”
“I won’t even live for a thousand years!”
“Your sentence extends to the afterlife.”
With a self-satisfied smirk that Valerie really wanted to wipe off his face, Walker turned his back to her and walked away. The audacity!
“You can’t do this! Let me out!” Valerie banged on the bars. She pulled and kicked and screamed all while yelling profanity that would make a sailor blush. She kept it up for a solid five minutes before sliding down the bars in anguish. She realizes it’s probably not smart to make herself exhausted with a tantrum. Because that’s what it was. It was a tantrum, not a panic attack.
She took in deep breaths of air and tried to think past the burn of her eyes and the sting of her nose. She really fucked up this time. Granted, venturing out to the Ghost zone without backup was a terrible idea. However, it’s not like she had any backup to begin with. Besides, the only team she needs is me, myself, and I.
She got herself in this mess then she can get herself out of it. As soon as she calms down that is. With her head hanging on her knees, she really felt like crying about now. Just a nice, long sob session.
“Hey, kid. Do you mind throwing a few of those tears my way? I’m getting thirsty.” Valerie’s head shot up and she made eye contact with a burly prisoner in the cell across from her. She growled as the other ghosts around her started to laugh at her expense.
Valerie responded by classily flipping him the bird.
“Fuck off. Ghosts don’t drink.”
“Only the fears of humans.”
“And you feel pretty scared right now, fresh-meat.” Another ghost added in. Valerie scowled because they were wrong. She’s not afraid, she’s just freaked out, unprepared, and out of ideas.
“You’re going to be afraid. Once I get out of here, you’re going to be number one on my shit-list.”
“Please, you don’t have your toys anymore, little red. You can’t hurt us.”
Valerie put on the most threatening look she could muster. It was pretty impressive that her red-rimmed eyes just made her look more intimidating. “You don’t know what I have.”
“Be grateful for your cell, Red.” A different ghost said from a couple of cells down, “Once it’s open, I think a certain someone is due for a little payback.” All the ghosts made sounds of agreement and slight jeering. Valerie had no idea who they were talking about but she wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of looking confused.
“Go to hell!”
-
Due to Valerie’s suit having ghostly elements, Walker’s prison-collar basically rendered it useless. Not to mention he confiscated every ecto-weapon she had on her. He even added another two-thousand years to her sentence for having ‘unlicensed ghost hunting equipment.’
A few hours after her initial cage-in, Valerie was broken out of her meditation session by Walker’s goons. “Time for a costume change, Red.” They didn’t give her a chance to object before grabbing her under the arms and hoisting her in the air. She gave them shit for it. She behaved belligerently until they brought her to the changing room and threw her down.
One of them pointed to the chair in the corner; on top was a baggy black-and-white outfit. “Change into that.” Valerie glared and didn’t budged. “Or you will be changed into it.” The guard grinned. Valerie huffed and grabbed the suit. The guard smirked and they both left to give her privacy. Spooky pervert, she thought as she pulled out of her tank top and sweat pants.
The prison top was a little too baggy on her but at least the pants had a drawstring she could pull to fit. She gingerly tied the top into a crop for better mobility.
“Okay, I’m done.”
The guards nodded and pushed her down the hall. As Valerie was man-handled, she tried to get a look at her surrounds, attempting to formulate a plan.
Unbeknownst to her, a certain ghost with a bone to pick with the huntress just got word that she’s been imprisoned.
-
After putting on the ugly prison uniform, Valerie was ushered by the guards to the canteen. The whole place felt like an icebox. You would think 2 years of being a ghosthunter would get her used to the chill but no human will ever get used to the feel of the cold, afterlife.
Once they made it to the doors of the canteen, one of the guards placed his knee on her back and kicked her forward. She managed to duck into a roll and land on her feet, albeit it wasn’t as graceful as she would have liked. She frowned and held up her wrists, revealing the shiny cuffs underneath her sleeves.
“How do you expect me to eat with these cuffs?” She snarled. The guard just rolled his eyes and uncuffed her. Where they got human cuffs, she’ll never know. Valerie rubbed her wrists as she eyed her surroundings.
“Okay, there’s 4 exits. Each one covered by two guards.” Valerie looked up, “6 guards watching from above.”
Maybe if I stage a big enough distraction, I can lure a couple of guards away from the exit. Even without my suit, I can take one of the guards. I just need-
“Hey, little red! We have unfinished business!”
Valerie, along with everyone else, startled at the shout. However, it doesn’t take her long to place the voice. Why me, universe? She groaned and slowly turned around to face the last person, erm ghost, she wanted to see. “Nice to see you again, Big Bertha.”
Big Bertha certainly embodied her name. She was built like a sky-scrapper, easily towering over Valerie. Her arms were meaty, and hairy, and her legs were slender but drastically toned. Her abs had abs and her shoulder span was at least 3 feet. The sides of head were completely shaved while the top held a narrow, central strip of curly, red hair running from the forehead to the nape. Her usual ghostly attire was replaced with Walker’s prison uniform but Valerie could still make out the bandages wrapped around her fists and arms, up to the elbow. Her feet were bare of shoes but her ankles were also wrapped in bandages.
Big Bertha is a kick-boxing ghost who got her ass handed to her by Valerie and got shoved right back into the ghost zone. Needless to say, she has bone to pick with the young huntress. Big Bertha was the best female kickboxer of her time. Unfortunately for her, times have changed. Valerie, with the help of her suit and 10 years of kick-boxing lessons, managed to take the kickboxing ghost done in a clean K.O.
Ever since then, Bertha has gotten all kinds of slack from the other ghosts. She vowed that the next time she saw the smug brat, she was going to tear her in half. Looks like she finally has her opportunity.
“I hope you’re ready for death!”
Not exactly the distraction I was hoping for, Valerie looked around to see all of the inmates and guards watching with rapt attention, but this will do, I guess.
Valerie smirked and smugly replied, “You have experience in the department, don’t you?”
Big Bertha growled. Rule number one when dealing with ghosts: don’t talk about their deaths unless you want to end up dead yourself. However, Valerie isn’t much of a rule-follower. “How did it happen again? It was the biggest boxing match of the century...”
Bertha launched herself forward, fist first. The swing was powerful enough to knock Valerie’s head off if she didn’t duck out of the way just in time. Bertha stumbled into the crowd of prisoners who quickly pushed her back into the circle.
“You were up for the world championship. Everyone thought you would win.”
Bertha growled and quickly launched into a series of ferocious punches and powerful kicks. Valerie blocked the punches and ducked under each kick. Once she saw an opening, she retaliated with a roundhouse kick. The huntress immediately regretted the action as her leg was caught and she was swiftly thrown to the floor. She wheezed as the air was knocked out of her lungs. Luckily, her brain quickly caught up and she rolled out of the way of Bertha’s elbow when the latter tried to bring it down on her head.
Valerie looked around and saw one guard by the left exit leave their post; apparently this fight was getting too interesting. When you exist forever, you tend to take your entertainment wherever you can get it. Which works perfectly in Valerie’s favor. She just needs to piss off Bertha a little more. Time to continue her little story-time.
“Too bad Big Bertie didn’t live up to the hype. It was the fastest knockout of the decade. Unfortunately, you were on the wrong end of the foot.” Big Bertha died of a traumatic brain injury while she hospitalized.
Valerie ducked under Bertha’s lunge and rolled the ghost of off her back to the floor. She tried to grapple the ghost’s arm. Due to walker’s new collars, Bertha’s intangibility couldn’t be used. However, the bitch was plenty strong as she broke Valerie’s hold without an issue.
Valerie, not expecting that, was momentarily stunned which gave Bertha a chance to gain the upper hand. She kicked Valerie in the face, dazing the huntress. Valerie used the back of her hand to wipe the blood running from her nose; Bertha threw a meaty kick towards Valerie’s side. Valerie took the kick but grappled the ghost’s leg. She then rammed her opposite knee to Bertha’s stomach over and over. After she got the ghost slightly discombobulated, she flipped her over her shoulder. Bertha hit the ground hard and the audience all made sounds of exclamations. Luckily, Valerie saw an opening to make her escape. More guards left their post to watch. All Valerie had to do was make a break through the opening of the circle of onlookers.
Just when Valerie was going to make a break for it, someone grabbed her ankle and stopped her. She hit thr ground face first. Her head bounced and her teeth rattled. “Oh fuc -”
Bertha quickly had Valerie pinned with her arm against her throat. Valerie choked and thrashed against Bertha’s beefy arm. The huntress threw punches at the ghost but unfortunately, she wasn’t as strong as last time without her suit. She really underestimated how much her suit helped her last time around. Not to mention she was now sporting a killer headache.
“No special suit this time, little red. Now it’s a fairer fight.”
Valerie gave a hoarse chuckle, “You call this fair?”
Bertha growled and pressed a little harder. Not enough to break Valerie’s neck though. She wanted to watch the life drain from the little huntress. However, Valerie still had a little fight left in her.
“I’d rather die like this then die under the foot of some girl 100 pounds lighter than me.”
Big Bertha snarled, painfully reliving the memory of her life before ghost-hood. She died a laughingstock. The whole world saw her as weak. That’s probably why she hates Valerie so much. The little huntress reminds her of the painful past.
“I guess you took the bigger they are, the harder they fall to a whole new level.” Valerie said, smiling through the pain in her neck.
Big Bertha screamed. She rose her fist over Valerie’s head and was prepared to end her life. The ghosts and guards leaned in close to watch it happen. Valerie watched as the giant fist came impending towards her face. She closed her eyes tight and braced herself.
So much for escaping.
Then she heard the sound of the fist hitting something solid...and it wasn’t her face. She opened her eyes to see someone else’s arm had saved her from the final hit. But who?
Valerie looked up at her savior and it was none other than the white haired, neon-eyed menace himself.
Phantom.
And when she caught his eyes, her face absolutely dumb-founded, the son of a bitch just winked.
He then gave Big Bertha an uppercut so hard that she flew 10 feet in the air and landed into the audience, taking down a few prisoners and guards with her. While Valerie’s mind tried to catch up to what’s happening, Phantom has already yanked her off of the floor while the guards started to circle the two.
“You take the left, I take the right?” He asked over his shoulder. Valerie gave him an unimpressed look. “I don’t any weapons.”
He smirked and handed her two of the guards’ baton tasers. Valerie smirked and charged them up. Phantom and Valerie nodded at each-other before getting to work.
The first set of guards charged at her. She slid under one of their swings and tased him in the back of the neck. He crumpled to the floor in a useless pile.
One down.
Another one tried to get her from the behind but she side-stepped, grabbed his arm and flipped him into a guard that was running towards her. Luckily, these ghost goons aren’t as strong as Big Bertha and these tasers weaken them quickly. She looked over to see how Phantom was faring and he already cleared a big enough path for them to push through. He fired an ice-blast at a guard before yelling for Valerie, “This way, Red!”
Valerie steeled herself and pushed through the chaos, elbowing and zapping whoever she needs to in order to escape. Right before she made out the door with Phantom, she was clothes-lined by a stocky arm. She gasped as she hit the ground. She shook the stars out of her eyes and saw Bertha going to stomp on her ribcage. The young huntress rolled out of the way just in time. “Valerie!” Phantom yelled but Valerie was too distracted to correct him on using her real name. Which he does NOT have permission to do, thank you very much.
Unfortunately, Danny couldn’t assist Valerie since he had his own battle to deal with, aka the thirty guards making their way over.
“Look, Bertie, I know we got over on the wrong foot-”
Big Bertha yelled and threw a table at Valerie, which she promptly flipped to avoid. “Seriously? You’re not even going to let me talk?”
Bertha ignored her and threw another table. Is this how Phantom felt dealing with me?
Valerie finally charged for the first time and tackled Bertha before she could throw another table. She brought both of the tasers to the ghost’s neck and let her have it. Bertha yelled and swatted Valerie off like a fly. The ghost grabbed her head and tried to clear the pain. When she opened her eyes, she was met with Valerie’s foot that sent her sailing into another table. Valerie then ran around and used both of the batons to put Bertha in a chokehold. She then charged up the baton again, this time at maximum power.
Bertha hollered and spun wildly trying to throw Valerie off. She eventually rammed Valerie’s back into a wall hard enough for the huntress’s grip to slack.
She broke Valerie's now loose grip and left her posed against the wall. After backing up a distance away, Bertha then charged at Valerie like a bull, fully prepared to leave the girl nothing but a smear. Valerie waited until just the right moment before rolling out of the way and letting the ghost knock herself out. Bertha hit the wall with a bang. Her head was cemented in the spectral concrete.
Valerie smirked at the fallen ghost, “Now that’s what I call a knock-out.”
She looked over to see Phantom managed to get himself cuffed. Well I guess I owe the bastard. She took out the guards that were holding him and set him free. “I thought I was the one rescuing you here.” He joked, throwing her a sly grin. Valerie scowled, not in the mood to deal with his boyishness.
“Less talk, more running!” Then Valerie took off in a sprint with Phantom right behind her. They it made it to the hallway that leads to the main exit. They looked ahead and saw the main door starting to close itself off. At the same time, more guards started pouring in behind them. Huntress and Phantom had to dodge a multitude of ecto -blasts. Suddenly, Phantom grabbed Valerie under the arms and floated them in the air.
“What are you doing?”
“Just hang on!”
Valerie listened and gripped his arms as he suddenly flew them ahead at a much faster pace. Valerie could see both sides of the big metal door inching closer together. “We’re not gonna make it!” She yelled.
“We’re gonna make it!”
“We’re not gonna make it!”
“We’re gonna make it!”
Valerie closed her eyes, fully prepared to collide with the door but Phantom managed to speed through it just as it closed on the guards behind them. Phantom lost momentum once they went through and they slid on the ground of the island. Scrapped but alive. Well one of them was alive.
“We made it.” He said with a clumsy thumbs-up. Valerie felt out in exhaustion.
-
[Half-an hour later; on their way back to Amity Park]
“How did you find me anyway?”
“I uh, I saw you get taken down...”
“You were watching me!?”
There’s no way he can tell her that he overheard her plans of going to the ghost zone as Fenton.
“Well?” Valerie pressed.
“I wasn’t really watching you. I was just floating around the zone, doing ghostly things and saw them arrest you. I tried to save you as fast as I could.”
“Well, thanks.”
“Your welcome.”
Then there was a tense silence before Phantom spoke.
“Sooooooo-”
“No, we’re not allies.”
Valerie tried not to giggle at his annoyed face expression.