Chapter Text
Tango sat in the back seat of the truck with Impulse.
He was the smallest out of everyone so it was pretty much guaranteed that he'd be squished into the backseat. The only instances where he isn't in the backseat is if he's seriously not feeling well after an investigation.
Currently, they were in bumfuck nowhere, Massachusetts.
"What's the address again?" Joker asked from the driver's seat as he turns a corner slowly. Skizz and Impulse had visited the house earlier in the day to ask some questions but now that the sun had set, it was time for everyone to show up and help.
Skizz looks up from his phone. "13 Willow Street. It'll be on your right."
"Thank you."
The truck slows to a stop in front of a nice looking one-story home.
If Tango recalls correctly, a family of three lives here. A couple and their son. Tango and his friends had been called in due to strange things happening, people feeling sick, etc. Apparently the son had seen the ghost in question which was the final straw.
Currently the family was staying elsewhere so the investigators had the house all to themselves.
Joker gets out of the truck first, going around to open up the back while Skizz pulls down his seat so that Tango and Impulse can get out.
"So what do we even know about this ghost?" Skizz asks as they go around the side of the truck.
"Nothing. There haven't been any traumatic deaths on the property or bad things happening here. We don't know who this ghost could be."
Skizz hums in thought.
Once they're around the back, Joker's already set up some cameras to bring inside to check for orbs. Impulse picks up a parabolic microphone and D.O.T.S projector. Skizz picks up an EMF and one of the photo cameras. Tango picks up one of the mercury thermometers and a spirit box.
As they exit the truck to head inside, Joker tosses Skizz the keys.
"Don't forget to turn on the breaker!"
"I'm on it! Don't worry." Skizz waves him off, catching the keys easily.
The front door is opened quickly and they split up, searching for the ghost room. Impulse sweeps the space with his mic as Skizz goes looking for the breaker. Tango just pokes his nose in various rooms, keeping his eyes on the thermometer in his hands.
Right away something feels off about the house. Something is different compared to all the other houses they'd investigated. He doesn't tell anyone else about this feeling. It isn't relevant yet and he doesn't want to scare them.
These investigations are scary and dangerous enough as is.
"Hey Tango! I might've found something!"
Tango steps around the glass door that separates the living room from the kitchen, only jumping slightly when the lights come on suddenly.
"Whaddya find Impy?"
"I hear crying on the mic coming from that room." He gestures vaguely to the room in the far left corner of the house before moving the mic over so that Tango can hear it too. Sure enough, the sounds of crying come through the mic.
He hums, walking into the room. He flicks on the light, finding the master bedroom. When he looks down at the thermometer, he finds that the temperature is definitely dropping.
He sets it down on the bed. He doesn't want the heat from his hands messing up it's readings.
"This is definitely the ghost room. I'll take D.O.T.S and the mic so you can go get more gear while I do spirit box."
Impulse nods, handing over the gear. He closes the door behind him and Tango flips off the light, turning on the mechanical box in his hands. It immediately begins to produce a vaguely annoying buzzing sound.
"Where are you? Who are you? Are you here?"
He pauses, turning off the device when he hears his radio buzz. Joker's voice comes through, slightly distorted by the device. "Activity is at a solid two and staying."
There's several thank yous sent through the radio as Skizz enters the room.
"No spirit box."
Skizz hums, setting the emf and photo camera down next to the thermometer. "I'll go back and get a cruci and whatever Impulse doesn't bring then."
"I'll come with you. Its helpful to have more hands, right?"
He nudges Skizz playfully as they exit the room, making sure to set up D.O.T.S. before they leave. There's a weird tugging feeling begging him to stay. He ignores it.
They pass Impulse as they exit. He nods at them and ducks into the room, setting up the video camera and book for ghostwriting.
The glass door is pushed open further as they walk through it by an unseen force.
"Thanks." Tango says instinctively.
Skizz chuckles. "Did you just thank a ghost dude?"
"What!? He's being polite."
Skizz laughs. "Why do you think it's a he?"
Tango shrugs, putting his hands in his pockets. "Dunno. It just feels right."
The tugging feeling goes away when they step outside. Weird.
Impulse has left the ghost room by the time Skizz and Tango make it back to the truck, probably on his way back to reconvene or searching the house for hiding places.
Tango glances at the activity screen. Its at zero.
"Huh."
Before anyone can say anything else, Joker speaks up, pointing at the monitor in front of him as Tango pulls a UV glow stick off the wall.
"Those looks like orbs, right?"
Skizz leans over to look where Joker is pointing. "Yup. Definitely orbs."
Joker hums, turning the camera remotely as Skizz turns to Impulse. He opens his mouth to speak when Joker beats him to it.
"We have dots!!"
Everyone pulls out their journals. Skizz and Impulse huddle over theirs, talking quietly as Tango pulls out his pocket pencil. He marks down ghost orbs and D.O.T.S. under evidence.
"I'm gonna go check for UV."
Tango snaps his journal shut, pocketing it as his crew mumbles their aknowledgment.
He ventures back into the house alone and without a crucifix. For some reason, he has the feeling that he'll be alright.
When he gets back to the room, he's startled by what he sees.
A blonde man sits curled up in the corner, trying to stay as far away from the D.O.T.S. projector as he can. His hair is tousled and short. He's taller than Tango and appears to be around the same age. He wears a brown vest and pants that are slightly darker with a frilly white shirt underneath.
It isn't until he looks up that Tango realizes the person in front of him is the ghost they're looking for.
The man's eyes are dark voids, hollow and sunken in a sad way. His face is stained with black tears that run down his cheeks.
He seems strangely distressed, shoulders shaking with sobs.
"Are you uh... Are you ok?"
The man hiccups as he leans against the wall behind him.
Tango crosses over, crouching down to turn off D.O.T.S. It's hurting his eyes and is making it harder to see the ghost in front of him.
The ghost seems to relax once it's turned off.
"Were you startled by the projector?"
He nods quietly.
Tango sets the UV light down, picking up the parabolic mic instead. He points it at the ghost as he sits down which seems to scare him slightly.
"This is a parabolic mic. If I'm pointing it at you and you say something it makes it so I can hear you."
The ghost shifts slightly but remains silent. Tango continues.
"We don't really know who you are so is it ok if I ask you some questions? And you can ask me some too."
The ghost nods slowly. He still seems a bit put off by the equipment but feels otherwise content.
How Tango knows this he doesn't know.
"What's your name?"
"Jimmy. Jimmy Solidarity."
The voice comes clearly through the microphone. Tango makes note of the British accent.
"You have a lovely name. I'm Tango."
Jimmy smiles. It makes something in Tango relax, as if that smile is what he was made for.
"What are you doing here?"
"What?"
"You said I could ask things too. You're very confusing."
"Oh! Right. Uhh... Me and my friends get hired by people to investigate their homes when there's weird stuff going on. The people who live here don't really like that you're here and so they called us to figure out what you are so we can send you on your way."
Jimmy looks a little hurt by this. "Oh... I'm sorry."
He's overcome by the overwhelming need to comfort the dead man in front of him. "It's not your fault. Not everyone likes sharing their homes with spirits is all and especially not violent ones. Not that I'm saying that you're violent but you've definitely scared the people living here."
"I didn't mean to. I can leave if they want me to."
"You don't live here? Or lived here, I guess."
Jimmy solemnly shakes his head no.
"Then why are you here?"
The ghost shrugs. "I think someone woke me up and then I felt drawn here. I don't really know why though."
Tango hums.
Footsteps in the hallway alert them to the approach of his teammates. He turns to watch Impulse and Skizz enter the room. When he looks back at Jimmy, he's vanished.
Skizz chuckles as Tango stands up. "What were you doing Tango?"
"Listening. We don't need to get the last piece of evidence if I catch a scream."
"You've been sitting in here without a crucifix dude! Are you doing alright?"
"I feel fine. Haven't got any more evidence though." He casts a final glance at where he saw Jimmy last before settling down on the bed.
"Why'd you turn off D.O.T.S. anyway?" Impulse says, settling next to his friend.
"It hurt my eyes." He doesn't bring up Jimmy. He's content to have him be his secret for a little while, not even when he feels the bed dip slightly beside him as an invisible force settles down next to him.
Impulse hums and they wait a while in the ghost room.
One minute turns to two. Two becomes five and five becomes twenty. Eventually Tango just decides he's done.
He stands up and walks over to the door, snatching up the UV light as he goes. The door creaks open a little further as he walks by.
He holds up the glow stick, revealing a handprint on the door.
"Boom. UV."
Skizz and Impulse stare at him surprised as he pulls out his journal, quickly marking down Ultraviolet and circling Banshee.
"We got ourselves a banshee."
"How'd you do that?! We've been sitting here for twenty minutes and we get nothing and you walk by a door and suddenly we get an interaction?!"
Impulse stands as Skizz shakes his head incredulously at a beaming Tango. Impulse picks up the photo camera, snapping a picture of the handprint before he begins gathering equipment.
"Good job Tango. Let's head out."
Tango nods as him and Skizz help to gather their equipment.
He heasitates when they leave the room though. He glances back, the feeling having returned. The feeling that tells him to stay.
They're already out of the house when he goes through those glass doors, probably for the last time.
Suddenly, the front door closes and the lights begin to flash. He's mid step when he feels something or someone grab the back of his shirt.
The world goes dark as he falls to the ground, unconscious.