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"Everything set up, DAVIS?" Luke tapped on the screen of his phone that he had attached to a selfie stick. Why they had to use his phone, he had no idea because the screen was hardly visible due to the cracks littered all over it but whatever.
"All good, Luke! And I have Mr Wing's therapist's phone number on speed dial, just in case!" DAVIS's voice called out from the phone and Luke cheered.
You couldn't have a ghost hunt without video evidence, could you?
Marius let out his own cheer before turning to the rest of the team. "Get ready bitches and Robin, we are going to become the next Winchester brothers!"
Robin shook her head violently, "anyone but them, Mar, I beg of you."
Luke laughed, though it was more of a cackle, "Should I bring up the Sam Winchester poster you had for about 5 years or-?"
"I'll kill you before a demon ever gets the chance, Luke Pearce."
–
To say the current situation was a little out of the ordinary of what the NXX team were used too wasn't saying much.
As a 'break' from NXX work, Marius had suggested that he sign up the team to do a different kind of investigation. This time ghosts.
There had been a request put out for a brave group of people to go and investigate an abandoned building on the outskirts of Stellis that was thought to be haunted. Of course, Marius immediately signed the team up and never mentioned it until the day before they were meant to go.
"We can make our own version of the Blair Witch Project!" Marius grinned at them all as he announced their plans that they had no chance of getting out of.
"This is a terrible idea," Vyn had stood up to fix himself a cup of tea almost immediately as Marius started speaking, though the whole team knew if he could get something stronger he would.
Marius pointedly ignored him. "We could be like the guys from Scooby Doo! I will be Fred and Miss can be Velma since she's the smartest out of all of us."
"Luke has eaten dog food before so he can be Scooby," Robin pitched in from where she was sitting, sending a bright grin over in Luke's direction.
"Fuck you! I swore you to secrecy!" The dog food eater threw the pillow he was holding at Robin and it was quickly tossed back.
Robin kept her smile, "all's fair in love and war. And I want Artem to be Daphne!"
"Why should Artem be Daphne? They're nothing alike?"
"He's the prettiest out of us all and don't argue, 'cause you know I'm right, Luke!"
Moving on from… that, Artem had been massaging his temple for about 5 minutes now, the words 'ghost hunting' and 'team time' immediately gave him a migraine.
(Thankfully he didn't hear Robin say he was pretty, otherwise he'd probably collapse.)
Artem does not like ghosts, he isn't a big fan of supernatural horror. This is his worst nightmare. For an extremely logical man it's a little silly but he will hide this fear in fear of looking ridiculous and ruining his reputation in the team.
What he needed was a drink, preferably water, and whatever medicine took away a migraine.
With Marius being the organiser the chance of anyone getting out was very slim. He would be very thorough with this sort of thing, probably triple-checking their schedules to make sure they were all free. He was too meticulous and sometimes it was a little frightening.
"Okay, how about we be the Ghostbusters!" Marius kept trying, moving on from the Scooby Doo argument.
"What is a 'Ghost Buster' I thought we were just going to look for ghosts?"
"Vyn.. Have you never watched Ghostbusters?" Luke wasn't exactly surprised but still, seriously??
Vyn had a small sip of his tea, very obviously thinking about his answer before slightly shaking his head. Extremely hesitantly. Actions have consequences.
"Everyone get in the car, we're going to Artem's for another movie night." Marius pointed to the door, looking more upset than anything. As much as he didn't like Vyn, not watching Ghostbusters was a crime in his book.
(It was like when none of them but Robin and Marius had watched Gilmore Girls and the two of them forced the others into watching the entire show.) (Yet again, another crime to Marius.)
Artem rested his forehead on his knees and let out a deep breath. His migraine wasn't going away any time soon.
–
One day, a movie marathon, an awful sleepover and multiple poor attempts to comfort a very stressed Artem later, they were all actually at the abandoned building after splitting off to go to their respective houses to get ready. The supposedly demon infested, haunted building.
Luke's camera had been set up by Davis and Robin had been restrained after trying to go and hit Luke. Vyn had a hold on her wrist and was suddenly not complaining so much about going into a gross, old building.
With the both of them having previous urban exploration experience, Luke and Robin (don't ask what they did for fun when they were teenagers) had recommended what clothes the rest of the team should wear.
Luke was mainly concerned about Artem and Vyn, considering he hardly ever saw the two not in suits or professional wear. He was a little bit nervous that one of them would rock up wearing dress pants and a tie. Robin knew otherwise, of course, but decided to just let Luke figure it out on his own.
To Luke's joy, the two did show up in their regular and comfortable clothes. But there will never not be a problem with the group and the problem this time was Marius, who had..
Arrived wearing shorts .
And not just any shorts, no sir, the idiot's entire thighs were out on display for the world to see. Booty shorts were, of course, the ideal clothing of choice when going into a dangerous building. (When Robin saw what he was wearing she promptly screamed into her hands for 10 seconds).
Thankfully, Luke came well prepared and had brought an extra pair of long trousers, which were very quickly thrown at Marius' face.
("I don't see the problem with my shorts? I think I look hot as fuck and this is being recorded, I need to show off! Also, in the event of me being murdered by ghosts I would like to at least look sexy when they find my body!")
–
With another instance of Robin being partially restrained by Vyn from attacking Marius, finally, finally , they were going into this stupid building.
Marius and Luke strided in with a skip in the step and a grin on their faces (after Marius had put on the trousers, of course). Luke held out the phone in front of him as Vyn, Robin and Artem followed behind. They had each had a torch provided (thank you Pax) and were all planning on staying together.
The building was in horrible condition, stone and metal was littered around, it had obviously been a teenager's graffiti canvas with plenty of spray paint on the walls, ceiling and floor.
“What a shithole…” Marius commented as they walked through before the entire team froze as a crash was heard on the floor above. Marius looked up at the ceiling and laughed hesitantly.
“Didn't mean to insult your house, Mr Ghost…”
Artem sighed, he wasn't afraid, definitely not as he looked around the entryway of the building. He wanted to go home already
Luke placed his backpack on the nearby table, taking out a bunch of random gear from it and laying it out. There was some radio looking thing, a box, a thermometer, a heat detection camera and another thing that looked like a mess of wires with a screen.
“Right, squad. I got the goods! Take your pick on your ghost hunting gear!!” Luke seemed far too excited as he grabbed the wire monster. Robin immediately snatched the box, Marius took the thermometer, Vyn took the radio and Artem was stuck with the heat camera.
Robin grinned at the box, she knew what it was easily considering her and Luke had used them a million times on their adventures. A spirit box! A simple way of communicating with the dead!
Marius looked around at everyone and looked like he was thinking about something, being more a terrifying sight than any ghost.
“Let's split up.” He finally said with a stupid grin on his face since he knew it was a horrible idea.
Robin stared at him incredulously. “Bro, have you ever watched a horror film? Do you want Artem to die?”
Artem had barely been paying attention since he was trying to figure out how his camera worked and his head immediately snapped up upon hearing about his untimely death.
“Who says Artem will die? If anyone's gonna die, it'll be Vyn. I don't think he knows how to run.” Marius spoke easily, waving his hand in the doctor's direction.
Vyn's face morphed into that expression it always does whenever Marius opens his mouth, something akin to annoyance, disgust, shock and sheer surprise. Ultimately, he was offended at the comment.
“I can run, thank you. I am athletic.” Vyn spoke in a way that reminded Robin of a pissed off bird. Vyn was a pissed off bird.
Marius was about to open his mouth again, obviously going to make another retort when Robin unceremoniously turned on the spirit box. Now, the noise of a spirit box is incredibly hard to explain with words. The noise of it speedily going between radio stations to try and pick up a ghost's voice is ridiculously loud and, for lack of better terms, is a really ugly sound.
So it makes sense why Marius let out a horrified, high-pitched scream, but it being explainable doesn't make it any less funny. Luke and Robin, being used to the noise immediately started laughing at him, pointing and laughing actually. Poor Marius had gone bright red and was trying to shut them up, doing his best to put his hands over their mouths.
“Shut the fuck up actually, I hate you both, I hope a ghost eats you!”
Artem and Vyn exchange the look and just shake their heads in sync.
They hadn't even started ghost hunting yet.
–
Despite being a group of idiots most of the time, the five of them were actually damn good at being sneaky. You'd expect it, considering their side-hustles into NXX and their actual jobs (Luke), but it was still surprising when you forget they don't just bicker and argue constantly.
They were in a thin corridor, Luke positioned at the front with his selfie-stick-phone-camera getup, followed by Artem, Marius, Vyn then Robin taking the back. She was mostly there to make sure Marius didn't wander off.
As Luke peered around the corner, he gestured for Artem to turn on his camera and check for any humanoid-looking heat differences in front of them. Shockingly (or not), there was nothing. So they kept walking, heading into one of the rooms nearby.
Once they were all inside, the door unceremoniously slammed shut behind them. The four of them turned to looked at each other and-
Wait.
Four??
They lost Robin. She wasn't there anymore and the guys remaining immediately panicked. Marius ran to the door, trying to pry it open while he yelled out for her.
“Robbie?!?!?! Holy shit, she's dead!! The ghost got her!”
Artem was also incredibly concerned, and he got out his phone to try and call her but…
“No signal..” Artem muttered and put his phone away yet again. Seriously, it was 2030 and signal being shit was still a problem??
“She's not dead, dumbass! But we will be if we don't get out of this room!” Luke whacked Marius on the back of his head, dragging him away from the door as he bent down to try and pick the lock, as he does.
Marius is still panicking. “I didn't bring any snacks! What if we have to resort to cannibalism?! I don't wanna have to eat Vyn! He's not very high ranking on the ediblity scale!”
Vyn turns to look at him, an unreadable expression on his face as he actually takes in Marius's words.
“Edibility scale? Have you actually thought about this?” Vyn questioned him, somewhat concerned.
Artem sighed and tried the windows. It was only the second storey, if push came to shove, they could jump out there. Surprise, surprise, they were locked too.
“Why am I here..” Artem rubbed at his face as he watched Luke picking the lock and Vyn and Marius arguing like normal.
This is what happens when Robin isn't present. They dissolve into uncontrolled chaos, completely different to the controlled chaos when she is around.
“This door sucks!” Luke shouted out loud, banging on it as his attempt to pick it obviously failed.
Marius looked at him, looking away from the argument he was having with Vyn to point and laugh at the guy. “You suck! Master locksmith, my ass!”
“When did I ever say I was a master locksmith?! You fucking try and open it!” Luke shouted back at him, his ego bruised and everyone's emotions were heightened from the absence of Robin and also, you know, being trapped in a room.
Marius walked over to the door, taking up the challenge easily and shouldering the door with as much strength as he could. To which he actually did crash through and collided with the stone wall on the opposite side of the corridor.
Luke stared at him, before he muttered something under his breath that mysteriously sounded like ‘I hope that dickhead broke his arm doing that’.
They all left the room. Still no Robin. Also no explanation for how the fuck the door locked behind them but they were more focused on finding Robin.
“Robbie!! Where are you!?”
Marius cupped his hands around his mouth as he shouted into the building with the rest of them walking alongside him, shining torches, recording, using whatever ghost equipment Luke had provided.
It had been about 15 minutes since they'd lost her. Marius was going insane, Artem was suffering, Vyn was ready to get out of there and Luke was also losing it a bit.
“Marius. Shut up.” Vyn tells him, holding up a finger to shut him up as he heard something familiar. Of course, Marius was about to retort but then he actually shut up when he heard it too. That ugly fucking noise of the spirit box!
Robin wasn't dead! (Unless the box was working on its own but that's not what they're thinking of right now.)
They all took off in the direction of the sound, proving Marius wrong about Vyn not being able to run as he kept up with them easily. They soon found what room it was coming from and burst in.
No Robin. The spirit box was in the centre of the room, with no Robin in sight. They were all confused. Rightfully so, because where the fuck is Robin???
Luke walks over to the box and is about to turn it off when an actual voice speaks through the box.
“Don't. Turn. Off.”
Luke immediately stepped away with his hand up, turning to look at the rest of them with wide eyes.
“I won't… Uh. Ghost? Do you know where our friend is? She's short, got brown hair, she was wearing this green jacket..” Luke asked the air, looking around the room.
Marius looked at Luke, wondering whether he actually heard that right. He was actually talking to the ghost.
Vyn had given up on them all. He was sick of this completely. Ghosts were not his forte. He was a rational man built on logic and reason. A box coincidentally saying things that coincided with what was actually happening at the time wasn't any kind of ghost evidence, no sir.
“Behind.”
The box simply said in a weird crackly voice and Luke whipped his head around, only to see Marius stood right behind him with some scary ass grin on his face.
“Boo!” Marius yelled in his ear and Luke straight up decked him in the face with no hesitation.
–
They left the building after that.
Marius was complaining the entire time as they left, nursing his broken and bleeding nose. Luke did not apologise to him, he felt like he deserved it.
Turns out, Robin had separated from them on purpose just to scare them because why the hell not (she was a woman of chaos, what can you say). She put the box in some room, left it on and fled to the outdoors, recruiting DAVIS as her partner in crime to connect to Luke's phone so she could watch what they were doing.
As they left the building, Artem immediately went over to her, putting his head on her shoulder and just standing there. The poor man needed to recharge after being stuck with the other three for god knows how long.
“Did you have fun?” Robin asked the group with a grin on her face, her hand resting on Artem's head as she let him have his moment. Maybe they did need to call up his therapist.
“I hate you.” Luke told her, pinching her cheek as he came over to her. “Did you do all that? Seriously? How did you lock that door? And get the box to talk?”
Robin looked at him, genuinely looking confused at his words as she gave him a weird smile.
“What? How prepared do you think I was? I just left and put the box in some room. I didn't actually do anything.” She told him. Luke knew her better than most people. He also knew that Robin couldn't lie for shit.
Marius looked at them both, still bleeding from his nose as he stared at them before grinning.
“Seriously? Bro. Did we actually get ghost activity on camera?!”
“Stop smiling while you're bleeding, you look demented.”
“You're the one that caused the bleeding! My nose is fucked! I was meant to look gorgeous today!”
Robin laughed at the two of them bickering. Vyn had separated from them all, he was just standing away from the group, secretly happy that Robin was in fact, not dead or kidnapped by a ghost (ghostnapped, if you dare).
“Blood adds to the ghostly, sexy look, Mar. But I think we should get you to a hospital.” Robin told him and looked at Artem, who had been successfully recharged and was just sitting next to Robin now.
“Already done, Miss Robin! The von Hagen private ambulance is on the way!” DAVIS chipped in from Robin's phone.
Luke looked at Marius in near disgust, “the fucking what? You have a private ambulance?”
“No shit. That's what Davie said.” Marius grinned at Luke and patted him on the shoulder, staining blood on his shirt.
–
All in all, their ghost hunting adventure was a shit show.
Marius left a very detailed message to the person who requested the investigation of the building, ending his review with the video and the final message of: ‘Personally, I recommend destroying the place. Good luck!’
A few days after, Marius had one of those weird nose cast things on and they were watching the video Luke recorded after one of their meetings.
“Pause it!” Robin said, quickly, hitting Luke with the pillow in her arms as he fumbled with pausing the video.
Vyn was watching from his favourite armchair and raised an eyebrow as the video was rewinded to the point Robin actually wanted it paused on. There, while they were stuck in that ‘locked’ room where Marius was complaining about potential cannibalism, was a white figure standing next to Luke, seemingly holding onto the door handle.
“Holy fuck.”
Holy fuck.