Chapter Text
Jason played the footage once again on the video HUD in his helmet. There wasn’t a lot of data to work with in the grainy video and he needed to glean out every possible clue he could.
Normal security footage of a parking garage. Heavily beaten red sedan rolls through the camera’s view - unrelated to the current investigation. 24 seconds of no activity. He had rewatched it enough times to be absolutely certain by now.
In the next eight frames, a black and white blur moves from the left edge of view to center screen, followed by an even faster green blur that connects to the first when they are both dead center of the camera view.
Static. It lasts one minute thirty-four seconds, then clears much more slowly than it arrived. Oracle has already cleaned it up as much as her computer magic could achieve, but a minute thirty-four is still a lot to lose. As the static recedes, seven large men in white suits become discernible, standing semi-circle pointing futuristic guns at the support column center-right of the video.
Leaning against the column is a black-haired girl, probably not yet even a teenager, wearing a red beanie and gym shorts, tattered blue sweater and worn sneakers. The security footage is still too grainy around her face to make out any sort of expression, but her body language screams cornered animal.
Seven large men against one tiny girl. She didn’t stand a chance.
All seven fire their guns simultaneously, execution style. Seven green blurs, identical to the first, connect to the girl and the support column. The girl keels over. The man in the center of the semi-circle steps in and cuffs her, hands and feet, then drags her out of frame. A scorch mark is left on the support column, matching several others in frame that appeared sometime during the static.
The cuffs are an important clue. They imply that the girl actually survived that attack - she’s still alive.
Not for the first time, Jason was grateful he had spent Bruce’s money to not only surreptitiously replace every broken security camera in crime alley, but to also add more hidden cameras to every blind spot he could find. Was it overkill? Yes it was. But it was Bruce’s money, and Jason liked to annoy him in every possible way he could.
But this time, overkill paid off. This particular footage was the best angle of the entire incident, and it happened to be one of the hidden extra cameras.
Oracle was upset that there had been any static at all. Those cameras were top of the line - Jason had to spend as much of Bruce’s money as he possibly could, after all. Not like the guy wasn’t made out of it.
Another camera from the parking garage had a clear shot of the atrociously white armored vehicle the white suits had entered and exited in. Oracle had run the plates, and by some method that Jason was certain was probably Actual Real Magic, she had found the vehicle several hours later hundreds of miles away, parked at a nondescript building that was a painfully obvious government facility, just outside the city limits of a little town called Amity Park.
The time between the timestamps of the incident and when Red Hood first entered the parking garage during regular patrol and discovered the carnage had been about three hours. Just under another hour later, Oracle had cleaned up the security footage and returned it to Jason. She ran the plates immediately, and with a few underhanded and most definitely very illegal Bat hacking techniques, quickly connected the armored eyesore to a shady government organization of very questionable ethics, if the next four hours of hacking research was any indication.
Halfway into the eighth hour, Oracle located the offending vehicle, giving them a huge break in the case by revealing the location of the organization’s headquarters. Given the distance between itself and Gotham, Jason doubted the engine of the vehicle even had a chance to cool before Oracle had found it.
Red Hood was in the Batwing within fifteen minutes, not even bothering to explain the situation to Bruce or ask for permission to take it. Oracle offered to inform Bruce and handle his reaction, allowing Jason to work as quickly as possible. She understood as well as every other member of the Batfamily that when kids were involved, there was always a time crunch to rescue them before it was too late. She insisted that Bruce would understand, despite Jason’s doubts. They weren’t exactly on the best of terms.
It had already been nearly nine hours. With the Batwing, he could reach the facility in about one more hour, totalling ten since the moment the girl was kidnapped - both he and Babs had refused to acknowledge the brutality of the girl’s arrest as anything less than wholesale child abduction.
Red Hood and Oracle used the hour-long flight to hash out all the possible scenarios he might encounter at the facility once he arrived. In between memorizing each of the possible floorplans Oracle had sent him, he rewatched the footage from the parking garage about a dozen more times, trying to make out the girl’s face in the grainy footage.
There had been a terrifyingly high number of possibilities that the two had brainstormed regarding the situation and the requisitioned intel.
First was the list of possible reasons they had arrested the girl. The Anti-Ecto Acts, Oracle had discovered during their research phase, gave the white suits, now known as the Ghost Investigation Ward, a terrifyingly broad spectrum of authority regarding anything related, even tangentially, to ghosts.
Yeah, ghosts .
Either the girl was a ghost or some other sort of ecto-entity (whatever the hell that meant), had harbored or advocated on behalf of a ghost or ecto-entity, had interfered with an investigation or escaped from questioning in an investigation regarding ghosts or ecto-entities, or possibly just happened to be in the wrong place and the wrong time and looked at one of those men in the wrong way. Yes, Oracle had confirmed that the last option was absolutely legally viable.
Judging by the weapons they used on her, which according to their newfound knowledge in the field of ectology, were designed to harm ghosts, the list of possibilities narrowed somewhat. Whether the kid really was a ghost or not, both Jason and Babs decided to treat the situation as if she were a meta with a case of mistaken identity. Both scoffed at the section of the law that defined all ecto-entities (for which ghosts were apparently a sub-category) as non-sentient and entirely unfeeling. Justice League Dark actually handled ghosts on a semi-regular basis, which was more than enough to prove the idea so extremely bigoted as to border on ridiculous. The laws alone were proof enough that the girl was in serious danger.
Besides, if the dead were nothing more than unfeeling echoes of emotion imprinted on ectoplasm, what did that make Jason? (He stubbornly buried the memories of being an inconsolable rage monster after exiting the Lazarus Pits. He got better. That meant something , right?)
The second thing they discussed was the list of things that the suits planned on doing to the girl. Having determined that they likely identified her as some sort of ecto-entity, the hope that she would merely be thrown into an interrogation room and have the answers to their questions beat out of her quickly died. The Ghost Investigation Ward’s goals regarding ghosts (and ecto-entities) were clearly written out in the Anti-Ecto Acts: Examine, Experiment, and Exterminate.
Considering that they explicitly defined all ecto-entities as non-sentient, it was likely the girl would not be given rest or painkillers. Even more so than before, every second mattered, since neither he nor Babs could guess at the timetable which the organization moved through each of the three X’s.
Third on the list was how the goons would react to Red Hood plowing through their headquarters. Oracle had astutely pointed out that the field of ectology had developed a technological means of sensing ectoplasm, and Jason was, by certain definitions, undead. If he triggered any of their sensors, their weapons would likely also pack an extra punch against him, and they would treat him the same as any other ecto-entity, regardless of his proof of life.
Jason had wondered out loud if the girl was in a similar state as he was. (The idea that such a young girl had died and was brought back absolutely did not settle well with him. The Pits seemed to lurch at the idea in a reaction entirely separate from the current boiling in his chest just from knowing the girl’s current situation.) She looked human enough in the security footage, and the research they had skimmed generally showed ghosts to mostly be glowing green blobs. Even the most defined ghosts were clearly still ghosts - ethereal glowing beings whose very existence seemed to flip the bird to modern physics.
Babs wisely didn’t comment when Jason had mentioned the idea, but he could practically hear her grimace as she continued giving him intel about the facility.
The last thing they went over during his short flight in the Batwing was their actual plan of attack. Obviously going in alone meant Red Hood would need to take every possible advantage he could get. The plan was pretty standard, tried and true. Babs knocks out the security, takes full rein of the video surveillance to keep eyes on Hood while he uses stealth to get in as far as he could before getting caught. Of course, the goal was to get in, rescue the girl and get back out without getting caught, but both were pretty disillusioned with the idea that it would go that smoothly. Even the best laid plans fell apart on contact with the enemy.
They both also wanted to be thorough, neither could live with themselves if they managed to rescue this girl, and found out later that there were other kids that they had missed.
Babs had to argue Jason out of using real bullets. The last thing either of them needed was for Red Hood to instantly become the FBI’s most wanted within the terrorism division (again), which is exactly what he would be if he entered a government facility and killed every employee in the building, regardless of how justified he might be feel. (Babs’ slip, not Jason’s.)
Of course, the whole plan had to fall apart before it even started.
Oracle couldn’t hack the facility. Jason wasn’t exactly computer illiterate, but he didn’t even pretend to know what Oracle was rambling on about while trying a dozen different angles. Apparently the firewall was completely alien . It could take hours or even days to figure out how to break through it. It actually did a lot to explain why they couldn’t find their location until they physically tracked the vehicle.
Just Jason’s luck. Of course Jason was completely willing to go in blind if necessary, but the odds of him just surviving, let alone escaping with a child in his arms, were extremely low. Despite the Pit demanding he seek vengeance for the poor girl, the cold hard calculus was that he could save a lot more lives if he walked away from this to survive another day.
He didn’t even have time to tell logic to fuck off before Oracle hit him with another bombshell: someone else was hacking the security. They knocked out the alien firewall with practiced ease, allowing Oracle in to watch as they spoofed every ecto-sensor in the building and powered down every invisible energy shield.
Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Red Hood dropped out of the shielded Batwing straight onto the roof of the facility (Oracle commanded it to retreat several miles once he exited), glancing about in a full circle to see if he could spot the potential infiltrators. From the distance of Amity Park’s humble skyline approached two blurs, one black and white not unlike in the security footage that had launched this investigation, the other black and red. A strange feeling of trepidation welled up in the Pit as they approached, practically freezing him on the spot. In seconds, both figures landed on the roof next to him, the Pit reeling so greatly that Jason actually found himself taking a cautious step back.
Well, ‘landed’ might be a bit generous, as both figures floated a couple feet above the roof.
The black and white figure ( t̠h̳ā̠t̅͟ ̲̅t̅̿͟h̳̳̿i̳̿̄͞n̠̿͞͞ḡ̳͟͞ ̿̿̄̄͟i̳̱̲̅̄s̱̅̅̿͟͞ ̠̳̿̅̅̄D̳̄̿̄̿͞e̲̳̿̄̅͟a̳̠̱̠̿̄ṯ̲̳̲̿͟h̳̅̿̿̄͟ ) resolved into a g̅l͞o̲w͞i̱n̅g͞ teenage b̠̲̿ō̱̠y̿͟͞, tall and lean, with snow-white hair and wearing a hazmat suit. Along his belt were several pouches, what looked like heavily modified PDA, and a thermos ( ī̳͟͞t̳̳̅̿'̱̄̿͞s̠̲͟͟ ̲̱̠̄ā̲̅͟ ̳̠̱̿t̠̳̄̅r̲̱̲͟a̅̄͞͞p̠̱̱͞ ), of all things. He examined Red Hood with lazarus green eyes ( w̄͞a̅͟t̲̳c̠̲ẖ̱i̠̿n̳͟ḡ̠ j̠̱̱̄̄u̠̠̠͟͟d̳̿̿̅͞g̳̳̅̿͞i̠̠̿͟͞n̠̱̲̳̳g̳̲̿͞͞ p̲̲̲̳̠̳̄̅̄̿͞ṟ̠̠̱̳̱̿̿͟͟͞e̱̠̳̠̿̅̿̄̅͟͞ȳ̳̠̱̠̳̳̲̠̅͟i̠̲̠̳̅̅̄̿͞͞͞n̠̱̲̅̅̅̄̄͟͟͞ḡ̱̱̠̳̱̅̅͟͟͞ ), and the Pit in his chest c͞o̱w̲ēr̳e̅d̳ under the boy’s gaze.
It took everything Jason had to not physically flinch, and he was extremely grateful his hood covered his face completely. He did not want to earn the ire of any creature (it clearly wasn’t human , regardless of how convincing it’s disguise was) powerful enough to make the Pit s̅q̲ūi̱r̿m͟ . ( Ē̱̄s̳͟͞c̠̿̿ā̠̿p̳̲̄ē̅̄!̱̅̅ ̱̅͟F̠̄̿l̲̳͞e̳̅̄e̠̳̅!̠̿̿ )
The red and black figure resolved into a heavily a̠r̄m̄ōr̳e̱d ( d̲a̳n̳g͟e̠r̠o̿u͟s͞ ̿w̿e̲a̿p̲ōn̅s͞ ) female figure. Like the b̠̲̿ō̱̠y̿͟͞, she g̱l͟o͟w͞e̅d͟ , though it was much fainter, and unlike the b̠̲̿ō̱̠y̿͟͞, who floated freely, she stood on a rather wicked looking h̳o̱v̄e̳r̄ḇōa͟r̠d̿ seemingly designed to disembowel anything that dared intercept its path. Of the two figures, she was visibly much more imposing, even despite being several inches shorter, but the Pit had decided that the b̠̲̿ō̱̠y̿͟͞ was far, far more dangerous. Perhaps it was the fact that Jason’s instincts still identified her as distinctly human?
The b̠̲̿ō̱̠y̿͟͞ moved his hand to his ear, which sat a bulky communicator the same terrifying shade of green as his eyes, purposefully telegraphing to Red Hood his intent to speak to an unknown party.
“Tech. Looks like Red Hood. The other hacker’s probably working with him,” he said, almost absently nodding to whatever answer he got back. (The Pit screeched in his chest, that movement was nothing less than deliberate telegraphing. Ḏo̳ ̳n̲ōt̳ ̿t̿ṟu̿s̠t̠!̱ D̠̠̄̄̿ō̠̠̅͟ ̱̅̿͞͞N̳̱̠̅͟ō̲̿̿͟t̅̅͟͟͞ ̳̠̄͟͞T̠̠̳̿̅ṟ̳̠̅͟u̳̲̳͞͞s̿̅̿͟͞t̳̱̅̅͞!̲̳̲̿̅ )
“I don’t recognize them. If they’re local vigilantes, they aren’t in any databases,” Oracle said through a burst of static, “Your video feed is looking weird, and it sounds like there’s interference on the comms too.”
“Red Hood! Why are you here?” The a̠r̄m̄ōr̳e̱d girl demanded. Despite her brashness, Jason was secretly grateful she was interrogating him and not her partner. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could handle the emotional gymnastics the Pit was doing in his chest. Through sheer force of will, Hood tore his eyes off of the b̠̲̿ō̱̠y̿͟͞ and turned to the a̠r̄m̄ōr̳e̱d girl ( s̳̿t̳͟i̱̳ḻ̠l̠͟ ̲̅d̅̿a̅͟n͞͞g̲̅e̲̠r̿̄o͞͞u̠̿s̳̲!̲̳ ) while forcibly exhaling to calm his sudden nerves. Red Hood was a professional vigilante, thank you very much!
“White suits trampled all over my territory in Gotham. Abducted a little girl. I followed them here,” Hood answered, grateful for the voice modulator when it covered the small waver still in his voice. (He pretended the waver was from the Pit flaring protectively at the girl’s mention, and not at all because he felt the need to be at least a thousand miles away from the creature floating in front of him.)
“Then we’re on the same side,” the b̠̲̿ō̱̠y̿͟͞ responded. Like a lightswitch being flipped, something in the atmosphere changed, and a pressure Jason hadn’t consciously realized was there eased off. The Pit c̠a̳l͞m̅e̠d̠ , curling up in his gut as if resting now that the threat had passed. He chanced turning his attention back to the b̠̲̿ō̱̠y̿͟͞… no, the boy .
The Pit had no reaction.
What the fuck?
“I’m Phantom,” the boy continued, digging a hand into one of his pouches, “This is Red Huntress. I usually call her Red for short, so I’ll be referring to you as Hood, if you don’t mind.” He tossed a second ugly green communicator at Hood, who caught it purely by instinct.
“I already have a communicator,” Hood said, even as he examined the strange thing.
“This one’s ghost proof. You’ll need it as long as I’m around,” the boy responded, “My hacker is sending your hacker the encryption file. If you're willing to work with us, then I’d prefer we all stay on the same frequency.”
“Hood, take the communicator,” Oracle ordered through barely discernible static, “I got the encryption file and I’m connecting us all together. Other hacker claimed it’ll reduce the static.”
Jason removed his helmet, glad to be wearing a mask underneath and replaced his sleek communicator with the much larger one he was given. It smashed into his ear a bit when he put the helmet back on, but that was a small price to pay to not be assaulted by constant static.
“It’s a bit bulky,” he retorted once he was done.
“ Sorry about that. We haven’t had a chance to miniaturize it any further, ” a male voice answered through the communicator, “ Call me Techno Geek, Tech for short.”
“I’m Oracle,” Babs introduced herself to the group.
“Great,” Tech said, “Now that introductions are out of the way, let’s get that distraction started.”
“What kind of distraction?” Oracle asked.
“We were planning on something on the far side of town,” Tech explained, “I can spoof some of the ecto-sensors in town to make it look like there’s a powerful ghost flying around. Should draw out a dozen or so Guys in White. A few minutes after that, I’ll spoof the sensors at the high school to make it look like Phantom is there. It’ll look like he’s chasing down the other fake ghost. If we’re lucky it’ll draw out another dozen, cutting their numbers by roughly one third inside the building. Phantom, keep everyone invisible while we wait. It would be embarrassing if I went to all the trouble to fake your location just for them to spot everyone on the roof in their mad dash out.”
Phantom floated closer to Red Hood, Red Huntress following close behind. Jason eyed him warily, expecting the Pit to attempt a retreat, though it never moved.
“You mind if I touch your shoulder?” Phantom asked, and still there was no reaction. The stillness was freaking him out almost more than the panic before.
“To turn me invisible?” he asked, and nodded after Phantom confirmed. Even through his jacket, Phantom’s grip was ice cold and immediately the Pit in his chest started h̅u̳m̠m͞i̲n͟g̳.
Phantom raised an eyebrow at him. “Hood, you have an ecto-signature,”
“What?” Huntress exclaimed. She was on the opposite side of Phantom, the board she stood on folded into itself and disappeared into her feet. She dropped down to the rooftop, and took up Phantom’s free hand. “He isn’t showing up on my scanners.”
“It’s faint. I only noticed it because he reacted to my touch,” Phantom explained.
Could Phantom hear the h̅u̳m̠m͞i̲n͟g̳ ?
“Fascinating,” Tech stated over the comms, “Is he Liminal?”
“This might feel a bit weird,” Phantom warned, ignoring Techno Geek, and immediately the ice in Phantom’s hand seemed to plunge itself throughout Jason’s body. He felt the need to shiver, yet at the same time the Pit seemed to embrace it as if the experience were some sort of weird eldritch hug. “Just remember that we’re invisible, not silent,” Phantom added as he gently tugged both of the red vigilantes to the edge of the roof to spy on the government agents below as they exited. “We’re ready, Tech,” he whispered.
Jason took a moment to examine his own body. He could still see himself, but it was faded, like looking through a hologram. He turned to look at the other two vigilantes to see that Phantom was staring at him, amused and unblinking. He and Huntress were equally transparent.
“What?” Jason hissed.
“I always find first reactions interesting,” Phantom whispered back, grinning with teeth too sharp to be human. Jason, again, felt unbalanced as the Pit failed to react.
“I lost Hood’s camera feed completely,” Oracle interrupted, “But I can see Huntress’ feed perfectly fine. How does that work?”
“Tech!” Huntress seethed, “You gave her access to my suit ?!”
“Red, it’s standard practice for mission control to have as many eyes and ears as possible. She’ll be running blind with Hood’s equipment. She can only access it through my setup and I’ll change the encryption when the mission is over. It’ll be fine.”
“If it makes you feel better, I promise not to be nosy,” Oracle added.
Phantom snorted, “If you’re anything like Tech, that’s an absolute lie.” Jason silently agreed.
“Okay, okay, you got me. But I still promise to play nice.”
“I demand blackmail,” Phantom said, though his tone was light and easy, “for protection purposes.”
Techno Geek laughed through the comms, “I’ll be sure to get something on them before the night’s up.”
“You do realize we can both hear you, right?” Hood interrupted. He didn’t like the idea of a hacker so casually claiming he could one-up the Batfamily, joking or not. That was his livelihood on the line.
“Yeah,” Tech answered with a tone that absolutely bled shit-eating grin, “What’s your point?”
“Relax Hood,” Oracle answered, “I’ll make sure whatever he gets is more embarrassing than it is damaging.”
“Is that a challenge?”
“ Focus , Tech. We got a job to do!” Phantom huffed. At that exact moment, doors slammed open beneath the trio as they watched the white suited agents rush to their god-awful vehicles from the rooftop. The sounds of stomping boots, combat orders and revving engines reached the invisible trio as they watched the chaos below them.
“Dude, relax. I’m mostly just waiting for the goons to catch up right now,” Tech replied smoothly, “I saw eight agents in Red’s feed. Confirm?”
“Confirm,” Huntress answered.
“Confirm,” Phantom repeated.
“Confirm,” Jason echoed after counting the agents. Phantom and Huntress nodded in approval, and Jason pushed down the memory of just starting out as Robin, looking to Batman for approval whenever he did something correct. Huntress’ armor made it difficult to gauge her age (though her size was at the extremely short end if she were an adult), but Phantom looked a few years younger than himself, so odds were high that Hood was the most experienced vigilante in the group. Why did he suddenly feel inferior? Was it just because of the Pit’s reaction to Phantom?
Then again, they had been pretty explicit that Phantom’s a ghost. It was literally in his name. Did ghosts age? Maybe it’s possible that Phantom has been around a lot longer. But how old was he when he died? (t͞o̠o̲ ̄y̲o͞u̱n͞g͟,̄ ͟fa̿i̲l͞e̠ḏ ͟t̿o͟ ͞p͞r̄ōt̲e̲c̲t̄ ̄a̱ ̄c͞h̠īl̲d̠) Belatedly, Jason realized that he hadn’t even considered Phantom’s age until now. The Pit reacted so strongly to him, it was as if it forgot to remind Jason that children playing vigilante was a Bad Idea.
Or, more accurately, the Pit didn’t recognize Phantom as a child. (Red Huntress’ age was still up for debate, however.)
At any rate, Jason didn’t get the feeling that either of them were being condescending, more that they were appreciative that he was willing to be a team player. Hood knew how to be a team player, that part would be easy. The hard part would be keeping these two child(?) vigilantes safe.
“Dang,” Tech responded, “They usually send out a dozen for that level of threat.”
“That doesn’t bode well,” Huntress replied, and Phantom nodded.
“They might know more about Ellie than we realized,” Phantom added, “This is gonna sound weird, but did she have black hair or white hair when she was captured? Do you know, Hood?”
Phantom was right, that did sound weird. Was he trying to determine if they were both rescuing the same girl? But he asked ‘ if the girl’ had black or white hair, not ‘ was the girl’ black or white haired - as if it would be the same girl no matter her hair color, and not a means to differentiate two different people.
“Black,” Hood answered, watching the other two carefully.
“Fuck,” Red Huntress swore as she went completely rigid, and the echo in his communicator meant that Techno Geek had reacted the same. Phantom paled, but quickly his expression morphed from shock to fury. The Pit curled up a little tighter.
“They definitely know something’s off about her,” Phantom finally responded, “The only question is how much do they know? This is probably an all hands on deck mentality for them right now, and they're unwilling to send any more agents out than absolutely necessary.”
“That could complicate things,” Tech replied, “but our current rescue plan is still probably the best. At worst, it’ll mean having to plow through more agents to reach Ellie. On the other hand, we might be able to distract the ones that take the bait a bit longer because there’ll be fewer for us to keep track of.”
“Us?” Oracle asked.
“The rest of Team Phantom,” Tech vaguely explained before getting back on track, “The main problem I see now is that we have no way to hide Ellie after getting her out. We were banking on her black-haired form remaining anonymous.”
So Hood was right about the strange wording Phantom had used moments ago. Good to know.
“Can’t we just send her to one of Phantom’s allies in the Ghost Zone?” Red Huntress argued more than asked.
The Ghost Zone had been briefly mentioned a few times in the scientific papers Oracle had discovered during the research phase of the mission. Something about it being a separate dimension that ghosts resided in. It was weird, and deemed unimportant to the current mission.
“You know how she is, Red,” Phantom replied, “She’ll feel like a prisoner as long as she’s unable to return to Earth.”
The pit almost seemed to lurch in empathy, as if trying to confirm to Jason that Phantom was right. He found it bizarre that it could go from reeling in fear to complete agreement in a few short minutes. Phantom was an absolute mystery, and Jason was somewhat afraid of what the answers to his many questions might be.
Phantom’s expression turned from somber to grimace, “Besides that, because of her connection to… the Ghost King… I’m concerned about retaliation if the greater population finds out that the Goons In White successfully captured her, especially if she’s badly injured. That would be a major complication.”
The instant Phantom said ‘Ghost King,’ the Pit t̠ṟe̱m̲b̄l͞e̳d̲. (F͟e̲a̳r̿ ̠t̿h͞ē ̲w̠r̳āt̲h̳ ͞o͞f̿ ̳t̲h͞e͞ ͞K̳i͟n̿g̠.͞ ̄P͞r̄o̠t̅e̠c̱t̳ ͞t̳h̲e̱ ̅c͞h̠i̱l̲d̳.̄ ͞Ḏo͞ ̄n̿o̿t̄ ̠a̿t̠ṯa̅i̲n͟ ̱h̲īs̱ ͞i̠r̠e̳.̲) Jason barely registered the rest of Phantom’s words.
Ghost King? That’s a thing? Oh fuck would he declare war against the living because of this girl? What the fuck is she? What the fuck is she caught in the middle of? The Anti-Ecto Acts defines all ecto-entities as non-sentient, de facto. Would that be considered an act of war? This is over Hood’s head. He doesn’t have enough information to know how to navigate this situation.
“That would probably undo all of our progress,” Tech added, and both Phantom and Huntress grunted in agreement.
Fuck! These kids were trying to prevent a fucking inter-dimensional war!
“This Ghost King,” Hood started before he could stop himself, and both vigilantes whipped back to him, giving full attention.
How powerful is he? Is he a threat? What will he do if he finds out about the GIW? About Ellie?
Will he declare war? Does he hate humanity?
“What’s his place in all of this?” Red Hood finally settled on, upset at how pathetically vague it sounded once the question left his mouth. At the other two’s confused looks, he tried to clarify, “I mean, is he… a threat?” Jason hoped he sounded like he was trying to be polite while testing the waters.
Both Huntress and Phantom seemed to relax ever so slightly, “No. He’s an ally,” Phantom answered, “He understands the situation on Earth is a bit… fragile… at the moment. We’re all working together to try to abolish the Anti-Ecto Acts before they snowball into something bigger.”
“Okay,” Hood nodded. Maybe this is salvageable. “If I’m understanding you correctly, then it sounds like Ellie’s situation could easily trigger said snowballing.”
“You got that right,” Huntress replied indignantly, “My job’s hard enough as it is.”
Phantom gave her a look, then rolled his eyes.
“What?” Huntress spat, seemingly barely remembering to stay quiet.
“At least you're not legally defined as non-sentient,” Phantom answered a bit coldly. Which, okay, fair. That’s a lot of stress to put on someone’s shoulders. If both Phantom and Red Huntress were the local vigilantes of Amity Park, that meant that Phantom was putting his life (Afterlife? Unlife? Non-life? … Existence) on the line while also avoiding capture by the Ghost Investigation Ward, on top of all of the other risks and dangers that Huntress also faced as a fellow vigilante. How does Phantom even get up in the morning and face it all? (Do ghosts sleep?)
(P̱ṟo̠t̅ēc̅t̳ ̱t̲h̲e̅m̿.͞ ̲C̲h̠īl̲d͞r̅e̠n̳ ̿s̅h̅o̳u͞l͞d͟ṉ'̿t̠ ̳b̅e̱ ̿v̠i̱g̠īl̳a̠n̄t̠e̲s̳.̲)
Huntress looked like she was about to argue, but Phantom cut her off, “Like Ellie.”
Red Huntress deflated at that.
For all the fire that Red Huntress had, Ellie appeared to be an extremely sore subject for her. There was some sort of history there, likely a failure of some kind, that Jason didn’t know the context to. He’d have to keep an extra eye on her for being emotionally compromised. (Phantom probably was too.)
“Hey,” Tech softly spoke through the comms, “We’re all on the same team here. Remember?”
“Yeah,” Red Huntress answered quietly, “Yeah, I remember.”
Bad blood between Phantom and Red Huntress? They had better stay professional.
“Good. The first batch of goons just entered city limits. I’m going to start spoofing your location now, Phantom.”
“Understood,” Phantom answered.
“As touching as this emotional roller-coaster is,” Oracle interjected, somehow sounding both tactful and tactless simultaneously, “I would still like to know why Hood’s cameras stopped working and Red Huntress’ didn’t.”
“Short answer?” Tech answered quickly, probably relieved at the change of subject, “It’s ghost-proof. Long answer will have to wait another day.”
“Shouldn’t an invisible camera be incapable of recording visual data?” Hood asked. It was actually a minor problem when designing the cloaking tech for the Batwing.
“Right,” Oracle continued, “And Hood’s camera is staticy, not black, which is what I would have expected.”
“The static is me,” Phantom answered, “Ghost cores put out a lot of electro-magnetic energy. Screws with electronics unless they're ghost-proofed. That’s why we gave Hood a custom communicator.”
“I figured that out already. But even after Huntress’ cameras have been - presumably - ghost-proofed, why are they not black while invisible? In fact, how are you guys able to see while invisible? Does everything look the same as it does on her camera? How are the communicators still working?”
“Wait, what does everything look like on the camera?” Hood asked. Now he was just curious.
“Mostly everything looks normal, but when she looks at you and Phantom, both of you are see-through, like you’ve been added to the image in a semi-transparent layer.”
“That’s basically what it looks like in real life,” Hood confirmed, “Feels weird too. Like taking an ice bath but not being cold.”
Phantom smirked at that, “You get used to it.”
Tech sighed deeply through the comms, “This really is a discussion for another time. We basically had to come up with an entirely new physics model to explain all the weird ghost stuff.”
Phantom snorted, “Invisibility was the easiest one to figure out. Try figuring out how to explain why Red here can still breathe when intangible. While inside of a solid object. Or underwater.”
“Yeah, that discovery was a real surprise,” Tech laughed.
Jason stopped and thought about that. How did they figure that one out? Did she almost drown or something? (p̿r͟ōt̳e͞c̠ṯ.͞ ͟P̠r̄o̲t̿ēc͟ṯ!̄) They couldn’t have figured it out while just screwing around, right? It’s not like someone would be dumb enough to recommend not holding your breath while underwater.
Well, okay, teenagers can be pretty dumb. But this group just didn’t have that dumb teenager vibe.
“You could say… It took our breath away,” Phantom said with a shit-eating grin, “Or maybe it knocked the wind out of us.” Both Tech and Huntress groaned.
“Please stop,” Red Huntress muttered, hand to her helmet. Phantom looked like he was silently cackling.
… Nevermind.
“Phantom,” Tech started, only to be interrupted by the second round of agents exiting the building. “I saw nine, confirm?” Tech continued after the spectacle as if he had never said anything.
“Confirm,” each of the three vigilantes answered in turn.
“Looks like they’re being stingy today,” Tech replied, “Sorry guys. Did the best I could.”
“Do you want to try one more round?” Huntress asked.
“I don’t want them to get suspicious.” Tech answered quickly, “The first group is already trying to chase down the fake ghost and it won’t last forever. I don’t want you guys to waste any more time waiting, either. If I can come up with another idea to draw more out while you guys are in there, I’ll let you know.”
“Alright. We’ll head in then as soon as the second group crosses city limits,” Phantom answered, “Hood, you willing to follow my lead?”
“You’re the boss, boss,” Hood replied. Phantom was obviously the leader, and it would probably be best to play along with that to not mess with the team dynamic too badly.
“Cool,” Phantom huffed in amusement, “One more thing. Ecto-weapons are generally harmless to humans, but they might pack an extra punch against you since you have an ecto-signature. Try not to get hit.”
“So, same advice as any weapon,” Hood snarked.
“Mostly,” Phantom continued, “depending on how sensitive you are to them, you might be able to tank quite a few hits. If it hits skin, it might leave a minor burn. Unless the beam is sustained, it shouldn’t be able to burn through clothing of any kind. The kinetic force behind it will probably be the worst aspect, assuming it doesn’t feel like being electrocuted,” Hood nodded through all of this.
“Okay,” Hood answered, “Don’t get hit, but if I do and it doesn’t hurt that bad, feel free to tank it as long as it doesn’t touch skin.” Phantom nodded.
“Phantom,” Tech tried once again, “If we can’t keep Ellie safe, we may need to change some of our goals here.”
“I’m aware,” was all Phantom said.
“It’s your call,” Tech added.
“I know,” Phantom added, grabbing the tricked out PDA on his belt and tapping on it (Huntress moved to put her hand on Phantom’s shoulder, maintaining her invisibility), “I want to wait until we see how badly injured Ellie is, and how much they know about her. Prep contingencies Whistleblower, Burn It Down, Two Worlds, Ghost Toast and Only Mostly Dead. I’ll decide which direction we turn after seeing how this rescue op ends.”
Holy Shit. Listening to this kid is like listening to the goddamned Batman. No wonder why he triggered memories of Jason’s Robin years.
(Well, a Batman that uses puns for contingency plans.)
No wonder why the Pit didn’t recognize him as a child. No wait, it did after that creepy pressure went away… aaaaand it isn’t right now.
Phantom is fucking weird.
“Maybe we could help hide Ellie?” Oracle offered, “Would that help at all? Change anything?”
Phantom seemed to seriously consider it as he hooked the PDA back on his belt. “Maybe. We’ll keep that option on the table. It does come with a lot of complications, though.”
“Kid - ” Phantom g͞l̅a̅r̠e͞ḏ at Hood, and the Pit did a somersault in alarm, “ Phantom, you really think the Batfamily couldn’t keep Ellie safe?”
To his credit, Phantom didn’t seem to take it personally (despite not liking being called a kid) and remained professional, “I’m not questioning your team’s abilities. It’s a matter of ensuring that you understand all of the complications and risks involved with taking her. And making sure it’s the best possible option,” Phantom grimaced, “We won’t know until we see how she’s doing.”
“Oracle, did you have enough time to read through everything I sent you?” Tech asked through the comms.
“Yes, that’s why I made the offer about Ellie,” Oracle answered, “It says here that Ellie reported the ability to mask her ecto-signature while exploring Gotham, but it’s marked as a last resort option. I presume because you don’t have any safe houses in Gotham?”
“That’s part of the reason,” Phantom answered instead of Tech, “It also has to do with those complications I mentioned. How much did you send her, Tech?”
Despite being Team Leader, Phantom seemed to completely trust Tech’s judgment in sharing information, unlike Red Huntress, though to be fair, if Hood had a suit like hers, he'd probably be a bit paranoid of someone remotely controlling it, too.
“Enough to take over as mission control for the remainder of this rescue op,” Tech explained, and then plowed on as if expecting resistance, “I might be one of the best out there, but so is Oracle. She’ll keep you two safe and knows how to work with Red Hood. I’ll be able to have complete focus on the B team keeping the goons distracted, and hopefully come up with a few more ideas to tease more agents away from headquarters while you guys rescue Ellie.”
Phantom actually seemed to smile at that, though Huntress’ body language seemed a bit miffed.
“That’s why you gave her access to my suit?” Huntress almost sounded accusing.
“Yes, Red,” Tech answered almost tiredly, “You’re not mad, Phantom?”
“Nah,” Phantom replied, “That’s as good a reason as any. Besides, we could use all the allies we can get, and this is the perfect opportunity to get to know the Batfamily. Especially if we end up leaving Ellie in their care.”
The grin on Phantom’s face as he glanced toward Hood was almost devious. The Pit whispered nervously that a huge error in judgment had just been made.
Jason was nervous.
“Awesome,” Tech stated, “The second wave of goons are currently crossing city limits. They’re unlikely to turn around if you’re spotted immediately and B Team will work to keep them in town for as long as possible. Oracle, I’m handing off mission control of the rescue team to your capable hands. I’ll be listening in, so feel free to give a shout if you need anything Phantom, Red Huntress. I’ll let you know if any of our actions might affect the headquarters, including if we find a way to draw out more agents. Good luck. Try to get Ellie out in one piece.”
“Alright,” Oracle started, having officially taken over, “Let’s get this party started. Hood, a lot of their infiltration plan relies on intangibility to get through as much security as possible. Tech gave me a map of all of the anti-ghost tech in the facility and access to the switches. Phantom and Red have it completely memorized, barring any new installments. Try not to swear too loudly when Phantom manhandles you through the walls.”
“Let’s do a test run on intangibility and floating so you know what to expect, Hood,” Phantom spoke quickly, “Just gripping your jacket like I am now is enough. Invisibility only requires one step, but intangibility takes two. This first wave is me telling gravity to take a hike.” A wave of weightlessness washed through Jason as he felt all of his muscles relax and the sudden loss of the strain against gravity. Was this what it was like to float in space? Was this what it felt like to fly?
“Now I can pull you around like it’s nothing,” Phantom demonstrated by pulling on Hood’s jacket, dragging him up a few inches and then pushing him back down to the roof so he was standing against it once again - though it felt like a mockery of standing when the only friction he had was the pressure of Phantom’s hand held against his shoulder.
“Second part should feel similar to invisibility,” at the explanation, a second wave of ice cold rushed from Phantom’s hand through Jason’s entire body. It was similar to invisibility, and yet it was qualitatively different. If invisibility felt like an eldritch hug, then this felt like floating in the open eldritch ocean. The moment the ice cold wave reached his boots, he felt them slipping down below the roof. He looked down, and was immediately disoriented at seeing his ankles sunk into the roof, feet completely missing. He could f͟e͞e̲l̳ where the solid material intersected with his own body, the shift in density between each material. He wiggled his toes to make sure they were still there. Phantom gently pulled him up again until his feet were a few inches above the roof again, and a wave of warmth spread through him, then a wave of disappointing gravity, and Hood dropped back onto the roof, as solid as before.
“And that’s what intangibility feels like. And flying, because that one’s necessary to keep you from falling through the ground. Letting go of invisibility will also be a similar wave of warmth.” Phantom watched Hood as he took a moment to reorient himself, “All good?”
Hood shook his head, “What happens if you let go of me while I’m inside a solid object?”
Phantom chuckled at that, “You get stuck. It isn’t painful, just awkward. Tech has a long drawn-out explanation about the Pauli exclusion principle and shifting frequencies of base matter if you’re interested in the technical details.”
“Ooh! I’d like to hear that sometime!” Oracle interrupted.
“Nerd,” Huntress muttered, though her voice had the barest hint of a smile in it.
Hood nodded, “Yeah, I’m all good now. Let’s get going before we waste any more time.”