Chapter Text
Of all of the things on Tucker’s to-do list, being kidnapped was absolutely not one of them.
“My arm’s falling asleep, dude.” Tucker sighed heavily, face smushed against the glowing green of the netting he was currently wrapped up in. “And I have to pee. I’m starting to develop a hatred for fishing nets.”
"Quiet.” Comes the rumbling, annoyed, metallic-tinged voice of none other than the Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter - who was currently tapping away at something on his arm “I can’t think with your whining. And it’s not a fishing net! It’s a hunting net.”
“And like I said, Mr. Most-Deadliest-Game, I have to pee. You want me to pee in your net? I don’t care what kind it is. I’ll pee in it. And then we’re both gunna have problems.” Grunting, Tucker inched forward with a roll of his shoulders. The two were sat in a Ghost Zone cave as some sort of hissing rain poured outside, kept company only by the fire Skulker had started. Danny should be around seen to save him and see what Skulker wanted any moment now. Until then, it was just the two of them. “What’re you doing?”
“Manually clearing my gorilla research to-do list programming off this Ancients accursed device before it propels me through the shitstorm outside.” Skulker shook it head, back to Tucker. His false flame mohawk swayed and sent wavering green light up the dark blue-green stone walls. “I do it everyday like clockwork. No thanks to you, or the whelp, or the girl.”
Gorilla research to-do list programming. . That sent Tucker into a little snorting fit.
Whipping his head around, Skulker scowled at Tucker while his fingers continued to fly across worn metal. “What’s so funny, bait?”
“Nothin’, man, it’s just - wow! Gorilla programming. I put that on you years ago. I thought you’d get, like, Technus or someone to get than off of you.” Shimmying forward again, a shit eating grin spread Tucker’s mouth wide as he raised a brow. “Can I see?”
“Wh - no you cannot see!” Jerking his arm away, Skulker’s scowl only deepened. “Technus wasn’t able to bypass the security lock. Not that it’s any of your business.”
An idea came to Tucker.
“I’ll make you a deal, big guy.” Somehow he managed to get his upper half flat on his back, tilting his head back to squint at Skulker through the janky tilt of his glasses. “If you let me out so I can pee, I’ll take that PDA off you. I wanted it back anyways, and you need it gone.”
Skulker scoffed and shook his head. “And lose my leverage? You must think I’m a fool, bait.”
In an exaggerated swirl of his eyes, Tucker looked at the once again hissing rain and back before snorting.
“Yeah,” He said, “Like I’m totally going to go out there right now.”
Only the rain and the fire lent their sound to the quiet of the cave as the two stared at each other. Tucker would have to admit, it was super cool to watch the living metal exosuit in action. It was micro-expression for God’s sake! Little twitched of his brows and narrowing of the eyes as Skulker examined Tucker’s face. It was also kinda funny to see a fun house version of himself in the shiny chrome.
Finally, Skulker sighed and reached out. He snagged the edge of the net and Tucker yelped as it sent him moving - flopping nearly like a fish as Skulker cut the ties at the top to release him. Before he could get his barrings Skulker grabbed him by the back of his sweatshirt and lifted him up off the ground. The two were face-to-face, with Tucker’s feet dangling a good foot off the ground. It did not help his bladder situation.
“Now,” Skulker grumbled and thrusted his free arm - the one he’d been meddling with - towards Tucker. “Take it off.”
“Yeah man, alright, cool your jets.” Reaching up to first adjust his glasses, Tucker took the cool metal in hand. Again he was in awe of of the exosuit’s intricacies. “Man. . .you can feel the musculature. Did you make this?”
Eyes widening as if the question took him off guard, Skulker simply nodded.
“Nice.” Tucker said as he found the seams of the PDA. He looked down, pulling up the administrative function after entering his password. A habit of his while he was working, he let himself ramble. “It’s honestly impressive. I mean, you guys live in this freaky alternate dimension with some crazy tech but still. It must have taken forever. When I built my computer I know it took me a long ass time to get everything right. Not that you have to worry about buying RAM or anything like that.”
“You built a system?” Skulker asked.
“I did, yeah. And, sure, Prebuilts are cheaper but there’s something pretty satisfying about building your own rig. This, like, satisfaction! Definitely stung my wallet when I moved out and started having to buy my own parts but, hey. That’s life.” Tucker shrugged (as much as he could with the angle) and glanced at Skulker. The ghost was watching his hands work, and this close up Tucker swore he could hear the minuscule whirring of inner gears as Skulker’s eyes got slightly smaller. Maybe his version of a squint? Pretty cool, either way.
In a few tap, the PDA released and Tucker pulled it up very gently, flipping it around. There were a few wires plugged into the back and he stalled for a second as he stared at where they connected inside of Skulker’ arm.
“I’ll handle this part.” Skulker batted away his hovering hands and went to work, skillfully disconnecting and reconnecting wire until finally he and the PDA were no longer connected.
Tucker grinned and waved the device in hand. “Feelin’ better, big guy.”
“Mm.” Skulker flexed his arm, rolling his shoulder. “Much. You’re a better mechanic than I gave you credit for, bait.”
“Tucker.”
“What?”
“My name. It’s Tucker Foley.”
Skulker stared at him again before sniffing, tossing back his flaring mane. “Well then. You’re a passable mechanic, Tucker Foley.”
Tucker put away his PDA - thank god it was only the research Skulker had gotten trapped in - and felt a bloom of pride in his chest. Immediately it was replaced at once by his returning, pressing need to relieve himself.
“Thank! Lemme finish this up and we can talk specs!” Tucker yelped as he made a dash for the entrance of the cave.
Skulker only sighed and shook his head, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. . . With the loss of weight on his arm an immense relief.