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#Amity park is isolated by the US but they don't care
nelkcats · 1 year
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Death sentence
We are sorry Phantom, but we need to see by yourselves if you are a threat or not, we will be visiting you tomorrow at 4:40 pm
-Justice League
Danny was unsure about his feelings, apparently the government contacted the JL to eliminate him because he was "dangerous", but Martian Manhunter, knowing the government was not always the best, convinced them, so the League leave a message to Vlad instead.
Vlad didn't want to fight with him, he published the note in Amity newspaper. Now, that was kinda...bad, not for him, but for the rest of Amity Park. It was like being sentenced to death.
While Danny freaked out the entire city was having a meeting, they didn't want the Justice League there, not near Phantom or Fenton, he was a kid, the league have a history ignoring calls and kidnapping child heroes to be part of their "society", and train them "properly". Their kid was already death, they were not going to take risks.
Amity Parkers also know they will start to choose between him as they choose between their "personas", like Phantom and Fenton were different, and yeah, the inhabitants of Amity Park can't judge, it take a while to figure out he was the same but by that point he already saved their lifes and they were already attached to him.
If the League finds out the kid was a halfa they will choose a favorites; "Phantom" being better fighter than "the civil identity Fenton", "Fenton" being intelligent "when he is not at hero work", and to be honest they understand, when a person acts different is normal to separate between the two personalities.
They will obligate him to separate himself, like the "hero" and the "civilian" needed to act different or some stupid thing like that.
But Fenton Phantom was not a personality to separate, they were the same and the small city remembered all the fights, all the favoritism, remembered when Fenton was left out because of his better "half", remembered when they needed to buy the kid an apartment far from his parents cause it taked a while for them to separate "His cute guy Dann-o" and " The Ghost scum"
And the city remembered the sobs, the adults remember leaning out their window at night and hearing the uncontrollable wailing of the ghost, allowing himself to be the scared teenager he always was.
That day, they made a promise, to accept him, all of him, he never needed to be separated in two again, he was not destined to, he was the representation of equilibrium between life and death for god sake. The kid already hidden from them for two years, two years of scars and fighting alone, and they will never repeat that error.
The Justice League have no right to break their promise. And they will never let them ruin another kid, not an Amity Parker.
So, what happened next was just natural; the next day Mr. Lancer called Sam and Tucker, told them to guide Danny to the Ghost Zone for a while, maybe entertain him with his ghost friends, they accepted.
"Team Phantom" was still active (with Dani and Val help) but they had more support than ever, and they trusted their city, all basically united by the guy who literally spends his after life protecting them.
The thing is, it was almost stupid what happened in the past, Danny was sleep deprived, his fight with Pariah ended well but the suit suck too much energy for him, that connected with his lack of sleep ended in a transformation In the middle of town, where everyone could see it.
It took a while to accept the reality, that a boy had fought with the king of the dead for a city that hated him. They even pretended to have no idea about the revelation, acting like they didn't know for another couple of weeks; Although the news spread and gossip was not lacking.
Sam and Tucker expected the other shoe to drop, but they ended surprised when the city called a reunion (since when the totally of the city reunited?), they acted like Danny bodyguards, but what they didn't expected was the Fentons unable to look at them and leave the room.
The people who stayed offered an apology (but Val wanted an explanation) and an apartment (¿the city collected money to give him an apartment far from his home? Danny wasn't sure if he was happy or heartbroken)
When the Justice League arrived the Red Huntress was waiting for them, her weapon pointing the "heroes" who frowned at the sight of the "hero" holding wepons.
"Sorry, ¿is Phantom haunt here?" Martian Manhunter asked cordially, the girl nodded "¿can we talk with him?"
"No"
"¿Why not?¿is he dangerous?¿is he hiding from us? It's okay, we can capture him if that's the case" Flash assured, hoping that would take away the tense atmosphere, the meta ghost was probably the villain of the city or something, so that made the red suit girl the hero.
"We can also give you proper training so you can stop using wepons" Wonder Woman also offered.
"First of all, that's none of your business, you don't go to Star City and ask Green arrow to stop using arrows cause you don't like them, I don't care about your training" the girl answers, obviously annoyed "second, we don't want you here, not near him"
The Martian frowned "Sorry ¿we?"
"We" the girl pointed at the city, all the city was watching them, but contrary to normal meetings they were watching them with resentment.
"Eh, ¿why? Maybe this is all a misunderstanding..." Superman was trying not to look at the people, even the kids on the street seemed to stop what they were doing just to look at them with pure hate in their eyes "can we see the major?".
"I'm here" Vlad appeared behind the girl and greeted them "I see you already meet the Red Huntress"
"Yes, ¿Do you know where Phantom is? We send a note yesterday" Batman asked, the reason of the meeting was not there after all.
"Yes, I remember, the Death Sentence you left on my door cause of the U.S government ¿right?"
"¿Death sentence? That's not-"
"Oh, but it is, you left your precious note in my office, overnight, asking us to hand you over to our local hero for you to search and see if he's a threat, ¿am I wrong?" Vlad was having fun teasing these heroes.
"Sir, we need you to understand, according to the U.S government Phantom is a dangerous individual, maybe he can even destroy your city" Superman tried
"According to the U.S government we don't exist, ¿or did you forget that information on purpose?" the huntress mocked
"I remember, but it was for your safety, the government was trying to contain the threat-"
"The Goverment this, the government that, you see superheroes, we are not ruled by the government anymore, this is a free city, since we were contained here, we produce everything on your own, food, energy, we owe nothing to the government and much less to you"
"¡But we can help you! We can get ride of your meta infestation and-" Flash was trying to mediate
"¿Meta infestation? ¿That's what they told you?, oh poor heroes, getting here with the grown information" the major laughed "Look, I will make myself clear, we have a ghost infestation, Amity Park is now a death city and we prefer it this way"
"And what about Phantom?" Martian Manhunter asked worried.
Vlad sighed "You can visit him, he likes space, however" he pointed at the other heroes "they can't, we don't need the Goverment help, we don't need your help, we are alive because of that boy and we don't want YOUR team near him, Phantom is an Amity Parker and it will stay that way" the major walked away.
"Look, ¿Martian Manhunter? You are a good guy I get it, but we don't want all of you here, the only hero we want is Phantom and we don't need your ideologies or training near him, he is OURS, so please, get out of the city while we are still being nice" Red Hunter stated.
"¿What if you need help?" Batman asked
"We needed help two years ago, the boy you want to take saved us when you decided not to take our pleas, and as such, we won't take yours" the girl said "Amity Park can take care of it's own as always, go save a city that need you"
And with that said she flew away, leaving them at the entrance of the city, the angry shouts and mutters of the citizens saying that they wanted them away in the background.
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nerdpoe · 9 months
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Amity Park is pretty isolated, so when Danny got a job offer at Lexcorp he didn't think much of it beyond "nice paycheck!"
He's fresh from having graduated his online college with a double Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and Biotechnology, finally put that knowledge to use to shut down the artificial portal to the Ghost Zone for good, finally permanently solved Ellie (Dani) destabalization issue.
Now?
It's time to leave Amity!
He shoots out his resumes, but uh...turns out online colleges don't carry as much Oomf as he would like.
But he does get immediately hired by Lexcorp.
So it takes it.
His boss is weird and keeps wanting him to build doomsday machines and such, and keeps waxing poetic about how it's just a fallback plan for when Superman goes rogue, really Fenton don't overreact-
Except Danny isn't an idiot.
He was raised by not one, but two mad scientists that tore open a hole between reality and the Place Inbetween all reality, just to prove it was real.
But that paycheck?
He decides to compromise.
He'll build Lex's shit, but all of those devices primarily answer to Danny now.
Sure the code, upon being read, states that Lex is the only authorized user, but that shits easy to fake when Danny has access to literal Ghost Tech.
Lex goes a little too far with a massive fuckall robot?
Danny stomps his way out of the lab and gives it the shutdown code, and glares at Lex through the windshield of said robot while making the famous 'Come down here Right Fucking Now' hand motion that pissed off parents make.
Lex starts a cloning project with CADMUS and keeps Danny away from it?
"Tough shit Lex who do you think built your super security system? Yeah, my fucking Husband. Move over and-is that a wholeass teenager?
Lex.
Lex, I'm dismantling the last four projects I built for you.
I don't care if you fire me, I'm dismantling them.
Get that kid out of the tube and give him some pizza, he's going to have at least some semblance of a childhood. You can be a deadbeat all you want, my Wife and my Husband and I will take over from here.
No kids for you."
Danny is the unofficial senior engineer for any project Lex has and is using force to cement his place as Lex's external conscience.
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raaorqtpbpdy · 3 months
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This Sure as Hell Never Happened on Scooby-Doo
While investigating a fairly routine haunting in a Michigan hotel, Sam and Dean come face to face with a creature unlike any they've faced before. [Takes place around mid season 1 for SPN, and at a non-specific point in the DP timeline]
Written for @crossoverdanuary Week, Day 7: Supernatural | Veil
First off, congrats to Supernatural for finally making the main prompt list after two years of being an honorable mention lol. I had a lot of trouble coming up with an idea for this one for some reason, so it ended up being kind of generic. This is, however, the first time I've ever written the Full Hazmat AU, which was pretty exciting.
AO3 Link
[Warning for minor violence, and references to suicide throughout]
As a general rule, hunters steered clear of Amity Park, although the reason why varied from one to another.
Some believed all the so-called supernatural occurrences there were just a hoax, like Bigfoot, so there was no point wasting valuable time and energy looking into them. Others swore up and down that, hoax or not, there was something about that town that made you see things. Impossible things. Things that made even the most experienced hunters pause. Some simply believed that Amity Park could take care of itself. Outside interference would only cause more problems than it would solve.
Then there were those who believed that Amity Park, that the very town itself, didn't want them there. That hunters were just not welcome.
The town was infamous in the hunter community. Grizzled, plaid-wearing men would talk about it at roadhouses and truck-stop diners. They'd warn other people away, tell them not to even drive through it on their way to somewhere else. There was nothing in that town worth dying for, and they took care of their own. Hunters weren't needed, they weren't wanted, and they'd just do better if they stayed away.
Every once in a while though, Amity Park's unique brand of freaky bled out of that isolated town. And when it did, then it became the hunters' problem. Unfortunately, more often than not, they wouldn't know it until it was too late.
Sam and Dean were investigating a supposedly haunted hotel. Staff and guests they'd spoken to had all reported blinking lights, cold spots, scratching in the walls. The staff seemed content to blame it on the owner's unwillingness to spend money to fix or update anything. The guests, on the other hand, not so much.
Those who stayed overnight reported horrible nightmares about bleeding out from their wrists. Some of them even claimed to have seen things, although they couldn't seem to agree on what they saw. A few saw a woman, covered in blood from slit writs, and crying, who vanished in the blink of an eye. But another claimed to have seen a small figure in a partially melted hazmat suit.
"Could there be more than one?" Sam asked when they'd returned to their own room in the hotel.
It was more expensive than the crappy motels they usually stayed it, but it was more convenient, and it gave them an excuse to wander around if they were actually staying there.
"Maybe, but... I don't know. If someone committed suicide in the hotel, it makes sense that their spirit would linger," Dean said. "I just can't think of any reason why there would be a ghost in a hazmat suit. Can you?"
"If the building used to be some kind of lab or research facility, it's possible," Sam said, "But this hotel was established back in the late thirties, and even if there was a research facility here before the hotel, the hazmat suit he described was much more modern than they would have worn back then."
Dean scoffed as he plopped down on his bed.
"Of course, leave it to my nerd brother to know what hazmat suits looked like in the thirties," Dean mocked. "Seriously though, that second ghost just doesn't make any kind of sense."
"We'll know more once we find info about anyone whose died in this hotel," Sam said. "This place has been in business for almost seventy years, I'm sure we'll have plenty to wade through."
"It could have been that guy was just making up a story," Dean said. "We've got three people claiming they saw a woman who disappeared, but only one mentioned the hazmat suit. Maybe he was messing with us."
"He seemed pretty shaken up about it," Sam said. "I didn't think he was lying."
"I didn't either, but...." Dean shook his head thoughtfully. "Something about that story just doesn't sit right. And you know what else? That redheaded girl who got all defensive when we started acting questions. Something doesn't sit right about her, either. She acted like she was responsible, or trying to protect the person who was. Except we already know this is a haunting. We know there's at least one ghost, so why did she act like that?"
"I don't know," Sam said. "Could be she was trying to hide something else."
"Maybe...."
"Come on," Sam said. "Let's start by combing through local death records at the library."
"You go ahead," Dean told him. "I wanna talk to that girl's parents, see if they know anything. I'm starting to think there might be more to this case than just a standard haunting."
"Fine. We'll meet back here later."
"So, what'd you find?" Dean asked when his brother got back to their room.
"Okay, so get this," Sam began. "There have been several deaths in this hotel. A couple of heart attacks, a couple of accidents. One guy fell out his window, which caused the hotel to seal all the windows on the upper floors shut so they couldn't be opened. There have also been three suicides since the hotel's founding.
"A World War 2 vet shot himself in the head in December of 1945, just a few months after the war ended; A girl OD'ed in 1963, leaving a note about how the state of the world had made her unwilling to live in it; and lastly, a woman in 1992 slit her wrists in room 201 after her husband divorced her, blaming her for the murder of their only son."
"Sounds like we've ID'ed our first ghost," Dean noted. "We got a name?"
"Jennifer Bishop," Sam said. "She was accused of murdering her son, but never convicted because they never actually found the body, only a whole lot of blood they identified with DNA testing. She defended her innocence until her death, but the police never actually investigated anyone else for her son's disappearance and presumed death. Once she offed herself, they just closed the case."
"Another gold standard of police incompetence," Dean said. "Did you find out where she was buried?"
"Her family was catholic, but since she committed suicide, they couldn't bury her in their family plot at their church. Instead, she was buried in a public cemetery, Lincoln Memorial Park... but it's in her hometown: Petoskey, Michigan. She was only here for the trial."
"Great, so we gotta drive all night to get to friggin' Petoskey," Dean moaned. "Awesome. This is why hotel ghosts suck. Did you find any leads on hazmat suit?"
"Nothing. What about you?" Sam asked. "Get anything useful interviewing that red-headed girl's parents?"
"Nah," Dean said, shaking his head. "Remember those hellhoundslair dorks?"
Sam nodded.
"That's what they were like," he continued. "Overenthusiastic, but incompetent. She probably realized we were asking about ghosts and was nervous they'd overhear. While I was talking to them she reminded them they'd promised not to hunt any ghosts while their family was on vacation. They didn't seem too happy about that, but they at least stopped insisting they'd help me 'catch that slippery specter', so that was something, I guess.
"I did learn she has a younger brother, though. I didn't get to talk to him, but when I was leaving, I overheard the two kids talking, and he said something like, 'there's not enough of her there to talk to', and 'there's not a whole lot left of her at all," Dean finished. "Not sure what that was all about, but it seemed like they were trying to keep it on the down-low, especially from their parents."
"You think it could be related?" Sam asked.
"As far as I know, the brother never promised not to hunt ghosts," Dean replied with a shrug. "That and a gut feeling are pretty much all I have to base it on, though."
"Well, we know who our suicide is, at least," Sam said. "One of us should go take care of Jennifer Bishop while the other stays here in case she starts causing anymore trouble, or in case the hazmat ghost shows up again, if its even real."
"Why don't you take the salt-and-burn this time," Dean suggested.
Sam froze and looked at his brother, completely shocked. "You... want me to take your car and drive two hundred miles away... by myself?"
"And if you bring her back with so much as a scratch on her, I'll make you wish you were never born," Dean said. "But I feel like there's something at this hotel that I'm missing, and I'm gonna stick around until I figure it out."
"It's really bugging you, huh?" Sam noted. "Alright, well... it's a three hour drive, so I'd better get going."
"Yeah, and don't forget to fill up the tank on your way back."
"Yeah, yeah," Sam said as he walked out the door.
They'd already brought some weapons from the trunk into the hotel room, so Dean wouldn't be unarmed if he ran into one of the ghosts.
He did some quick math in his head. The ghost, or ghosts, probably wouldn't show up until it was night. Sam had a six-hour round trip, plus a good hour to dig up old Jennifer, probably longer, since he wouldn't have help. It was early afternoon now. 1:18 pm, a glance at the clock told him, so he could expect Sam back around nine-ish, give or take an hour. Sunset was around seven.
Jennifer would be gone well before nightfall... but that other ghost... if it even existed, they didn't have a single lead on it.
Dean headed down to the lobby.
He'd noticed them yesterday, a group of older ladies with a basket of yarn in the middle of them, chatting up a storm. He and Sam hadn't spoken to them yesterday, but now that Sam was gone, it was time for Dean to dial up a very particular type of charm that Sam would tease him for mercilessly if he ever saw it. He stood nearby, waiting for his moment.
"I swear," one lady said. "I turned up my thermostat four times last night. I had it cranked all the way up to ninety, and I could hear the radiator groaning like anything, but my room was still freezing."
"Did you phone the concierge?" another lady said.
"I tried, but they just apologized and said it's an old hotel," replied the first. "Didn't even offer to send a handyman, or move me to a different room or anything. Anyway, that's why started coming down here during the day. I just can't stand it."
That was his chance. "You too?" he asked her. "Which room are you in?"
"I'm in 201, why?"
Bingo. 201. The same room as their suicide victim.
"Well, it got to a point where I got my tools outta my car and just fixed the darn radiator myself," Dean lied. "I could take a look at yours too, if you'd like."
"Would you?" she asked, sounding beyond relieved. "Oh, thank you so much. It's gotten so bad I can hardly sleep at night, so that would be a real godsend if you would do that. You're such a lamb."
"Oh, it's no problem, ma'am," Dean said, taking an empty seat nearby. "The name's Dean, by the way."
"I'm Millie," the woman said. "And these are my friends, Cathy and Debbie. We're in town for a big doll convention. We're collectors, you know. And Debbie even makes dolls herself out of felt."
"I do, and I've gotten pretty damn good at it, if I say so myself," Debbie said. "I even made a felt baby doll for my granddaughter's birthday a few months back and she was over the moon."
Upon closer inspection, all three of the ladies seemed to be knitting or crocheting very small clothes, presumably for dolls. Hopefully he could redirect the topic of conversation back to ghosts soon, because Dean didn't know Jack about dolls.
"What about you?" asked the third woman, Cathy. "What brings you to Lansing? I assume you don't live here, or you wouldn't be staying at a hotel."
"I'm here on business," he replied, silently thanking god that she'd changed the topic for him.
"What kind of business?" Millie asked. "You said you can fix a radiator, are you some kind of technician, or construction worker?"
"Actually... I'm a private investigator," he lied.
"Oooh, exciting!" Cathy said. "What are you investigating?"
"I'm afraid I can't share the details... but maybe you ladies could help me," he said. "Have any of you seen anything strange while you've been staying here?"
"I saw a man dancing near the park who could clasp his hands behind his back and pull them all the way in front of him," Debbie said. "That was pretty strange. I gave him a dollar."
"I was thinking more like in the hotel," Dean said. "Maybe like... a figure in a hazmat suit?"
Millie gasped, and Dean fixed his gaze on her.
"You have?"
"Well... you see, I have sleep paralysis," she said. "Last night, I had only managed to fall asleep for an hour or two because it was so cold, but then I woke up in the middle of the night because my room suddenly got even colder, but I couldn't move, of course. It takes me a while to be able to move after I wake up.
"And then I saw, like you said, someone wearing a hazmat suit, a black one with white gloves. They were small, like they weren't fully grown, and they were glowing," Millie explained. "Their suit was damaged, partly melted, it looked like. I'd never seen something like that before, but I just figured it had to be a sleep paralysis hallucination, and maybe it partly was, but do you think it could have been real? That someone broke into my room last night?"
"How frightening," Debbie said with a shiver.
"Maybe," Dean said. "Maybe not. I'm not really sure yet." He paused, consideringly. That was two people now who saw the hazmat suit, and this one saw it in the same room where the other ghost had died. "Did it say anything to you? Or do anything that you saw?"
"I couldn't really turn my head, but they seemed like they were looking for something, didn't seem to find it though. Nothing was missing from my room when I finally got up, at least," Millie said. "They didn't say anything, and only looked at me for a moment. Oh! But they might've been muttering something. Not sure what it was, though."
"Thanks, that's a lot of help," Dean said. "If you think of anything else, let me know?"
"Do you think I'm in danger?" Millie asked. "Should I request a room change after all?"
"If that would make you feel safer," Dean said. "I'm not sure it's as cut and dry as a break-in... but maybe you should just stay in one of your friend's rooms for a night."
"You can stay in my room tonight, Millie," Cathy volunteered.
He stayed for a little while, chatting with them. It wasn't something he wanted getting out, but old ladies always loved him for some reason. He even managed to get Cathy's key-lime pie recipe, which the other two swore up and down was absolutely to die for. Who knew when the next time he'd have a kitchen to try it out would be, but he'd make sure to write it down next chance he got, just in case.
It wasn't until he saw that red-haired teenage girl and a short, black-haired boy who was presumably her brother walk through the lobby that he excused himself to follow after them, claiming they were persons of interest in his case.
"If you didn't find anything, how did you even know it was the right room?" the sister was asking when Dean got close enough to hear.
He was trying hard not to be noticed while he tailed them, but as quietly as they were talking, he had to stick closer than he would have liked.
"That was where her presence was the strongest," the brother answered. "I just don't know how I'm supposed to help her when she's not strong enough to speak, and we're leaving tomorrow, so tonight is my last chance."
Could he be a psychic of some kind? Maybe a medium?
He turned around abruptly, and Dean barely had time to make it look like he was examining a shop's window display of... glass baubles and nick-knacks. Oh, yeah, he definitely seemed like the type to be interested in those. Hopefully they wouldn't question it.
"Is he staying at our hotel?" the brother whispered.
"Yeah," the sister confirmed, "and he was asking about cold spots and flickering lights, too. You think he knows something?"
"I think I'd rather stay away from him," replied the brother. "He could be the dangerous type."
After that, it seemed like the kids were deliberately trying to shake him, and it wasn't long before they did, almost as if they'd simply vanished into thin air.
Dean gave up searching and returned to the hotel. He found Millie in the lobby and asked if she'd let him into her room to fix the radiator, even brought the few tools that he'd had in his room to make the story more convincing.
"Even if you don't stay in here tonight, I figure I can at least do the hotel a favor," he said.
"Well, I'll leave you to it," she said. "Don't you go snooping around in my underwear drawer," she teased, and he laughed along with her until she closed the door behind her and headed back downstairs to her knitting.
Any evidence that there had been a suicide in this room had been long since erased. It was cold, just as Millie said it was, but there didn't appear to be any problem with the radiator. One of the tools he'd brought along was an iron crowbar, and he gripped it tightly.
"Jennifer, you in here?" he called out.
The time was 5:06, meaning Sam was probably digging up her grave right now.
He got no response.
"Jennifer?" he called again. "Jennifer Bishop?"
Nothing.... he was pretty sure that kid had been saying she wasn't a very powerful ghost, maybe that was why she hadn't done much. She hadn't actually killed or even hurt anyone beyond a couple of nightmares and a cold room. Maybe she couldn't show herself during the day.
The Winchester brothers had only stopped here because they happened to be so close by when Sam read an article that claimed guests at this hotel had seen apparitions, and experienced horrible nightmares about a woman slitting their wrists. But the nightmares weren't actually killing anybody. Normally, they wouldn't have even bothered, but they were only a few miles away, and nothing else was close by.
Dean opened his mouth to call out one more time, but before he could, there was a flash of light and a distant-sounding screen, and he watched as the ghost of Jennifer Bishop appeared and almost instantaneously disappeared.
One down. One to go.
And wow was this room suddenly sweltering. Millie wasn't kidding about turning her thermostat up to ninety. Dean adjusted it to a much more reasonable 74°F, and left to go tell Millie he'd fixed her radiator.
After she was done thanking him, he headed up to his room and called Sam.
"Dean?" Sam said. "I took care of Jennifer Bishop."
"I know, I saw her burn up," Dean replied. "Nicely done. Anyway, I got some new info about our second ghost."
"Yeah? Let's hear it."
"The lady staying in the room where Jennifer offed herself said she saw a glowing figure in a hazmat suit in her room, thought it was a sleep paralysis thing until I brought it up. She said it seemed like it was looking for something, but it didn't seem to find anything."
"So we have a second witness for our hazmat ghost," Sam said. "And the description lined up?"
"Exactly," Dean confirmed. "I also have a new theory about those siblings, the red-headed girl and her brother. I think the brother might be a psychic, and was looking for a way to help Jennifer pass on peacefully, except she wasn't a strong enough spirit for him to connect with. Not sure how or even if this ties into the hazmat ghost at all."
"Still no clues about who it could be?" Sam asked.
"Nada," Dean said. "I did confirm that there was no lab or any kind of scientific facility at this site before the hotel was built. According to the hotel manager, before it was a hotel, it was a movie theater that went out of business during the great depression and got torn down, and before that, it was live-theater, but I'm pretty sure that was before hazmat suits were even invented. Before that, nothing. Just an empty lot."
"So maybe we're looking for someone who died somewhere else and their spirit was brought to the hotel connected to a cursed object," Sam suggested. "Have you seen anything in the hotel that looks like it might have come from a lab? Or belong to some kind of scientist?"
"If it was something that belonged to them, then it could be anything," Dean pointed out in exasperation. "A chair, or a painting, or a vase? I'm not gonna be able to find it unless I know what it is."
"You'd better start looking into any deaths in the area that might have been related to radioactive materials then," Sam said. "Any kind of death that might have occurred while the deceased was wearing a hazmat suit."
"Yeah, something that would have burned right through it," Dean said. "According to our descriptions, the suit is partially melted."
"You got this Dean?" I still have two and a half hours of driving to go.
"Yeah, I got it," Dean replied.
He did not got it. He got nothing. He stayed at the library until it closed at eight and didn't find a single death that fit the description. He got back to the hotel around the same time Sam did.
"Did you fill the tank?" he asked immediately.
"Yes, Dean, I filled the tank," Sam replied, rolling his eyes. "Did you identify our hazmat?"
Dean shook his head. "Nah, I couldn't find squat. It's like this ghost is..."
"A ghost?" Sam finished for him, raising an eyebrow.
Dean scowled. That had been what he was about to say, but he knew it sounded stupid, that's why he'd stopped.
"Yeah."
Sam shook his head as they went back up to their room.
The brothers were still puzzling out what to do about their second ghost, Dean cleaning his guns while Sam poured over their dad's journal, when they heard a muffled gasp from above them. Floating there on the ceiling was a figure in a hazmat suit, its faint glow barely visible in the light of the room.
For an instant, none of them moved. Then, acting quickly, Dean grabbed the crowbar that was next to him on the bed and flung it at the figure on the ceiling.
Rather than passing right through, causing the hazmat ghost to dissipate, the crowbar made contact with a clang, hitting it right on the head and knocking it to the floor between the two beds.
"Quick, salt, Sammy!" Dean shouted, rather than gape at the seemingly unconscious 'ghost' on their floor.
He tried to grab the hazmat-wearing figure, and to his surprise, it worked. He dragged it into the armchair in their room while Sam laid a ring of salt around it.
"Do you actually think this'll work, Dean?" Sam asked. "I mean, it doesn't seem like any ghost I've ever seen. Iron is supposed to repel ghosts, not actually hit them. I'm pretty sure this is something else."
"Iron hurt it—"
"Being hit in the head with a crowbar hurt it," Sam pointed out. "Based on that, it could be human for all we know."
"It was on the ceiling, Sam," Dean said flatly, grabbing the iron chains from under the bed and wrapping them around their captive. "And this don't look like Spider-Man to me."
"Well it doesn't look like a ghost, either," Sam insisted.
"So, what, you think this is some kind of Scooby-Doo situation?" Dean asked. "We'll pull off the mask and it turns out it's just some shady real-estate developer who wanted to get the hotel closed down so they could turn it into a theme park? Let's try it then."
Dean grabbed the hood of the hazmat suit and tore it off. 
They both gasped at what they saw.
Whoever it was, he looked young, maybe 13 or 14. His hair was as white as sheet and floated on an imaginary breeze. His face was dark. Lightning-bolt scars criss-crossed it all the way down to the neck until they disappeared under the suit's collar. His skin appeared to be badly burned, flaking off in ashes which vanished before they hit the ground.
He groaned as he started to come back to consciousness, and when he opened his eyes, they were a solid, eerie green, glowing so brightly they almost hurt to look at, even in the well-lit room.
"Still think he's human?" Dean asked quietly.
Sam shook his head, wide-eyed and dumbstruck.
"This sure as hell never happened on Scooby-Doo."
"Ugh," the mysterious boy groaned again, blinking and shaking his head like he was trying to get his bearings. "Did you seriously throw a crowbar at my head?" he demanded after a moment. "What the hell, dude?!"
"What are you?" Sam demanded. "A demon?"
"I'm a ghost, what the hell does it look like?" the boy replied.
"You don't look like any ghost we've ever seen," Dean said.
"Let me guess, you're more used to shades like the other ghost that was floating around this hotel, right?" the kid guessed. "She seems to have left the building though. You two got any idea why?"
"We took care of her," Dean replied. "Sam dug her up and salted and burned her bones. And if you really are a ghost, then we can do the same to you."
"You... you straight up ended her?" he asked. "Just like that? You didn't even give her the chance to move on? Ancients, what the hell!"
"She had the chance to move on when she died, and she didn't take it," Dean said. "Instead she terrorized people, so we showed up to stop her."
"She gave a few people nightmares! Everyone has nightmares sometimes! You didn't have to destroy her!"
"What's it to you, did you know her?" Sam asked. "She a friend of yours?"
"Well... no, but I was trying to?" the boy replied. "She was too weak to capture, and I didn't want to destroy her by trying to fight, so I was trying to learn more about her and help her move on."
"If you're a ghost, why don't you move on?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, what's keeping you around?" Dean echoed the sentiment more harshly.
"The same thing preventing you from salting and burning my bones," came the reply. The so-called ghost did not elaborate.
"And what would that be?" Dean finally asked.
"I guess you could say I'm not dead enough yet."
"So you're not a ghost, then," Sam said.
"I am," said the boy. "I'm not a shade, like that woman you ended. I'm what a ghost is like when we actually have enough power to be a whole person and not just a shadow of our former self. I'm a ghost like you've never encountered before."
"Whatever you are, we're gonna get rid of you," Dean jeered.
"Why?" asked the boy. "I haven't hurt anyone. All I did was try to help another ghost pass peacefully through the veil. Don't you hunters have any sort of moral code?"
"So, what?" Sam asked. "You're proposing we just let you go?"
"Fat chance," Dean scoffed.
"Not exactly," the ghost replied with a smirk. "More like I'm telling you not to feel to guilty when I escape." Then the ghost stood up, iron chains falling right off him. "Iron is more difficult to pass through without destabilizing, but not too much of a challenge for ghosts like me. Sorry, but this will be the last time we see each other."
With that, he pulled his hood back on, obscuring his face once more, so the only thing visible was the glow of his eyes behind the black lenses of his mask. Then he flew right up through the ceiling.
The Winchesters tried to find him. They searched the hotel top to bottom, probably looking half-mad, but he was gone. He'd simply vanished without a trace. And they never did see him again.
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kindaorangey · 2 years
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im so fuckin. confused actually. yet another long post about 'any sport in a storm' under the cut.
so here's the dilemma: at the end of the episode, it's implied that hunter will keep in contact with willow, gus, viney and skara, and therefore may keep his place on the team by sneaking out to practises, despite willow saying she needs to find a replacement for him.
HOWEVER,
luz and amity both have direct experience with how hunter is fake-nice to get what he wants and altogether untrustworthy!
luz - probably undecided about hunter, or at least she might have been before the events of eclipse lake. as far as she knows, hunter has some good in him, but is still a genuine threat and, as we see with amity, appealing to his loneliness/need for a friend Does Not always make him change his mind and do the right thing
amity - probably hates hunter more than luz (i mean, depending on how much she told luz), since he manipulated her (using her insecurity around luz to his advantage, appealing to their shared experiences to gain her sympathy, then betraying her) and proceeded to threaten her AND luz.
now, willow and gus' loyalty kinda comes into question here, but mostly willow's since it's ultimately her decision if hunter stays on the team or not. points to remember:
we do not know how much luz and amity have told each other or willow about their interactions with hunter. it is possible that willow will give hunter another chance because she simply does not know the full extent of how he has hurt her friends. i think this would be a stupid writing decision, but there it is.
hunter is no more valuable a team member than gus, skara, or viney. it's shown most simply in how willow quickly accepts that she's just going to have to find a replacement: willow does not need hunter as a team member. THEREFORE,
the only reason willow has to keep in contact with him would be to remain friends with him, and,
hunter Needs to have friends so that he breaks the careful shelter of isolation that belos has created (i.e. this is necessary for his character arc)
what i'm trying to get at is that the way this is going to unfold is a bit of a brick wall to me?? willow has no reason to keep hunter as a friend or a team member, because i just don't believe she'd essentially.. spit in luz and amity's faces like that? if nothing else, willow is not stupid enough to ignore their inevitable advice against trying to befriend him, but moreover i just don't buy that willow "i want to be strong and wise to protect everyone i love, and if anyone gets in my way, they'll feel the sting of defeat" park would be able to look past the ways hunter has been shitty to luz and amity.
this points towards willow only giving him a chance because of one of two reasons: a) luz and amity don't tell the full story, or b) willow elects to ignore it because she just likes hunter as a person.
if it's a).... eh, that's kind of really boring? this episode was literally already "hunter gets to be seen as a normal teenager, makes friends because of it, then it's revealed the sort of person he really is by virtue of his being the golden guard, and they don't want to be friends with him anymore". doing that again would be kinda uncreative and im not really interested in watching that. on the other hand, it may be the case that willow will just never get told the full extent of how hunter hurt luz and amity. i don't know how to feel about that option
if it's b), that's fuckin uhh. stupid. because all they really have is the "half-a-witch" solidarity and like one day of working as a team? as far as i'm concerned, that won't be enough for willow to be friends with hunter despite luz and amity's advice against it.
or, y'know. it's a kid's show and they're kids, so they're going to brush over it and let hunter be friends with willow without it impacting her friendship with luz or amity much or at all. which is possible, i just think the owl house tends to be better-written than that.
tl;dr: i'm at a fucking loss for what will happen regarding hunter now veing penstagram friends with the emerald entrails
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