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Chapter 12 - Back to the Lab again

Someone destroyed the Earth,
Someone destroyed their lives,
Someone's gonna pay.
Someone had better be watching their Back.

Chapter 12 - Back to the Lab again

Chapter 12 - Back to the Lab again
Chapter 12
Phantom tapped his finger on the table in his ‘room’ impatiently waiting for the Fenton Sample Analyzer to give him the read-out. Betty had said she wanted him to help her retrieve the supplies June had acquired from the warehouse Mr. Spacly put them in. He wanted to get this figured out before he went out on a mission.
Shortly after he had finished overshadowing June he noticed something . . . concerning. He had only seen it a few times before, and it never turned out well. As the machine crunched the numbers the doors swished open.
“Oh great,” Phantom mumbled, “distractions.”
“Hey! Ghosty!” June called out, “I gotta talk with you!”
Phantom sighed, “Its Phantom, Dan-”
“Wow, it’s a mess in here.” June said, eyeing a pile of circuits and wires.
“What do you want?”
“Part of my deal for coming along with you guys, remember? Betty said I could have some of your anti-ghost-techno-thingies.”
Phantom grabbed a small plastic bag out of a box and held it out for June. “Fenton Jerky?”
“Don’t change the subject,” June pushed the bag away.
“I’m not, Fenton Jerky is filled with anti-ecto enzymes to help boost and strengthen your body’s natural spectral-immune system. Now available in Original, Teriyaki, Barbeque, and Fudge flavor.” Phantom held the bag out again.
“Did you just do a commercial there?” June grabbed the bag.
“I was just reading off the bag. Of course, you probably won’t even need that.”
“Oh? Why not?”
“You have an unusually strong spectral-immune system already, that and it gets stronger every time you’re overshadowed. It would take an incredibly powerful ghost to hold you for long.”
“Well, if you don’t mind me saying, I’ve tangled with a lot of spooks, goblins, monsters, ghouls, and other freaky stuff and I gotta say, you’re one of the toughest I’ve met.” She bit off a piece of jerky, “Mmmm, not bad.”
“Take all you want,” Phantom motioned to the box of Fenton Jerky, “I won’t be needing it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Uh, oh, uh nothing, just that, uh, I’m already a ghost, and uh, it doesn’t do anything for me.”
“Oooo-kay.” June picked up the box and started walking out. “Oh, one more thing,” she turned back to Phantom, “Betty says she wants to pick up the supplies in, like, five minutes.”
“Yeah, I’ll be up in a minute.” Phantom turned back to the machine as June left. Finally a green light lit up with a ding! And the machine began printing out something. Eger to see what it had to say he grabbed the paper and started reading.
“Well that’s . . . troubling.” Then he heard footsteps approaching. June coming back? No. Those where metal feet. Jenny. Phantom ripped the paper out of the machine and, using a ghost ray, incinerated it.
“Phantom?” Jenny said as the doors swung open, “Can we talk?”
Phantom hadn’t really gotten a good look at Jenny since he had made his repairs and upgrades. Looking at her now with her shiny armor and the hot-rod flame detail he had to admit, she looked good.
“What about?” Phantom asked, wondering if she already knew what the machine had told him.
“Well, um, are you, you know, feeling alright?”
“I thought we already talked about this.”
“No, not- I mean, are you sick or something?”
Phantom’s stomach squirmed, “Why do you ask?”
“Well, you were, I mean, after the fight you were kinda . . . melting.”
Crud. She saw. “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”
“Phantom, when your feet become green puddles, it’s usually something to be worried about.”
“It happens to ghosts all the time,” He lied, “It’s nothing.”
“If it’s nothing than why aren’t you telling me what it is?”
Phantom chose to remain silent.
“Phantom,” Jenny raised an accusing finger, “If you don’t tell me what’s going on I’ll- I’ll-”
“You’ll what?”
A grin crept on Jenny’s face, “I’ll just ask your computer.” She pulled a cord out of her head and moved towards the machine Phantom had been using.
“NO!” Phantom reached out to stop her, “No, I’ll tell you. But you’re not going to like it.”
“Hey,” She put the cord back in her head, “We’re friends, and friend want to help each other out, whether they like it or not. Now, what’s wrong?”
Phantom sighed again, “It’s called ecto-degeneration. You see, ghosts are naturally unstable, so they need to attach to something to keep from falling apart, an item, a place, a building-”
“Or a human body.” Jenny said as it all came together. “Well, can’t you just latch onto something? You know, to stabilize yourself? You have plenty of stuff here.”
“It’s not that simple. It needs to be perfectly compatible with my ecto-signiture.”
“What happens if you don’t fix it?”
Phantom looked down, “Then I’ll revert to ectoplasm and, well, cease to exist.”
Jenny stared on in silence. “How long until that happens?”
“If I take it easy and the math I did is right, about two months.”
“What do you mean if you ‘take it easy’?”
“The reason ghosts are so unstable is because ghost energy rips up ectoplasm. The more I use my powers the worse it will get.”
“You need to tell Betty.” Jenny turned to walk out.
“Wait, no!” Phantom reached out and grabbed Jenny’s arm.
“You can’t keep this to yourself!”
“Maybe not, but Betty needs to believe that we can take on the invaders when we find them. She’s got a lot riding on my powers. As soon as we know we can actually trust June to replace me I’ll tell her.”
“But why lie in the first place?” Jenny pulled away from Phantom’s grip.
“She-Betty’s started talking to herself.”
“And?”
“And the only thing that’s keeping her from going off the deep end and getting her up in the morning is the hope that we’ll be strong enough to face the invaders. It’s just until we know we can trust June. It’s for the best.”
Jenny thought it over, “You tell her, tonight.”
“Jenny-” Phantom protested.
“You tell her tonight or I’ll tell her.” Jenny threatened, “I’m doing this because I care about you, Phantom.” Phantom didn’t try to stop her as she walked out.
“After all,” Jenny said over her shoulder, “Friends don’t let friends melt.” Jenny walked out, leaving phantom alone. He sighed and started gathering his things together.
“It’s gonna be one of those nights, isn’t it?”

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