A New Beginning

Chapter 4

"We forgot to tell you. When you were captured, Plasmius led the rescue mission with a small, covert tactical extraction team. Only one of the extraction team had come back, and it...wasn't Vlad." There was a moment of shocked silence that followed the story where Technus simply processed the fact that several ghosts were obliterated trying to save him.

"...I see." Technus responded evenly, his voice echoing a grief and the clear message that he did not wish to be confronted right now about it. "Well, where is the boy, then? We need him here and safe until he can fight Pariah and take his rightful place as the royal heir of the Infinite Realms." Tucker glanced down at the device in his hand and hesitated.

"He's on Earth...a place called Happy Harbor in the States, but maybe we should observe for a while, you know, understand the situation before charging head-first." He suggested, his tone was unsure as if he thought he knew something else but wasn't confident about the information and didn't want to share the theory. Technus pondered this trying to decide whether he should press for this information or trust that the boy would have told him if it was pertinent or detrimental to the mission. Deciding that he could always push later if the need arose, the ghost nodded and turned to walk out of the room.

"I'll talk to Skulker and see who we can send for a stakeout mission," he declared and stalked out of the room in search of the hunter, leaving Sam and Tucker alone in a temporary silence filled with a mix of elation and apprehension.

"Do you really think it's him?" Sam asked, breaking the fragile but short silence. Tucker glanced down at the device again as if he was checking to see he really read the data correctly before looking back at his friend who sat rigidly on the cot still covered in parts and pieces. His face hardened slightly in a resolve he didn't really feel but wanted to project in order to reassure the girl.

"I do." He answered confidently, pushing his own doubts and fears to the back of his mind.

"Do you think he'll...that he'll remember us?" Some of the surface-level confidence drained from the boy and he hesitated once more, this time unsure if he could be as certain in his answer because he held that same fear. The two had met Danny about two years prior and as street kids who had very little to call their own, they got attached and held on as hard as they could. The two kids looked at each other, getting lost in the memory of meeting one of their best friends.

Sam and Tucker had been fighting in the hidden alley that was a neutral ground in between the dense forest and the abandoned building they temporarily claimed as their home until they had to move on in order to avoid CPS or the cops catching wind of them. A harsh rustling of leaves and nearly inaudible but clearly urgent breathing cut into their arguing. When the two nine-year olds looked over to the source of the sound, trying to discern if a threat was approaching them and were met with an unexpected sight.

A boy, about the same age as them, stumbled through the treeline of the forest and onto the small strip of dead grass that separated forest from civilization. He was looking where he was coming from more than he was paying attention to where he was going, seemingly unconcerned with the potential of running into something, clearly worried more about the certainty of what was chasing him than what could possibly be in front of him. The state of the boy was more frightening to the other two kids than the clearly dire situation he was in. He was wearing a white t-shirt and grey sweatpants with no shoes and was covered in dirt, blood, and some type of green substance that neither Sam nor Tucker could guess at. He was also thin as a rail and seemed frail, even fragile or delicate. His spiky hair, under the various liquids, was grey or white but it was ultimately hard to tell with how caked in dirt and grim it was, and the strands had sticks and leaves embedded in the mess like he had run into more than one bush or tree.