Mutated Ectoplasm

Hey everybody, how's it going? Sorry it's late, but I've been thinking about some things (nothing serious, don't worry). Hopefully it was worth the wait. Might have something to say at the end of the chapter.

Alright, I'll see you all at the end of the chapter.

Karkat figured he'd face one end of his father's ecto-gun pointed at him at some point, but this really wasn't the time for a confrontation. Especially with so many ghosts on the loose right now.

The halfa debated on just dumping the ghosts here and making a break for it, but he didn't know what Spades would do with them if they were left behind. They were technically innocent, considering the mind control that was taking place on a massive scale. Plus, his dad may not have shot at him the first time they "met," but that didn't mean he'd hesitate a second time.

"I'm not asking anymore, Phantom. I want to know what the hell is going on here." Spades briefly pointed at the tied-up ghosts, who remained zombified. "I've only ever seen you at the center of shit like this, so you can't say you're not connected to all of this. Why are you even fighting your own kind?"

"Why are you trying to fight me?! I'm actually trying to help people here!" Karkat waved at the destruction, realizing it wasn't that convincing. Still, it was the only thing that came to his panic-stricken mind. "If you haven't noticed, we're in a town wide attack right now and we've got way too many ghosts to catch right now."

"Yeah, and you appeared barely minutes after it started. I don't know where you're getting your intel, but it sure as hell seems punctual." Spades upped the intensity of the ecto-gun, causing it to whine louder. "So talk. I'm tired of you running."

Karkat was tired of it too, but it wasn't like he didn't have much time. He had shit to do before things went completely off the rails, so he couldn't afford to be anything but brief.

"Somebody's controlling these guys here and I need to break them out of it." That seemed like the simplest place to begin, and he figured Spades would believe it fairly easily. He shook the zombified ghosts for good measure. "That circus going on at the edge of town? Some guy took control of them at some point, and I think it has something to do with a staff he has from the Ghost Zone."

"...Okay, maybe you should start earlier. Or start making sense." Spades didn't understand how any of that could be true considering he never even knew a ghost could be controlled. Much less by a circus. "Are you really expecting me to believe that?"

"You do see that they're dressed in leotards, right?" Karkat's sarcastic comment earned the gun being raised again, causing him to backpedal. "Hey, hey, I have no reason to lie to you. Besides, do you really know that much about ghosts outside of tech? When was the last time you saw a ghost before the portal?"

Spades flinched, but Phantom had him there. Considering it was only one time, and it was a traumatic experience, he didn't have anything that wasn't biased. That didn't mean this was a great scene, though.

"Fine. Let's pretend I believe that something like that can happen and it's going on right now." Spades gestured to the town grimly. "What exactly do we do to stop it? Hell, who do we even look for?"

"There's three humans that I know are taking part in this bullshit." Karkat started, sighing as he realized he was making some kind of progress here. "Father and two sons, with the dad being a goddamn giant. He's carrying a large staff with some kind of red orb on the top. Damn thing almost got me when he tried using it."

"And how did you get away with not getting under its control?"

"I have no idea." Karkat figured it was due to him being only half-ghost, but he wasn't going to throw that out there. Not yet anyway. "But it has to be. Usually, ghosts have a lot more emotion than this."