Amityvill Horror - Ultimate Enemy AU
Perhaps it was cruel to have suggested the shield.
No. There was little reason to downplay the situation.
Valerie could no longer plead ignorance about what ghosts were or how they worked. She was very aware of just how cruel it was to keep a ghost away from their lair of origin, the source of their power, or their obsession. She knew that by suggesting the shields, helping to create them, activating them in Phantom's absence, and keeping them on 24/7, she was doing all three.
Theoretically, Phantom should have fallen to pieces years ago, should have dissipated into the aether, or even gotten himself captured by one of the meta humans and turned over to whomever in his weakened state. He had occasionally come close to the latter. But Phantom rarely left the area, even less frequently left the state, and didn't even cause that much trouble unless he was throwing one of his tantrums.
He was still hanging on.
Most heroes were pretty local, and thus not liable to stick their nose in the business of a villain that was more of a local nuisance. Especially when the villain was apparently just one of the (super)natural phenomenon, and the locality in question already had someone to deal with it. They probably didn't realize that said someone was under age, that said phenomenon was a little less than natural, and there was even more to the story than anyone but three or four people would ever know, and yet...
Five years down the road, it hardly mattered anymore: the history, the forcefield, the tension, the truth. In a world on the precipice of destruction annually, who cared about a small time hero who's tech suit magically appeared and created impossible weapons at will? Who cared about the ghost that maybe used to be a hero and against all logic seemed to be aging? Who cared about the most haunted town on earth that had once been pulled into another dimension, but who's population had not change in the last five years?
No matter on how thin a knife's edge Amity Park's situation occasionally existed, when compared to the Hellmouth that was Gotham, or even the insane, mandatory insurance costs of Metropolis, having to deal with eternal daylight to keep away your biggest problem was hardly the worst situation to be in.
At least, that's how Valerie put it when she brought forward the idea of shield generators. For her part, while keeping Phantom away was rather important, she was a little more worried about keeping everything else in.
"Hello, Red."
Valerie repressed a shiver. The things that voice did to her. She knew that most people never had to worry about having an "archenemy", but most established super heroes did. She wish could ask how many of them had shared their first time with their main villain. Did they dream about it or have nightmares? Did it make them wake up in a cold sweat or hot and bothered?
What answer Valerie could want, she didn't know. It's not like Superman had known, much less dated Lex Luthor in high school.
Not all ghost have lairs.
Lairs require a certain amount of power. They also require stability; for a ghost to have a lair, they must be stay around one place or one object for an extended period of time. In the ghost zone, lairs only grow out until a ghost grows powerful enough to make them grow in. Most ghosts, at that point, shove their entire lair behind a door and then mind their own business. Some keep their castles and island floating in the ghost zone, seemingly the same size, but infinitely bigger when one passes the threshold. That's how it works in the ghost zone, and ghosts can only have lairs in the ghost zone.
Half ghosts are different. From ghosts and even from each other.
“Now Red, I know what my voice does to you. The shivers it sends down your spine, the way it makes your knees weak. I can smell it, and soon I’ll be tasting it.”
“Is that a threat, ghost?” One of the officers sneers. Phantom ignores him. Keeps his eyes on the Red Huntress.
“You’ve been fighting me long enough. I’m coming for you, Valerie; and I’m going to devour you.”
Officer Baxter stepped forward, to stand just behind his silent, hovering leader. “You talk a lot Phantom. But the fact remains that you're out there, and we're in here; a fact that’s remained the same for the last 5 years.”
“Ah yes, about that.”