Work Text:
“And I would have gotten away with it too! If it wasn’t for you fucki-”, Rex Ruther’s final shout was cut off by the sounds of truck doors slamming closed. Morgan’s last image of Rex was his unmasked face in the ghost clown costume he had been using to scare off potential business investors of a rival company. As the FBI van began to roll away Morgan sighed a breath of relief and turned to face her gang.
Barnaby was sitting with Kotetsu, giving him a scratch behind the ears while Chad prattled onto the reporters gathered around them.
“Well naturally,” he started, “This haunting was no challenge for Team Spooky! We suspected it was Rex from the beginning. You see, he had been spotted at a local Party City purchasing his costume and it was all downhill from there. The trickiest part was finding a legal way to entrap him for committing all that insurance fraud. Luckily I, Chad, knew just who to turn to in a time like this.” Chad gestured to Morgan with a flourish.
As Morgan turned a microphone was shoved in her face and she muttered, “Uh, it wasn’t all that hard if I’m being honest? Rex Ruther has a lot of money but is kind of an idiot.”
“What is Team Spooky’s next step now that Rex is locked away forever?” the reporter in front of Morgan asked.
Morgan opened her mouth to say that there was no way Rex was gonna actually serve more than a month of jail time but she was cut off as Ohio spoke, “We’ve heard tell of some haunted property destruction over in the Big City. Y’know lots of abandoned warehouses blowing up, but like with ectoplasm instead of dynamite. That’s gonna be our next stop.”
The reporter was furiously scribbling every one of Ohio’s words down and Morgan took that as her cue to leave them be. Big City it is she supposed. Morgan began to pack up their RV with the trapping supplies she had used on this particular mission as the last of the crowd began to disperse. She ran through a checklist of items in her head: bungee cords, saw blades, red and blue wires, bear mace, harnesses, carabiner clips, raw meat, and of course the snacks for Kotestsu.
Almost like Kotesu knew what she was thinking, he bounded over with Barnaby close behind. As Morgan locked up the trunk he threw a treat at the sweet pup. Barnaby leaned over while Kotetsu ate and said,”I- I- I gotta say Morgan I feel like thes-e-e traps can be a bit overkill sometimes, don’t ya think?”
Morgan sighed, not eager to rehash another conversation on the morality of her trapping genius, “Barnaby, I would be more than happy to let you be the one to hang raw meat from a Party City costumes while dangling over a vat of sharks next time, but I feel like you’re gonna pass”
“Well, hey I- I’m not trying to know you- your creativity, I’m just saying I feel like there are easier ways to go about it. Th-these are real people a-after all.”
Morgan signed to Barnaby as she saw Ohio and Chad walk away from the reporters back towards the RV “Okay Barnaby, what is your suggestion then?”
Barnaby considered the question for a second as Kotetsu whined at the two of them to get a move on. “May- maybe just try a a nonlethal approach first, and and then if that doesn’t work o-out move to the death traps?”
Morgan lifted her hand in a mock salute, “I’ll keep that in mind Barnaby.” she said as she stepped into the RV’s door.
Chad was already in the driver’s seat, seatbelt fastened and adjusting the mirrors even though he was the only person that ever sat in that chair. Chad was word like that, he was super into safety and following the rules, but thrived on galavanting across the states to hunt down people in costumes. But hey who was Morgan to say anything, Chad had convinced her hadn’t he?
Ohio settled into the passenger seat up front and plugged his phone into the aux. The sounds of ABBA began to filter in through the RV’s shitty speakers and Morgan sat herself down at the small table they had, resigning herself to the 3 hour drive she knew would be filled with Ohio’s weird ass playlist. Ohio and Chad seemed to be discussing exactly how weird that playlist was as Barnaby and Kotetsu shut the door and they took off down the road.
Morgan had her laptop on the table in front of her as she began looking up details about the case they were on their way to bust. Barnaby sat on the bench opposite to her with a sandwich.
Kotestu settled into his dog bed as Morgan began her research. She found news articles of 5 different attacks just within the last week, all localized to the Big City area. There didn’t seem to be any connection with the places: two had been abandoned warehouses, one a chain Italian restaurant, one a the DMV, and the most recent- a local farmer’s market.
The only connection between the places was the chain of events that seemed to be compiled from witness reports. At some point, loud noises were heard in the area that eventually drew public attention. Witnesses reported an “invisible” force that seemed to pick up and throw furniture, made the walls bleed, and seemed to go after anyone that got too close to the source of the chaos.
Then, after a few minutes of craziness and fear, the witnesses reported hearing a sound like a *pop* and suddenly there was an ectoplasmic goo covering everything. Morgan rolled her eyes at that. She might not know what exactly this weirdo was trying to accomplish by destroying public property but they sure had a dramatic way of doing it.
Morgan relayed most of her findings to Barnaby who was idly scratching Kotetsu’s ear while he listened. “I w-wonder if this pers-son is maybe looking for something? M-maybe someone?”
“They could be sure. If I were to guess, it sounds to me like some rich asshole trying to pull a publicity stunt but who doesn’t know when to quit.”
Barnaby said,”Wel-well you cer-certainly don’t seem very worried.”
Morgan smiled as she leaned back, settling down for the road trip ahead of them, “Nah you just like to stress yourself out Barnaby. Everything is gonna be just fine.”