Gregory 'Ghost' Reach's Story

Every night it was the same dream; he was already well into the vault, sticking to the shadows and minding his cover. Just ahead of him was the briefcase with the codes, the only reason he was this far into the job in this god forsaken desert facility. He just had to cross the ten feet ahead of him, grab the case, and jump out and into the night. He'd be paid, whatever plan the crazy cape he got the job from would be able to be put into motion, and the suits would be the ones to sort it out. That's when the world around him exploded into light and sound, and he woke up. Every night, Victor had to relive the last time he'd failed, and every morning he woke up in a cold sweat, swearing quietly and forcing himself to calm down. His phone buzzed it's own staccato rhythm next to his head in an attempt to rouse him before it got too bright outside, the clock flashing at him the time. "Christ, it's 6:45. Fifteen minutes this damn thing has been going off, and I've been off in my own psyche trying for that damn briefcase. I suppose I ought to get out of bed and get actually dressed." Victor thought idly, tapping out a pattern on the face of his phone and sitting up.

He rose from his bed in the center of the room, glancing around at the bunks without really seeing anything, and got dressed. Victor stared at his bed for a bit longer than necessary, debating making the bed before deciding it wasn't really worth it, and grabbed his essentials from his pack: wallet, sunglasses, lighter, and a fresh pack of cigarettes. Turning sharply on his heel and putting the sunglasses over his eyes, Victor stepped into a dark corner of the cabin and emerged just outside the bathroom on the other side of the camp, lighting a cigarette and taking a few puffs off of it. He stepped inside and took a long look at himself in the mirror, adjusting his hair and fussing with the collar of his jacket. Satisfied, Victor stepped out of the bathroom, into the darkened spot he emerged from, and out of a similarly dark area just outside of the cafeteria. He walked over to a picnic table somewhat in the shade and sat down, staring out across the camp blankly, not really registering anyone or anything moving across his field of view.

Amira ‘Red’ Devaroh


"Oh really? Embarrassed? You mean like you've been every time I beat you in the past years?" Jeremiah grinned at her, giving a light laugh. "You may be incredibly skilled, Amira, but I have been in the field for 10 years, and I know every trick in the book. Age gives me an advantage. I'm not so old that I am over my physical peak." Jeremiah countered. Amira smiled at him as he put his plate of food down. "But then again, we will have to see what your solo training has done for you, won't we?" Jeremiah gave her a teasing smirk.

Butterflied burst into her tummy but Amira immediately squished them.

‘none of that’ she chastised herself as she downed the last of her coffee.

“Guess I’m either a glutton for punishment….or I’ve secretly become a badass ninja…you’ll just have to wait and see.” Amira said with a smirk and a giggle as she stood and stretched.

“So I don't know about you, Ross, but I heard that today we're doing combat training, and I'm really nervous.…Amira over there would be like trying to beat a red-haired clone of yourself..." Amira heard snatches of conversation coming from the girl, Kitty, and Ross. Amira grinned. So her reputation preceded her. She felt a little bad that the girl was nervous. In all honesty Amira rarely used her powers in hand to hand because it usually cause her more trouble than not. Just because she could copy the power didn’t always mean she knew how to use them properly….and that could be dangerous.

“Practice makes perfect…trust me, I’ve gotten my butt whooped more often than not…just keep practicing...and don’t let the losses get to you.” She called over to Kitty, trying to encourage her. Just then she heard the girl yell. Amira watched as Gregory entered and exited the cafeteria without a word.

“He really needs to lighten up…” Amira said with a shake of her head. She knew what it meant to have burdens, and knew she was in no position to judge considering the shape she was in when she first came here ….and she only hoped Gregory would open up like she had. Then again she had had Jeremiah to help her cope…maybe she could help him like Jeremiah had helped her….

“Hey Jeremiah ill meet you at practice…I’m going to go check on Greg…he always seems to have so much on his mind…Maybe he just needs a shoulder?” She murmured as she started across the room. She turned back and grinned at him.

“Don’t worry I’ll be there on time to kick your butt” she said with a flip of her bright red hair and a wink of her storm grey eyes.
She started on the path she knew he had taken because she used to take the same path to the creek. It only took her a few minutes to spot him on the other side. He was staring off into space. Amira put her hands in her pockets and leaned against a tree. She just watched him for a moment.

“You okay?” she called as she stood on the edge of the bank.

Victor took one last long drag off his cigarette, burning it down to the filter before stubbing it out on the picnic table and tossing the butt into a trashcan. He saw people enter the cafeteria, but only saw one of his campers. "I guess Trish is still asleep. Jace wakes up at the crack of dawn so she probably already went in there. Hm. Ghost is probably off doing his own thing again. That's none of my business." Victor mused, rising from the table and strolling back towards the darkened spot. He emerged from a similar spot inside the cafeteria and immediately made a beeline towards the food, getting a plateful of everything except the eggs and a cup of coffee. Victor glanced around curiously for Jace before deciding to sit near Jeremiah.

Once he sat down, Victor immediately began wolfing down the various meats and other breakfasty items on his plate with occasional pauses to drink from his coffee. "So, dude, do I really have to take my campers down for combat training? It'd be damn embarrassing for them to see me get picked up and thrown around like a rag doll man. I mean, come on; I've got no straight up hand-to-hand skill. It's all cloak and daggers and setting other people up to fail before they even get in the ring. You know that more than anyone else." Victor said between mouthfuls, jabbing his fork in Jeremiah's direction. "I guess pretty much all of my campers have a good amount of combat skill, and it's just me that has to skulk around and wait till things are unfair for the other person, but come on man. I'm all about mobility, not punching a dude's skeleton out of his body." Victor continued, taking a few gulps of his coffee and gathering up the last of his food with his fork when he finished. He knew he would probably end up taking his campers down to the ring anyway, but he enjoyed complaining and giving Jeremiah a bit of a hard time was one of his few antagonistic pleasures since he switched from a life of crime to whatever it was he could be said to be doing now.

“I did see a duck though.” Kitty replied while eating her muffin, "Plus, I don't think blowing wind in people's faces is going to do anything to anyone. I mean, you can fire freaking lazers, and fighting Amira over there would be like trying to beat a red-haired clone of yourself..."

“Well, it takes a lot from me to shoot lazers. I tend to stick with doing low energy tricks.” he said sucking an orange slice into his mouth, looking over to Amira A clone? That would be something to see.

His thinking was broken by Kitty’s yell. With a tug on the back of his chair Ross stomped his feet to the ground with his left hand on the seat steadying the chair and his right grabbed hold of Kitty’s forearm that was a hold of his chair to help her catch herself if she fell. It was only Greg, he phased through the wall and headed straight for the food.”Y'know, He knows how to make an entrance,” He joked, realizing he was still holding her arm he let go, eating another orange slice. “Hey, now you can say your morning was entertaining.” he smirked relaxing back into his seat.

Ross started thinking about combat training, it was good that’s what they would be starting with even though he wasn't that good with hand to hand combat, It also didn't help any that his powers are best used at long range. When he sleeps his power tends to build up and he could feel the energy pulsing through him, of course it was nowhere near as when he had the accident, but it was nothing to ignore, the constant fear was always sitting in the back of his head.

---

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Ross nodded goodbye to Kitty and woofed down the rest of his orange, carefully grabbing up all the peels and throwing them out. Following his stomach he grabbed a bowl, filling nearly the whole thing with eggs and topping it off with bacon and sausage. Lastly he grabbed two pieces of toast and shoved them into his mouth seeing that his bowl was completely full. Grabbing a fork he hurriedly went back to his seat. He wolfed down the food in mere minutes and leaned back to let his food settle as he let out a sigh.

With a stretch he cracked his knuckles, getting up he threw away his trash and left the cafeteria. Amira had just stormed away from Greg. If she was trying to hide her irritation it certainly wasn't working but that wasn’t any of his business. Either way Greg didn’t seem like the type of person to like talking to people and Ross knew better than to try and talk to people that didn’t have any desire to have a conversation.

He cracked each of fingers and headed back to his cabin figuring if the day was going to get started he should change out of pajamas. Though they are comfortable they don’t have the stretch for physical activity. He’s gone threw three pairs already from accidental slips or a misstep. Once out of the pajamas and into some jeans he headed out to the field where the training would be happening. Or atleast, where he figured they would be training.
When he got out there he sat down leaning back on a tree to take a nap. "I’m sure they won’t be out for a little. Time to catch some Z’s".

"Eh? Oh! Right, training. I haven't fully figured out what exactly it is we'll be doing today, but I know we won't be going up against Jeremiah's campers if I can avoid it." Victor replied, somewhat surprised. He turned to face Greg, his brow furrowed as he thought about the day's training ahead of them. "Let's see; I was thinking maybe doing full contact, but more focused on positioning yourself in a fight than actually picking someone up and throwing them over your head. Strength isn't exactly in my deck of cards, but making sure the other guy throws his punches at nothing is, so that's probably what we'll be doing. Again, though, this isn't really a finalized plan or anything like that. I'll have something figured out by the time we start, I'm pretty sure." Victor spoke, tapping his chin thoughtfully with one hand as he did his self-patdown with the other. "Wallet, keys, lighter, cigarettes... Where's my phone? It's still in the cabin isn't it. Aw christ. Hope I didn't miss anything important." Victor thought, grimacing again as he hooked one thumb into his pocket.

Shaking his head, Victor raised an eyebrow towards Greg. "Y'know, I'm not too sure who'd be able to go toe-to-toe with you, Ghost. Jace is a teleporter, and I'm kind of one too, albeit a more limited and more experienced one. Trish is probably just out for the day entirely. I dunno who you'll end up sparring with. Probably me, unfortunately, unless we can find someone else you wanna punch for a bit. I'm sure we'll figure it out in time. Speaking of which," Victor continued, glancing up towards a clock on the wall. "I probably ought to go and try and get the ring set up to my satisfaction. I'll see you down there when it starts, I suppose. I've gotta get the little lean-to's set up so I at least have something to dive in and out of, seein' as my power requires it and all." Victor nodded, tapping the side of his head with two fingers of his spare hand. He turned sharply on his heel again and walked into a darkened corner of the kitchen, popping back out in the cabin to grab his phone. Satisfied now that all his possessions were on his person and the only thing he missed was a gibberish-filled text message from a former villain he still talked to, Victor set off from the cabin towards the grassy field used as a sparring ring.

---

“Excuse me,” a male camper said to Brennan, passing him on his way into the cafeteria. At the very moment the camper passed him, Brennan could feel that he wasn’t a morning person. It seemed that the camper had a not-so-ideal morning, for spreading through every inch of Brennan was now a sense of certain gloom. It wasn’t that the other camper seemed to be extremely sad about something, but rather there was an indifference he had for the world around him that caused him to see little joy in it. ”What a great way to start off the morning,” Brennan thought to himself as that same indifference now possessed him. This indifference was tenfold because, even without feeling the camper’s emotions, Brennan was a fairly stoic and indifferent guy. Plus, the man’s slightly sarcastic personality was adding to Brennan’s own slightly sarcastic personality, which was, of course, just making Brennan’s morning sooooo much better.

Fortunately, this experience didn’t last. As soon as the man past by him, the feelings he had just conveyed through Brennan had quickly dissipated. It was only when Brennan chose to follow the camper that he began feeling those same feelings once again.

“Victor,” the camper said to another man, “Can you explain the protocol for the combat training we are going to be receiving today?”

“Perfect,” Brennan thought. This would be his chance to figure out what exactly was going to transpire during combat training.

Victor, whom Brennan assumed to be a mentor, looked back at the other man and said, “Eh? Oh! Right, training. I haven’t fully figured out what exactly it is we’ll be doing today, but I know we won’t be going up against Jeremiah’s campers if I can avoid it.”

“I guess that’s a good thing,” Brennan said in his head.

After Victor was done explaining the combat training to the camper (whose name Brennan learned to be Ghost), the mentor glanced up towards a clock, bid farewell, and suddenly disappeared into a wall. “Woah,” Brennan thought to himself. He was so impressed that he almost said his little mental exclamation out loud.

With the mentor gone and Brennan fairly informed about the details of the upcoming sparring session, he realized that the room Victor just left out of was the kitchen. Brennan stepped through the door, hoping there would be some left over food. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see any food. Instead, he saw a pair of campers just finishing the dishes, who Brennan suddenly realized were also just having a conversation. “Whoops,” Brennan thought silently, getting out of the way of the girl walking out of the kitchen. Since the food was gone and there seemed to be nothing left to do dishes-wise, Brennan thought he might as well wait to follow one of the campers who possibly knew their way around and would be making their way to the sparring field in a few minutes. Therefore, he waited outside the kitchen for the campers to start making their way out. Fortunately, for Brennan, the two campers in the kitchen both seemed to be in fairly good moods, and that put Brennan in a fairly good mood as well. Hopefully, it would counteract the feelings Brennan was receiving from Ghost. Otherwise, Brennan’s new combat tactic would be to kill people with his excess amount of sarcasm.