Mutated Ectoplasm

37. Darker Aspects

Hey everybody! How's it going? This next chapter came out better than I thought it would, though I guess that depends on how all of you feel. Hopefully you like what I've got in store for you, because it's a lot more world building.

I won't say anymore. I'll see you at the end of the chapter!

The Ghost Zone was a peaceful place sometimes, and sometimes that was what Karkat needed after a long day of mayhem. Being Phantom insured that his life had plenty of it, which somehow made the dimension filled with ghosts more palatable to him.

"Hey, Karkles, how often do you actually wash that jumpsuit? I'm surprised I can't smell it from all the way over here."

"I'm pretty sure I've only seen you wear that thing when you're in your ghost form. Don't you have literally anything else?"

Then again, Terezi and Vriska teaming up on him was also a distraction from that calm. He guessed that they were starting to become friends now, which was terrifying beyond belief for him.

"I do wash it, but do you even know how hard it is? Seriously, try and clean a hazmat suit that constantly gets ectoplasm on it." Karkat didn't realize how meticulous his dad had to be in order to keep them clean until he had to look up an instruction manual. "You can't just put that shit in the dryer."

"Maybe Horuss can find a better way to do it. It's not like he's unfamiliar with it thanks to last week." Nepeta stopped before deciding to rescind that offer. "Actually, wait, last time he built something that was meant to wash clothes fast, he ended up flooding his workshop. It smelled nice, but only from a distance."

"Are we going to ignore the fact that Karkat complained about having to clean ectoplasm off of himself? I'm willing, but I think it's worth mentioning." Tavros nervously kept an eye on the halfa as he said this, trying to figure out if some was on his hands right now. "I'd at least like to know if it's yours or someone else's."

"It's usually mine. Not the time to really focus on that, though." Karkat turned to Terezi, giving her an unamused stare. "Where exactly did those ghosts say we needed to meet them at? I'm really hoping this isn't some kind of trap."

They'd finally gotten a response about the Noir ring Dualscar had, hoping to return it to whoever he stole it from. Karkat had taken up the offer to meet them immediately since things out in the human world were crazy right now. Ever since Darkleer decided to livestream their entire fight, people have been going on about it and never letting it go.

Not only was there now video confirmation of ghosts, or at least somethings with powers running about, people collectively lost their shit like the presentation did. Blame was thrown about everywhere, on his dad, the town, or even the government. That didn't even cover how he felt knowing that Phantom was now not just a rumor.

Karkat was not prepared for the memes especially. Nobody ever covered how to deal with your face being the part of the local meme culture in superhero comics.

"As far as we know, we just need to head to the coordinates they sent to us and we'll be able to drop it off no problem. So, of course it's some kind of trap." Terezi just shrugged, handling her cane carefully. "We wouldn't be heading out together otherwise. Either they're legit, or I get a few more arrests."

"And I get some more freedoms after this!" Vriska was starting to get some more leeway now considering her 'good' behavior. They'd even started letting her play a few discrete shows, along with letting Aranea starting her job at the prison. "Man, it'll feel a lot better not having Redglare's boot on my neck."